The Gateway City: It Could Use a Shot in the Arm
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8/7/2008
I have lived in St. Louis for some 20 years now. My wife and I did something a bit foolish: We moved up here without jobs. I had just lost my job in Houston, and we didn't want to raise the kids there because of the pace of living, the sprawl, and the crime. So, we moved here. As a pharmacist, she was able to get a job very quickly. I'm in public relations and I had to struggle to find decent work.
The good: Great place to raise children, good selection of public and private schools, a fair amount of artistic offerings for a city of its size, and, generally speaking, a small-town approach to life. Weather-wise, there are usually four seasons. Summers can be hot and muggy, but there are occasional respites from the humidity. Winters are cold, but St. Louis rarely sees the kind of snow that, say, Chicago does.
The bad: Hands down, the economy here is mediocre at best. Very simply, there is a lack of ambition and initiative; job growth is anemic at best. For a community of some 2 million-plus in the metro area, St. Louis ought to have a much more vibrant economic atmosphere than it does, but the people here just don't seem to care. Another drawback to St. Louis: When someone asks you where you went to school, and you tell them the college or university, you've just marked yourself as an outsider. The real core of the question is: What high school did you go to? The question goes back to many years ago, when a certain high school would denote some things about your family and the kind of neighborhood you lived in. The value of the question has faded with time, but there is a definite cliquishness to the natives that is very off-putting if you didn't grow up here. I'm probably too old to move now, but I don't think I'd pick this place again if I had the chance. As I noted, too, it's great for families, but I sense that young people struggle here in terms of their career and trying to meet people.
Charles | Kirkwood, MO