re: Thinking about relocating to Saint Louis .....
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8/10/2009
this came from a born and raised st louisian. I read it and i think you will definitely get a fair view of the city while you continue your research:
"I wish my home town was a fantastic place to live, it's beautiful and full of history, but it's not so great. I graduated from St Louis University and when I was there it was rated the most dangerous college campus in the country based upon surrounding crime statistics. The crime rate is no joke and it's been bad for a very long time. The city is totally segregated and the people are generally pretty small minded and short sighted. I don't see the problem being solved any time soon. That being said, the county is so safe I know a lot of people who don't lock their doors. St. Louis city and St. Louis county are two very diferent places. (one has black people and one doesn't,you guess which it is...one has a fantastic public school system and one doesn't...one has etc. etc.)
It is one of the largest Catholic diocese in the country and conservative Catholic values really color the local thinking.It's a hard place to live if your ideas or values are outside of the conservative status quo. By that I mean not being racist and feeling like abortion is acceptable.
Social activities tend to revolve around either excessive drinking or sports. "Cultural" activities are provincial at best. (think Andrew Lloyd Weber) The populace is not friendly and tend to be distrustful, if not down right fearful, of anyone they don't know.
One of the other commentors remarked upon St. Louisans tendency to ask where a person went to high school. That question is about socio-economics. Knowing what public or private school the person went to generally tells you how well off their family is. The segregation in St. Louis runs way deeper than just race. There are further social strata that start once blacks are cut out of the picture altogether, race is the first cut, then comes money and religion. It's a crazy place. Ask a local about "The Veiled Prophet" and "Fashionetta" balls.
The weather sucks, way too hot in the summer and way too cold in the winter.
However.....there are some county neighborhoods that are pretty good for families. Webster Groves and Kirkwood are two traditionally integrated neighborhoods with high income levels, good public schools, and educated populations. Webster University is a great campus and they hold film festivals and events that are open to the general public. Cute houses, good architecture....
There's a fantastic walking/biking trail that abuts Webster groves.
And my public school education was amazing. I came out of a free gifted education program and the International Baccalaureate system. My old school district, Lindbergh, is still very highly ranked, but South county is pretty bigoted and comsumerist. It's sort of an orgy of over weight housewives competing to buy the greatest number of goods made in China. Although one is beginning to see non-whites and foreigners in the stores there, which is an improvement. (We had race-riots and massive white flight to private schools at my high school when they were finally forced to integrate in the 1980's.)
I left St. Louis for San Francisco in 1995, returned in 1997 to finish my education at SLU, left again in 2000 for LA, left LA in 2005 for New York, and just returned to LA a month ago. I prefer living in cities that are actual "destinations" for people from all over the US and the world. I feel like that way there's a selection process for the population. You get a larger percentage of the best and brightest, or at least the most interesting. Heh. ;o) So, I have my own biases. Good luck."
Abhd | St. Charles, MO