st. louie isn't as bad as you think

today, i read Hopes for a Renaissance After Exodus in St. Louis, from the ny times. i guess i never thought about it, being a st. louisan all my life, but we've had some hard times when it comes the city's status. we had some good times too, like when st. louis was the fourth largest city in the country. obviously, those days are gone, and what's left is a city that is getting slammed, in more ways than one.

we all heard about our #1 spot on the most dangerous cities list. and, then there's the city schools being turned over to the state of missouri - schools in which "5 percent of 11th graders in city schools were proficient in reading." and the article even painfully brings up our nasty storms last year that knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of people. let me tell you, susan saulny, if you had been without power for a week straight, you wouldn't be bringing that up to relive it.

so we have crime. so we have bad schools. so we have police officers that confiscate world series tickets and give them to their friends. but i think the things that people are trying to do for the city are being overlooked. loft buildings are being revitalized, restaurants and shops are now thriving downtown, companies are investing in rebuilding run-down areas, heck - people are LIVING downtown!

and if you talk to people from st. louis, they are proud of their city. they are cards fans, they eat toasted ravioli and tell their out-of-town friends about it, they are pissed about highway 40 construction but know it has to be done, they care when the elephant at the zoo has a baby. they are participating in the redevelopment of downtown, and are excited to see it boom. they defended it when morgan quitno's research officially said stl has more crime than detroit (and then they remembered that they beat detroit in the world series, so it all works out).

so i say, screw you ny times. just a year ago, you published an article about how young, hip, and cool the city is. and now one year later, you rip it a new arch-hole (i totally just thought of that). we st. louisans will continue to rebuild, improve and have pride in our town, and next year you can remember that and write about how great it is again.