urbanSTL

If they can just keep the growth rate going until 2050 Wentzville will be the largest city in America.

In case you haven't seen it

Strongtowns.org - The Growth Ponzi Scheme

We often forget that the American pattern of suburban development is an experiment, one that has never been tried anywhere before. We assume it is the natural order because it is what we see all around us. But our own history — let alone a tour of other parts of the world — reveals a different reality. Across cultures, over thousands of years, people have traditionally built places scaled to the individual. It is only the last two generations that we have scaled places to the automobile.

http://www.strongtowns.org/the-growth-ponzi-scheme/

Strong Towns is a great website and message. I really appreciate that they make arguments that can turn on someone on the right or left politically.

southsidepride wrote:Pretty much. If only I had a flux capacitor and a DeLorean I could set the dials for July 19, 2033 and bring back a story in whatever media format they are using then claiming "____Expands into Montgomery City Subdivision" complete with glowing reviews by residents on how they don't mind the 95 minute commute because you get "a little more house for your money."

You'll also need a power source equivalent to or exceeding 1.21 gigawatts. That, or a Mr. Fusion...and plenty of banana peels and Miller High Life to fuel it.

I think it's a valid point that the system of sprawl in St. Louis is self-feeding now. There are four or five generations worth of regional residents who know only the suburb that they grew up in and the emerging ones west of those [edit: as a way of life]. That constituency will thin itself out geographically soon enough, I'm sure, but I wouldn't expect them to rubber band back to the City in any measurable number.

Some one on here mentioned that Illinoisans are, in general, very pro-St. Louis City. Speaking from my own southern Illinois heritage, myself and those I speak to unanimously recognize the strengths and, dare I say it, quality of life, of St. Louis -- downtown, to start, sure, but once you get them into the neighborhoods, they're hooked!
If you're going to pull anyone in from the major metropolitan area, that's as good a place as any to start.

Sometimes southern Illinoisans are painted erroneously as straight off the tractor, gosh-gee-look-at-them-high-rises bumpkins, but that really isn't true [that's southern Missourians... ]. I think since it's so far removed from their own state's metropolitan center), our eastern neighbors' pride and passion for St. Louis is fiercer than even many City residents.

Basically, pay no attention to the Sprawl...or as I like to call it, the slowest Westward Expansion ever.

roger wyoming II wrote:

Kevin B wrote:Sometimes southern Illinoisans are painted erroneously as straight off the tractor, gosh-gee-look-at-them-high-rises bumpkins, but that really isn't true [that's southern Missourians... ].

uh, southern Missourians can't afford tractors. that's what mules are for, (just joking!)
I do marvel at how quickly though I can get to farmland across the river -- in say St. Jacob -- quicker than I get to Saint Charles. I like that.

Oh, undoubtedly. Not to say there isn't an incredibly strong agricultural presence in southern Illinois, just that the blanket stereotype of the hayseed farmer is incorrect.

I actually DO feel bad for St. Louis Countians, really. They've eschewed the natural ease of country living AND the inherent energy of city living for something that -- in settling in the geographical/psychological "between" -- can't begin to hold a candle to either. Given my d'ruthers, I'd take freshly-harvested wheat fields, country roads and corner stores over manicured lawns, cul-de-sacs and outlet malls every time...

wabash wrote:If they can just keep the growth rate going until 2050 Wentzville will be the largest city in America.

If that happens they're going to wish they picked a better name than Wentzville.

good news is if we keep pushing west and KC pushes east and COMO pushes east and west by 2030 we will have one HUGE metro area called Saint Kansas City of Columbia.
turn the I-70 median into a bullet train line so that i can live in STL City and work in CoMO or KC and be at work in 30-45min.

Interestingly, my last home was in St. Paul but now I've moved into the city. St. Paul is basically north O'Fallon these days. It's a small rural Catholic farming community, similar to Josephville, Flint Hill, and Old Monroe. These days farmers are getting old and retiring/dying and selling off the acres. Now rich people subdivisions have popped up and TR Hughes tried and went bankrupt trying to develop land. Most homes aren't mansions and are typically farmhouses. Hwy P is typically the dividing line.

The average age out there is close to 50 in the old town portion. There's no city tax so it's appealing in that sense but there is also no money, no sewers, no public water (with the exception of Riverdale) and not a lot of growth beyond these new developments. If you like country, quiet, and small-town America it's a nice enough place to live. Most families have been living out that way since the mid-1800s so it's not typically an urban sprawl community but is starting to become that way.

roger wyoming II wrote:How many peeps here didn't even know there was a St. Paul, Missouri in our region?

I had no idea until your post. Or about any of these:

flipflopju wrote: Josephville, Flint Hill, and Old Monroe

Does this mean Lincoln County is the next St. Charles?

flipflopju wrote:Interestingly, my last home was in St. Paul but now I've moved into the city.

An excellent flip-flop of a change indeed (although I'm sure some of the old farming communities have there own - albeit remote & isolated - charm).

I'll add Harvester, MO to the list. I had never heard of it until I sat by someone from there on a recent flight.

^Harvester used to be a little farming town on Hwy 94 about halfway between St. Charles and Weldon Spring. My dad's family all comes from that area.

It was pretty much all annexed into St. Peters by the 90's.

When I was a kid in the 80's we lived in old town St. Charles, but went to church in Harvester and it seemed like such a drive from St. Charles proper. There were a few subdivisions and the occasional strip mall then but it still had a country feel in a lot of it.

I'm kind of surprised anyone still refers to the area as Harvester.

Believe Warrenton is going to go all in to revive the dead outlet mall with new TIFs, incentives to get another interchange built as reported by the PD over the weekend. In the meantime, believe the owner on Chesterfield mall is being sued on debt default and in part being blamed on the new Chesterfield Valley outlet malls.

The march goes on but at least Missouri can claim its economy is growing where as IL is shrinking but numbers in either direction not moving the needle much