The Central Scrutinizer wrote:threeonefour wrote:We're #1! (Again!)
WOO HOO!!!
Well, at least those that bought the "brave enough to live in America's most dangerous city" t-shirts can still wear their rags with pride.
So far on KTVI's website, 59% of poll respondents said the CQ Press findings are fair to St. Louis. Of course, at least 59% of the people visiting KTVI's website are probably hoosiers, as their comments section is no better than STLtoday.com.
Alex Ihnen wrote:I feel like regionally people have a sick joy in putting down the City without recognizing that to 99% of the country, Clayton, Ladue, Ballwin, O'Fallon (both of them) are all St. Louis.
I agree. Although most of the people that do this are too stupid to realize the contradiction, and they probably spend most of their time in mom's basement. So beyond the echo chambers of STLtoday.com, Fox2now.com, and others, they do our region no damage, and people like us probably aren't going to encounter them much if at all anyway.
STLgasm wrote:What pisses me off the most is that it's inevitable that at least some parents out there in other parts of the country will not allow their college students to attend Wash. U. or SLU simply because "St. Louis is dangerous." I wonder how our universities are preparing to handle this from a PR standpoint.
I have heard from a few WU undergrads that this issue has been brought up before. Of course, it's very easy for those that represent WU or SLU to point out the flimsiness of the rankings as well as the FBI's recommendation not to interpret them in the way that CQ Press uses them. Still, I would bet that this influenced the decision making process for some parents and students. But hey, maybe those kids weren't WU or SLU material after all.
I also know from previous articles that the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission has had to address this matter before when St. Louis ranked #1 in the Morgan Quitno findings in 2006. I can't imagine this would have any significant impact on the convention business, but again, it's one more area entity that has to address this stupid list from a PR standpoint. I've also heard people wonder what this will do to St. Louis' chances to land the 2012 Democratic National Convention, but I'd like to think the people planning the DNC have far better things to do than to pay the CQ Press' latest hit job any mind.
STLgasm wrote:Stressing that the majority of violent crime occurs in a few concentrated neighborhoods and most often among people engaged in risky or criminal activity is one way to combat the rankings. I think City Hall should send a press release to all media outlets and include with it a graphic map showing the concentration of actual violent crimes in the metro area, and profiles (criminal records, drug history, relationship to perpetrator) of victims. Include the exact same information for a city whose statistics are diluted by a huge land area encompassing large suburban areas (Kansas City, Houston, etc). Place the two maps side by side and emphasize the city boundaries in each, pointing out how our safe suburbs are excluded from the rankings, while the other city's low-crime suburban areas are included and dilute the crime statistics.
This would have been the best way to handle it. City Hall did a fine job of discrediting CQ Press, as I expected. It isn't all that hard to do anyway. However, I think the mayor's spokespeople would look a bit less disingenuous if they would acknowledge the very high crime rate in some city neighborhoods and discuss the things that the SLMPD is doing to combat crime in these areas, all while pointing out that the vast majority of the city is safe.
Maybe people are just too lazy or too stupid to care, but I think there's a way to manage negative press.
They are. But it never hurts to try to win over hearts and minds anyway, and I think your approach is a bit more thorough and honest than the city's response.
