urbanSTL

DogtownBnR wrote:Right this second, we have a huge problem, that goes well beyond the problems we've had in the past. In the past, County dwellers would continually say how unsafe the City is. Now, that perception is at an all - time high IMO. (At least since I've been old enough to care). I think the Ferguson fiasco significantly hurt our image on a national level. The images, the riots, the looting, the thugs and the burning buildings. Those images played out all over the country. We are not LA. We cannot overcome that as easy. We are not a metro of 18-20 million, with beaches and Hollywood. Then, we had a year with 159 murders in a city of 320K. That is not acceptable. Then we start out January 2015 with 14 murders already. We still have 10 days left in the month. CRIME is a MAJOR factor keeping people out of the City. Not to mention, I've seen numerous people on this forum say they are done with the City. I just don't recall seeing this level of crime in South St. Louis, which IMO is the epicenter of St. Louis, it's heart and soul. While Downtown and the Central Corridor are important, the Southside is where its at. This is where the unique hoods are. I've seen a scary spike in criminal activity from murders, to carjackings, smash & grabs, etc.. etc. The City 'might' be seeing crime stats going down (with the exception of murders), but the crimes we are seeing are bold, relentless and devoid of any consideration for life. Not to get to far off subject, CRIME is a major issue that is bringing us down, with regards to image. How can you attract young people, when out-of-towners come in for a weekend and hear about 6 murders in one night or see a shooting Downtown, in broad daylight, during the NLCS. While I do not usually panic or make rash decisions, based upon things like this, I will say this. Crime and the general lawlessness that has overtaken the City, is disturbing and must be stopped or people will continue to flee to burbs outside the City limits and even outside the metro area. If I was not a loyal lifer, I may consider a move, after all of this unrest and the major spike in violence here. If you want to fix our image nationally, fix our crime problem, the racial divide, the regional divide, continue with the efforts in the central corridor, continue building Downtown, rehabbing all empty buildings and continue with other efforts like the Arch grounds. These all help immensely, but if crime is in the news everyday, people will stay away. That simple. 6 murders in one night, COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE! How you fix that, I don't know. I do know, there is no overnight fix.

More than 100 new projects, together valued at more than $2 billion, are underway in Nashville or planned to start next year, according to city figures. Most of the big projects — four hotels, five office buildings and eight high-rise residential towers with a total value of $1.5 billion — are in the downtown core, a number rising on former parking lots, according to the Nashville Downtown Partnership, a business development group.

Another reason for Nashville’s success is that its leaders have been able to get the communities and counties that surround it to buy into the Nashville identity, so the entire metropolitan area is branded, presented and sold as Nashville.

DogtownBnR wrote:I would guess and this is just a guess, that these 2 cities lack the "diversity" that we have in cities like, say, St. Louis, Memphis and Detroit. Did I guess correctly?