urbanSTL

Sylvester Brown of the Post-Dispatch strikes back...



Seeing big picture helps to accentuate the positive

By Sylvester Brown Jr.

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

04/22/2007



I am up to my earlobes with outsiders putting down the city of St. Louis.



Earlier this week, Susan Saulny of The New York Times cited U.S. Census Bureau figures indicating St. Louis had lost a greater share of its population than most other major cities.



Writing that "the city has spiraled from one woe to the next," Saulny discusses our crumbling school district and the loss of its accreditation.



Hold on a sec. You remember what they say about people who live in glass houses, right?



Read more>>>



Overall, it's a pretty good column IMHO...

I think that's the only time I've ever read an article by him that I could agree with or that didn't frustrate me. Nice find!

St. Louis has lost more people than any other major city basically in the world.

Detroit has lost almost a million people. They went from 1,850,000 to about 880,000. If you meant percentage of people, I think St Louis edges out.

St. Louis has lost more people than any other major city basically in the world.

As other cities annexed areas surronding their cities, St. Louis has sat with the small 63 sq. miles it has had for over 100 years. No wonder St. Louis lost more people than any other city.



If St. Louis was able to annex areas in the county (as most every city did in the last century) the population loss woudn't be there, or as bad.



Yes, STL pop. loss was bad... but these facts are never pointed out with the "other" facts.

Let's annex Lemay!

DeBaliviere

Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:34 am Post subject:



Let's annex Lemay!







HELL NO! The housing stock in most of the county is garbage. In my opinion the city in the long run is going to make out like gangbusters with what we have. Most of the county's (south north) housing stock is getting over the 50 yr old mark and it beginning to look it (majority small frame).

I don't think that it was "dissatisfaction" with the city itself. Moreso, the urban flight of the country. New homes, better living conditions, more space, newer and cleaner areas, and of course the "white" flight aspect. The city was over crowded, poluted and racially divided. St. Louis also had a lot of area around it that was able to be utilized and cheaply. St. Louis was also a very industrialized city and much industry was along the river. As dynamics changed in both business and labor, so did the reasons for "having to live in the city". I'm not saying that St. Louis is unique in these reasons, but the land area of the city also did not help. Neither did the way people in St. Louis lived. Families lived on top of each other in flats after flats. 4 or more family members in small one/two bedroom flats throughout the city. The living conditions were tight and uncomfortable. When the suburbs and the automobile began to take shape, St. Louisans saw a promising "escape" form this maze of row homes, flats and close quarter living. Today, families in the city are smaller or single occupied flats and residences.

Another huge problem in St. Louis was it's place as an independent city. The county and city had harsh politics amoung them in seperation. So city residents had to endure larger taxes both in residency and in employment in the city.

There are many factors why St. Louis had such a drastic drop in population. But, even with the dramatic drop, the media never points out that St. Louis is still one of the largest per person capita cities in the country. St. Louis Density: 5,622.9 people per square mile in 2000. Up a little now.

If St. Louis could annex just another 30 square miles of suburbs to the north/south or west - the population would grow another significant 150,000 to 250,000 people (or more). Which would put it right up there with Boston's current population (which is stilll decreasing today).

very well said, Matguy.

We just started sprawling while our metro was growing steadily and our city borders were not growing. The key is that our city, in addition to the tragedy that has become of its north side housing stock, underwent too much suburbanization, more space, more parking lots, LESS DENSITY. In a city of our square milage this makes a huge difference. The numbers show that our region is doing modestly, but we have grown less urban, less dense.