St. Louis in the National Media

DogtownBnR · PostAug 13, 2019#17762019-08-13T20:15+00:00

While it cannot be overlooked that these children are being killed, it must also be recognized that they are the unfortunate collateral damage of a drug/gang war(s) that have reached the boiling point in North St. Louis. This script is playing out in many US cities. The shooters only care about eliminating rival gang-bangers and could care less about the collateral damage. Bystanders are often scared to be involved and report the perps for fear of retaliation. The roots of this war are drugs, gangs and poverty. Until the roots of the issues are addressed, the endless cycle of violence will not only continue, but will continue to catch children in the crossfire.

PS- And I understand it is not that simple… Many factors… Many issues….

stlgasm · PostAug 19, 2019#17772019-08-19T01:18+00:00

Well this is depressing...

New York Times

‘It’s Not the Same’: Why War Refugees Who Helped Revive St. Louis Are Leaving
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/18/us/b ... -ios-share

urbanitas · PostAug 19, 2019#17782019-08-19T08:39+00:00

^From the article:

Arina Galic, a seamstress trained in Bosnia who owns Arina’s Alterations, said the daily inconveniences of limited parking and crowded streets were what drove her to move to Mehlville, a suburb. Her customers appreciate her new location near a mall and two major highways, she said: “When I came here, everybody was so happy, because you’ve got better parking lots, you’ve got a good entrance.”

And FWIW, a lot of them never did live in the city, they went straight to Affton and Mehlville.

Black02AltimaSE · PostAug 19, 2019#17792019-08-19T13:53+00:00

Metro St. Louis philosophy on development in a nutshell? "Everybody was so happy because you've got better parking lots."

RockChalkSTL · PostAug 19, 2019#17802019-08-19T14:22+00:00

I don't know that I read this as bad news. Crowded streets, limited parking?

I want to see more of this across St. Louis City.

quincunx · PostAug 19, 2019#17812019-08-19T14:25+00:00

Black02AltimaSE wrote: Metro St. Louis philosophy on development in a nutshell? "Everybody was so happy because you've got better parking lots."

And then we wonder why our cities are insolvent.

Black02AltimaSE · PostAug 19, 2019#17822019-08-19T14:28+00:00

^It even works as a haiku.

arch city · PostAug 19, 2019#17832019-08-19T15:31+00:00

I didn't see NYT article as depressing. I think it was fair and balanced. It even gave examples of how the same migration trends are happening in LA and NYC.

BTW, the same has happened in north St. Louis for decades, but it's rarely reported on.

I would say that if St. Louis' economy boomed, and crime (and perceptions of crime) were mitigated the city's population and neighborhoods would be better off and less transitional.

St. Louis, in my opinion, needs a better strategy to curtail the drug and gun trade that flow through the region.

PostAug 19, 2019#17842019-08-19T15:54+00:00

DogtownBnR wrote: While it cannot be overlooked that these children are being killed, it must also be recognized that they are the unfortunate collateral damage of a drug/gang war(s) that have reached the boiling point in North St. Louis. This script is playing out in many US cities. The shooters only care about eliminating rival gang-bangers and could care less about the collateral damage. Bystanders are often scared to be involved and report the perps for fear of retaliation. The roots of this war are drugs, gangs and poverty. Until the roots of the issues are addressed, the endless cycle of violence will not only continue, but will continue to catch children in the crossfire.

PS- And I understand it is not that simple… Many factors… Many issues….

You are right, and I agree mostly.

The response in St. Louis shouldn't be, "this is also happening in other cities". It cannot be lumped in with "many other U.S. cities." The urgency in St. Louis has to be greater because St. Louis needs the fewest hits to its already-poor crime reputation.

"Now helpless kids are being killed in St. Louis on top of all of the other crime crap and ignorance happening there?"

Nobody is looking up at Chicago or down to Houston when St. Louis is the city in the news at the moment.

Astute leadership, in my opinion, would have handled this sooner......before it became a media circus and feeding-frenzy.

framer · PostAug 19, 2019#17852019-08-19T20:56+00:00

Michael Allen in CityLab:

Downtown St. Louis Is Rising; Black St. Louis Is Being Razed

https://www.citylab.com/perspective/201 ... ey/596299/

sc4mayor · PostAug 19, 2019#17862019-08-19T21:47+00:00

^ The comments on that article are so racist lol.

quincunx · PostAug 19, 2019#17872019-08-19T22:31+00:00

Nexy City- Breaking Through and Breaking Down the Delmar Divide in St. Louis

https://nextcity.org/features/view/brea ... -st.-louis

southcitygent · PostAug 24, 2019#17882019-08-24T14:45+00:00

These refugees have also brought back our inner ring suburbs, I don't think Lemay, Afton or Mehlville would be as strong today if it wasn't for the Bosnians.

dbInSouthCity · PostAug 24, 2019#17892019-08-24T15:41+00:00

southcitygent wrote: These refugees have also brought back our inner ring suburbs, I don't think Lemay, Afton or Mehlville would be as strong today if it wasn't for the Bosnians.

I and a few other Bosnians addressed this NYT piece on twitter and FB. It’s extremely poorly written and literally made up numbers. First the 70,000 number. That’s false. At best 45,000, at best. Bosnians eventually moved to south county and beyond because most Bosnians came here from small villages and towns, once they settled in and got established they went to places they can spread out a bit and not know each night what their neighbor is cooking for dinner.

There is also a simple fact and it’s still true today, you can get a $100-150,000 house in south county and you really can’t in a good neighborhood in the city or a house that doesn’t need a lot of work

gary kreie · PostAug 26, 2019#17902019-08-26T00:36+00:00

I read the article and was thinking, the folks moving to the County might be in neighborhoods that would still be within the core city city limits in most metros our size. As long as they stay in the area I applaud their desire to find the best situation they can find here, just as we all do.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

kipfilet · PostAug 26, 2019#17912019-08-26T15:02+00:00

At least 9 kids have died from gun violence in St. Louis since April. Here are their stories, CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/26/us/st-lo ... index.html

rbb · PostAug 29, 2019#17922019-08-29T16:20+00:00

dbInSouthCity wrote:
southcitygent wrote: These refugees have also brought back our inner ring suburbs, I don't think Lemay, Afton or Mehlville would be as strong today if it wasn't for the Bosnians.
I and a few other Bosnians addressed this NYT piece on twitter and FB. It’s extremely poorly written and literally made up numbers. First the 70,000 number. That’s false. At best 45,000, at best. Bosnians eventually moved to south county and beyond because most Bosnians came here from small villages and towns, once they settled in and got established they went to places they can spread out a bit and not know each night what their neighbor is cooking for dinner.

There is also a simple fact and it’s still true today, you can get a $100-150,000 house in south county and you really can’t in a good neighborhood in the city or a house that doesn’t need a lot of work

^ Curious as to where you get your 45,000 number? I'm not arguing with you - I've got nothing to refute it - but I've heard or seen numbers of 70-80,000 Bosnians in the metro many times.

-RBB

PostAug 29, 2019#17932019-08-29T16:30+00:00

framer wrote: Castlewood State Park on Atlas Obscura:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/c ... iABfB3GEZ8

I know this is an old post, but I wanted to thank you for sharing it. I grew up in Castlewood, as did my father, and am well familiar with the stories of its heyday. Our old home was actually built as a rental cabin and converted to a home after the tourist traffic dried up. Stories were told that during prohibition the Lone Wolf was a gangster hangout, and that even Al Capone and his gang used to make their way down there when he was in town. There's supposedly a back exit in the bar leading to a tunnel dug through the hill that pops out right by the railroad tracks. That was used when the police raided as a way to escape and make a quick exit via train or boat.

On Sontag Rd there used to be the foundation for what was separate women's' and men's jails. And there are ruins of cabins all over the woods in and adjacent to the park. It was a fantastic place to explore as a kid.

-RBB

quincunx · PostAug 29, 2019#17942019-08-29T23:59+00:00

NBC Nightly News - St. Louis families demand action for child victims of gun violence https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/vi ... 7800133671

stl07 · PostSep 08, 2019#17952019-09-08T00:57+00:00

BellaVilla wrote:
arch city wrote: I didn't see NYT article as depressing. I think it was fair and balanced. It even gave examples of how the same migration trends are happening in LA and NYC.

BTW, the same has happened in north St. Louis for decades, but it's rarely reported on.

I would say that if St. Louis' economy boomed, and crime (and perceptions of crime) were mitigated the city's population and neighborhoods would be better off and less transitional.

St. Louis, in my opinion, needs a better strategy to curtail the drug and gun trade that flow through the region.
Legalize it.

Nope, at least for drugs. Look at LA--legalization just made the gangs less fearful, none of which bothered to follow local weed regulations or taxes

Bart Harley Jarvis · PostSep 09, 2019#17962019-09-09T13:51+00:00

^But also, now law enforcement isn't wasting time/resources on an unwinnable "war" and can focus more on actually getting the bad guys/gangs. Additionally, by legalizing it, gangs will lose revenue and move on to harder stuff. Put more money into rehabilitation of drug addicts, rather than incarceration, and that market will also shrink. Again, less revenue.

PostSep 10, 2019#17972019-09-10T01:47+00:00

BellaVilla wrote: ^Except the market for "harder stuff" is much much smaller.

Right. Less market = less revenue. Less revenue = less incentive to gang-ify in the first place.

PostSep 10, 2019#17982019-09-10T15:22+00:00

BellaVilla wrote:So its solved then

Yep. Let's fix Israel/Palestine now

sc4mayor · PostSep 11, 2019#17992019-09-11T12:59+00:00

The Atlantic has a nice little collection of old World’s Fair photos in St. Louis it published the other day. Pretty cool stuff.

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2019/ ... os/597658/

aprice · PostSep 11, 2019#18002019-09-11T13:57+00:00

Cue the calls of "I can't believe we tore that down"

St. Louis in the National Media

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