urbanSTL

matguy70 wrote: Atlanta is one of the worse Black/White segregated and crime ridden cities in the US. Their game changer was immigration.

America is segregated. Atlanta's leaders addressed its racial divide with inclusion - as did Houston. Racists and separatists will be who they are no matter what, but yes, immigration (diversity) does help. Further, St. Louis STILL is more crime-ridden per capita than the City of Atlanta.

Immigrants are not coming to St. Louis unless there are jobs. St. Louis has none.

matguy70 wrote: The black community has to change first and foremost in STL. The black community crime is off the hook.

That's a general statement. There are pockets WITHIN the African-American community that need work....certainly. There are organizations - particular black-operated ones - that are seeking to address crime and gang problems within pockets of the African-American community. Look them up. There are a lot. Unfortunately, the gang culture is entrenched in St. Louis.......very entrenched. Situated between Chicago and Los Angeles, St. Louis is a major hub and transfer hub for drugs and other illicit activities.

matguy70 wrote: This does not help race relations/acceptance or peace.

I think people who generalize a whole group of people based on the actions of a few are the ones who do not help race relations, acceptance or peace. Are you going to sweep me with your broad broom or brush just because there are some criminal misguided idiots who choose to commit crime? If so, remember the pendulum could swing both ways.

matguy70 wrote: When I heard that less than 20 percent of the Ferguson black community voted for their govn't officials (and police) in a 'burb with more than 80 percent black majority - that is just NOT ganna change anything. I know they don't "trust" their govn't and police --- but without VOTE there will be NO change. The same people will control and abuse the system of power.

The turnout of black voters was actually less. A good percentage of the black population in Ferguson could be "transient". People who don't vote, typically feel they have no stake in the local community. Nonetheless, you are right. Those that are voting age need to vote regardless. I for one hate when these kinds of incidents happen, then people start complaining. I believe in voting in EVERY election!!

matguy70 wrote: The black community should be protesting and outraged at the fact that their community had 6 murders in 24 hours. But, nothing is done. When you have ideals of "No snitching", then you cannot put blame on others.

Protests have happened with senseless, violent shootings have happened before. I assure you no one is in the black community ANYWHERE in the United States is happy when senseless, violent homicides occur in certain black neighborhoods. Let's be very clear. Ferguson, on the other hand, was a totally different dynamic.

Further, YOU as a citizen CAN protest regardless of your racial or ethnic background. YOU can organize. YOU can volunteer at Big Brothers, Mathew-Dickey, Herbert Hoover, SLPS etc. YOU can donate monies to organizations that seek to address violence in certain neighborhoods. YOU CAN TOO do something. YOU can do this while DIRECTLY helping to foster positive race relations, acceptance and peace. While a disproportionate amount of violent crime happens in black neighborhoods - these neighborhoods are still in St. Louis and are reflective of St. Louis. I have problems with people who point, blame and criticize but aren't doing sh*t to better the situation.

matguy70 wrote: I mean seriously, if Chesterfield was fighting their police department (like Ferguson is)... they would have to get out and VOTE and CHANGE the community itself.

This is something that was brought to light only after a light was shown upon it. The problem was flying under the radar. On top of that, most police departments in metro St. Louis are like Ferguson's. Full of bigots and "small-town" minded Mayberry-like police chiefs and officers. I think people had become complacent. Sad. And I am so pissed. Hopefully, it will all change for the better over the next two local elections.

very well said arch city.

I will say though that while I see what you mean about how people may thrive in other cities by getting to escape the civic, social, and racial baggage that can weigh St. Louis down, I hope it doesn't come down to that for those who are talented but sit on the "outside" here. St. Louis has no chance then. Even if many decide to return in a decade or two to use their resources to help St. Louis, it will be too late. But if regional political leaders don't have enough of a backbone to get together internally to say now we've got to get this right, then St. Louis doesn't deserve you.

arch city wrote: EVERYONE I know that has left St. Louis for places like Atlanta, Houston, Nashville, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Kansas City etc. has thrived after leaving. on fumes now.

St. Louis won't have the job for everyone. Often you have to move out in order to move up. There are tens of thousands of people in St. Louis that had to move here in order to move up.

EVERYONE I know that has left St. Louis for places like Atlanta, Houston, Nashville, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Kansas City etc. has thrived after leaving. I've also encouraged family to leave St. Louis so that they could experience living in other places.

Most who left probably had a better opportunity lined up before hitting the road. There are certainly more opportunities in bigger places like Dallas and DC, but what you said applies to expats from most cities.

STL needs some positive news. We have been taking a beating since the whole Ferguson thing and could use a few pick me ups.

While I see many on here harping about St. Louis and the alleged lack of jobs, old money influence and all other things negative regarding business growth, how many of you have donated to Arch Grants or other startup organizations in the city? Are you trying to be part of the solution or the fancier version of the typical stltoday, woe-is-me, St. Louisan commenter?
Want to get excited and reinvigorated about St. Louis, then attend this:
http://archgrants.org/2014-gala/

Amen Jcity.

It sounds like several of you have the woo-to-me syndrome. Listen, I have lived many places - Wisconsin, Alabama, Atlanta, Florida, and now here... and here by choice.
The grass is always greener somewhere else. If you feel there are better pastures waiting for you - C'est la vie. Ciao

I travel for a living often - right now in Wyoming and been in LA and SFO and Portland in the past week. When I mention I am from STL - NOT ONE person has mentioned anything about Ferguson. Not one about crime. However, one vendor in SFO said "of St. Louis - that is the place stealing all the tech jobs from the valley". Another in SFO said "I have been to the arch and through the airport but that's about it". My front desk check-in clerk in Portland said "I've never been there but you have a hell of a baseball team".

As for no jobs. I came here for work 15 years ago. My wife came here 10 years ago. Both never been here before. Both love it here. Tech jobs are growing here fast. Medical careers in STL are growing and abundant. Love em or hate em - pharmaceutical / chemical jobs are growing here.

News on jobs in STL just this week:
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/blog ... louis.html
http://interact.stltoday.com/pr/arts-en ... 4013818420
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/blog ... in-st.html
http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... 62e94.html
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/morn ... dents.html
http://www.kmov.com/news/Lindenwood-Uni ... 47001.html
Approximately 3,000 IT jobs are available in the St. Louis area, with more than 1,400 in information security.
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/blog ... l?page=all
In St. Louis, more than 11,400 job openings were discovered, a number that ranked Missouri 23rd compared with other states. Those jobs were advertised for an average of nearly 34 days.Most of those job openings (2,017) were in the computer and mathematical science occupations, with a significant chunk of jobs available in sales and related occupations (1,710); office and administrative support occupations (1,543); and business and financial operations occupations (1,163). It’s estimated Missouri will need 143,000 STEM professionals to fill jobs by 2018, according to STEMconnector, a Washington, D.C.-based information provider. Nearly three-quarters of those jobs will be in the computing field.
http://www.stltoday.com/business/column ... 8d64f.html
Metro St. Louis added 25,200 jobs between July 2013 and July 2014, its best 12-month performance in more than 14 years.

STLEnginerd wrote:If you have to go for your career's sake or your families sake, then by all means GO. Loyalty to a city should not be at the expense of your own livelihood. St. Louis is a great place to be but there are plenty of others. Just please don't blame STL for you pursuing the best course for you and your family.

i'd like to add, though, that sticking it out because you care about a place is a cause as good as any other. if you're seriously unhappy, then go. if you can provide better for your family elsewhere, then go. But don't delegitimize other people's drive to better a place—even at the expense of their salary or professional advancement—in order to rationalize your own desire to leave. it boils down to priorities.

I love St. Louis, but I feel like people exaggerate the differences in quality of life between cities. People are fundamentally the same everywhere.

arch city wrote:The St. Louis jobs market is still about 30-to-40,000 jobs below its pre-recession peak level, while cities such as Pittsburgh and Dallas have regained their lost jobs. Pittsburgh and Dallas recovered in 2012.

By comparison, Kansas City is only about 12-14,000 jobs away from full recovery.

So while St. Louis certainly is adding jobs, the jobs added in the St. Louis region certainly aren't enough to send new immigrants or domestics running to St. Louis in waves yet. I would venture to say the jobs being added are only helping to reemploy locals who were recently underemployed or unemployed. In other words, the added jobs are not "surplus" jobs like what you find in Houston where there's a boom across all sectors. In St. Louis, they are "recovery" jobs.

And yes, one of St. Louis' bright jobs spots has been STEM employment, but a lot of the new jobs added are also service based - which aren't exactly the highest paying jobs like STEM jobs.

Also, I wonder how much jobs numbers are distorted and vary from area to area by the age demographic breakdown in any particular area. I wonder if around here one factor distorting things is there are more people leaving the job market due to retirement than entering it, where instead of new jobs created its filling jobs by people retiring.

And with the Pittsburgh example. I wonder if there are noticeable differences in age breakdown compared to here. I would not be surprised if there is a smaller than expected near retirement age there if say a significant number moved away decades ago when they were young adults, causing a lower than expected number of boomers there now.

Anderson Cooper just lead off with the Instagram footage of the construction workers, coupled with damning statements from them. They attributed the voice in the video saying "He had his ***** hands up!" (or something like that) to one of the workers. They echoed pretty much the same story we've heard all along, that Brown had his hands up and the officer kept shooting. The CNN reporter spoke to one of them and he confirmed that his hands up gesture was indeed him showing what he had seen.

I'm surprised it's taken this long for the national media to find out about the video.

Have we gotten to a point where hiding Darren WIlson and refusing to release his side of the story has become untenable? I think so.

I just read the Urban Dictionary entry for St. Louis. "Boston on the Mississippi." (I was in Boston this summer and I described St. Louis as Boston without the traffic.) Also, "A Drinking Town with a Baseball Problem".

I hope and pray for justice in Michael Brown's case, but I'll be glad when all the protesting is over with. I don't think it's is good for anybody. The arson and looting definitely wasn't good for Ferguson.

I can understand the difficulty here. You have eyewitness accounts, but no video evidence and (from my understanding) the physical evidence doesn't really tell anything. Like the Trayvon Martin case, even if most people think the shooter is guilty of murder, proving it may be another matter. Eyewitnesses can be good, but they're not definitive proof.

I don't agree with people who want this swept under the rug, but Wilson does have the right to a fair trial like anyone else. So the court processes have to be worked out, and that can take time.