[lonewolfny42]

Hey Guys,
     While I was over reading the news on MSNBC site, I came across this news article.......
Kind of surprised me.....thought things were quiet in St. Louis....guess not.
Be safe......

                                    Chris

[Bob in St. Louis]

Chris, you better "chill", or I'll "pop a cap in your ass".

Sorry man, just trying to live up to my cities new hard earned reputation.
Hey, we worked very hard this 'killing season' to get to the top.

Yea, I thought about posting that very fact. It's a shame.
I live in Jefferson County, right next to Franklin County, which the last time I heard were the
TOP TWO METH COUNTIES IN THE UNITED STATES.
So as you can imagine, I'm extra proud.

My family wonders why, every time I move, it's further out in the 'sticks'.
If I had the money, my house would be 100 miles from the NEXT HOUSE.
People suck. Society sucks. Can't let the kids outside because they'll be kidnapped.
Can't let them go to school, they'll get shot.

Bob (sorry)

[lonewolfny42]

I would never had thought that about St.Louis....NY yes.....but out in the sticks...wow!!
Fact is NY has gotten better....crimewise....could it be the bad guys moved west....I don't know....

[Scott F.]

Actually the rankings are a bit misleading.

St Louis City and its surrounding counties are completely separate in the rankings. The City proper only has about 330,000 people living in it. The entire Metro area consist's of a little more than 3 million people. The north side of the City is really rough. This is where the bulk of that crime took place. The Cities West End and certain parts of the South Side have some very nice neighborhoods. Some of the County can be rough too. They pretty much coincide with the 'high crime' areas that they share a border with the City.

On the whole, St Louis is a very safe place to live. Stay clear of the 'bad neighborhoods' and you won't have a bit of trouble. Wander someplace that you don't belong, and you can plan on being visited by somebody you really didn't want to see.

That same story can be told in every 'big city' in the nation, or the world for that matter.

[lonewolfny42]

I remember awhile back....one of the guys talking about cars getting stolen or broke into....was that in those areas Scott ?

[Scott F.]

Unfortunately for Willie (drummerwill) yes. Although he ended up with a really nice Volvo out of the ordeal 

[Bob in St. Louis]

The north side of the City is really rough. This is where the bulk of that crime took place.

These are the folks that take up the first twelve or so minutes of every local TV news broadcast.

Scott, you don't live North or East do you.... I'd LIKE to come to your house in December. 

Bob

[Scott F.]

Nope, I live in the county next to yours....Franklin, the 'other' Meth capital 

I'm just on the other side of Six Flags. The only thing you have to worry about out this far is the hoosiers  Although they are getting ready to build mega-homes in the field behind my house. West County (Wildwood) keeps getting closer and closer. I guess its all good though, my house and property value has more than tripled in 20 or so years.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Nope, I live in the county next to yours....Franklin, the 'other' Meth capital 

I'll be sure and 'dirty up' the pick-up truck, wear my worst flannel, come in drunk (with my purdyest shotgun)....
Sorry, coudn't resist. 

Sounds like Pacific area? Used to work over there. 

Bob

[Scott F.]

I'll be sure and 'dirty up' the pick-up truck, wear my worst flannel, come in drunk (with my purdyest shotgun)....
Sorry, coudn't resist. 

Hey now, no Franklin County jokes, remember, you live in Jefferson County 
Oh, and while you're getting dressed up for the occasion be sure to have plenty of empty beer cans in the bed of your pickup and you'll fit right in Oh, and be sure to bring a couch or an old refrigerator and dump it on the side of the road too. 

Sounds like Pacific area? Used to work over there. 

Yep, just north of the Pacific, up in the hills. Its not too bad out here. Nice and peaceful but the hills can be brutal during snows and ice.

[Bob in St. Louis]

bring a couch or an old refrigerator and dump it on the side of the road too. 

Now Scott, you know as well as I do things like that belong in the front yard next to the 1975 Monte Carlo on blocks.
 

Between our conversation and the news articles we're painting a nice picture of our area.

Bob

[Scott F.]

Between our conversation and the news articles we're painting a nice picture of our area.

Its Lonewolf's fault.

[woodsyi]

Who would've thunk St. Louis?  I always thought DC was the murder capital and there are still parts of it where I wouldn't want to be in after sunset.  But you know what?  A lot of the DC is going through urban renewal and are getting fixed up quite nicely.  A problem with urban renewal is that it forces the rough elements out of the city to more affordable areas.  So the poorer areas in surrounding counties are getting rougher.  Hopefully the county police departments are on top of the demographic shift.  Prince George County in Maryland has had a tough time trying to keep up with migrating rough elements. 

[Bob in St. Louis]

Yea,  we've got a few areas in STL that are "islands" of "nice" in the middle of crap.
Eight or ten foot tall iron fences surrounding one city block of several hundred thousand dollar houses.
The "ocean" around it, you drive throught with doors locked, windows up, roll through stop signs because you don't want to stay at the intersection any longer than you have to.

That's why I live "out in the sticks".  aa

Bob

[electricbear]

It did look like Scott was going to have Sturgis's car  in residence on his front lawn after one meeting.

[alana106]

Tim,

  Hows the tooth doin.   We missed you Saturday night.   Everyone seemed to agree that my system really improved, with the addition of of the Butler amp.   As they say, occasionally even a blind squirrel finds a nut.

   As far as the St. Louis rating, I grew up in the city, and my old neighborhood has really changed..
   Prior to building the house I'm now in, I lived in Arnold.  My neighbors in Arnold ran me out of town, stating they didn't remember seeing me drunk near enough.  Also, after several years there, I had failed to purchase a pickup truck.

[Scott F.]

I don't know that I would characterize all of St Louis as having islands of nice in the middle of crap. I think its more so the other way around. We've got a few nasty areas like any other big city but for the most part, St Louis, StL County, St Charles, St Charles County, Franklin and Jefferson Counties including a very large part of the East Side (excluding East St Louis, Venice and the immediate surrounding communities) are very nice. Some areas are blue collar, some areas can compete with the nicest parts of any city.

If I had to put nice to nasty percentages to it, I'd say we're at 85/15. thats probably not much different from any big city.

You know what makes it seem as if the city is so bad? It's those first 12 minutes of the news you mentioned earlier. We get bombarded with that crap at 5, 6 and 10. When you get out and about in the city as much as I do in my job, you find its a pretty decent place with (mostly) good people everywhere.

[Bob in St. Louis]

I'd say we're at 85/15.

Yea Scott, I'll agree to that figure.

Bob