Downtown St. Louis gets a bad rap
BY: JACOB POLITTE
Online Editor
Never let anyone tell you that STLCC can’t get you places.
Recently, I started a brand new, full time job at a downtown law firm. This was a position I obtained thanks in large part to the knowledge that I’ve gained during my participation in STLCC’s legal studies courses (thank you, Professor Wiseheart!), and while it has been an adjustment (jumping into office life after 10 years in retail is no easy feat, I am loving the work I’m doing. It is the exact kind of change of pace that I have been needing in my life, and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to make that kind of move.
Working at this office has resulted in me spending most of my week right in what I believe to be the heart of the city. I work right next to the Old Courthouse, and I walk the Arch Grounds on my lunch almost every day.
But I’ve also had the opportunity to walk around other areas downtown as well, and it paints a different picture than the one often portrayed in our local and national media programs, as well as the picture painted by some in our own community.
That’s not to say it’s perfect. Is it clean? Not really. Are there too many abandoned and empty spaces? Absolutely. But it’s not the beacon of crime that many seem to think it is. And it’s no more of a dirty environment than any other downtown in any other major city. For example… New Orleans. That’s a fun city. But it’s a dump that makes St. Louis look like the inside of a megachurch on Easter.
By and large, the people you meet are friendly. And if they’re not, a lot of them will just ignore you. Granted, I’m not wandering the streets of the city at two in the morning when things might be a little more crazy. But no one, especially not a responsible adult, should be out at two in the morning. During the day, I have yet to feel unsafe downtown whatsoever. I also have yet to feel unsafe on the MetroLink, which also gets a bad rap.
None of this is to suggest that crime doesn’t exist downtown. Of course, it does. But crime, in itself, is not isolated to downtown. There’s crime in South City. There’s crime in West County and South County. Kirkwood, as nice as it is, is not immune from some absolutely crazy criminal activities itself. As someone who’s been down there enough to know now, I can honestly say that downtown St. Louis, while not perfect, is not the dangerous place that so many have portrayed it to be.
Most people know how to stay safe in public. Being downtown shouldn’t feel like something to be afraid of.
It could benefit from being more populated, that’s for sure. It feels like a ghost town at certain points of the day, which may add to the uneasy vibe. But in my opinion, that vibe is a smokescreeen.
Take a trip downtown with a friend sometime. You may be surprised.
