The once great city of St. Louis

"Again this year, we will avoid St. Louis on our way down to Florida. Shame. There are many things, historical and otherwise, which would be fun and interesting to visit. But safety first. It would be a fool's errand to visit the most dangerous city in America."

Every time we plot a course down to Florida, the computer always takes us directly through St. Louis as the shortest route. St. Louis? So what is so bad about St. Louis? This home to Budweiser Beer, McDonald Douglas aircraft, the "Arch" - what gives? Over the years, St. Louis has gone from a great city, to the Baltimore of the Midwest. It is a dangerous city, with out of control crime. It is yet another example of a once great city, having decades of Blue governance, becoming a hollowed out crime trap. 

Oh, the city looks pretty enough when you come driving into it on Interstate 64. But looks can be deceiving. Between St. Louis and East State Louis, they hold the number four and number one rating for murders per 10,000 people. What does that mean? These two cities have murder rates higher than Detroit or Baltimore.

Here are two more alarming statistics about St. Louis. In 2010, St. Louis was voted the most dangerous city in America. In addition, in 2014 St. Louis was ranking the 19th most dangerous city in the world by the Mexican aid organization, CCSP-JP.

So what happened to this once great city? How is it, St. Louis has gone the way of so many other large American cities? Let's first look at how this city is governed. Ever since I was in diapers (that was a long, long time ago), St. Louis has been run by Democrat mayors. That is a long, long time to be under one party leadership. Ironically, during that same time period, the crime rate started to rise. Just like with Baltimore, Detroit, Chicago and so forth - one party leadership in large cities often times leads to bad results.

It really is a shame. On the internet, you can find "safe" neighborhoods in St. Louis to go into, and dangerous ones to stay away from. Just like with many other large cities, there are "red zones" which are known by both the locals as well as the police. My feeling? In the United States of America, there should be no "red zones" in ANY city. All cities should be safe to live in, or travel to. This is a sickness that we accept this as normal. It is anything but normal. 

Again this year, we will avoid St. Louis on our way down to Florida. Shame. There are many things, historical and otherwise, which would be fun and interesting to visit. But safety first. It would be a fool's errand to visit the most dangerous city in America. Change your government St. Louis. Change your sky high crime rate. Your future is in your hands.