I had the opportunity to get a ride up to the infamous Horseshoe, a section of one way street that loops around a desolate corner of Wells-Goodfellow.
I asked one of my students, a St. Louis police officer, about the area, and he informed me that he actually grew up on the Horseshoe, and its terrible, violent reputation was well deserved.
Sadly, what a developer had thought would be a perfect neighborhood where children could play in the streets without fear of vehicular traffic became a recipe for another kind of traffic. Since the street was one way, the police had to enter at the top of the Horseshoe, providing plenty of time for drug dealers on the lower half of the loop to be warned of their approach by their confederates.
The official explanation for the Horseshoe's demolition was that it was in a flood plain and the land was needed for MSD's use as a retention pond.
Maybe so, but I can't help but think it worked out well that Wells-Goodfellow was finally rid of this street.
It's so sad to see what was clearly a beautiful quiet oasis in the city to come to this. Every house is gone now.
Watch a sensationalized show about the area.
I watched about 20 minutes of that video; to call it "sensationalized" is an understatement!
ReplyDeleteI could picture someone in other areas seeing it and thinking "My company will NEVER transfer me to St. Louis - I will quit before then."
Lots of irrelevant cut-and-paste in it.
Note that I am not minimalizing the violence or the accuracy of the actual gang info.
I agree, Tom; the violence documented in the show was twenty years ago, but they tenuously link the present day with them. Do these gangs still exist? apparently yes, but it does a disservice to act like this is contemporary St. Louis
DeleteI watched some of it, and all I could think was how glad I was that I didn't live in St. Louis anymore. As it is, STL is ranked, depending on who is doing the ranking, as either number 1 or 2 in crime per capita. And it's a shame because the city is so beautiful. Fact is, I think it still is contemporary St. Louis.
ReplyDeleteSeeing as you don't live in the City anymore, and are unfamiliar with it most every way--beyond perhaps the hearsay and third-party gossip of fools--I don't think your judgement can be relied upon to provide a balanced or accurate picture of life in the City. Perhaps in the nabe you once lived, the acts of violent crime were somewhat common. They are not in mine, and my wife and I live in Dutchtown. We do hear gunshots, but I have come to the opinion that 100% of these occurrences that I am within earshot of arise from the insecurity and immaturity of the individuals responsible for them. As in, "Lol, I've got a gun, and that makes me a man, blam, blam". Haven't found too many gun owners--black, white or whatever--who are responsible for their weapons. BTW, my wife and I have not been victims of any criminal activity worth noting, and we have lived in the City--respectively--sixteen and nineteen years, including the past nine in Dutchtown for the both of us.
DeleteAs for the statistics you have quoted, my guess is that you are quoting that media marketing whore at Quinto Press, which puts out a notoriously and wildly inaccurate breakdown of data. Even the FBI has basically called bulls**t on this tool.