As our regular readers may recall, we take a dim view of the optimism of the new urbanists who have it that American cities are on their way up. But they aren’t, except for a few empty nesters and some yuppies who move into “hip” city neighborhoods. But those are not the sort of people capable of forming a solid middle-class core around which a vital city can form and grow. For the latest — this time from St. Louis — See John Eligon, Safer Cities? Try Telling This Neighborhood. N.Y. Times, Nov. 20, 2013, at p. A1 (above the fold).
This is a long article that goes on to cover a full broadside page (p. A18) that provides a detailed and dismal picture of life in St. Louis. On p. A18, there is a map depicting the city of St. Louis, with red dots representing homicide sites. If that doesn’t turn you off on even thinking of living there, we can’t imagine what may do so. No wonder most of the city population has fled for the safety of the suburbs.