Hey Brewster: Here’s some advice for YOU about dissing St. Louis
- Brewster McCracken
If your name is Brewster McCracken, you might have had a hard time at recess when you were a kid. Maybe people still pick on him — and that explains why he picks on others.
McCracken, you see, wants to be the mayor of Austin, Texas. But instead of running an ad saying why he’d make a great mayor, and what he can do for that city, he’s running one ad that disses St. Louis — hard. He points out that in 1904, St. Louis hosted the World’s Fair and probably thought it was the center of the universe. According to Brewster, things have gone downhill since then.
“Entire sections of St. Louis urban core have been abandoned for decades. There’s a warning to cities all over the country from St. Louis’ story.”
Really? Entire sections? I’m sure Brewster did careful research to back up that claim.
We know St. Louis has its problems. I’d venture to say Austin has better Tex-Mex food, hotter summers, and no world championship caliber baseball. But is the best way to run for office in one city really to talk smack about another one?
I’m sure Mr. McCracken would appreciate hearing from St. Louisans about our city. His email address is info@brewstermccracken. com. Maybe he’ll enjoy getting some e-mail from the Midwest.
But meanwhile, what do you think of his campaign tactics, and what do you think of his attack on St. Louis?
este hombre tengo un muy problema con the personas de st. louis.
gw bush lived in austin, texas, then he left.
Here is his email: info@brewstermccracken.com
Thanks JB. I had that link in the post, too, but it’s probably not very obvious. I think I’ll e-mail him now!
I really don’t see a problem with his ad. Let’s be honest, STL has not been a good model for forward-thinking urban development. I know it may hurt the pride of St. Louisans but we are a symbol of urban decline. We too, should be learning from our mistakes and not making petty attacks on those that point them out.
And, yes, entire sections (although this is a very ambiguous term) are vacant. Many parts of north STL, the industrial riverfront, and downtown west are vacant. I do feel that if STL city were grouped with the county, it would paint a somewhat brighter picture though. I thought his statement about the size of STL was misleading.
Amanda- Maybe a little clarification would be helpful before we burn down this guy’s house. Is there more to the ad? Does he somehow relate St. Louis’ downfall (which no one can argue- it happened) to something going on in Austin?
Did he work in STL government at some time? If so, is well within his rights to use his time here as an example of his experience. Not too smart if you talk about how poorly things are going, but that’s another conversation.
If we just turn around and attack him, we are no better than he. We should at least try to understand what message he was trying to convey.
Slay won, Brewster did not know? I am sure Austin voters are more interested in Austin than St. Louis. They deserve Brewster, the people in St. Louis do not. Please Brewster, stay in you own city limits and take your prescriptions before talking.
It sounds like Brewster is sticking to the old divert and distract tactic. Austin is facing serious problems (as all decent sized cities do) and since he completely lacks ideas, attacking another city seems like a good way to divert the focus from his lack of leadership.
For a city who’s slogan is “Keep Austin Weird” and that’s known as the “Live music capital of the World” can do better than this pretentious stick in the mud. To any Austinites who might read this – vote for someone else – anyone else.
RJS:
We have calls out to Brewster McCracken because we don’t know why he chose to slam St. Louis. The ad is linked in the post; you can watch it and try to suss out his motives, just as I did. But there are no obvious clues as to why he decided to single out St. Louis.
Thanks for the comment; this one just seemed to come out of nowhere….
Well, I watched the ad, isn’t it all true? By running a comparison campaign, he’s proving his backing of the ‘Austin Plan’ is the view that will keep that city vibrant. What’s wrong with that?
Instead of being outraged at his comments, let’s be outraged with ourselves and our government. How many of us in St. Louis have complained about the decline of our city; rung our hands for more than the last several decades, wondering what to do next as the population has moved further and further away from the core?
Yes, the St. Louis AREA has lot’s to offer. But what has happened to us, that we have allowed this once terrific CITY to decline so far? I don’t have the answer, do you? But don’t let fierce pride in the ‘idea’ of St. Louis, get in the way of solving some very real problems.