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?
Hell, he’s right. This is a has been town. Fortune 500 companies have no problem getting out of here, yet none ever seem to come. There are areas that are vast urban wastelands. I feel for the people stuck there (at least the ones who are the victims of the criminals that roam the streets)
People get whacked on street corners like no ones business, politics are divided up between the 2 parties, the black Democrats and the white Democrats, cronyism is the order of the day in all city jobs and work, and the schools are more than a joke. You can’t build anything because every building that might get cleared out to make way for progress will have some one chained too it telling us how architecturally significant this particular vacant building it is.
Is it just me, or does this guy remind you of Kent, from the movie Real Genius?
my friend in houston claims that they have better mexican food in texas, but i don’t believe it. the people who own mexican restaurants in st louis are also mexican. they came from the same mexico. they just travelled a few hundred miles north before they settled in their new home. same recipes, same heritage. what’s the difference? you are telling me that the mexican family who owns el nopal is less mexican than a mexican family who owns a restaurant in houston, or austin?
oh yeah, and this guy is a tool.
He could have chosen any number of cities. Detroit, KC, Philly, New Orleans, as examples of cities on the decline. Maybe he chose St. Louis because he’s been here recently and we can’t seem to stay out of the top-10 murderous, fattest, dirtiest, racist, blah, blah, list.
By the way, his real first name is Phil but he chooses to use his middle name as his first name.
St. Louis Metro population (2008, estimated): 2.87 million
Austin Metro population (2008, estimated): 1.5 million
Stop bashing your own hometown, have some civic pride. You don’t get to be the 17th-largest metropolitan area in the country by accident. And the city population is rising for the first time in 50 years. There’s nowhere to go but up - we are NOT Detroit, for god’s sake.
The message does hold true for our older cites throughout the US not just St. Louis. The whys and hows are multifaceted and solutions found to reduce the damage of the last 45 years. People like McCracken (Cracker sounds more probable) are just another cause..placing blame and not giving real solutions. We all can find fault and get some people to agree, the left and right extremes have been riding this pony for years.
How about thinking up ways to correct these problems that will really work and people will swallow hard but accept? Do we Americans really have the will anymore?
What do I think? I think he’s 100% accurate in what he says about St. Louis. On Monday night I was robbed at gunpoint outside my home in St. Louis. I have to say this is leaving a very bad taste in my mouth and I’m glad I am moving away from St. Louis next month to another state.
I didn’t get the sense he was trying to diss the people who live here, but even if he was, what kind of rebuttal could this region possibly offer, anyway? The city is a hell-hole of gigantic proportions.
What a jerk, is he one of W’s buddies, what party is he part of?
What’s your address Jeremy? I only ask because I have a hard time believing a lot of the self-reported crime by “city” residents on the message boards. I honestly think a lot of it is made up.
I grew up in the St. Louis suburbs and attended college here as well. I left for a few years and chose to come back because this is where I live and I can see the beauty of the city.
That said, to an outsider St. Louis looks lie one giant slum. We have elected goofy and self serving politicians for decades. If we all weren’t so stuck in high school and the clicks we joined then, we’d have elected competent people to make the city a decent place to live and work.
Our Riverfront is a prime example of the mismanagemet and serves as a good example of the state of St. Louis. While beautiful, and boasting a recognizable landmark, the riverfront district is dead most of the time.
It has been given a slew of drinking establishments (that have come and gone) and been given a reputation as unfriendly.
Memphis is a prime example of how a tourist district should be run.
Instead of letting those vacant buildings sit, let small business owners occupy them rent free or near free, get some live music that caters to different tastes, and enjoy the tax revenue. Live blues and jazz at one venue, rock at another, country at another, maybe a family style resturant ith a festive theme.
Bring back St. Louis as a tourist destination, and the tax revenue could be made to improve the city.
God bless Joe Edwards and hat he has done to revitalize a small portion of our city. Give him a budget and free reighn and see hat he can do.
Or better yet, hire me at a meager salary of about 30,000 a year and give me about 3 years.