I try to limit public complaining/venting on this website. If you don't offer up a plan or share what you are doing to help, it just ends up becoming exhausting...and negative. I am aware of that and try to choose wisely when I share the frustrations of St. Louis living.
But, hope springs eternal in the Mound City. I truly believe in the future of St. Louis and always will. And someday when I have more selfish time, I will work toward improving St. Louis in a larger capacity.
I don't take posting negative slanted blogs lightly. It actually weighs on me. But in consulting with the editor (wife), sometimes we choose to do it after she edits it down and sands down the edges.
I usually don't like the comments sections in online journalism. STL Today can take a well written story with good information, insight or perspective and then I click on the comments section and things quickly deteriorate into a hate filled anti-St. Louis rant.
But comments are one of the democratic, nice things about the Internet. It allows one to have a voice or add to a story or correct an inaccuracy. It's really a nice way to connect with like-minded people. So, I choose to keep the comments "on".
This paid off recently with a comment from a reader on the Property Owner Neglect and Abandonment post I published a couple days ago.
It's good to know you're not alone in frustrations. It's good to know the city has to do so much better with its enforcement of simple rules.
But, best of all, it's good to know responsible owners dedicated to maintaining a property are moving here and willing to do the tough work and have the tough conversations. It's people like Ms. Botkin that'll make St. Louis' neighborhoods strong again.
Hope springs eternal, kind readers. Don't let my negativity get you down. All it takes is getting involved.
Cheers
