When I slipped the mantle of editor-in-chief of Sophisticated Living St. Louis back on last year, I declared the magazine would focus entirely on what is great about our city.

Easy, right?

Wrong.

NOT… Easy… Not by a long shot.

Every week we are confronted with more and more heinous crimes. Our fair city is being cited in international headlines broadcasting those horrific injustices. And those nightmares could have happened to members of our own families, our friends, to our nearest and dearest.

All I think is: There but for the grace of God.

I suspect that the first thought traipsing the minds of our readers is: Yeah, but it was Downtown. It was in The City. And, we all know The City is dangerous. The population in declining. Now the 23rd-largest U.S. metro for population as of July 1, 2023, (down from No. 21 the year before), in the last census count St. Louis City lost  lost 4,439 residents, while St. Louis County dropped by 3,732.

I have friends who won’t consider going Downtown for anything but the Cardinals and then preferably a day game. Recently I had lunch with a dear friend who confessed that she’s too frightened to shop the Galleria. I rolled my eyes.

The Galleria? It’s in Richmond Heights.

Enough is enough is enough.

Fear should not and cannot be our guiding light.

When our founding fathers created this beautiful city, they suffered from severe short sightedness. They drew a circle from the riverfront out and declared they were done. Then in 1876, the voters decided to establish a new home rule charter and approved the separation from St. Louis County. Thus they created the great City/County divide. Through the years, the city declined, the county thrived. But no one has ever, sincerely, stepped up to the mic and said, “Divided we fall; united we must stand.”

The only time anyone came close was in 1972 when an agreement was pounded out and passed for both City and County to support the Zoo Museums District. By all measurements, that initiative has been a unqualified success. 

After significantly reducing the numbers of homeless in Houston and Dallas, Mandy Chapman Semple was hired last summer by several civic leaders to come to St. Louis, assess the situation here, and submit a plan to resolve it.

She didn’t get that far.

“St. Louis isn’t ready,” she said. “There are some things that need to be put in place, some decisions the community needs to make before they can start thinking about a major initiative. There is some disjointedness among the region. I think this is part of its DNA.”

Yet there are community leaders working furiously to help. Take Jay Shields, ceo of his family-owned company, Schaefer Manufacturing. Shields has been working hard to help his less-privileged fellow man/woman/child. With the help of Samantha Stangl, executive director of House Everyone STL and a small army of others, they are working to resolve Chapman Semple’s concerns. The task is Herculean.

The fact remains that irrespective of all those horrible happenings, there is so much going on Downtown that not only deserves our applause but also merits our fervent support.

It’s spring. The breezes are balmy. The days are long. It’s the perfect time to climb into your car and drive down to The Grove. Stop in one of the myriad of restaurants. Spend time in The City Foundry and check out the shops nearby. Explore The Armory. Have a glass of wine and pizza at Scarlett’s Wine Bar. Lunch at Union Loafers. Catch a CITY StL game. Ride the Wheel at Union Station and glance out over our beautiful city. Go to a Cardinals’ game. Cheer on the Blues. Peruse the fanciful finds at Rick Ege’s antique shop on Sydney. Go to the Sydney Street Cafe. Take a leisurely stroll through Tower Grove Park. Start your summer Saturdays frequenting its stellar Farmer’s Market. Have dinner at Bulrush and learn about native Ozark foods that date back to the late 18th century. Walk around The Hill and you will be astonished by all the new housing, offices, shops, and restaurants. Go to 21c; have dinner at Idol Wolf. Trek Forest Park from Skinker to Kingshighway. I could go on and on.

If fear of the “What If” keeps us locked away in our suburban or even Central West End homes, then these enterprises haven’t a ghost of a chance to survive. If we just assume because crimes happen that we are all in danger, Downtown St. Louis will continue to lose and those intrepid entrepreneurs will suffer. And fail.

These are all individuals who refuse to give up on The City. They are fighting for it.

And, they are fighting hard.

Shouldn’t we all be doing the same?

Christy Marshall, Editor-in-Chief, Editor@slmag.net