A Dying Breed

Picture a city plagued with urban blight: a phenomenon where the population of a city drastically drops because of people moving to the suburbs. The streets are deserted. Unnecessary skyscrapers loom over decrepit buildings. Apartments remain unoccupied. This situation accurately describes my hometown of Saint Louis, Missouri. Since 1950, Saint Louis has lost 59% of its population. Urban blight is an overlooked phenomenon plaguing many cities like Saint Louis. Ultimately, so many people have left the city that the government cannot afford to fix it.

If you do not know anything about Saint Louis, it is not a place that exudes exciting energy where you can sit outside and enjoy the hubbub that usually accompanies a big city. In fact, it has been named by US World Reports as the most dangerous city, and it has been named by CNN as the second most dangerous city in the nation countless times.  I cannot walk the streets of downtown by myself, much less even be there at night. The problem lies within urban blight.

My mother has spent all of her life since her teenage years in Saint Louis. When I talk to her, she remembers Saint Louis as a lively city from her younger years. People flocked to the streets, took buses, and lived downtown. Today walking through the streets of downtown, it is not unnatural to be the only one. There are not enough people to fund a mass transit system. And it is unheard of to actually live downtown. Urban blight can be seen in every aspect of the city.

The biggest problem as a result of this is the lack of tax dollars the government has to invest in Saint Louis. With people moving out at increasing rates, the revenue from tax dollars also drops. Public works, updated city systems, buildings—all are decreased or abandoned due to the lack of resources the Saint Louis government has. But the main thing the Government does not have the money for is police protection. My mother was also a police officer in downtown Saint Louis for twenty years and knows first hand how dangerous it can be. With a lessening tax base every year, there is less money to spend on protection. Less money to compensate police officers for their work, less money to provide them with the right materials, and less money to have enough to protect the streets. Growing up in Saint Louis jaded me to the sadness and realness of shootings and murder. Listening to the news every morning, I would hear of multiple shootings, and more times than not they involved a police officer. It was not until I was much older that I learned that all cities are not like that. While it is sad to see the buildings being abandoned and the city’s future looking bleak, the saddest part is to see Saint Louis Police Officers risk their lives every day for a dangerous, dying city.

The next biggest problem is the racial divide. This is also a result of urban blight. Typically, white people flock to the suburbs and African-Americans have stayed in the city. Saint Louis has been dubbed one of the most racist and segregated cities in America. There is a street called Delmar and it serves as the divide for racial segregation. When you look at a demographics map, you’ll see that minorities live to the north of Delmar, while the White population lives to the south. In the map below, blue dots represent a minority while red dots represent a caucasian.

This too has had a major effect on the police force. The governments of the suburbs have been able to support police protection for the people, and proper protection for the police officers. The government of the city is left with a population unable to financially support proper protection for it’s police officers, let alone a big enough force of police officers at all.

In a nation with so many pressing problems, it is easy to overlook the problem of urban blight. However, it is not okay to overlook how it is affecting the police forces of the city. Men and women risk so much every day to protect the population and in return are inadequately protected and compensated. This easily overlooked problem needs to be addressed by the Saint Louis government.

Works Cited:

http://money.cnn.com/gallery/real_estate/2013/01/23/dangerous-cities/2.html

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/political-bookworm/2011/02/the_making_of_americas_most_da.html

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Race_and_ethnicity_2010_St._Louis.png