We deserve better cities

Pro-development. Anti-disorder. Pro-city.

[We deserve better cities @makecitiesgreat]

I would like to submit my own definition of what it means to be "plagued by crime." Crime has fallen... from "insanely high" to "very high." St. Louis has a long way to go until it's no longer "plagued by crime."

[We deserve better cities @makecitiesgreat]

Any serious discussion about reducing crime needs to reckon with the motivations of people like this. We need to be open to the likely truth that there was not a logical train of thought behind smashing the windows of random businesses at 3am. The disordered mind produces disordered, unpredictable actions. Drugs or alcohol likely played a role.

Some people attack and destroy because they want to, because it’s fun. Some people are dispositioned to be angry and violent because that’s just who they are, and/or because their brains have been warped by addiction or mental illness – not because of some noble root cause like “economic anxiety”.

Only the sheltered, upper-class, academic mind could assume that all criminal behavior is cleanly linked to reasonable motivations and logic. The truth is that there is far more variation in human behavior, and there are people whose thinking is not structured or reasonable.

Our criminal justice policy will continue to fail if we cannot accept and account for the fact that some people simply cannot exist in polite society, that incarceration is necessary to protect us from unpredictable violence and antisocial behavior that cannot be easily or quickly rehabilitated, if rehabilitation is possible at all.

[KMOV @KMOV]

A man faces charges in connection with two window-smashing incidents at a business on South Grand Boulevard. https://t.co/51gBDDmvKo

[wanye @xwanyex]

The most important thing to understand, the thing that unlocks everything else about suburbanization and 20th century American history, is that the crime came first. Crime in urban, black neighborhoods was not created by White flight. To the contrary, white flight was a response to visible crime and disorder that increased during and after the great migration.

This is very simple and obvious. It’s the parsimonious explanation. It’s the explanation that makes the most sense on the face of it. It’s also clearly what happened and is supported by all available data.

The crime came first. Americans responded rationally to that and other factors.

[We deserve better cities @makecitiesgreat]

And of course Redditors are parroting their usual slop opinion that this is the result of "economic anxiety." Unfortunately many in city leadership also believe this drivel

[We deserve better cities @makecitiesgreat]

Steve Ewing is having a horrifying week - losing a pet to degenerate pitbull owners right after his business (Steve's Hot Dogs) was vandalized two days in a row.

But that's the thing about living in a city like St. Louis, which is teeming with dysfunctional and violent people. While your odds of being a victim of crime are never particularly high at any given moment, the widespread presence of these disorderly and antisocial people makes the risk significantly higher than if you lived in a suburb. And when you suddenly find yourself on the losing end of that risk, it can bite hard and multiple times in a row.

Living in a city with a high proportion of disorderly people also requires you to take constant mitigating action. In Steve's case, that could include having to buy additional insurance for his business, or needing to be constantly alert to the risk of encountering pit bulls in Tower Grove Park. These people erode your ability to enjoy your city in both overt and subtle, subconscious ways.

We deserve better than to sacrifice quality of life in our cities to the most antisocial, destructive segment of the population.

[We deserve better cities @makecitiesgreat]

The anecdotes just generate themselves man. Sad to see local business owners who create the vibrancy this city needs get beat down over and over again by the reality of life in St. Louis.

[wanye @xwanyex]

One of the biggest divides between right and left, separating those people who understand reality and American history from those who do not, is whether you think suburbanization and American beliefs about crime and disorder are fundamentally irrational fabrications promoted by confused and ignorant people, or if you think they are a rational response to actually existing conditions.

[We deserve better cities @makecitiesgreat]

Running into one of The Teens is the defining existential outlier risk of living in our cities today.

Very low probability, but very high risk of personal injury or death.

[Hoosier Enquirer @HoosierEnquirer]

Black teen Assassin Strikes Downtown Indy: IMPD arrest 14-Year-Old Black Teen Who Guns Down Promising IU Grad in Cold-Blooded Parking Garage Execution
https://t.co/52e4nEpgYA

[We deserve better cities @makecitiesgreat]

Someone needs to start a live feed of all the ways the bottom quintile of teenagers are destroying St. Louis

Instead of releasing them to their parents, we should ship them out of the city to some sort of rural state facility to correct their behavior… a “correctional facility” perhaps?

[St. Louis Metropolitan Police @SLMPD]

Around 1am, neighbors in the Tower Grove South neighborhood contacted 911 for a group of suspects that were seen checking multiple vehicle door handles — trying to break into cars.

When officers arrived, the four suspects took off on foot. Officers were able to catch and detain a 17-year-old male and a 14-year-old male.

The 17-year-old male was found in possession of a handgun.

Officers contacted the juvenile detention center who declined to hold the juveniles and released them to their parents.

[We deserve better cities @makecitiesgreat]

Well, I'll take the opportunity to be angry. How many second, third, fourth, fifth chances do we need to give these people before we say "enough is enough"? How many opportunities for help do we need to offer before we expect adults to take responsibility for their actions? How much destruction do we need to tolerate in our once-great cities until the "system" is "fixed"?

St. Louis has been in a state of destruction for 70 years. The time for patience and coddling has passed.

[St. Louis Business @PostDispatchbiz]

The owner of Steve's Hot Dogs isn't angry at the man who smashed his windows, but at a system he feels is lacking resources. https://t.co/LHphIUQOf1

[Total NIMBY Death @BarneyFlames]

Leftism is just a political movement of low conscientiousness

[Josh Barro @jbarro]

Why did leftists decide that manifestly low conscientiousness is a mark of "authenticity"? They did it with Fetterman, it blew up in their face, and now they've done it again with Platner: falling in love with an obviously unreliable underemployed weirdo. https://t.co/cid5VoEtsW

[Stephen Fleming @StephenFleming]

Perception of safety is a HUGE issue with public transit. Quoting statistics doesn’t help. Once people have had a few up-close interactions with the bottom 5%, they’ll put up with the expense and inconvenience of automobiles. And it is almost impossible to get them back.

[Anthony LaMesa @ajlamesa]

Random violence can obviously happen anywhere. I was in Paris during the November 2015 terrorist attacks. What makes the status quo on MARTA so problematic, however, is that there's a toxic combination of rare violent acts *and* incessant low-level disorder, behavior that you're constantly forced to worry might pivot to violence. That makes using the transit system stressful and unpleasant. So, unsurprisingly, many choice riders with alternative mobility options (e.g., cars, Uber, Waymo) have simply decided to stay away.

[We deserve better cities @makecitiesgreat]

Democrats will happily discard our prevailing form of representative democracy if it doesn’t produce their preferred outcomes.

“Public comment” is not enshrined in any state constitution, but progressives will seek to codify and weaponize it to strengthen their control over economic development

[Dr. Abdul El-Sayed @AbdulElSayed]

Sam Altman is in town declaring victory on a data center project they had to pass without public comment. We need Terms of Engagement at the federal level to keep Big Tech from rolling over state and local governments to shove projects down our throats without clear protections.

[Dion @2024dion]

The hardest thing to accept as a young urbanist is that agglomeration, while inherently urban in nature, is not dependent on the shape of the built environment, at all. Many of America’s most important and innovative firms cluster in dull suburban office parks

[We deserve better cities @makecitiesgreat]

I am shocked - shocked! - that this reckless driver doesn’t have compliant license plates!

[St. Louis Metropolitan Police @SLMPD]

#SLMPD District 3 detectives are requesting the public's help in locating a white Mazda CX9 that fled the scene of a fatal accident Friday night.

On May 29, 2026, just before 10:30PM, this pictured white Mazda struck a 27-year-old man that was crossing the 3500 block of Gravois Ave and continued driving. The man later died from his injuries.

The Mazda sustained damage to the front driver-side quarter panel and headlight during the accident. The Mazda also had a Missouri plate on the rear of the vehicle that was not properly registered and is believed to have been removed.

Anyone with information is asked to call District 3 detectives at 314-444-2500. You can also submit a tip anonymously by calling CrimeStoppers at 866-371-8477.

[Nicole @nicolegelinas]

"Someone got murdered." These are also the classic bro accounts that pretend they understand statistics but don't understand that statistics can't be isolated from real life. If you opt to take your car -- especially if you aren't drunk, obey the speed limit, wear your seat belt, etc. etc., e.g., the average 66-year-old woman -- you are highly unlikely to encounter unpleasantness or danger on your trip. If you opt to take transit in much of the country, you are highly likely to encounter unpleasantness that makes you feel endangered. No wonder most people in most of the country choose their cars. RIP to the victim.

[McPherson @McPherSTL]

Imagine if @saintlouispres and her staff put the same energy into ensuring all cars in St. Louis City had valid license plates.

[Anthony LaMesa @ajlamesa]

How much you wanna bet that someone driving this recklessly has other problems with the law?

Cracking down on traffic crimes is an equitable and effective way to improve overall safety in our towns and cities.