Sweeping Up the Glass

Recently, the garbage company shattered a large piece of glass in front of our house, and drove away without cleaning it up.

It wasn't glass from my garbage can.

But it happened in front of my house.

I pulled my empty garbage cans out on the street to block traffic, and ran into the house for a broom and dustpan.

Could I have ignored it? Sure. I didn't cause the mess.

But nobody else was around to clean it up that morning.

So I swept up the glass.

I relocated my family to St. Louis from the Chicago area. Despite the national reputation that's plagued St. Louis for the past few years, we've found "the Lou" to be a great place to live.

However, there are obvious issues. Major sections of STL in decay. Crime. Abandoned cars littering the interstates and the sides of the parking lots. Stagnant economic development, with major companies threatening to pull up stakes and move, citing the perception of high crime and crumbling infrastructure as a major barrier to recruiting talent.

My friend Jerry said St. Louis acts like a "city that missed it's moment."

The former journalist in me just couldn't resist digging in.

Just beneath the surface, I found substantial evidence that the decline of STL can't be blamed on the downturn of the manufacturing sector, poor luck or a lack of innovation.

To the contrary, the metro area boasts multiple Fortune 500 companies, a world class healthcare sector and impressive diversity in tech startups.

No, the evidence points to corruption at the local level as the element that cut a formerly world class city off at the knees.

I didn't ask for this gig, but I don't see anybody else telling the story…so I'm going to. Because I can't unsee the evidence.

Not my mess…

…but somebody has to sweep up the glass.

Stay tuned,

-sth

Pasadena Hills, STL County, St Louis, MO