ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - A Chesterfield-based company says it is re-evaluating hosting its national business meeting, trade show and other events in downtown St. Louis – due to rising crime.
In a letter obtained by KMOX, DOT Foods Inc. says the safety of its attendees, business partners and vendors is paramount and until the environment changes and an improvement plan is in place, it will consider alternative destinations for future annual meetings.
The company said in a statement that some of its employees and customers have "experienced some close calls during events this summer."
"We are losing faith in the city’s ability to provide a safe experience for our people," the statement read. "Incidents of crime and violence are regularly happening downtown, just steps outside the venues we use for our large events each year."
DOT says its meetings have been held in the city for more than 20 years, drawing more than 5,000 people and generating $5 million in revenue annually for the hospitality community.
President of Explore St. Louis Kitty Ratcliffe released a statement after seeing DOT's email:
"Explore St. Louis been communicating with both DOT Foods and the Police Dept 4th District (downtown) and the Director of Public Safety over the last couple of weeks, so they are aware of DOT’s concerns. DOT Foods is an important customer for St. Louis, for our hotels that they use for their various events, large and small, the restaurants nearby that their attendees enjoy and the workforce that helps produce their largest event that they do each year in the convention center. We rely on and appreciate their business and are hopeful that the Mayor’s new downtown safety task force working with the public safety officials, will implement some long term solutions that will allay those concerns and make everyone feel safe when they come to our community."
Explore St. Louis been communicating with both DOT Foods and the Police Dept 4th District (downtown) and the Director of Public Safety over the last couple of weeks, so they are aware of DOT’s concerns. DOT Foods is an important customer for St. Louis, for our hotels that they use for their various events, large and small, the restaurants nearby that their attendees enjoy and the workforce that helps produce their largest event that they do each year in the convention center. We rely on and appreciate their business and are hopeful that the Mayor’s new downtown safety task force working with the public safety officials, will implement some long term solutions that will allay those concerns and make everyone feel safe when they come to our community.
Related
In many national crime studies, St. Louis has been named among one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S. US World News and World Report's latest ranked St. Louis has the fourth-most dangerous in 2020. The annual Morgan Quitno Press has St. Louis as the No. 3 most-dangerous city.
However, a more recent report from the safety and security website SafeWise claims St. Louis isn't even the most dangerous city in Missouri. Their ranking says Springfield, Missouri is more dangerous.
The big difference between this ranking and the Morgan Quitno Press list that always ranks St. Louis high is the way the numbers are viewed. For years, critics of Morgan Quitno's list pointed out they measured other cities in their metro areas, but for St. Louis, looked only at city-specific statistics. The argument was often made that if Morgan Quitno looked at the whole St. Louis metropolitan area, the numbers would be different. And that proves true in the case of SafeWise's list.
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