ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Over the last 48 hours, there have been a lot of conversation regarding downtown St. Louis, but it's not about what happened in St. Louis.
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal published a story about downtown St. Louis, calling it a real estate nightmare and it is desperately trying to reverse its 'doom loop.'
The story discusses a University of Toronto School of Cities study to see how 66 cities around North America have recovered since the COVID-19 Pandemic and found that St. Louis was the worst among the 66 cities, with the cities recovering only 53% to it's pre-COVID-19 levels as of Oct. 16 2023.
Many in the St. Louis-area has chimed in their thoughts on the article regarding downtown St. Louis, with local leaders like Alderwoman Cara Spencer thinking this is a 'wakeup call'.
Hayden's Irish Pub, who was mentioned in the Wall Street Journal story and spoken to, said the story didn't paint an accurate story, with the owner of the pub posting on the Pub's X, formerly known as Twitter account that he 'shared plenty of positive information that was ignored and his bartender's statement was taken out of context.'
Citizens for a Greater Downtown St. Louis, wrote on a long detailed post on X that the story is largely accurate, it is a byproduct of indifference, inattention, ego, hubris, and just plain incompetence by city government, but it is not too late to create a truly collaborative effort to fix it.
Chris Rongey and Amy Marxkors of 'The Chris and Amy Show' on KMOX discussed the article and went into detail on the public reactions from many St. Louis officials and groups regarding the article and their thoughts on if the city is on death's doorsteps.
