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North County Is the Future!
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In the mid-80's, North County, Inc., had a slogan that appeared on bumper stickers and elsewhere, "North County Is the Future." I thought it was just an attempt to be generally upbeat about North County. In 1987, while taking a Business Ethics graduate course at UM-St. Louis, I first realized what it meant and how accurate it was. The instructor led the class in lively discussions about many social and economic issues. One discussion involved various aspects of racial and cultural discrimination. As we talked about current attitudes and how they applied to housing, there was an expressed desire to get past this unfounded discrimination and live together in harmony. The professor asked, "What do you see in the future?" Intuitively, my answer came, "North County Is the Future!" It was the first time I realized what was intended by the slogan, and what a great vision it was -- and still is. After living in North County for over twenty years, my husband and I moved to Memphis in 1991. Our sons stayed in our North County home, which we did not wish to give up. While we were gone, our sons both married and moved to outlying areas of the metropolitan region. We wished they wouldn't have moved so far from the family home, but understood the psychology of the day and their concerns...fear of an unknown future, concern about stability of housing values. Negativity about North County, actively promoted by those living and those developing in other areas, was difficult to combat. Any negative news story reported as happening in "North County" painted the 375,000 people living here with the same broad brush. When we returned to our home in 1997, we became involved in our parish and in local organizations and began learning more and more about what is going on now. In gathering information to share with others, I am continually impressed by St. Louis County government employees, particularly the police, who live in North County and are actively addressing citizen concerns. They make me proud to live in the unincorporated part of the County. Municipal and neighborhood organizations, e.g., Florissant, Ferguson, Black Jack, and Old Jamestown Association, continue to work for their residents' best interests. Opportunities are also growing for residents to impact their own surroundings through newer faith-based community organizations. CUCA (Churches United for Community Action) has worked with local governments to improve the occasional unkempt properties that can harm the image of whole neighborhoods. CUCA is also part of the larger MCU (Metropolitan Congregations United) for St. Louis, which is promoting North area transportation interests as well as "smart growth" for the entire St. Louis region. Members of NCCU (North County Churches Uniting for Racial Harmony and Justice) promote and celebrate our diversity instead of running from it. My husband and I have seen and appreciated efforts made by existing businesses to greatly improve the looks of older strip malls and efforts by new businesses to make their surroundings visually appealing through landscaping. We have learned of new retailers planning to locate here, and others planning to upgrade their current locations in North County. The J C Penney outlet store at Jamestown has brought this catalog shopper back to the mall. We have read about innovative programs in our schools. We have seen the enthusiasm of young couples raising their children here. We have seen the range of housing available and new homes still being built. North County's strong base of intelligent, well-educated, and open-minded people has grown even stronger. In my experience, North County reality has nothing in common with its negative stereotypes. From all I've seen and learned in the last two years, I can say now that I whole-heartedly encourage our sons and their wives, and everyone to come live in North County. We are the future! Peggy Kruse, St. Norbert Catholic Church, North County This column was originally written for the Opinion Shaper column of the North County Journal. A slightly edited version was printed in the Journal March 15, 2000. Return to: |