{"id":10995,"date":"2013-08-28T11:45:14","date_gmt":"2013-08-28T17:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flovalleynews.com\/?p=10995"},"modified":"2013-08-28T11:45:14","modified_gmt":"2013-08-28T17:45:14","slug":"community-responds-to-un-favorable-story-headline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=10995","title":{"rendered":"Community Responds to Un-favorable Story, Headline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Response to the St. Louis Post Dispatch<\/em> front page story on Aug., 18 with the headline \u201cNorth County Suburbia in Crisis\u201d has been a firestorm\u00a0 from citizens, community leaders and top civic organizations over the past week in both print and social media.<\/p>\n

Several letters from North County advocate leaders appeared in the Post the past week including those from Don Zykan, State Sen. Gina Walsh and an op-ed piece by former Mayor Robert Lowery Sr. pointing to the positive aspects of North County. The following is a capsule of other responses sent to The Independent<\/em> News<\/em> from area leaders.<\/p>\n

Mayor Tom Schneider<\/strong> responded with a lengthy letter pointing out some of the unfairness of the Post Editorial and listed many good things in our area that weren\u2019t mentioned.<\/p>\n

Schneider said that elected officials in Florissant are \u201cwell aware the challenges we face as well as the many sprlindid attributes that make Florissant and its surrounding area a fine place to work, live and raise a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schneider writes that although the article described North County housing as being old and small, the reality is that \u201cmore than 90 percent of all residential homes in Florissant feature three or more bedrooms, at least two baths, spacious accommodations and large yards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schneider acknowledges that there area problems in the housing market all over, but writes that officials in Florissant \u201caggressively approach the issue of vacant homes.\u201d He also mentions a program the council is working to develop that would encourage people to buy houses in the city.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

He writes about the police department and the high safety ratings the city consistently receives. He also discusses the school districts that serve the city, Ferguson-Florissant and Hazelwood. He states that both have \u201cexcellent leadership on their boards who have chosen outstanding superintendents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schneider also mentions development in the city, citing Cross Keys and the recent renovation of the former Value City site. He also mentions the new Wal-Mart and the fact that it is coming into the city without Tax Increment Financing (TIF).<\/p>\n

The park system, community center, and golf course are other assets to the city, as well as the Valley of Flowers Festival and Fall Festival, Schneider writes.<\/p>\n

\u201cA recent national magazine ranked Florissant in the \u201cTop 100 Best Places to Live,\u201d and also the number one value to buy a home,\u201d Schneider writes. The residents of Florissant, he said, \u201ctake inspiration from our rich heritage to focus on achieving progress for our city and surrounding communities s as we move towards an even brighter future.\u201d<\/p>\n

North County Incorporated<\/strong> (NCI) President and CEO Rebecca Zoll and Board Chair Ron McMullen also sent a letter to the post on behalf of the NCI Board of Directors. <\/strong>Zoll and McMullen write that the \u201carticle was troubling on many levels. It appeared the Post-Dispatch was blatantly contributing to the destabilization and decline of one portion of their service area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is interesting,\u201d they continued, \u201cthat the people living and working every single day in this community do not feel we are \u2018in crisis.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, we deserved better,\u201d Zoll and McMullen wrote, in a co-signed letter.\u00a0 \u201cWhile they say that they realize that North Council is struggling to overcome the foreclosure and lending crisis, so are many other areas in the county. They write about the Ferguson homeowner cited in the article who is having trouble selling her house, and asked why the reporter did not write about the fact that \u201cone block over another family sold their home in only three days for around $150,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere is this article did it point out that this is a great time to get a lot of house for your money?\u201d they wrote. \u201cThere are two sides to every story; what a shame that both sides really weren\u2019t told. In the future, we expect better from the Post.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zoll and McMullen also asked why the story did not mention any steps municipalities or the county are taking to recover from the housing crisis. They also asked why no mention was made of the economic growth in the area. \u201cWhere in the story,\u201d they write, \u201cdid it mention that even in exceptionally difficult economic times nearly 2,750 well-paying jobs with benefits have been announced in North St. Louis County in just three months, with major corporations making investments totaling nearly $110 million?\u201d<\/p>\n

Zoll and McMullen write: \u201cJust as easily the Post-Dispatch could have provided a more balanced article that also talked about the efforts people in our community are making to improve North County. That would have been a story which actually provided readers real and useful information.\u00a0\u201c<\/p>\n

Hazelwood School District <\/strong>Supt. Grayling Tobias and Board President Cheryl Latham also weighed in with a letter.\u00a0 They said that the district was \u201cwell aware of the challenges we face, as well as the many attributes that make our school district a wonderful place to work, live, and raise a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grayling and Latham point out that the district earned very high scores on the 2013 Annual Performance Report from the state. They remain fully accredited and are close to earning accredited with distinction honors.<\/p>\n

Tobias and Latham state how several students go on to prestigious colleges and universities, many with generous scholarships.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be difficult to find a community that has been more supportive than ours,\u201d Grayling and Latham write. They state that both by voting yes on a recent bond issue and becoming engaged in the planning process for facility upgrades, district residents have worked with the school district.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith state-of-the-art schools and a fully-accredited school district, HSD and the communities of North County are not in crisis,\u201d Grayling and Latham write. \u201cWe are moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Response to the St. Louis Post Dispatch front page story on Aug., 18 with the headline \u201cNorth County Suburbia in Crisis\u201d has been a firestorm\u00a0 from citizens, community leaders and top civic organizations over the past week in both print and social media. Several letters from North County advocate leaders appeared in the Post the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-florissant","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nCommunity Responds to Un-favorable Story, Headline - flovalleynews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/flovalleynews.com\/?p=10995\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Community Responds to Un-favorable Story, Headline - flovalleynews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Response to the St. Louis Post Dispatch front page story on Aug., 18 with the headline \u201cNorth County Suburbia in Crisis\u201d has been a firestorm\u00a0 from citizens, community leaders and top civic organizations over the past week in both print and social media. 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