Support for Donnybrook Last Call interesting.

Well, it needs to get done and I I we're just like water rates.

Maybe if you explain to people like it's really not the water, it's the pipes.

Now I know that's kind of getting into the weeds, but maybe you understand that the whole thing is going to break down.

We really do, but 90% is excessive.

Not well, that's wrong word.

90% is like a lot, okay?

>> Because you know, we flipped our lid over 14% in Kirkwood and it was instantly put upon us.

So it wasn't like it's going to gradually get higher, but at the same time I don't know how you I don't know how you Sell that.

90% right.

And which is why I always wanted more than the 30 million dollars out of the Rams money.

In fact, when we were talking about what should we do with the Rams money, I said spend it all on the water department.

Spend as much as you can on the water department.

It's equal for everybody.

It's it's a gift that keeps on giving to everybody.

I mean you have to do it.

I mean and you know, these cities are facing it, but I think that's one of the problems is you say politicians have been comfortable for years with kicking cans down the road and just hope you're you're playing Russian roulette.

Let's hope that can doesn't blow up while I'm in office.

Well, it's true.

Eventually you say it's going to blow up, but it's like you say, "Oh, we put this off and it's going to be on our kids."

Well, they were saying that to my parents.

Well, apparently they could kick the can far enough to get to us and now we're kicking the can.

So I mean, do we just kick it to a 100 years from now and we're not here to worry about it when it finally blows up?

I don't know, but they have to do something with water.

Wish they'd done it earlier.

Well, let me ask you also about the losing population which Wendy just identified another problem.

It was reported this week that when you crunch the US US Census numbers for the first five years of this decade, Joe, uh St.

Louis in terms of percentage decline leads the top US cities.

Not in total numbers, but in the percentage of people who moved out.

And also if you look at the first five years of this decade, we had more people move out of the city of St.

Louis than in the previous 10 years.

And then it's not just the city of St.

Louis.

Clayton actually added 300 people, but Webster, Chesterfield, other cities are losing population.

And that means we're going to be closing schools like we did this week with the charter school 1220 Olive Street.

St.

Michael School in Clayton is closing.

Um Catholic schools have been closing left and right.

But the more schools you close, fewer people are going to move to that area.

And so people are going to be incentivized to move out to St.

Charles or Warren County or Franklin County.

Well, and and I think that's exactly what's happening.

And I think there's a variety of reasons for it.

I think and you can name some some COVID's one.

COVID showed that people don't need to work in an office building anymore.

And that changed I thought the face of of the US where there didn't have to be this big monolithic building that everybody went to to do all this work for the corporation.

They could live in Wentzville.

They could live in Warrenton.

And they could just file their work.

So you don't have to be in that urban center if you don't like it.

So you move out.

Then you take in that for this the millennial end of the millennial and the beginning of Gen Z, they're having less kids.

I don't know how you make people have kids, but they're not having them.

So that's another thing that that goes down is smaller families.

And as uh Ness Sandoval points out, most of the people relocating in city are the old what were used to be referred to as dinks, double income no kids.

Right.

Okay, well they're not worried about schools.

So the move to let's develop schools, that's not in come that's not a big issue on their plate.

>> And and I think you you you have to look at our strengths.

And I one of our huge strengths is how cheap it is to live here compared to other places.

I mean when I have friends come in from out of town, they're startled.

I mean I had some friends come in and they had an Airbnb in the Central Westend.

And the house that they stayed in was like $700, $800,000.

They were from Miami and they said, "You know what you could get for eight hundred thousand dollars in Miami?

Yeah.

A cottage.

>> A cottage.

And you have houses here that you can buy.

Beautiful.

>> and really water, you talk about the water, Joe, with the Missouri and the Mississippi right here and and there's a you know, you go to Arizona, there's a panic going on about water and we have lots of water and we have cheap housing and it really seems like there ought to be a way to build marketing around that and get these And have fun with it.

>> and have families have families come here and I think the majority of people who are leaving St.

Louis are leaving the door side of of St.

Louis and I'm not to say like who cares if people from North side of St.

Louis move to North County or wherever, but I think that number, people are saying like, "Oh my god, people are leaving the best parts of town in in St.

Louis."

I don't think that's necessarily so.

I think the like I said, most people who are leaving the city St.

Louis live on the city's North side because of housing stock.

They once we figure out how many people actually don't live there anymore after the tornado, it's even going to be more dramatic.

So, I think you have to look at it with that and on those studies, Chicago actually increased and there's some other cities that were like, "Oh, the cities are dying."

And they're actually increasing population, so it is possible for St.

Louis to do it.

>> Well, everybody around this table, we all grew up in the 50s and the 60s and the 70s when it was all about upward mobility and you know, improving your family's financial situation and a chicken in every pot and a two-car garage.

The millennials have completely combined with the COVID and the impact that that has had on downtown areas everywhere.

The millennial, their their idea of work-life balance, I don't think we have begun to see the tip of the iceberg in terms of the impact that that that just a new mindset because we were all four-year college and now we're rethinking, you know, the four-year colleges and we're emphasizing the vocational schools.

So, there's a lot of a lot of societal trends.

>> and I think some of [laughter] our I think some of our attractiveness, too, is you say, "Well, look at the house you can buy in St.

Louis for this amount of money.

Look at what that amount of money will buy you a house in Warren County, and even bigger house or maybe in Montgomery County."

I mean, we're a cheap area.

So, it all differs.

Because to get into a good school district like Kirkwood, for example, you have got to pay a lot of money.

>> Well, I mean the It is not affordable for the average guy.

I I think the kind of the the taxes people would say are high.

But but the what you get for your taxes are pretty good.

There are homes you can buy in places like Kirkwood and in Webster that are affordable.

But we got to make sure that we protect those homes, you know.

Unders brother doesn't buy them all.

I don't know.

I I DON'T KNOW.

I I I don't find much of St.

Louis that is affordable as you seem to be.

Okay, but we 700,000 dollars If you went to a college town, okay, Columbia's like this, Lawrence is like Charlie, you don't find St.

Louis St.

Louis has been known as affordable But he he he he he he citing as an example of $700,000 home.

Well, I'm I'm I'm saying that those people who came in and stayed there, three families, they said you know, for $700,000 you can't come close to this.

Try finding a house in Los Angeles for $700,000.

It's all true.

It's all true.

You couldn't buy the the the the driveway, but I still don't find it affordable.

Well, I you did We got to live somewhere, Charlie, and if it's cheaper here than it is in Clayton I'm going to tell you something, you guys want to write this down cuz I got a scoop at we had a reception a couple weeks ago here at the Bogey Club.

Oh, here at Channel 9, we were meeting some of our generous donors and one woman was a volunteer with the International Institute.

And I said, "Well, where are the immigrants coming from now?"

cuz I'm very interested in immigrants coming here and increasing our population.

She says, "Well, a lot are coming from South Africa, the Afrikaners.

They're white South Africans."

Did you guys know this?

>> I mean I mean >> they got a visa approval thing.

But did you know they're here in St.

Louis?

>> No, no, no.

But I I know that the administration said that while we're cutting immigration, we welcome We welcome the South Africans.

Well, I saw Lethal Weapon 2, so I thought maybe that had something to do with it.

>> No, I welcome all people, but apparently Elon Musk thinks they're persecuted.

So, Trump thinks they're persecuted and they're coming here where many other groups cannot get here.

All right.

>> Wow.

Well, that's going to be a >> You don't care.

All right.

Well, well, what is it you want us to do?

Be upset about them?

No, I I I take it to your editor and say, "Hey, assign this tomorrow morning.

10:00 meeting."

I will, Charlie.

Absolutely.

Consider it done.

All right.

When they start having rallies on Klyde Warren Plaza, then I might be concerned.

[laughter] Okay, too many topics, too little time.

We'll see you next week at this time.

Thank you so much for joining us.