A Slice of St. Louis

My wife, my almost three year old daughter, and I took the opportunity to ride the Shrewsbury extension free this Sunday. I have ridden the MetroLink before, but my daughter had never been on a train, so we decided to walk down to the station from our humble abode in the city and take in what some were calling a "historical moment," or at least a moment when St. Louisians would experience something new.

The train was packed, and while I was one of the people who was enraptured by the newness of light rail extending a bit further in the StL, I was a bit perplexed by how some folks were acting.

They were taking pictures. And it was clear that for many folks public transportation was "new" to them.

To quote a character in Toni Cade Bambara's "The Lesson," "White folks crazy."

The specter of various natives taking pictures of a commuter train took me through stages of revulsion, amusement, and anger. My first instinct was to think, "You people really need to get a life, for Christsake. It's a train. Haven't you been on a damn commuter train before?" Then, after some reflection, I kind of laughed at how folks of the 52nd city need little reasoning to make something a big deal: pet parades, toasted ravioli, unnecessary standing ovations at Busch, among others. Are we as a city that starved for attention or something new to do? And how does this reaction fit with Bill McClellan contention that St. Louis has a serious inferiority complex? Ponder that for a bit.

I finally got around to anger though, which fits my character I guess. It's sad that this area doesn't have effective public transportation to all parts of the metro area. The Shrewsbury extension is a small step in larger direction, but the area needs to expand it.

Perhaps instead of tearing up Highway "Farty," we could ave paid for a good bridge over to Illinois and help fund expanding MetroLink?

Just a thought.