Historical May 1983 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
April showers this year will bring May flowers, and subsequent blooms in June, July and August.
Our abundant rainfall has dampened the plans of backyard gardeners and created miniature rivers in every other basement.
It seems spring visited us in February, only to be supplanted by winter in April.
As a result, snow came as no surprise.
Our short-lived snowfall made me remember a similar April snow ten or eleven years – ago.
I was living in Illinois, but I mentioned to a colleague that my sister had told me St. Louis had snow in the middle of April.
His comment was, “Gee, I never thought it snowed in the South.”, That comment seems appropriate to St. Louis, whether people consider it part of the Midwest or the South.
Many people have characterized St. Louis as schizophrenic: Its split personality may not only be a result of its natives’ perceptions of her, but also the product of other peoples’ perceptions. Parkview could be considered a microcosm of St. Louis in terms of its split character. How many other subdivisions are divided between two cities?
When I have tried to explain that Parkview is one-third in the city of St. Louis and two-thirds in University City the reaction is bewilderment.
The usual response is a question: Why would anyone design a subdivision that way?
The first question anyone asks is how the police function.
If a crime is committed in the city and the University City police are in the vicinity, do they ignore it because it occurred one-half block out of their jurisdiction? Assuring people that the appropriate law enforcement body would be called does little to resolve their confusion. Of course you could always complicate matters by mentioning the fact that Parkview has its own police. That always helps to muddy the waters completely.
Another topic which lends credence to the theory of Parkview’s having a split personality is that of the schools. Friends. whose children attend public schools run by their county, ask what county district Parkview is in. Naturally, the first step in that reply is to explain that the city of St. Louis, and hence that section of Parkview, is not in the county of St. Louis, nor any , county, for that matter.
As a result, those who live in the section of the city may choose between St. Louis public schools, St. Roch, or private schools. Those who live in University City don’t choose “county” schools either, since they live in the University City school district.
A number of families who live in U. City, however, also choose to send their children to private schools.
There is no guarantee, then, that the majority of Parkview children will attend the same schools at any level.
In other subdivisions not so divided by a city boundary it might be a lot easier to find everyone hailing the same alma mater.
Even services such as trash pickup differ from block to block because of the subdivision’s makeup. Depending upon where someone lives in Parkview, he might have a dumpster, a front curb pickup, a plastic bag collection or a trash container pickup. Every other Wednesday it’s easy to spot the U.
City boundary just by the bright yellow tree saver containers.
There is no striking architectural difference between the city and U. City. Apparently the builders didn’t feel it necessary to make such a distinction in brick.
There is also no marked dissimilarity between residents of one community versus another, at least not one that’s obvious. Neither is the dress nor automobile ownership different once you cross over the “border.” If other people in the county and city used Parkview as an example of the two communities being able to live together maybe there would even be a vote for consolidation of city and county. That might eliminate the split personality, though.
Originally published in The Paper, May 1983.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1983_05.pdf, printed page(s) 7; PDF page(s) 7.
