While I cannot dispute any of what is in the article, I can say that my neighborhood is quite wonderful. As others have mentioned, other cities are having similar problems. So, our problems aren't unique.
By the way, I'm proud to say that our alderman, Fred Heitert, is the only Republican on the St Louis Board of Aldermen. So, yes, Republicans can win, but not city wide office!
Also a (former) St. Louis resident here (from Wildwood)...I can testify that St. Louis IS a BIG Dem town....the Post-Dispatch (newpaper) is THE MOST liberal rag around, and always endorses the Dem candidates over the Republicans....unions RULE St. Louis -- from the Chrysler assembly plants to the Busch brewery to the scads of government buildings downtown....also, minorities (blacks) are situated (mostly) in the downtown area, which makes for easy pickings for Dems in their election races...they just play the race card every single time....still, the county is more Republican than downtown St. Louis -- more than likely due to the fact that there are more (responsible) homeowners in the county who want to hold on their hard-earned money (and who don't accept, hook-line-and-sinker, the Dems mantra that they have to always raise taxes for "social programs" and the like)....from one St. Louisan to another -- HI! :-)