Shooting by Edward Jones Dome

[MARS_James]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

Considering St. Louis is considered the second most dangerous city in the country (at least it was last year according to Forbes), I can't exactly say I'm surprised. FIRST really needs to stop picking cities on that list. (Atlanta was #6). I hear Detroit is nice this time of year!

If you are worried about crime then they could always bring it back to Orlando, I am sure no one would complain about nothing to do either

[Justin Shelley]

Some helpful information. In St. Louis it is illegal to report that any violent acts are gang violence even though a vast majority of them are. My experiences in St. Louis have been pleasant and yours likely will be so long as your not affiliated with any gangs!! all the same though, be safe!

[team4384]

Hope this incident DOESN'T distract FIRST activities.

Its time CMP comes to MI, bring it to BIG HOUSE in UofM or FORD field!

[Alexa Stott]

Originally Posted by Justin Shelley

Some helpful information. In St. Louis it is illegal to report that any violent acts are gang violence even though a vast majority of them are. My experiences in St. Louis have been pleasant and yours likely will be so long as your not affiliated with any gangs!! all the same though, be safe!

Yeah, this seems like an isolated incident, not someone going on a shooting spree near the dome. Most shooting incidents seem to be targeted at specific individuals and not random acts of violence. Though people can sometimes get caught in the crossfire or catch a stray bullet, I personally don't think this is much to worry about. Of course, everyone should practice common sense--don't go into sketchy areas, travel in groups, etc.

[pfreivald]

In doing research for a novel, I searched for the worst possible place, crime-wise, in the whole country, and I found East St. Louis, Illinois... which is right across the Eads Bridge, a few blocks from the Edward Jones Dome.

My numbers are a few years out of date, but at the time East St. Louis had, compared to the national average:

Murder rate 20x.
Assault rate 17x.
Rape rate 8x.
Robbery rate 6.5x.

Fortunately the river helps; the City of St. Louis fares better than its eponymous neighbor, but not enough to make anyone comfortable. They're at 7.5x, 4.5x, 2x, 6x, respectively. For large cities, only Detroit and Flint fare worse.

That said, large groups are almost always insulated from all of the above; this means that being safe is a matter of awareness and common sense--stay in large groups, and don't wander off.

[biofantic]

As a St. Louis resident, I know that St. Louis is just like any city: you need to know where to go. As long as you don't go onto the Eastern side of the river, you're generally good. That said, it is a city, so you always need to be careful.

Here's an article my school's newsmagazine did this year on crime in St. Louis, if you're interested:
http://www.chsglobe.com/cover-story/...angerous-city/

[Steve W]

Toronto is a great place. Come visit and bring Champs with you.

[Tungrus]

Shooting and violence rarely happens in Detroit Downtown where FORD field, Joe Louis and COBO are located! International Autoshow, and other major events is testimony for this.

Yes, Detroit city itself has its share of violence either due to drug peddlers or teens. CMP may be a good idea to motivate these teens into attending school, don't you think?

[Karibou]

Originally Posted by Tungrus

Shooting and violence rarely happens in Detroit Downtown where FORD field, Joe Louis and COBO are located! International Autoshow, and other major events is testimony for this.

Yes, Detroit city itself has its share of violence either due to drug peddlers or teens. CMP may be a good idea to motivate these teens into attending school, don't you think?

I re-read this post a few times waiting for the sarcasm to hit me, but it didn't. Hopefully there was some there, because Detroit is one of the last places I would want to see CMP move to. Since we're already talking about dangerous cities...I'm going to actually respond to this.

While shooting and violence aren't as prolific downtown by the sports venues (for lack of a better general term), that doesn't mean they don't happen and that that it's a safe area. More safe than many other areas of Detroit, but that doesn't make it great. Most of downtown is actually a really, really nice place during the day (Midtown, museum district, sports venues, RenCen area), but I would be more concerned about at night. It's always a little worrisome to be wrangling a group of students at night in a large city, and the same concerns apply to Detroit.

I just looked at the crime statistics for both St. Louis and Detroit, and they don't differ as much as I originally thought, but there's a lot of other factors that make it a bad choice for a host city. Crime aside, there's also a lack of nearby (cost-effective) hotels and fast food joints, a pretty terrible police department, expensive parking near all of the large venues, lack of trailer/bus parking, and some pretty bad driving*. The city just doesn't have the means to support an event of this scale - the Auto Show attracts a huge (mostly adult, mind you) audience, but it doesn't have an audience that needs to stay nearby overnight for several nights without breaking the bank.

*Side story: I was watching the news once, and it was live reporting from a street in downtown Detroit. You could clearly see the cars passing on the road behind the reporter...and you could also clearly see a van doing a completely illegal U-turn in the middle of a busy road. No big deal. Again, bad driving.

[Camren]

Originally Posted by Steve W

Toronto is a great place. Come visit and bring Champs with you.

A Canadian championship would be very intriguing.

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by Steve W

Toronto is a great place. Come visit and bring Champs with you.

I like this idea, lets do that.

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by Gregor

I like this idea, lets do that.

How quickly we forget that most Americans don't have a passport... (Yeah, it's unfair, but it's a reality that FIRST would have to deal with.)

[dtengineering]

Originally Posted by pfreivald

How quickly we forget that most Americans don't have a passport... (Yeah, it's unfair, but it's a reality that FIRST would have to deal with.)

Neither do most Canadians... but we're happy to get one so we can visit our neighbours.

Besides... Americans don't actually need a passport to get into Canada, only to get back home. Which, admittedly, is something of a big deal to most people. Minors, however, travelling as part of a school or community group, don't even require a passport to get home.

Come up to Canada... where shoot outs happen only when the game isn't settled in overtime.*

Jason

*Yes, that's a joke. Our gang members like to shoot each other, too.

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

Neither do most Canadians... but we're happy to get one so we can visit our neighbours.

A. You responded to me with your 1551st post. Awesome.
B. I have an enhanced driver's license, so it's no big deal to me, but I also live on a border state. Most FRC adults do not.

I'm not saying it's a non-circumventable problem, I'm just saying it's an obstacle that needs to be considered. Personally, I'd love to see CMP in Toronto!

[ToddF]

Originally Posted by Justin Shelley

Some helpful information. In St. Louis it is illegal to report that any violent acts are gang violence even though a vast majority of them are.

What? It seems like that might run afoul of the First Amendment.