Living: New year 2019: Learning some Dirty Big Secrets St. Louis, MO (part 1)

Every year.  I promise to write more in my blog. I was happy to see that at least I tied with last year.  So I promise again.  This time, this  New Year's post will be very different.   Recently, I came to learn a Dirty Big secret.  One that is causing people to lose their lives.  One that is causing children to be sick.  One that apparently is not known by everyone who lives in the St. Louis County area of Saint Louis, Missouri. When I found out this secret, I cried and cried.

Here is how I found out.  I am looking for a new place to live and I put my finger on the map and it landed on St. Louis.  I said okay, "Let's look there."  Knowing nothing about the city  I started to do research.  I looked at crime maps, real estate figures, walkability charts, sex offender addresses and none of that prepared me for the real world slap in the face reality of why the house I was looking at in the Florissant area were so affordable and a lot of them are available.  I just thought it was an old area and people were dying.  People are dying  but for another reason.

I arrived in St. Louis just a week ago to look at houses in the Florissant area, my real estate agent, Aarin Booker said nothing of the dangers in that area.  And legally she and the seller do not have to disclose this information. A few days before I arrived, Aarin Booker contacted me to say she would no longer work with me.  This was right after she kept pressuring me to put bids for contracts on two houses and I refused to sign the contracts because something didn't seem right and she said she was tired of "my feelings." Why was she pressuring me? I hadn't seen the houses yet and I was coming into town to do that! I always listen to those feelings and they worked for me. So, I made an appointment to see another realtor.  That night after picking up my car from the Alamo rental place, I felt like I purchased the wrong insurance.  I started to dismiss it because I was tired and it was late.  But I was like no, if you are thinking it do something about it in the morning.

So last Friday, I went back to the Alamo place and Alexis was there.  I told her I wanted to change insurance plans and she helped  me.  I chatted with her about allergies and she said she was into holistic medicine and I almost hestitated to say that when I was a kid my mom told me to go eat dirt, which she did say that... and I was the least sickly kid on the block.  Prior in the conversation I mentioned I was in town to buy houses in Florissant.  Alexis immediately said," Don't eat the dirt in Florissant."  I stopped, " Wait, what?!" I thought. " Tell me," I said seriously.

Visitor's Center in Forest Park, St. Louis, MO