THE BI IN BI-STATE DEVELOPMENT: LET'S TALK ABOUT WHAT "METRO EAST" REALLY IS

East Saint Louis and its surrounding towns are the local Sin City. Everyone that lives here knows that.

It's the place where you can find all the "respectable" businessmen and politicians and law-enforcement on their off-hours, watching the naked ladies do their thing in the strip clubs.

It's the city close enough to the "real city" (the white, middle class city) so that none of those "pious" men, those leaders of industry and everything that is good and right in the world (sarcasm alert), have to worry about bumping into their wives, families, co-workers and employees, or fellow church goers... Except for the other pious men also going to the strip club, buying crack and heroin, and soliciting prostitutes.

Did hubby say he was going to catch up on work at the office after church?  Going golfing?  Nah. He's over at PT'S, spending the money he said he didn't have when his workers asked for a raise, or for benefits.  But you will never know, good suburban wifey, because you never set foot on the East Side.

Even in poor, urban areas of Saint Louis, the respectable man may have to risk someone seeing his car parked at Patricia's or Hustler in Pagedale, or the Gentlemen's Club on North Broadway.

But no one goes to the East side unless they are doing something they know would get them flack.  It's too poor, too desperate.  Too black. 

And no one in power currently is ever going to do anything about making East St. Louis less dangerous and more habitable, because that is their playground!  No one needs a "crack ho' " more than a suburban businessman.  

And that is not to say that every woman in East St Louis is smoking crack and doing whatever she can to get rock.  But the level of poverty and desperation there is very intense.  East St. Louis is modern apartheid.  It is an African American reservation.  The only money that comes in is from the party after hours crowd and the sex tourists.

What does this have to do with the bus and Metrolink?  (Neither goes to Sauget, although PT's Sauget is a short walk from the Metrolink.  But no "respectable" businessman-- at least not a local-- would be taking the train and walking the mile to PT''s.  If I am wrong let me know.)

Metro is about "attracting talented young professionals" to the region.  And you can't attract those men if they can't get access to a Sin City.  This is not to say that Metro is responsible for the lack of business or community development on the East side, but Metro is cornerstone of the local power structure.  

If the talented young professionals ever run out of surplus workers in north St. Louis that will take any wage and any condition and four hours on public transit every day to and from those crap jobs, the fat cats can just head over to Metro East and find more desperate people.

Don't take my word for it.  Check it out yourself.  Or ask any exotic dancer or call girl how many businessmen, politicians, and cops she knows.  Oh, and priests, ministers, and regular working stiffs... pun intended.

Or just start taking photos of license plates and drivers headed to the strip clubs.  I'd bet money the highest repeat offenders are St. Louis "finest"-- law enforcement, lawyers and judges, and then all those Shriners and upstanding businessmen of St. Louis proper.

OCCUPY EAST ST. LOUIS! 

For the record:  I think all strip clubs should be dancer owned, and I think prostitution should be legal.  The current set up works for these pious upstanding men.  The judge gets "services" on Saturday night and sentences the working girls in his courtroom on Monday.  All the money from these clubs goes back into the hands of these men- through taxes on legitimate businesses or legal fees on illegitimate operations.  All the shame is given to the women, and only their patrons deserve it.  

I am for the kind of structure available in places like Amsterdam.  The world's oldest profession should pay taxes, have healthcare, and be able to screen their clients like anyone else.  Keeping it illegal is just a way to protect the anonymity of the men that solicit these services, unless they are caught in a rare sting operation.  And according the FBI 74% of  all men have engaged a prostitute at least once.  It should be obvious that the problem is NOT from wanton, perverted women luring respectable men to sex-- I mean, WHAT exactly was Mr. Businessman doing driving around in East St Louis or down on St. Louis "Stroll"?  The world's oldest profession is not going away anytime soon.

Dance clubs steal tips from their dancers by calling them "contractors" and making them pay out to the club, but even the IRS doesn't agree that they are contractors. The clubs decide the dancers shifts and make the same demands on them that regular employees have, but the clubs don't even offer minimum wage or any benefits. The clubs are mostly owned by men, and they keep all the profits from the bar. It's just nicer pimping.  Dancer owned clubs would mean the women kept the profits for themselves and had more control over their work environment.