I was lucky enough to get to know Tony Nipert, a Pacific Northwest native who moved to St. Louis as he was starting his career as a teacher.
Tony was a positive and critical online voice on Twitter, NextSTL and his website Arch City Redemption, which I believe is now private.
Tony just so happened to land a teaching job at Metro Academic and Classical High School in the Central West End. I have three kids who are or recently attended Metro, so our paths crossed on occasion.
Tony’s intelligence and positivity was on display in his St. Louis writing and his professional career as a teacher and baseball coach at Metro.
I have often pondered and shared thoughts on this website that St. Louis could benefit greatly from people not from here. Outsiders who will see our strengths and weaknesses with fresh lenses. The entrenched parties are staid and boring, they are mired in the status quo. It is quite strange how even progressive voices seek to maintain the traditional ways that continue to get lapped by peer cities.
Tony seemed to be one such person that fits the bill who had great insight and empathy and ideas…as an outsider.
So when I learned Tony and his wife were moving back to Seattle, WA for personal and family reasons, I wanted to capture his thoughts on his time in St. Louis.
How’d you end up in St. Louis?
As a teacher, I hesitated to commit to a career in my hometown of Seattle because of the cost of living. I began to look at cities that combined affordability with amenity rich urban living. St. Louis and several other midwest cities (Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, etc.) emerged as great opportunities. They were much more what I was looking for than Phoenix or LasVegas, where many of my peers were fleeing to for economic reasons.
Tony’s house - sketch by Dylan Kennedy
How long were you here?
I lived in St. Louis for five years, from 2018 and left in 2023.
How did you end up in Skinker-DeBaliviere Neighborhood?
When I finally settled on St. Louis as the city I wanted to move to, I was torn between several different neighborhoods. Balancing cost with amenities was important, but the proximity to Forest Park, MetroLink, and retail districts like The Loop and Central West End really drew me in. When I visited St. Louis to tour homes, I fell in love with Skinker DeBaliviere in a way that I didn’t with some of the other neighborhoods.
Did you do research prior to coming here? What were your sources? Did you have other options for jobs in other cities?
I like to think I was well prepared for my move to St. Louis. I’d read a number of articles from more major publications, some of them hyping the city up while others chirped on its decline. But it was the local blogs that really helped to influence my decision to choose St. Louis and Skinker DeBaliviere. Your blog, St. Louis City Talk, Steve Patterson’s blog, Urban Review STL, and then some of the architecture blogs like Built STL and STL Patina were highly informative. Urban STL, the urbanism forum, was also helpful in providing early perspectives. As a teacher, you can find a job anywhere, so I was really able to choose St. Louis and move forward from there.
What did you learn during your time in STL?
Coming from a place like Seattle, some of the things that surprised me included the relatively small Asian and Latino populations, the relative regional affluence in St. Louis despite the region’s national reputation, and the dramatic Delmar Divide that doesn’t exist in a place like Seattle for various reasons.
What is a BS stereotype we get? Which one do we earn?
One BS stereotype is certainly this idea that there is no opportunity in St. Louis. You hear it all the time on the West Coast. But it’s not true, and midwest cities like St. Louis are one of the last bastions of affordability for the middle class chasing a traditional conception of the American Dream. Which stereotype does this city earn? It’s a good one, but that St. Louis is a sports town. I was so fortunate to be here my first year for that Stanley Cup run and to watch Yadi’s late years and to experience walk off playoff wins. The city really comes alive around a shared love of its sports teams.
What changed did you experience for the better/worse in your time here?
The Central Corridor continues to boom. However, North City’s continued disinvestment and hollowing out is a major concern. McKee’s continued siege on the near north side has been disastrous. I think there have been some systems changes for the better including the reduction of the Board of Aldermen. Investments in TOD (like The Expo) and bike/pedestrian infrastructure like the Brickline Greenway point to a better urban future for St. Louis.
Is there a food or drink that seems unique to STL?
Toasted ravioli has to be a personal favorite unique food of mine. For beer, it has to be City Wide. Slapping the St. Louis Flag on a beer can will always be iconic to me. It’s an amazing flag and a great symbol of city pride.
Is there a bar/restaurant/neighborhood/public place that ended up being a top spot for your socializing?
I really loved Mack’s Bar and Grill on Pershing. It was one of those spaces in St. Louis that drew in a wide diversity of people and I loved that it was a gathering place for folks from different walks of life. I also spent many, many hours in Forest Park, and I still feel that I took my proximity to the park for granted despite those frequent visits. It is one of the great public spaces in America.
Tony’s dogs Bella (golden) and Chiado (lab)
What did you learn about SLPS?
More than anything, SLPS needs a commitment from the community. It needs adults (educators, parents, community stakeholders) that won’t quit on the children when adversity strikes. And I want to be clear that within SLPS there are so many educators and parents that have upheld long term commitments to the district. It needs the social capital from the affluent and connected who send their children to charter and private schools, and turn their backs on those students in the public schools. It needs stronger leadership that acknowledges and provides supports for what adults who do commit to SLPS are challenged with.
I can’t stress enough that there is so much good going on in SLPS. The district offers wrap around services (in a way few districts in the region do) for a distressed student population where roughly 1 in 5 students are experiencing housing insecurity. Some of the highest performing schools in the state are SLPS schools. There are devoted quality teachers and brilliant students throughout the district. I have high hopes for Dr. Scarlett (who comes from Seattle Public Schools) and the new leadership in SLPS.
People need to understand, though, that the future of SLPS is tied not to Ballpark Village or the property values in Tower Grove South or the traffic on the Brickline Greenway, but that it is tied to a strong public school system.
Do SLPS need more money? Better allocation of funds? Or, more students and families that demand quality and normal public school stuff. With our property and sales taxes rising year after year and the student population continuing to decline in the same period, what are your thoughts?
I do think that SLPS needs more money. When you hear advocates frustrated about TIFs and tax abatement, I think a lot of that stems from knowing the schools and knowing that the materials and facilities are often inadequate, that teacher and admin pay is lower than nearby districts, etc. I think it's a fair criticism that SLPS can, at times, operate inefficiently with its funds, but that is a challenge common to established urban school systems throughout the country. It isn't unique to St. Louis and I think the urban districts with better funding are better able to overcome some of those legacy challenges. St. Louis, too, has perhaps a much more extreme degree of challenge when you consider the nature of the population loss from the district's peak and the deferred investment in the valuable and under-enrolled schoolhouses. You know as well as I do that a large amount of St. Louis city land is owned by government entities and non profits. I think that takes its toll on funding for the district and puts more stress on the average taxpayer like yourself and many of the families that SLPS serves.
But again, I think the most important aspect where SLPS has a dearth is in well connected families who can hold schools accountable, demand change, provide support to see improvements through, etc. Those families often either only go to the Metro's or Betty Wheeler's of the district or they opt out of the district altogether. That's a major issue that is going to continue to add to the difficulty to improve and grow the school district.
I don't have concrete answers for solutions. There are people far more experienced and who deeply care about the students in this district working hard to drive change. These types of problems must be chipped away at with a comprehensive and sustained approach with investment throughout an organization and that is what makes it so difficult. The idea of building collective efficacy across the district that grips all stakeholders is something that is elusive. It takes leaders at the top who grow strong leaders through collaboration, autonomy, delegation, etc. throughout the organization. The district is fighting an uphill battle, but there are plenty of success stories of uphill fights throughout history. I will always be an optimist for public education and SLPS. There are too many great educators, families, and, most importantly, students for the district to fail.
You are a PNW person, but what did you learn about St. Louisans that formed any opinions on a stereotype or commonality of the people you got to know? What makes us “so STL”?
I think that the long history of manufacturing in St. Louis colors the city and its people. There is a humble, working class attitude that I very much appreciate. I didn’t meet many people that weren’t willing to roll up their sleeves and help at a moment’s notice.
What do we need the most in the next decade or so?
I think St. Louis needs to make a concerted effort to put the children first. Demographic trends show that the city is losing children at an alarming rate (for complex reasons). St. Louis needs to ensure that its infrastructure, public amenities, and schools are set up so that children can flourish and live happy and healthy lives. A society that serves its children is a society built for posterity.
What do you miss now living in Seattle vs. St. Louis?
I will miss the learning community at Metro. It was really a unique and formative experience for me and I enjoyed teaching there so much. I’ll also miss the architecture. St. Louis’ common architecture fostered a love for buildings that hadn’t been galvanized in me until I moved to St. Louis. It is, building by building, one of the most architecturally beautiful places in America.
What are the immediate, obvious differences of a STL and SEA.
I moved to the Lower Queen Anne/Uptown neighborhood of Seattle. It’s on the northern edge of downtown and I have a great view of downtown. There are cranes all over the city and the pace of building is so breakneck that tracking individual projects is overwhelming in a way that it isn’t in St. Louis. Seattle has really missed some opportunities along the way, though. It has failed to preserve affordability. I am hopeful that when the time comes for St. Louis City to grow again, it can avoid the mistakes that a city like Seattle has made so far in the 21st century.
What does SEA do that we don’t and should?
Seattle has a great bus system that St. Louis would benefit from. Seattle’s government, while not perfect, is also more urbanism minded than St. Louis. Of course, state politics play a role in this and St. Louis is often stifled by those in Jefferson City to some degree.
And finally, since I now you are a baseball fan, how do Cards fans compare to Mariners fans?
You’re going to get me into trouble with this one. But I think the attendance data speaks for itself. Even in a horrific year like this one, the Cardinals faithful show up. They balance organizational criticism with fervent support in a way that Mariners fans should aspire to. I love watching baseball in both cities. They both play in great stadiums and have strong gameday environments.
Thanks Tony for your dedication to students in the classroom and on the ball field. Thanks for caring. Thanks for contributing. We’ll miss you, but know your time and voice while living here is much appreciated.
***Banner and dog images from Tony Nipert, home print image via Dylan Kennedy. Dylan is a local artist who does sketches of St. Louis buildings.***
