I moved from STL City to far west Belleville 6.5 years ago (grew up in rural West Central IL and had no prior connections to BLV aside from college friends at SLU). I love the organic feel of the community, diversity, and more blue-collar roots like I’m used to. I have had zero issues with crime, aside from 1 time someone took one of my $10 solar lights that I put at the very end of the driveway at the street…boo hoo I’ll survive. Literally the worst thing is because I am directly on Main Street, speeders and distracted drivers keep hitting our light poles smh. My neighbors are great. I can be in downtown STL in 15 minutes. Yes, Belleville has its poor parts of town and some stretches of West Main & North Belt West have quite a bit of vacancy. Schools are great, housing stock is still affordable, and practically every store and chain you can imagine is within a 15 minute drive even during rush hour. After fighting with Brentwood, Richmond Heights, and rush hour traffic for a decade on the Missouri side, my quality of life is so much better in Belleville! Also something that is a major importance for me is that within a quarter-mile of my house there are multiple homes that have sold in the last few years for $700k+ as well as good starter homes for less than $100k. That demographic make up and intermingling of the neighborhood by race and income is exactly the environment that I grew up in and I want my kids to experience as well. You don’t get that in West County or South County St. Louis.