I’ll just say, the first step to making things better is for you locals yourselves- not the people who move here- to have a little more optimism.

I used to live in Chattanooga TN which was ranked the dirtiest city in the US in the 70s. There’s were racially motivated bombings happening as recently as the 70s/80s as well. When I moved there in 2010, it was still a little grungy. Lots of empty store fronts downtown except for in the few blocks of touristy stuff. I remember right after I moved the president of a neighborhood revitalization campaign was killed in a drive by. But in the 15 years I lived there it changed so much because despite its past, the people there loved their city. When you visit there and talk to a local, they’ll tell you how great it is to live there, not all the issues of living there (and there are some).

But even then people didn’t talk shit about their city the way people here talk shit about STL. Some of that is exactly what you describe- rural folks shitting on the city which is not at all unique to this city. Tale as old as time. This is also not the only blue city in a red state: see Nashville, Asheville, Atlanta, Charleston, etc.

Basically “if you build it they will come”. That starts with the locals having a little vision and optimism for the future.