Why “Friends Don’t Let Friends Live in Chesterfield” is Funny

To promote their Botanical Grove development, urban developer UIC is poking a little fun at the second largest municipality in St. Louis County. Some are missing the humor. Online comments in response to the "Friends Don't Let Friends Live in Chesterfield" slogan have ranged from claiming the slogan is a "misguided idea" of how to promote the city, to people listing the faults of the City of St. Louis (crime, shootings, traffic, drugs...), to people declaring the whole thing "irresponsible and divisive". There's even speculation that the whole thing might hurt the city. The reaction so far seems to dispell the assumption that Chesterfield "could take a little good natured ribbing".

So why Chesterfield? It's is a popular palce to live. It's just more than half the size of the City of St. Louis (31.5 sq mi to 61.9 sq mi) and is home to 47,484 residents, just less than 1/6 the number of the city. Over the past two decades, the St. Louis County municipality has grown from 38K to 47K residents, but that growth flatlined and perhaps even reversed in recent years as the past decade showed just 682 additional residents.