Hell, try keeping a Granite City person in town when it's time to Spend money and they can't wait to blow it in Fairview or Edwardsville. There could be branches of the same store in Granite, and that still won't stop people! So Granite City people aren't above criticism - they criticize themselves all the time.
But yeah, once someone becomes an outsider and talks it down, Katie bar the door.
It is a double standard..but it's OUR double standard. By God, we have the right to have it.
I try to spend my hometown dollar when I can, but lots of things have to be 'imported.'
We probably put more infrastructure in Edwardsville than Edwardsville has put in itself. We help Belleville, Collinsville and all the other towns build up Fairview and we probably put more into Fairview than we put into our own town.
But be that as it may, don't be down talking Granite City. We may not believe in ourselves and refuse to support our local business. But don't nobody be talking 'bout us on the outside.