Craig Allen returns to Ferguson Missouri

It is good to see so many glass store windows in Ferguson, Missouri!

You may recall that I visited relatives in St. Louis last fall, and posted my thoughts here at nj1015.com, upon visiting Ferguson for the first time.

Once again, your author is squinting in the afternoon sun... (Craig Allen photo).[/caption]Its a beautiful, sunny Monday afternoon. Not a cloud in the sky. That makes it the perfect afternoon for a walk through the "world-famous" part of Ferguson, camera in hand.

Not all the plywood is gone...

...nor have all the riot and fire-damaged businesses re-opened.

But the town looks better now, than it did last November (see my pictures and VIDEO from last November, by clicking here).

"Then and NOW."

Just one more...I could do many:

NOW:

"Chop Suey" looks much better in...glass. (Craig Allen photo).[/caption]Some riot-damaged stores are, once again, doing a good business...

Both the McDonalds and Ferguson Market (above) were looted on live national TV.

The phone store, to the right of Ronald's place, was burned to the ground...

..and is now just a vacant lot (above).

The "QT" convenience store that burned last summer...

...is supposed to be replaced by a new, community jobs center. But that project, as you can see, is a bit behind schedule.

Meanwhile, "artists" have been placing messages on some of the boarded up businesses that still stand.

There are many messages of...

and

"Positivity!"

and, unfortunately...

some Negativity.

As I walk on, I see mostly positive things...glass storefronts...businesses with customers...

I say hello to people that I pass on the sidewalk...and most return my greeting.

Things are getting better in Ferguson, Missouri.

But there is still a ways to go.

Again, it is good to see glass...where before I had seen ugly plywood!

Check out the yard signs are popping up across the area:

As I said last November...and early this summer, when tempers flared again:

Please keep Ferguson in your thoughts and prayers.

Thank you!