Time to compile the HP top 10 and bottom 10 list
1) Great towns to live in
2) Places that really suck
Do US first and then International if you know your stuff.
Here's another HP'ers take (NOT MINE!!!!) from the Boulder thread... I've gotta say he's got pretty good lists for starters... I'll start working on my list - gonna take some time...
10 great places to live:
Seattle WA
Pittsburgh PA
Atlanta GA
Alexandria VA
Austin TX
San Antonio TX
El Paso TX
Boulder CO
Chicago Il
NYC NY
10 Places that suck:
Gary, IN
Southeast DC
Camden NJ
Wilmington DE
Newark NJ
East Cleveland OH
East St Louis Il
Houston TX
New Orleans LA
Youngstown OH
Wheeling WV
December 17, 2006
Great towns versus places that really suck
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El Paso Texas? Are you out of your freaking mind? They shoot and kidnap anybody they please on the Mexico side and the U.S side is scared to death. How many Police Chiefs have been killed there Keith?
I lived in Atlanta for 27 years. Yes, in 1973 it was a decent place to live. That is no longer true, unless you happen to like traffic jams, bad air quality, and corrupt government at all levels. Are there worse places? Sure, Houston, TX comes to mind.
skianddive - I'm off to Florence for the New Year.
Now if I can just figure out how to live there one day...
It's easy to make those lists and it only requires two numbers. Cities with high diversity quotients won't make the great list because despite what the PC police say, diversity=trouble.
The other factor is size. Once a city's metro area population exceeds 100K, greedy, out of town, $#!@ SOB developers start lobbying/bribing the local pols to put up all manner of consumerist crap like Wal-Marts, malls, strip centers, and fast food outlets. Within 5-10 years the influx of stores pulls in cheap labor (diversity), traffic clogs the roads, and the quality of life goes to hell. The cheap labor force demands low-cost housing, their kids form gangs, and that brings in the druggies. No jail space for the growing numbers of criminals, so they just continue to screw up the decent people's lives while they're out on bail.
Any town bigger than 100K population with more than 25% diversity is probably a hell hole or in the process of becoming one.
you obviously haven't spent enough time in Houston to know what the fuck you're talking about
Have you ever even been to El Paso? How could this ever make a best list is really a surprise.
The best city, sans the RE bubble, is Boston Mass. This town has no real tourism outside of revolutionary war stuff but is a really sweet to live around with all the college campus activities and access to the Cape and NH white mountains w/o really being liberal in the way of a college town like Amherst.
Atlanta?
San Antonio??
El Paso???????
Perhaps all the herb you did in Boulder is causing these errors in judgement.
harm said: You aren't describing El Paso, Mr. Tuesday. It might not be in the top ten, but it ain't bad.
The U.S Gov't's website says:
Crime in Mexico continues at high levels, and it is often violent, especially in Mexico City, Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, and the state of Sinaloa.
Juarez is on the El Paso border right Harm?
Let's continue:
Kidnapping, including the kidnapping of non-Mexicans, continues at alarming rates. So-called "express" kidnappings, an attempt to get quick cash in exchange for the release of an individual, have occurred in almost all the large cities in Mexico and appear to target not only the wealthy, but also middle class persons. U.S. businesses with offices in Mexico or concerned U.S. citizens may contact the U.S. Embassy or any U.S. consulate to discuss precautions they should take.
El Paso Texas? Are you out of your >>freaking mind? They shoot and kidnap anybody they please on the Mexico side and the U.S side is scared to death. How many Police Chiefs have been killed there Keith?
Sunday, December 17, 2006 4:41:41 AM <<
That plus the salary scale sucks
Seattle is great, but the winter rains and at least four solid months of drizzle are bad enough to cause clinical depression. So long as you get out from November till March its a real nice locale.
Keith,
I did the crime research for you on El Paso, I'll let you go do the environmental report. Checkout www.scorecard.org. I'll bet it says any Mexican border town is the next best thing to those Chinese rivers we've been dumping the CRT computer monitors in under the disguise of donating them...
Seattle??!! The traffic sucks, the weather sucks. The people are incredibly stuck up. What are you thinking??!!
Your worst cities list is missing Rockford IL. What a dump!
Top 10
1. Key West FL
2. Fort Lauderdale FL
3. Miami FL
4. Palm Beach FL
5. Tampa Bay FL
6. Boca Raton FL
7. Naples FL
8. Sarasota FL
9. Orlando FL
10. Daytona Beach FL
Worst 10
Anything in the Midwest that's not named Chicago.
What about Ocala and Waldo?
Places that suck:
--Baltimore, MD
--Buffalo, NY
El Paso? There are missing person posters everywhere. Bigtime drug smuggling and gang activity. El Paso is definitely not a good place to live. Seattle sucks too. Horrible traffic, it rains all the time and real estate prices are ridiculous. Plus, the city of Seattle lies at the foot of Mt Rainier along historic pyroclastic flow routes which will destroy Seattle when the volcano erupts again.
Next time take the time to read the post before you commnet folks
Those lists are from another HP'er -not me.
I'm still thinking about my top 10 and bottom 10
cheers
high evaluations mean high taxes, just pay the taxes on properties that will not sell at a quarter their tax assessed value long enough, and you realize what a scam you have fallen into, paying regulators and multinational corps, who wish to steal your properties, control and enslave you and your properties using paid for government, whose help will again enslve you
fundamentaly they all suck
I'll start with my top 10 US. Yes, I really struggled to list ten. That's why it's cities outside the US getting my attention lately...
1. Boulder Colorado
2. Denver, Colorado
3. Ft. Collins, Colorado
4. Santa Barbara, California
5. Boise, Idaho
6. Seattle, Washington
7. Portland, Oregon
8. Jerome, Arizona
9. Flagstaff, Arizona
10. Ann Arbor, Michigan
A lot of cities have fallen off the list in the past ten years, especially all cities in Arizona and Southern California as illegal immigration and crazy housing prices and their effects ruined what could have been good places to live in the past.
Thanks for the compliment Keith. Glad to help stimulate the debate. Joe
Atlanta sucks, Lived there for 3 years and lived in three parts of it.
Midtown, Vinings and Roswell. You need a car to go anywhere and east west trip are damned impossible.
ElPaso sucks for every reason mentioned above and it has bad air from Ciudad Juarez.
San Antonio sucks because it is a honktonk, but the riverwalk is pretty.
Pittsburgh, I lived there for a year 30 years ago, I hear its different.
my list FWIW not necessarily in this order. And it includes the burbs surrounding.
1. NYC minus Newark (I travel in often as does my wife)
2. Seattle
3. Portland
4. Salt Lake City in spite of the LDSs
5. Chicago
6. Boston
7. Bellingham, WA spectacular and affordable college town.
8. Charleston SC
9. D.C. minus Anacostia and some MD burbs, you know who you are.
10.Boulder begrudgingly
As for diversity many of these places are diverse and adds to the character of the cities. I would mention Madison, Wisconsin or NH or VT but I prefer ice in my drinks.
Hey Keith,
Jerome is a ghost town? Do you mean the town or the crap sprouting up between it and cottonwood or Prescott?
Here are some more cities in Europe:
Heidelberg (great quality of living, great employment opportunities, world-class university)
http://www.derweg.org/deutschland/staedte/images/heidelberg-2_big.jpg
http://www.derweg.org/deutschland/staedte/images/heidelberg-2_big.jpg
The same holds true for Tübingen:
http://www.tuepps.de/tuebingen-english.html
Many other cities in Germany, such as Hamburg, Nürnberg, Bonn, Dresden, give the same quality of life, combined with excellent safety AND with reasonable house prices (yet high housing quality).
http://www.immobilien-auktionen.de/en/naechste.html
Most cities aren't very livable.
Boston has bad traffic too. I went to school there. I grew up 20 miles outside of it and it was paradise though. (except for the winter weather). Quaint town centers with church steeples and town commons. YOu could bike or walk across town without being worried about being hit by a car. A lot of small lakes to swim in the summer. Great place to bike. Try that in Atlanta.
Chicago? It has a small white part (Lincoln Park, Wrigleyville, Streeterville) but is mostly a hell hole. Or do you mean the suburbs? Nice weather too (sarcasm).
How about some places in Iowa and Minnesota? Low crime (few minorities), good citizens, etc.
There are places like that all over (New Hampshire, Vermont, Western Mass) but they are low on the "diverstiy quotient". I wonder if those (low crime and lack of diversity) are related?
Boston makes up for the weather and traffic with everything else.
Chicago makes up for the weather and traffic with everything else.
write on Anon, well except maybe Daytona. Shhhh don't tell anyone, they all think it sucks here. Enough transplants with a funny accents.
Top 10
1. Key West FL
2. Fort Lauderdale FL
3. Miami FL
4. Palm Beach FL
5. Tampa Bay FL
6. Boca Raton FL
7. Naples FL
8. Sarasota FL
9. Orlando FL
10. Daytona Beach FL
"Southeast DC"
Parts of it are really nice. The US Capitol is partly in Southeast
I lived in Atlanta for 27 years. Yes, in 1973 it was a decent place to live. That is no longer true, unless you happen to like traffic jams, bad air quality, and corrupt government at all levels. Are there worse places? Sure, Houston, TX comes to mind.
=================================
Atlanta is a junk heap. Good call.
I still remember the strange case of Fred Tokars from the early 1990's. If anyone ever wanted an indication of just how dirty Atlanta is then the Fred Tokar case provides some excellent insight.
Underated city is Minneapolis.
Why would anybody confine the top ten to Floriduh? Yeesh, what are you a florida realtor touting warm weather and "lifestyle". Nice beaches sure, but the rest is nothing but swamp. Try skiing, or get this areas with enough smart people to host a fortune 500 h2 or 2. Yep, San Antonio Tx has more fortune 500 hq that the entire state of Florida. Will give you Key West and maybe Daytono, but the U.S. is pretty fricking cool--nothing in FLA compares to Northern CA or even the MdEastern Shore in Summer or Outerbanks. You must be a Florida imbecile can't vote or even execute people......
Talking out of butt on cities.
People somehow think that say Miami is better than Houston. Houston is second only to NYC in Fortune 500 HQ;--35. Leader in Medicine, great economy and get this--very affordable housing. Miami has no real economy and expensive housing. Its fascinating that middle class people--even Cubans have left "Flashy" Miami to Ugly Houston--Why? HOusing and Jobs! Its one thing to go hang in a place for a few days--miami great to party. But another to live, have a career and family--Houston, Atlanta may not be vacation meccas but you can live pretty well...Cities do different things for people at different life cyles or different skill sets. Medicine, Energy go to Houston, Computers San Jose, drugs, scams Vegas and Florida.
I am just a REAL Floridian, fourth generation. I don't think I am an imbecile and I don't have to leave Florida, the whole world comes to me.
flyingmonkeywarrior still rocks!
If you listen to her, you will learn!
San diego is Great! Well, at least parts of it.
Just about all cities have good, bad, or otherwise areas!
Tampa, St. Pete; Has a definite 'Goodside' of the tracks and Bad side'!
Hollywood Ca., great name and glamorous history, right?
Drive down Sunset or Melrose some night, any night. What a S**T hole!
The Good ole days are way gone!
Austin Tx. is Great if your a screaming Lib!
Reginald Denny!
Has anyone apologized for that yet?
They want reparations, and we can get an apology!
from 1:33:34
I think you are refering to Payson, Az.! Yuck!
Best college town for a centrist... Minneapolis MN. I love the down to earth, cheery attitude of the student and working populations there w/o all the cultish bally-hoo of a Boulder or Berkeley.
Best metro area to grow up in, esp if you're an eastern European-American (like Armenian)... Boston MA. I've actually lost track of all the Armenian churches and cultural centers in this region. I believe this is one of America's most beautiful regions if you're not looking for those Grand Canyon type of vistas.
Unfortunately, this region is still racist against blacks, who don't play for the Celtics, and it has little to do with the so-called Irish (even though most have never been to Ireland and know jack about their grandparents' former nation) but with all the whites acting like they're the nuevo Boston Brahmins esp once they've attended a private college.
Best area to grow up in as an African-American... Atlanta GA. This area has some of the wealthiest African-American suburban enclaves in the nation and Morehouse college activities.
Worst area to grow up in... Miami FL. Too many fake boobs and not enough consciousness to know where that money had come from (NY, LA, intl money launderers, etc). If everyone was aware that the cash had to be generated, in other regions, and then transported to Miami for spending then it would be ok.
Chicago does not deserve to be in the 10 ten,or the top 1000, either.
Please remove.
Chicago rocks!
Best downton in the USA!
Very surprised to see Wilmington DE on someone's list of ten worst. I lived there during the 80s.
Nobody, anytime soon, is going to put Wilmington into the top ten, or top fifty. But among the worst? No way. It's a middle of the pack city, with some very nice neighborhoods to go along with The Mean Streets.
Has major corporate HQs-Du Pont, also MBNA (but taken over by B of A in the last year), other credit card companies.
It's lunacy to put Wilmington in the same list as such basket cases as East St. Louis.
I suspect that with the decline of DuPont and the sale of MBNA, Wilmington is on the downturn.
"Anonymous said...
Places that suck:
--Baltimore, MD
--Buffalo, NY
Sunday, December 17, 2006 9:03:02 AM"
Right On! Went down to Baltimore this week for a Christmas concert. Hadn't been downtown for almost twenty years and decided to drive around for a while and check out once familiar areas. My God, 'charm city' is anything but. What a dump!
We went up to Buffalo in 1999 to take mom up to Niagara Falls once more before she died, it was awful. Especially even more when compared to the Canadian side. Buffalo is a sad shell of its glory days, IF it ever had glory days!
Pittsburgh in the top ten! LOL
Had to go out there for a weekend business seminar last year. Thank God the company paid for it. I would have really been pissed afterward to have had to spend my own money to go there. A derelict, uncared for convention center in an uncared for abandoned, depressing city that you are better off driving right by!
"from 1:33:34
I think you are refering to Payson, Az.! Yuck!"
No, Keith said Jerome. I have been there, spectacular views of rim country and Sedona from up there. Yes Payson is a dump but Mormon Lake up the road makes up for it.
Worst area to grow up in... Miami FL. Too many fake boobs
No such thing as fake boobs unless theyre implanted in a man's chest.
Almost any city in Western Europe is better than North American Cities. Munich, Vienna, Zurich, Nice, Barcelona etc. are great places. Prague, and cities in Slovenia (and maybe some in western Slovakia too) are very liveable.
Good places in North America:
Vancouver, BC
Seattle
NYC
Of course. Los Angles is the absolute worst with earthquakes. riots, illegal aliens, spanish, smog, traffic, no public transit, sprawl, plastic boob jobs, crime, low school test scores. Anything to keep you from moving here.
Haven't seen that much of the US, but of the places I've seen, I would consider either Austin TX, or Portland OR. If you include Canada as well, I've checked out both Toronto and Vancouver, they were both very nice.
Worst places? Where to start ... ;)
Best, with most beautiful scenery, livable climate, and most interesting architecture: Santa Fe, New Mexico. Worst, with the most hideous scenery, unbearable climate, and tackiest architecture: Tampa, Florida.
The main Canadian cities: Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal beat their US equivalents for quality of life. I could live in any of those places (albeit Montreal's easier place to stay in when one speaks French) over Chicago, NYC, SF, or even Boston.
Vancouver, however, with its RE bubble and inundation with the Hong Kong/Asia-Pacific rich ex-pats, isn't as fine of a place as let's say Seattle or even Victoria, BC on the island.
Alexandria? Currently live here now- you have to make at least a million to live well. Way to expensive and beyond the range of even most young professionals making 100-150K. Is somewhat nice, though, as long as you don't mind paying 700k for a ranch-style home to get away from all the illegals.
Houston? Often travel there for work- downtown is completely paved over with parking lots and is tumbleweeds after 5:00. Plain ugly, flat, smoggy and a dearth of public transportation.
Buffalo- lived there for several years- has its problems, but is actually a really fun, low cost city. You can buy nice, big victorian for about 150K. But, you have to have a pretty good job as wages are relatively low. Good food, people, two great lakes and strong sense of community.
10 Great Places - (in no particular order)
Santa Fe, NM
Santa Barbara, CA
Madison, WI
Chicago, IL
Boston, MA
St. Augustine, FL
San Antonio, TX
San Francisco, CA
Portsmouth, NH
Portland, OR
10 Places That Suck (again, no particular order)
Youngstown, OH
Orlando, FL
Atlanta, GA
Las Vegas, NV
Los Angeles, CA
San Diego, CA
Denver, CO
Salt Lake City, UT
Detroit, MI
Albuquerque, NM
BTW - I live in Phoenix, which is neither the best or the worst.
Keith, you want to live in Florence? Marry an Italian.
Worst: any city where blacks make up more than 5%.
When the welfare checks dry up with the housing crash, ethnic violence will increase greatly.
Best US (getting harder to find these days).
Portland, Maine
Key West Fl
Austin Texas
Los Gatos, California
Santa Fe NM
Camden/Rockport Maine
Old NE St Petersburg, Fl
Sarasota, Fl
Naples, Fl
Boca Grande Fl
Worst US
Detroit
Los Angeles
Palm Springs
Orlando
Brownsville Tx
Lubbock Tx
Casper Wy
Minot ND
Trenton, NJ
Atlantic City, NJ
Best International
Barcelona Spain
Granada Spain
Heidelburg GE
Belagio Italy
Rome Italy
Strausburg France
Kyoto Japan
Quito Ecuador
Buenos Aires Argentina
Lucerne Switzerland
Worst,
Lagos Nigeria
Mogadishu Somalia
Bagdad Iraq
Kabul Afganistan
Rio De Janiero Brazil
San Paulo Brazil
Manila, Phillipines
Mexico city
Nuevo Larado Mexico
The Ninth Ward, New Orleans
For those who hate El Paso, it actually has a lot going for it if you get off interstae 10!
The historic neighborhoods by UT, San Francisco Heights, Skyline, really nice-a cross between Santa Fe and central Phoenix. New El Paso (west side) on the slopes of the Franklin Mountains. Their downtown has great potential. Was the largest city west of St Louis 100 years ago and the stock of great 1920 buildings are well preserved and ready for lofts, galleries, resturants, kind of like Portland Me was once before it was rediscovered. Good climate, not as hot as Phoenix, close to Ruidosa ski resorts, Carlsbad Caverns, White sands, the Franklin mountains, the Organ Mts, Gila National Forest, the vineyards of the Rio Grand river valley, old La Mesilla, so has lots of out door attractions nearby.
Yes Juarez is across the rive but not all of Juarez is a slum. They could restore the Rio Grande and the river could be a vital redevelopement area to mimic River Walk in San Antonio, the biggest problem was NAFTA lowered the wages and a lot of jobs headed across the border and only now is the city starting to grow and revive.
Charlotte NC deserves a mention in the good place to live in ... IMHO.
However every list of anything good - charlotte is thumped by Raleigh. I can see why, its almost as good ... :-)) and has probably fewer down town city issues - like parking - as in like what Down town.
I'd put Silicon valley and SFO on the hate list just for the commute hell and their un affordable house $$ and rents when I lived there. Other wise they are just peachy.
Cool.
Cow_tipping.
I live in decatur illinois...in a historic area where the existing housing is still affordable (under $60/SF to buy) and you don't have to wait for "tee times" on the public courses as we have an abundance
can't live like this in too many places in this country
After the lynching of the Duke three, Raleigh, NC should be burnt to the ground.
" vegas crash watcher said...
Worst: any city where blacks make up more than 5%.
When the welfare checks dry up with the housing crash, ethnic violence will increase greatly.
Sunday, December 17, 2006 10:18:00 PM"
Seattle has over 10% and consistently makes it to the top 10. So thhhpt!
I've driven through El Paso. There is actually quite a bit of Industry there -- couple that with friends south of the border. Cowboy boot manufacturing comes to mind even though most of that is done in Mexico these days. Think the Rio Grande is pretty dried up when it reaches El Paso. From a price perspective you might be right but I'm not sure about quality of life. To get to Austin from El Paso takes a complete day -- Texas is a huge country within a state and its empty the entire drive too.
I had a better feeling about Las Cruces, New Mexico. Small town with some character. Though, most of southern New Mexico is not that hot. New Mexico is really a poor state.
"After the lynching of the Duke three, Raleigh, NC should be burnt to the ground."
I hear the rape victim is going to have a baby. It sure better be an oreo cookie.
How can anyone make a list of 10 best or 10 worst if they have only passing familiarity with a place? This entire exercise is on shaky ground imho. But hey, I don't think anyone has put Lawrence, Kansas in the top 10, so let me be the first. In my imagination, Fairbanks, Alaska would probably be one of the 10 worst US cities to live in.
What Did Della Wear? ref Wilmington
Drug criminals took over the streets of wilmington in the late 80's & 90's. The city was an ideal logistical location for drug distro on the Northeast coast. The small police force was overwhelmed. Many people abandoned their homes. They are trying to revive the city but its very unsafe to walk the streets. DuPont is about 1/3 its size & BoA is cutting thousands of jobs. There are only 2-3 resturants that serve dinner in the downtown, as most people just get in their cars and get out before it gets dark. So the revival is questionable. Homicides just spiked to an decade's high!!
Stuck in So Pa ref: Pittsburgh
A weekend at the convention center does not qualify you to judge the livability of the city. I've lived in many cities across the US and while Pittsburgh is not #1, its very livable. Its very diverse, has several world class universities & medical centers. It still ranks in the top 10 for corporate HQs & was voted most livable city back in the late 80's. The education/technology base is soo significant that Google opened their first branch office outside of CA in Pittsburgh!! Affordable housing is to be had in the city and in the surrounding suburbs. Average commute is one of the shortest in the US. Carnagie library & museum system is world class. Major league & college teams are among the best in the nation and there are several venues for concerts and entertainment.
How about small cities? They are much more livable than large ones. Charlottesville, VA. Roanoke VA (next to blue ridge mountains). Ashville, NC.
"But they don't have the best museums, hospitals, blah blah". Who really goes to museums? Mostly it's the weather, the commute, the population density. The topography (Florida is flat and it drives you insane after a while). The northeast for example is very thicky "treed". The soil is good and there seems to be 100 year old oaks every 10 or 20 feet. It's beautiful. The Southeast doesn't have as many trees. The Midwest seems to have about none.
Florida trees are those weird palm trees, and I don't like those. Not much shade. Plus florida is just so damn hot all the time, who can stand it?
Colorado is scenic but it's kind of oddly barren too. You can see long vistas because there are no trees.
Lancaster county PA? Beautiful!
Ever see the movie "rambo" or "this boy's life"? Makes you think the Pacific Northwest must be pretty beautiful.
Western NY is pretty nice. East of Buffalo of course. The hudson river valley is beautiful. WV is probably pretty nice. Not really rich or anything but nice and scenic.
Having lived, worked and traveled all over the world I have seen good, bad and ugly. Ignoring cost of living or politics and just on how much I enjoyed a city this is my list. If I were to take cost of living into account it would change a lot.
Top US:
1. Santa Barbara, CA
2. San Diego, CA
3. San Francisco, CA
4. Miami, FL
5. Missoula, MT
Top International:
1. Prague, Czech Rep.
2. Budapest, Hungary
3. Santiago, Chile
4. Montreal, Canada
5. Vienna, Austria
Bottom US:
1. Detroit, MI
2. Buffalo, NY
3. Memphis, TN
4. Orlando, FL
5. Detroit, MI (it needs to be there twice)
Bottom International.
1. Nassau, Bahamas
2. Mexico City, Mexico
3. Tokyo, Japan
4. Caracas, Venezuela
5. Bratislava, Slovakia
BEST PLACE: Any place that makes you happy.
WORST PLACE: Anywhere your mother-in-law lives.
At least keith is out of the country. That's one less liberal doing damage to our great nation.
Seattle is great, but the winter rains and at least four solid months of drizzle are bad enough to cause clinical depression. So long as you get out from November till March its a real nice locale.
++++++++++++
Four solid months of drizzle??? I've lived here for years and I'd say SIX months, not FOUR. People need to leave town from October through April, IMHO. I wish I had the money to do that myself....
"Anonymous said...
Stuck in So Pa ref: Pittsburgh
A weekend at the convention center does not qualify you to judge the livability of the city."
You are absolutely correct. However, first impressions are always the strongest and longest lasting. Mine were bad. I did google Pittsburgh after your reply to educate myself further. I found a lot of excellent, very intelligent articles for AND against living there.
Interestingly enough, a lot of the same data which you mentioned (housing affordability, corporate HQ's, universities, medical centers, sports, etc.) were used by BOTH sides to make their separate arguments? I guess the other blogger was right. If you are happy where you live, then where you live is indeed a great place
Buffalo of course.
+++++++++
nicer than fL? wtf
Here's a neat little video about Camden, NJ.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYCFoHcxH7k
Here's a photo blog of Detroit, lying in ruins for the most part.
http://www.detroityes.com/nhood/01riveria.htm
We can really shortcut all these lists and opinions by merely calculating the ratio of Whites to Minorities. When Whites become less than 50% of the population, any location is doomed to become the latest burned-out shithole that now characterizes life in the 'Kwa.
Places like New England, with 97% White populations, generally are the nicest places, the most crime-free and the least vandilized and graffitied.
"Anonymous said...
Here's a photo blog of Detroit, lying in ruins for the most part.
http://www.detroityes.com/nhood/01riveria.htm"
That web page was just awesome. Thank you!
I had a chance to go out to Detroit for a weekend last summer, but forgot my camera.
A truly sad testimony as to how the loss of manufacturing has devastated our cities and their infrastructure.
The Very Best: Rockford Ill.
The very worst: Rockford, Ill.
Detroit was intentionally destroyed. It was one of the largest industrial cities in the USA until the mid 1960's and the onrushing "post industrial society" policies.
I wonder what Presidential candidate Steve Jobs would say?
::I wonder what Presidential candidate Steve Jobs would say?
Well, considering that much of the iPod is made abroad, I'd say he'd tell 'em to eat cake and take some "technical" courses so that he can undercut the current staff at Apple with lower waged persons in former rust belt regions.
Buffalo's a perfect place to retire in, nice people, 1.5 hours from Toronto ON whenever you want to get out and see something more interesting, and homes cost < $150K and the crime level is considerably low given the fact that the area has high, long term unemployment.
Long time lurker.
I was born and raised in Wilmington Delaware. It has changed quite a bit in the years I've been alive.
As others have mentioned, many big businesses locate in DE because of the generous laws Delaware grants corporations. Dupont, Bank of America, and I once heard that 3/5 of the fortune 500 are incorporated in DE. I don't know if that's still true, but Wilmington Delaware used to be a Mecca for big business. No longer.
The problem is Wilmington has a bad drug problem. We're <30 minutes from Philly, 1hr from Baltimore, and 2 from DC. Our police force is overextended and our mayor is a high school dropout ("looser" if you ask me). I wouldn't put it on a list with Gary Indiana or Detroit, but it is bad. (A police officer friend says I would be shocked at the calls he responds to that never make it to the news blotter.)
My wife and I live in the city less than a block from heart -- in the ONLY nice area to live in Wilmington. We hear about breakins, sexual assualts, and other crimes that never plagued Wilmington before -- and anecdotally the frequency seems to be increasing. I would move my wife and I out, but we "own" and I am waiting for the bubble to pop around here. As far as renting in the suburbs, I was raised out there in the culturally dead zone, and am not interested in moving back anytime soon. (One could call Wilmington dead [and we are compared to Chicago or Boston], but I am block from an independent theater, multiple excellent restaurants, and we kind of like our 100 year old home with good bones.)
As far as the housing prices go, my wife and I have seen ours go from about 145k to 245k. I know that the price is unreasonable, but we did get out of PMI without any funds from our pocket. Lately I have seen the "240k" houses on my block languish on the market -- in fact there are two on my block that are currently sitting there. Each are over the 120 day mark.
One of the recent trends I have seen is my friends buying in some of the poorer neighborhoods in Wilmington because that is all they can afford. I have a friend who recently bought a (arguably nice) 3/1.5 in a terrible neighborhood because that's all he could afford. He is 30, college educated, earning at least 70k a year, and he lives overlooking a park where I KNOW you can buy crack. (I walked my brother-in-law's dog there once. Just once.) Is that befitting him -- NO, but that's what the rampant speculation has done.
I know the bubble is popping, and I am waiting for it to happen. We will move out of Wilmington (as it is rough), but it's not exactly the roughest in the world. Chester PA and Gary IN take the cake if you aske me. [I lived in both for 6 months, and man did I learn a lesson.] So, my list is:
WORST:
1) Gary, IN
2) Chester, PA
3) Dorchester, MA
4) Los Angeles, CA (TRAFFIC)
BEST:
1) Boston, MA
2) Chicago, IL
3) New Paltz, NY
4) Bar Harbor, ME (outside the tourist season)
FYI, Dorcester MA is a neighborhood in the city of Boston MA.
And I agree with Chester PA. What an industrial wasteland!
Top N.America city: Big Pine key, Fla. Keys they got wid deer running around the size of beagles. LOL
Top Central american city: Flamingo Bay, Costa Rica-'Victor' is a top notch fishing guide.
Top South american city: Venezuela- any one that hates bush as much as chavez does must throw one hell of a party!!! LOL
Worst N.american city: Tie, kennybunkport, or Crawford Texas for obvious reasons!!! LOL
Folks, this really is too easy. You want the top ten? Good schools, low crime, ect? Well, then you want the most WHITE city in the country. This is a verifiable FACT.
Not for you you say? You want drive-by shootings, rape, theft and general savagery? Well, then you want the least white city. You diversity preachers need to start practicing what you preach, if you don't live in the predominatly black ghetto, please, quit being so hypocriticle and move there...soon.
Honica - I heard stats from several years ago - like 1998 - The whitest city at that time was (I believe the city that Yale is in in CT - dont quite recall the name New Haven ??? ). At that time the whitest state was CT. Odd (I'd have pegged UT or ID or MT). Now I like the rural parts of WA and ID and MT plenty. But it cannot be quite called city by any stretch of the imagination.
Cool.
Cow_tipping.
Best: Huntington Beach, Ca
Worse: Wichita Falls, TX
Worst: Beaumont, CA
Downtown Chicago is home to thousands of homeless people. These people are reduced to begging, shoe shines, and god knows what else. And they are everywhere!
I cant imagine a city (or nation) being great if it treats it's citizens like "human cattle".
Ahh yes, Diversity........ Had enough yet?
as much as I hate to admit it, honica is correct
to whoever said Utah was white, check again. 20% mexican and growing fast.
as much as I hate to admit it, honica is correct
to whoever said Utah was white, check again. 20% mexican and growing fast.
Best:
1.) Not telling, I don't want you here.
2.) Boone, NC.
3.) Boise, ID.
4.) Knoxville, TN.
5.) Colorado Springs, CO.
Worst:
1.) Memphis, TN.
2.) Jackson, MS.
3.) Houston, TX.
4.) New Orleans, LA.
5.) Atlanta, GA.
City life in the U.S. is horrifying, because of traffic, crime, and housing expenses. I agree with previous posters about the problem caused by blacks. Not to be racist, but they make life unlivable. Look at what they did to New Orleans.
There are nice places, but you have to look hard to find them. I live in a nice place, after having lived in cities and suburbs of big cities most of my life. I don't know what was worse: The 1.5 hour commute to work or the fear in my son's eyes when a car full of guys named "Tyrone" pulls up next to us with their music blasting, and their boot lips hanging down. City life was hell.
Why do you hate to admit it anon? There is nothing wrong with acknowledging the fact that if you want to minimize your chances of having your wife, or teenage daughter, raped or brutally murdered, you will choose to live in the whitest area that you can. Maybe you just want your children to get a good education, whats wrong with this?
:you will choose to live in the whitest area that you can.
You can also live in Hilo, the big island of Hawaii which is 70+% Asian or Pacific Islander. And that area is safe, unlike Honolulu which has a lot of poverty.
I think the idea is the hispanic/black inner city culture (LA, South Chicago, etc) vs the actual features of the residents.
i hate to admit it honica because 90% of what you say is idiotic, but i guess even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then
Can you name ONE thing I have said that is not true?
I'm not playing this game with you honica...find someone else to entertain you
That's what I thought.
Portland, Oregon? I lived there for a couple of years and I agree with this guy; http://tinyurl.com/yxc58a
Anon: Long time lurker.
Thank you for your fair & balanced assessment of wilmington. I have many friends there whom I worry about with the current upsurge in crime.
PS - I agree w/ you about bar harbor.
We can really shortcut all these lists and opinions by merely calculating the ratio of Whites to Minorities
How awfully true in America. Racism is as much a part of the country's history, culture and riches now as it was in the biginning. Thanks for making that crystal clear for all the world to see.
I wholeheartedly agree anon, the amount of black on white violent crime is astonishing.
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