Worst city in the United States

irishmick79 · Post by **irishmick79** » 2003-05-01 12:20pm

I also think Atlanta deserves mention on this list as well....

Post by **Zaia** » 2003-05-01 12:34pm

Nathan F wrote:Where the heck did you go in Memphis? 70% of it is a gang infested inner city, and the rest isn't exactly the epitome of 'southern hospitality'. The outlying areas (Germantown, etc.) are nice, but Memphis proper is crap. But I haven't heard of THAT happening before, seeing as though you rarely talk to anyone who even has a southern accent in the city...

My junior year of high school, I went on a band trip to Memphis. I met ONE nice person there--the waitress at the restaurant where we had dinner on our way into TN was very sweet and wished us a happy stay in her lovely state--and then everyone else was absolute SHIT. We were in a parade down Beale St., and I was one of the people carrying the banner. They saw we were from Maryland, and threw rocks at us and yelled for us to go back North where we came from, we weren't wanted there, etc. We were just high school kids, and these were adults doing the yelling! It was ridiculous. When our bus pulled away from the adjudication site (where our band did really well), some kids from another group threw rocks at our bus.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-05-01 12:37pm

Zaia wrote:
Nathan F wrote:Where the heck did you go in Memphis? 70% of it is a gang infested inner city, and the rest isn't exactly the epitome of 'southern hospitality'. The outlying areas (Germantown, etc.) are nice, but Memphis proper is crap. But I haven't heard of THAT happening before, seeing as though you rarely talk to anyone who even has a southern accent in the city...

My junior year of high school, I went on a band trip to Memphis. I met ONE nice person there--the waitress at the restaurant where we had dinner on our way into TN was very sweet and wished us a happy stay in her lovely state--and then everyone else was absolute SHIT. We were in a parade down Beale St., and I was one of the people carrying the banner. They saw we were from Maryland, and threw rocks at us and yelled for us to go back North where we came from, we weren't wanted there, etc. We were just high school kids, and these were adults doing the yelling! It was ridiculous. When our bus pulled away from the adjudication site (where our band did really well), some kids from another group threw rocks at our bus.

Ah... Well, just don't judge the rest of the state by Memphis, as stated earlier, Memphis proper is the zit on the face of our state. People are rude, the football stadium sucks, and they have a crappy downtown. I guess the only things really notable are the Memphis Belle and the Pyramid...

If you want a nice city, go to Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, or Clarksville.

Pu-239 · Post by **Pu-239** » 2003-05-01 03:35pm

Pennsylvania is too agrarian. Ugh.

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2003-05-01 05:23pm

I picked Los Angeles. I've been through LAX once, changing flights from MSY to OAK. The city looked like a shit hole sitting in a reddish brownish soup.

As to the other two cities on the list that I've visited, I really liked New York and D.C. I visited both last year, and really enjoyed them. Of course this was as a tourist, after the attractions wear off, they may begin to suck. I visited the more getto parts of D.C. a few years back, but didn't think they were anything special compared to the inner city high school I attended back home. I also stopped in Detroit last year, changing planes from MSY to JFK and again on the return trip. I didn't see anything really bad from the air. Oh yeah, the new Northwest Airlines terminal is fucking awesome.

I would like to nominate two cities for consideration for the worst: New Orleans and Houston. New Orleans for its bad drivers, insane crime, political corruption, terrible schools, and the constant threat of being wiped off the map by hurricanes. Houston for its bad drivers, bad pollution, people who can't speak English, and the fact that it's filled with Texans.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-05-01 07:04pm

Philadelphia kicks ass!

Ignorant twit · Post by **Ignorant twit** » 2003-05-01 07:12pm

Darth Wong wrote:
Frank Hipper wrote:Detroit needs to be on that list. Never been there, but I understand it's awful.
I've been there. It's awful.

I grew up there, awful is a HIDEOUS understatement. Whatever you hear about, saw driving through, or experienced while visiting ... reality is likely worse.

Detroit public schools are a sad, sad joke. The the governor recently took over the school district in a move that likely isn't legal, but was still probably the lesser of evils. There are some good teachers, but too many people don't want to teach where occupational hazards include guns and knives, not to mention the near zero hope of job satisfaction because so few people actually come out of the system with an education worth beans.

Crime, while somewhat better than in my youth when the crack dealers had running gun battles down the street, is nevertheless still bad by civilized standards. If there are three days in a row without a homicide, something is very wrong. Windsor has cut down a decent bit of the vice crime, but you still have plenty of poor vice crimenals. All of the crime inherent to the numerous abandoned buildings is still in full swing.

Politics are slightly less nuts now. The mayor no longer ask the crimenals to rob the suburbs as his solution to crime (yes I kid you not the mayor of Detroit once offered that as his solution for crime). The city council still has too many morons on it, and thankfully the McNamara political machine is FINALLY under investigation by the FBI. I think we may finally be down to only 1 in 2 officials being total morons, crooks, or both.

Basic city services suck. Only major roads get plowed ... so if you live on any of the sidestreets with several burned out homes (which is every 3rd house or more in some places) ... it is a ROYAL pain to get to work in the winter. Mass transit consists of the massively inefficient SMART bus system, which is either hideously stupid or criminal misuse of public finance. The "People Mover" is a glorified parking shuttle, which again is not worth its cost. Fire departments are chronically underfunded, police are starting to get over their fear of certain areas, and water is decent.

Detroit should be burnt down and built over. Any city that want's to compare to Detroit as the armpit of America has to beat us out. Going from 2 million strong to not even being able to get a million on the last census (and we are famous for counting the homeless, double counting areas, and other shenanigans to hold the coveted metropolis title) is a serious flush down the crapper.

There has to be a law against polling for the worst US cities and not mentioning Detroit.

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-05-01 07:35pm

I heard Flint was worse than Detroit.

Worlds Spanner · Post by **Worlds Spanner** » 2003-05-02 01:14pm

I feel a need to speak up for my native Philadelphia here!

Philly has a lot of nieghborhoods that LOOK bad, but very few of them really are bad.

As a white kid from wealthy suburbs and such, I spent some time this summer living with a bunch of people who were doing service work and stuff, and we got a chance to explore a lot of areas that I'd thought were "bad." It turned out that most seem bad because they're a bit dirty and non-community members don't come much so they stick out when they do. Once we knew a few people and had been to places, we became part of the communites (or at least welcome in them) and they stopped being at all scary and became really neat, dynamic communities, each distinct from the next one.

And of course downtown is great - small enough to walk (40 blocks) and full of interesting things.

And I think that we have some of the most beautiful skyscrapers in the world.

http://www.skyscrapers.com/re/en/wm/bu/117928/
and
http://www.skyscrapers.com/re/en/wm/bu/117968/

Favorite image:
http://www.lehigh.edu/ctbuh/bom_lib_graphics/lib5.html

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-05-02 01:18pm

Pu-239 wrote:Pennsylvania is too agrarian. Ugh.

*Blink*

Pennsylvania is a dang metropolis compared to TN and the majority of southern states...

BrYaN19kc · Post by **BrYaN19kc** » 2003-05-02 01:30pm

Personal Favorites: Kansas City, Missouri
Chicago, Illinois
Houston, Texas

Not so favorite: LA (just because I find the city very hard to get
around in)
Dallas, to suburban-like
Seattle - Way too wet, too expensive

UltraViolence83 · Post by **UltraViolence83** » 2003-05-02 11:27pm

Youngstown, Ohio. I live a few miles away from it, and my mom and half-brothers/sister live in it. I get their stories of how every other house is a crackhouse and my brothers are on the honor roll in school because they actually know how to read*, let alone do their work.

A couple years ago it was in the top 300 cities with the most violent crimes commited...it was 18th. 18th and it's not a very large city. Oh yeah, a few days ago a cop was killed there...they found the killer yesterday in Tampa, Florida. My stepdad knew both of them. (For various illegal reasons, I would assume.)

Even better: I'M MOVING THERE LATER!!!

*Being a tad sarcastic here. Tad sarcastic. What do you expect in an "Ebonics"-ridden inner-city school anyway?

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2003-05-02 11:37pm

Gotta be LA. It doesn't help that I happen to live there.

The people running our city are a bunch of crooks and assholes, as far as I'm concerned. Most of the city only gets token street patching, meaning that the general infrastructure is falling apart. In Tujunga, where I live, the roads HAVE NOT BEEN UPGRADED since they were built in the 1930s by Los Angeles County. Patched, yes. Blacktopped, yes. But upgraded with curbs or repaved? Heaven forbid!

The last mayor also just *had* to get Sacramento to pass a stupid bill that would require all parts of the city in question to vote on secession. Because of that fucking bill, the San Fernando Valley is stuck for at least three more years as a part of Los Angeles. Even though the Valley had overwhelmingly voted for secession, our votes weren't enough to outweigh the rest of the city.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-05-02 11:51pm

Pennsylvania is a dang metropolis compared to TN and the majority of southern states...

What's between Philadelphia and Pittsburg?(Yet Again)

Alabama.

I'm dead serious. The PSSA tests issued there have questions on tractors and stuff.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-05-02 11:53pm

Dalton wrote:I heard Flint was worse than Detroit.

Depends on what you're talking about? Each are fucked up in their own special ways.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-05-03 01:30am

HemlockGrey wrote:
Pennsylvania is a dang metropolis compared to TN and the majority of southern states...
What's between Philadelphia and Pittsburg?(Yet Again)

Alabama.

I'm dead serious. The PSSA tests issued there have questions on tractors and stuff.

Yeah, I noticed that the middle section is pretty rural, pretty similar to rural TN, but... Philly and Pittsburg make up the difference.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2003-05-03 02:20am

Detroit for crime, LA for just being an all-around shithole including air I'd rather not breathe.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-05-03 02:32am

None of the towns on this list can beat......

Innsmouth.

Sokar · Post by **Sokar** » 2003-05-03 03:48am

Simon H.Johansen wrote: Innsmouth.

Such a lovely little burg, do you have family there , I do, I go to visit regularly.....so should you

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-05-03 04:27am

Worlds Spanner wrote:And I think that we have some of the most beautiful skyscrapers in the world.

http://www.skyscrapers.com/re/en/wm/bu/117928/
and
http://www.skyscrapers.com/re/en/wm/bu/117968/

Favorite image:
http://www.lehigh.edu/ctbuh/bom_lib_graphics/lib5.html

You're a man after my own heart. By the way, ever notice that ALL the skyscrapers have tapering roofs? I think it's a reflection of City Halland Independence Hall. The "No Building Taller Than William Penn's Hat" rule saved Philly from a skyline full of glass boxes while modernist architects were merrily dehumanizing every other city in the country.

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2003-05-03 06:17am

Now why the FRELL is the one city that can out-SuX0r them all not on here? The one and only: NEW ORLEANS!!!

Just like a Southern Gothic version of Detroit, but crank up the temperature to 100F in the summer and watch the River Styx (Mississippi to you non-Helldemons) and the Lake of Death (Pontchartrain) boil over and pump enough humidity into the atmosphere to steam-cook everyone alive..

Enough gang violence to satisfy anyone's thirst for blood. Where you need to watch out for assholes with AK47s in gym class at school. Speaking of school, it's a joke. No one ever learns anything, and it's not all on the AK47-wielding gangbangers. The backstabbing politics here can make the most hardened Washington-DCer's toes curl.

The roads here... Are terrible!! Everything's either A. completely run-down and destroyed beyond repair or B. perpetually under construction. It might be flat, but don't think you won't need a tank to get through the potholes. Or the fact that there's no such thing as a legal left turn. Enough to drive a sane man to suicide...

And of course, we have Monster Hurricanes rising up from the Gulf like a white, foaming Cthulhu and shredding everything apart. Good Phun!!!

Basically, if the heat don't kill ya, just wait a few minutes. Something else will. And if it doesn't kill you outright, you'll be completely Batshit Insane! That's life in New Orleans...

Iceberg · Post by **Iceberg** » 2003-05-03 07:08am

It frustrates me that the two great skyscrapers of Minneapolis - the IDS Center and the Norwest Tower - both lack public observation decks. IDS's top floor used to contain the "Windows on Minneapolis" restaurant, but now the only observation deck in town is the one in the Foshay Tower, 25 stories lower than the IDS Center's top floor.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-05-03 12:55pm

I've never actually bothered to check if there's any observation decks in Tampa or St. Pete...

Captain Cyran · Post by **Captain Cyran** » 2003-05-03 03:21pm

You have D.C. but you don't have Buffalo?

Rubberanvil · Post by **Rubberanvil** » 2003-05-03 03:59pm

Wicked Pilot wrote: Houston for its bad drivers,

Agreed

bad pollution,

Agreed

people who can't speak English,

agreed

and the fact that it's filled with Texans.

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Worst city in the United States

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