Worst City in the USA

[CapTon 592]

In your opinion, what is the worst city in the USA? Be sure to explain why you think the city you pick is the worst.

 

NOTE: When I say worst, I'm talking in terms of anything that affects how someone would think about a city.

 

So is it the Mistake by the Lake (Cleveland)? Detroit? Chicago?

[Thin White Duke 4,072]

Well, I have to say Reno is pretty sad. I get the impression that's where you go after you've lost everything in Vegas.

 

[Star21Sim 5]

No other answers on this topic?

[Zakumi 29]

I'd say Detroit, Michigan because of how high the crime level is.

[Thin White Duke 4,072]

I'd say Detroit, Michigan because of how high the crime level is.

 

But Detroit has produced so many fantastic cars! Reno has produced nothing but depression.

[Moerp 449]

has the city to be located in the USA? Because I cannot say anything about american cities from own experience.

[JessiLaurn 184]

Ladies and gents, I give you Buffalo, NY:  the city that people in Cleveland pick on.  A burg that has lost over half of its peak population, nearly all of its industry, has entire neighborhoods that look like an active war zone, let a magnificent grand rail station rot and fall apart, and is home to some of the worst sports teams on the planet (including the only football team ever to go to the Superbowl four times in a row... and lose all four times).  The town that spawned the infamous line from Once Upon A Time In America, "Noodles, though you've been hiding in the [swearing] of the world, we found you."  Oh, and it has a nasty tendency to be completely buried in massive blizzards that use the entirety of Lake Erie to get a running start on the frozen dogpile.

 

I'm aware you're quoting with a good intention, but anyways, swearing is not allowed on this site.

[Compdude787 916]

My church's pastor is from Buffalo and still talks about the Buffalo Bills all the time. I wouldn't even know that team even existed if it wasn't for him.

[Haljackey 17,398]

The worst one I have visited, and the one I visit the most often, is Detroit. Every time I use the airport, the scenery along I-94 gets worse and worse.

 

The runner up for me would be Washington DC. Outside of the touristy/government areas, the place is one big ghetto.

[JessiLaurn 184]

 

 

I'm aware you're quoting with a good intention, but anyways, swearing is not allowed on this site.

 

My bad; sorry about that.

[Turjan 1,048]

No other answers on this topic?

 

It's really hard to answer this if you always avoided those cities that everyone tells you to stay away from. Detroit, Cleveland or Buffalo have been mentioned, and I guess they are safe bets, but I haven't been to any of those places. You could also mention cities like Stockton, CA, a victim of the mortgage crisis.

[Thin White Duke 4,072]

I have to agree with you, Turjan. I think most people so far has commented on what thaey have heard about these cities. Not what they have seen and experienced. I speak for myself, too, but something known as "the divorce city" can't be good.

[CapTon 592]

Well I can say I've got some experience and whatnot, living in Cleveland and all.

[SteveMSim 275]

East St. Louis, Illinois is about the worst I'd ever seen.  There are maybe two buildings in its downtown that are still occupied, weeds are growing in what were its main roads, and just about all of the remaining residents are too poor to move out, and would if they could afford to.  I've heard that Camden, New Jersey, a similar sized city, is like that as well.

[Mr Saturn64 742]

Camden is the butt of the Earth. And hell on Earth. Aside from the waterfront, it's row homes, abandoned buildings, and areas fenced off by police tape. My travelogue is too short to say anything else.

[Duke87 1,070]

I don't mind slum and urban decay. Honestly it fascinates me and cities like Detroit are amazing case studies in failed policy. I have been to Detroit, West Baltimore, etc. and never felt fearful of anything.

 

But there is one city in the US that I have visited which once I started poking around I very quickly developed a sense of needing to get out of there and fast: Las Vegas.

 

When you drive down a street and lined up as far as the eye can see are: drive-through wedding chapel, strip club, bail bonds place, casino, strip club, brothel, bail bonds place, casino, drive-through wedding chapel, etc... at first you gawk at it in disbelief that it's all real. But then once you come to accept that you're not dreaming or hallucinating, the reality sets in that you are swimming in a cesspool of the most disgusting debauchery, sin, and avarice in existence. Then you hightail it the hell out of there and need to take several showers before you can feel clean again.

 

I will take burned out buildings, empty lots, and gang violence over all of that any day!

[JessiLaurn 184]

In the "for what it's worth" department, I mentioned Buffalo as someone originally from western NY state.  I know the town.  It's just bloody awful.

 

That said, Steve nailed it with East St. Louis.  It suffered what amounted to a "corporate secession":  the major industries in the city made use of a loophole in Illinois state law to create their own "cities"... cities in which nobody lives and the sole addressee is the corporation.  They did so to dodge city taxes, and the result has been positively horrific.  I think Illinois has since patched the hole, but the damage has already been done (and the existing corporate "cities" are grandfathered).  There's no money to fix anything, and the assorted utilities have simply stopped working through parts of the city.  Nothing short of a miracle will save East St. Louis.

[TekindusT 3,809]

When you drive down a street and lined up as far as the eye can see are: drive-through wedding chapel, strip club, bail bonds place, casino, strip club, brothel, bail bonds place, casino, drive-through wedding chapel, etc... at first you gawk at it in disbelief that it's all real. But then once you come to accept that you're not dreaming or hallucinating, the reality sets in that you are swimming in a cesspool of the most disgusting debauchery, sin, and avarice in existence. Then you hightail it the hell out of there and need to take several showers before you can feel clean again.

That's why I would like to visit Vegas, to experiment how it feels. Seeing cities is OK, feeling them is better!

[Sabretooth78 808]

I agree on the Vegas comment even if only for the economic unsustainability of the city itself.  I visited the city a few years ago for family reasons - didn't venture near The Strip but instead spent most of the time in the western fringe of the metro area as well as a [un]healthy dose of the "part of the city they don't want you to see" north and northeast of The Strip.  Pawn shops, bail bonds and sheister lawyers are the city's real primary growth industries.  The Strip is simply the world's largest and most vibrant Potemkin Village.

 

Phoenix generally seems to top many lists as well.  I've only been the the airport so I can't really weigh an opinion aside from observations by others.

 

Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, St. Louis, Youngstown, etc. are too easy to beat on and the fact of the matter is they have "good bones" and good justifications for their locations (and not to mention something called water).  They're not as big or as prominent as they once were and probably never will be again, but they're not going to disappear either.  In all honest probability, they're the most stable and sustainable cities we have.  One of America's great failings is this belief that the success of a location is predicated on growth.  Growth (especially unsistainable growth) can often be no better than a Ponzi scheme.

[Turjan 1,048]

That's why I would like to visit Vegas, to experiment how it feels. Seeing cities is OK, feeling them is better!

 

Vegas is surprisingly ugly during the day. You see that it's all done as cheaply as possible and just a facade. The city is a night beauty. When all the colorful lights come out, the city transforms.

 

Then again, this "sense of debauchery and sin" that has been mentioned above is something I can easily dismiss. If you are not interested in gambling or some associated illegal practices, Vegas is actually a good spot for a few days out with the family, even with children, or for celebrating your wedding. Food and drink is cheap, you have lots of stuff like rollercoasters and even family-oriented activities in some of the hotels, and there's a good chance you can organize a wedding for 50 people much more cheaply there than in your hometown in one of the mid-range hotels on the strip.

 

I liked to go to Vegas after a longer time in the nearby National Parks in southern Utah. It's a nice change after weeks of rocks and trees. And I've never spent a dime on gambling. Not interested at all.

 

Phoenix generally seems to top many lists as well.  I've only been the the airport so I can't really weigh an opinion aside from observations by others.

 

Heh, Phoenix. The city is completely faceless. It consists of  one huge suburb. There's two patches of skyscrapers in the center, but even during the day, when everyone is working, you may see tumbleweeds in the streets and it looks like ghost town. It got somewhat better with the light rail, the new ASU campus in downtown and some more urban renewal measures though. Taken together, this means that the city isn't for tourists. It's surprisingly nice to live at though, so there's that. Especially if you like hiking and similar activities.

[zdza 547]

Anchorage, Alaska is pretty bad.

 

 

Being the only large city in the state it should have a some amedities apart from stunning nature, however for a pedestrain the city itself is very much limited to downtown and midtown, which in themselves are difficult to get around without much public transport. A city that serves apprx 380,000 people doesn't have many things that other US cities have. It also suffers from having 2 very different seasons, Winter and tourist season - in which the city becomes a small tourist town.

[Sabretooth78 808]

...

 

I liked to go to Vegas after a longer time in the nearby National Parks in southern Utah. It's a nice change after weeks of rocks and trees. And I've never spent a dime on gambling. Not interested at all.

 

As an aside, I have to say I totally agree with that.  When I was out there (only for about 4 days) we spent a day at Grand Canyon and another up in SW Utah.  Definitely the high points of the trip.

 

Did I mention it was in March of 2012, and it was actually colder there during the day than it was in Buffalo?     Yep, I had to travel to Vegas to escape the heat.  Said nobody else, ever.

[Turjan 1,048]

Yep, I had to travel to Vegas to escape the heat.  Said nobody else, ever.

 

Well, I lived in the Phoenix area, so it was usually a pleasant change. It's all relative .

Anchorage, Alaska is pretty bad.

 

 

I have to admit, this image looks very "default Maxis"-like. It even has the classic "runway into the high-rise". 

[SteveMSim 275]

Anchorage's commercial airport is next to its downtown, with the flight path passing directly over it?  That's keeping the building heights very limited.  As long as the airport is there, downtown Anchorage will never see skyscrapers.

[GDK 20]

Well, I have to say Reno is pretty sad. I get the impression that's where you go after you've lost everything in Vegas.

 

lol

[Compdude787 916]

Anchorage's commercial airport is next to its downtown, with the flight path passing directly over it?  That's keeping the building heights very limited.  As long as the airport is there, downtown Anchorage will never see skyscrapers.

Nope that's Merrill Field that you see there. It's more of a general-aviation airport. The city's main airport, Ted Stevens International Airport is located a few miles away from downtown.

[SimEMS38 246]

I've been to Vegas twice and absolutely loved it! Like most US cities, it has it's good spots and it's bad ones too, it's just Vegas makes it more visible. They don't call it Sin City for nothing don't ya know!

Detroit to me is more sad than bad as it was one time one of the most powerful cities in the country.....now not so much, not even a mere shadow of it's former self but I would like to go back sometime in the near future. I really hope to see her restored to her former glory in my lifetime.....but it isn't looking to good.

 

Other towns that I've been to that fall into this discussion would be Trenton and Camden, Nj. Like Detroit, they used to be great towns, but they've been delt a bad hand with the loss of industry and the 'burbs.

Killeen, Tx.....I was stationed at Ft Hood for 3 years and this bar none is the most depressing place I've ever been to! Always looked forward to the weekends in Austin or San Antonio. It defines the word BLAND. Cookie cutter houses on every block, pawn shops, surplus stores, liqour stores, barbar shops, loan shops, junk car shops, blood donation shops......and it goes on and on and on! The only thing I liked about that place was the storms that would roll in!

 

One city that looks to crash pretty hard is Atlantic City, Nj. Four of it's largest casinos closing this year is gonna make a already bad town worse!

[Thin White Duke 4,072]

Come to think of it, I think Niagara Falls is pretty bad. The Canadian part of it is nice, wih a few highrises and an observation tower, but USA really isn't making much of it. Mostly factories, cheap stores and tourist traps. With such a beautiful scenery to build something on, you'd think they'd come up with something a little more ambitious.