What is the most horrible US city?

[Gringo]

What is the most horrible US city?

[Gringo]

1. It's sooo tight between Houston and Phoenix

But Houston wins - Phoenix is only a hellhole during the summer months...

[RebelOne]

39. Miami, take it from me. I lived there most of my life.

I call it "the hell hole of the South."

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. Think I'd have to go with Orlando

LONG before any of the choices on your list.

[Gringo]

4. Funny, never thought of Orlando as a "City".

More like a cluster of Mammoth theme parks surrounded by the blandest suburbs on earth.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

21. My point exactly

[gyopsy]

98. Orlando has other things...

going for it than the theme parks. It has a university with over 40,000 students and a lot of companies are flocking to this central florida area. At one time, I think you may have been correct though.

[maggrwaggr]

3. Stockton, CA

one weird nasty place

[Shananigans]

89. My brother lived there...

He would totally agree with you. He hated it!

[lpbk2713]

5. Newark is the armpit of the USA

Trenton follows right behind.

[TreasonousBastard]

25. Newark, Trenton?

Been to either one lately?

'specially Newark. Everyone around here is raving about the Ironbound. A serious fave amongst travelers in the know. PAC and Bears games within walking distance. And, no, you don't get your throat slit walking around the Gateway area.

The Gateway Hilton is the secret for real travelers. Half the price of New York hotels, and minutes away from downtown NYC. Also minutes away from the best and cheapest food in three states and the street festivals in the Ironbound.

Ferry Street Rulez!

[NJCher]

35. we frequent the Portuguese restaurants in the Ironbound all the time

They are fabulous. You can get a lobster quite reasonably priced. Many have undergone decor changes and renovations and even the ones that haven't are still fun to go to.


Cher

[TreasonousBastard]

115. I'm lucky enough to...

live in a Brazilian neighborhood.

Rodizio, man! Food of the gods!

Barbecue pits in every bar on every block.

(Cheap, too.)

But it's head for the Ironbound for fish.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

134. What About the Spanish Tavern?

I had some awesome paella there!

Newark is definitely back.

[TreasonousBastard]

138. Never been there...

they were a big Rush sponsor, btw. Not exactly why I never made it there, though-- I just never made it there. Too many other options.

Heard it was good. There's another one in Mountainside closer to me.

Most of the places I go to I don't actually remember the name, except for diners. There's a place a couple of blocks from me that probably has a name, but it's more a neighborhood bar and I feel like I'm in Sao Paolo. Hardly anyone speaks English, but they're very friendly. They love having us Anglos in to show off their food.

I mention it because of paella. Brazilian paella. Had a few people from out of town visit, and that's the place I take visitors. Never bothered to order the paella there myself because I thought it would be the usual pile of rice filled out with mussels and squid.

So, Alex orders the paella, against my advice.

What comes out is a huge iron crock filled with some rice, but mainly chunks of fish, shrimp, clams, other goodies, no squid, and a whole lobster sitting on top of this assemblage.

I think it cost something like $17 for that thing. The lunch menu is cheaper.

[mobuto]

46. Newark is back!

Haven't you heard the promotional hou-ha?

Maybe not back like Jersey City is back, but its not nearly so bad as it once was.

[ClintonTyree]

6. Houston...............

I've visited many cities in the U.S. If you were going to give the United States an enema, Houston is where you'd stick the tube.

[Awsi Dooger]

29. Amazing that one city earns nearly half the vote

44% to be exact, at least at this point.

Houston was my immediate thought. I have never driven through without major construction hassles and delays. Dirty skyline, horrid summer climate, and generally unappealing.

The airport seems fine during stopovers. Given my experiences with Houston, that will remain my lone sample.

[Goldberg]

7. Any city with more than 50,000 people.

[Zomby Woof]

16. there ya go

:thumbsup:

[K8-EEE]

142. I HATE Small Towns!

Both my parents are from small towns and they both completely suck. They are so boring and full of dumb ass GOP types.

I hate being somewhere that is so small you end up seeing the same strangers over and over --- like God ran out of extras, someone once said.

[EstimatedProphet]

8. Newark isn't on the list

And actually I can't speak for Newark itself, but the Newark International Airport, especially the Continental wing, is the 6th circle of Hell.

[TreasonousBastard]

26. You haven't been to Terminal A.

But nothing in Nwark is as bad as O'Hare.

[aldian159]

32. O'Hare rocks!

The airport is great! Very easy to get in an out of. Midway's a dive and its in a shit neighborhood.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

55. Whaddya talking about?

Midway Airport is not a dive and it's definitely not in a shit neighborhood. Midway is a helluva lot closer to the Loop than ORD and a lot easier for the South Siders to get to.

[mountainvue]

139. They just redid Midway.

They're adding on to it. I actually prefer it to o'Hare.

[mitchum]

9. Camden, NJ

Sorry, NJ DU-ers. There are many places in your state that I really like, but Camden isn't one of them.

[TreasonousBastard]

27. I'll give you Camden.

We're trying to say it's really part of Philadelphia, but no one's buying.

[mobuto]

69. Camden died when RCA moved to Indiana in the 1940s

It has never quite recovered.

[name not needed]

111. Camden has a unique odor

[LTR]

128. You've obviously never been to Gary, IN

What a dump! Makes Detroit look like San Francisco.

[mobuto]

130. No, you want a smell, try a little AKRON, OHIO

You can smell Akron twenty miles before you get to it. When I was there, an orange cloud hung in the air, and the place just reeked from all the tire factories.

[alittlelark]

10. Montgomery, AL.

Lived there for two years in my youth and was shocked. It was (is?) the armpit of the US.

[BANGARANG]

11. You forgot

Victorville, CA. Scariest place on Earth. Middle of the desert, tons of weird churches, and white trash as far as the eye can see.

[alittlelark]

17. Yeah, Victorville reeks

but Los Banos, CA gets my vote for worst in CA

[EstimatedProphet]

84. What about Baker?

THE ONLY THING it has as an attraction is the friggin' giant thermometer! That's it! You can get gas at the giant thermometer, and listen to the radio say 10 times on the hour every hour that Baker has a giant thermometer, and listen to radio interviews of people that say "It's so BIG!" Yeesh.

[SammyWinstonJack]

94. Ha! Victorville, Ca.

Spent way too many years in that dried up hellhole. Was glad to get out and never want to go back.

[LWolf]

141. Hey, watch that!

Victorville is my neighbor. If you really want the worst place, try Trona. But it's hard to consider it a "city."

[ArwenJade]

12. Salt Lake City

Very hot summers and cold winters. Plus, there's practically no division of church and state.

BTW, I'm a Catholic living in Utah.

[Zomby Woof]

15. I agree

I only passed through, but that was a lifetime's worth of exposure. Ugly, dirty, depressing, and painfully white. I have been to Detroit, Houston, Philadelphia, and St. Louis - and for sheer worthlessness as an American city, SLC is numero uno above those armpits.

My condolences, and welcome to DU.

[ironflange]

85. Oh, so YOU'RE the one!

[camero]

13. Houston

New Orleans is a very close second. Outside of Bourbon St. the place is a dump. Newark is there also.

[sendero]

120. Not to mention....

... that the whole French Quarter smells like a greasy dumpster :)

Or at least it did in 1980...

But then, it is a unique place so it gets some points for that alone.

[peterh]

14. I’ve been to a lot of cities and it’s…..Newark…

That place gave me the willies…
I’m surprised Houston is getting most of the votes…It’s hard to find a place that has better looking women, imho, of course….and downtown isn’t all that bad, either….in May….

[camero]

20. The women in Houston are nice

It's the pollution that gets you. Especially in the summer.

[Leilani]

18. Cleveland

Haven't been there recently, but I lived in it's suburbs, & there was nothing worthwhile there but a couple of restaurants.

After 5 it was a ghost town.

And the weather...lake effect snow...it never stops.

[Donkeyboy75]

119. Cleveland's not too bad now, even though I still hate it

n/t

[asthmaticeog]

135. Jeez...

I actually really like it a lot here in Cleveland. There's a TON to do if you know where to find it. Screwed up as it is here, it conceals wonderful secrets. We just need to ditch our destructively useless mayor, and there may yet be hope.

Which 'burb did you live in? I used to be from the Heights, but am living on the near-west side, very close to downtown now.

[MrSlayer]

19. Detroit, without question.

The most disgustingly dirty and broken down, crime ridden city I've ever had the misfortune of visiting.

[JVS]

31. Detroit is really messed up

[ScreamingMeemie]

36. Hey you guys! I'm in Detroit. We have a lot of wonderful things.

The DIA the Opera House...It is a ghost town and it's very sad. Lots about Detroit is wonderful. :hi:

[JVS]

41. Oh, I've always loved Detroit. Since I was a kid.

That's why it makes me sad to see how fucked up things are. My Grandmother's aunt used to live in one of the nice hotels downtown. It is now completely boarded up. Went to the NAIAS in 2002, was amazed to see that they dropped a stadium in the middle of the theater district. Was even more amazed when I went to the NAIAS this year and saw that old Tiger Stadium is still standing (Doesn't anyone want land in the city) The Michigan Central depot, gutted by neglect. The area is badly blighted. The only things that seemed to be thriving were the casinos. Detroit deserves better

[bif]

62. Detroit is the worst city in the U.S. No contest.

It just doesn't get any worse than here, believe me.

[JVS]

96. Seriously. I hear complaints above about cities being bland.

In Detroit you have roads that are becoming unpaved. Blocks filled with boarded up buildings. I take bland over dilapidated any day. If Detroit were a house, it would be that house in fight club. If I worked for Cuban propaganda to keep people from setting off in rafts, I'd film Detroit.

[noonwitch]

87. Detroit was starting to do a little better in the 90s, with Archer

And with Clinton in Washington. Some parts of the city, southwest along Vernor Highway in particular, cashed in on the empowerment zone money. The mexican neighborhood looks pretty good these days, because of wise use of that money. Now, with Bush in office, the economy in the tank, a very bloody start to the new year, and a boy mayor, who knows what will turn it around?

[adriennel]

100. Detroit is beautiful, dammit!

yes, it's abandoned and falling apart but some of us still love it and have hope. I realize this question is US cities only, but lemme tell ya in terms of crime and filth I'd rather be in Detroit than Mexico City anyday. Peace!

Home of the Fabulous Ruins of Detroit
http://www.detroityes.com/

[mountainvue]

140. I'd have to agree with you there.

[MSchreader]

156. Then you won't mind me saying

Don't come back. We don't want your kind here.

Martin

[scarlet_owl]

22. I only drove through Houston once,

and that is enough for me. I don't know how people stand it there. I guess every place has its good points and bad points.

[VOX]

24. I'll go with Houston, too.

:kick:

[jburton]

23. New Haven, CT

The most economically and racially segregated city I've ever lived in (and I'm from the South).

[thom1102]

40. Harford isn't much better...

Hell, hartford segregated the whites right out of the city (practically).

[mobuto]

43. Are you kidding? Hartford is much worse.

New Haven is the garden spot of the universe compared to Hartford. Hartford is dead. It has no economy, except for the Connecticut government and the insurance industry. And the people who work for both, don't live in Hartford. The suburbs are incredibly white and incredibly wealthy - the city itself is one of the poorest black ghettoes anywhere. And its empty. Every year, tax rolls decline as more and more people escape to the suburbs. With less tax moeny, the city is less able to provide essential services like police protection. Crime goes up and more move to the suburbs. The population has fallen dramatically, and you wind up with the worst urban blight anywhere in the United States.

[Bundbuster]

28. 23 replies and no one's mentioned

Gary, Indiana?

This must be a Liebold poll.

[ScreamingMeemie]

37. I was just in Gary. Taking the Skyway through Chicago to Milwaukee

My son Loveeees Gary Indiana with all it's polluting smokestacks and such. :hi:

[Bundbuster]

47. I swear I will not drive through Gary again

without an oxygen mask. Same for the refinery regions of New Joisey.

[Burma Jones]

53. As a kid in Gary, I would go to the shore and play with dead fish

[bmbmd]

64. Gary, Indiana? What a wonderful name!

Named for Elbert Gary, of judiciary fame.
Gary, Indiana-as a Shakespeare would say-
trips along
softly on
the tongue this way.

How could you not like a city with a song like that to sing?
My vote goes to Wichita Falls, Texas.

[5thGenDemocrat]

88. Yup. Saginaw, Michigan, courtesy of Lefty Frizzell, is like that too

And Lefty wasn't even from here. But Stevie Wonder and Question Mark and the Mysterians ("96 Tears") are (so, from another time, were Isham Jones, Danny Russo and Sonny Stitt).
In deference to Gary, though, Lefty was no Meredith Wilson.
John
Anyhow, I voted for Miami. That's one scary-ass city.

[SoCalDem]

30. Compton California..n/t

:(

[aldian159]

33. Whatever happened to Flint?

still one big rust belt?

[Pithlet]

91. Yes

It's even worse since Buick City closed. I grew up in Flint, and it was already well into its decline, but now, when I go back to visit family, it really depresses me. I hate seeing places that once thrived boarded up and decaying.

[grasswire]

34. Hey!

I thought Butte MT was the armpit of America.

It's a very odd place.

[ironflange]

86. You can say that again

How many towns are mostly made up of a huge pit half full with poisoned water? What the hell are they going to do when it reaches the top?

[Mobius]

38. I voted Houston, but Gary Indiana is pretty bad

they have green concrete for grass.

[Burma Jones]

50. I was born in Gary, but Dad got us the hell out of there

Got himself an education and we ended up in Maryland.

[Mobius]

99. I was only there once

That was enough. Congrats on your escape.

[Loonman]

42. NYC

Hell on earth.

[mobuto]

45. Whatchootalkinabout?

Them's fighting words.

[Burma Jones]

52. Well, Maybe Staten Island.......

But Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx (with some minor exceptions) are safe, clean(ish), and exciting. I absolutely LOVE New York, and I'm from DC - we're supposed to hate NY.

[mobuto]

68. We are, but we don't

I think we Washingtonians have a real inferiority complex when it comes to New York. Hell, I admit it.

[Burma Jones]

72. I'll say this..

After having lived in DC, the Maryland Suburbs, the Virginia Suburbs and in Northern Westchester County NY, The DC area has, by far, the better suburbs. But, you can't beat Manhattan.

[mobuto]

77. Really?

I've never lived in a suburb so I can't pontificate, but I'd imagine it'd be a lot easier to get to Manhattan from the suburbs than from DC. You take commuter rail (vs. MARC or VRE which don't seem to work all that well) and you don't have to spend eternity on I-66, 95 270 or the Beltway. Of course if you lived in Northern Westchester you were pretty far out there and on the wrong side of the Bronx, but even so...

[Burma Jones]

80. Yeah, live close enough to Metro, and you can get downtown

But, I've almost never worked in DC proper. Most of the jobs are in the 'burbs. But considering things like schools, parks, lower taxes with better services, the DC 'burbs are better. Prince Georges County boasts the highest minority income levels in the nation. Montgomery has the best educated population in the USA. Fairfax has the second highest median family income.

Also, organized crime never got a foothold in the DC area (unless you count Tom DeLay), so things like waste management and road construction and a host of other services are done better and cheaper.

[mobuto]

82. No organized crime in DC?

You've never dealt with the DC Department of Public Works, then. :-)

Many of the DC suburbs do have great schools and (for the most part) great services, etc. My problem with DC is precisely that its so decentralized - I prefer cities to be urban. And PG County may be a great example of succesful integration (the best in the country, actually) but DC is not, and there are real sharp divides in race, class and income within the city.

[Burma Jones]

83. DC has the big problem of Congressional Rule

So dumbass redneck Republicans have a BIG say in how the city is run.

As the license plates say: "Taxation Without Representation"

[Anaxamander]

57. Yeah, why wasn't NYC an option? (nt)

[mobuto]

44. Flint, Hartford, Gary

Houston is damned unpleasant to be in, but there are some smaller cities that are much, much worse.

[Burma Jones]

48. I lived in Houston for one miserable year

PLEASE DO NOT CONSIDER THIS A SLAM ON TEXAS, I LIKE TEXAS. But Houston....It is filthy, smelly and disgusting. It has no character beyond crass commercialism. It has many cultural outlets, but that only seems to give people a chance to be seen in nice clothes. It is the very epitome of those things that are bad about the USA. It is no wonder it is the home of ENRON. It is awful, awful, awful....Austin and San Antonio are wonderful though.

[Bridget Burke]

49. let me guess....

You lived outside the Loop!

[Burma Jones]

51. Lived in Montrose first, THEN down by Webster

I have family down by NASA. Worked at Astroworld when I was a teenager. Houston was just an unpleasant place. I was born in Gary, Indiana though, and Gary is definitely worse than Houston.

[XNASA]

61. Webster is really somthin', ain't it?

I lived in Seabrook for awhile.......El Lago actually. They got a nice bike shop in Webster, that's about it.

[Burma Jones]

74. I got an Uncle in El Lago Estates, just off NASA 1

My cousins from there are an interesting bunch.

[DarkSim]

54. Oklahoma city sucks. nt.

[skippysmom]

56. Gary, Camden, NJ, or Utica, NY

The three most depressing cities ever.

[ms_splash]

117. Oh, come on, Utica's not that bad

[GOPisEvil]

58. E. St. Louis, IL

Looks like a war zone to this day. :-(

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

59. Yeah, East St. Louis

gets my vote as well. My father used to call it the "armpit of Illinois".

[GOPisEvil]

60. It's my dad's hometown.

Back when he was growing up (the '40s and '50s) it was a great place to live.

When I was about 8, I remember my dad driving me through town, showing me various places, like where he went to school. It looked like freaking Beirut. :-( (Edit - that's civil war-era Beirut - it used to be beautiful, too.)

[Cuban_Liberal]

70. You're right!

I've always wondered---- why DID they build a levee around it? Seems the most merciful thing would be to let the river reclaim it... :shrug:

[GOPisEvil]

75. So Monsanto's plant wouldn't wash away.

:grr:

You know Sauget used to actually be called "Monsanto" at one time? Man, they polluted that whole area, AND removed themselves from the local tax base in the process. Bastards.

[4morewars]

90. Monsanto is EVIL !!!!!!

Of all the nasty corporations out there , they are very possibly the WORST !!!

http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit_index.html

http://www.ethicalinvesting.com/monsanto/

http://www.purefood.org/dioxcov.html

[fudge stripe cookays]

105. Yep, that's where my mom worked. Around 1953. n/t

[fudge stripe cookays]

101. Sad, really.

My parents' first home when they were married in the 50s was in E. St. Louis. My dad was an airman-first class at Scott AFB. They didn't have a pot to put sugar in.

But my mom's from Belleville originally. What a racist, nasty, German Catholic shithole it is. From what she's told me, it used to be one of those "<N word> don't let the sun set on you here," sort of towns.

And the ugliest men I've ever seen have been from Missouri/Illinois in that area. El Camino haircuts and WAY too much facial hair-- handlebar moustaches, the whole bit.

[GOPisEvil]

102. Fudge! (Small world alert!)

My dad's family lives all around Belleville and surrounding shitholes, er areas. Belleville has a SERIOUS problem with racism. I remember they blocked the main road from E. St. Louis because some fancy new houses sprang up and the people that bought them didn't want "those people" driving through their neighborhood. The police used to follow black drivers until they left town. Too bad the St. Clair County seat is in Belleville. But, what's pissing off some <N-words>? Fuckers...I'm glad like hell I don't live up there.

[fudge stripe cookays]

108. Me too, GOP.

Ever been in a cemetery there? (Otherwise known as the resting place of half my relatives). Mostly 12 syllable long German names.

(If you see some Rennscheidts, they're mine. Meine Urgrossmutter und Urgrossvater) They liked Hitler so much they listened to the Nazi broadcasts on shortwave.

[GOPisEvil]

125. LOL - my family's not quite as bad...

My dad's family is Irish Catholic - St. Theresa's. :-) Last time I was in a cemetary in Belleville was 1988 - my grandmother.

[Dees]

123. I hear there was a time when the place was jumpin'

Being from the St. Louis area I always heard so much about The Blue Note on Missouri Avenue. Driving by the outskirts of E. St. Louis on 255 it's best not to look.

[IronLionZion]

63. Cincinnati

Right-wing KKK types. enough said.

[Melsky]

93. I agree

I lived there for the 15 worst months of my life. Made me realize how good we have it in So Cal. Not the weather, the people.

I know there are nice people there, but the vast majority of people I met were ultra conventional, boring, smug and racist as all get out. Oh, and sexist too.

I'll put up with freezing rain before I put up with smug right wing racists and bad food.

Ok, actually there are some really good Indian restaurants there.

[rexcat]

132. One of the worst places, but there are worse...

we have lived in the Cincinnati metro area for 16 years. We have never gotten used to the blatant racism in the area, but what can you say for a repug stronghold. The reason we are here is because of my wife's job. After 5.5 years of graduate school, a two year post-doc (slave labor) she sold out to the corporate world but we make do and I do get a kick out of aggravating the conservative right wing nuts!

[LuCifer]

145. OH GOD YES!

My parents are from that area, and lemme tell you, people there (not all, but waaaay too many) still to this day use the N-WORD more often than the word "the". Check please.

Lu

[Fenris]

65. Hey...HEY!

That's not nice. I like my home city. Son of a bitch Yankees.

[PVnRT]

66. L.A.

I'm with Bill Hicks on this one. Goodbye you lizard scum, goodbye!

[Robb]

67. Guantanamo Bay.

I understand the food's good, but the nightlife is murder.

[nini]

71. Philadelphia .nt

nt

[mobuto]

73. Philadelphia's pretty bad

Has the mayor bombed it recently?

[Burma Jones]

76. Oh Yes..If you take the train between NY and DC

You can see the wasteland that is North Philadelphia

[LynneSin]

78. And guess what - every city has that same problem

Don't go picking on Philadelphia - it's an incredible city that I love to death!!!

[phillybri]

97. Stop knocking on Philly...

Most of the people bagging on Philly have probably never been there...:grr:

[Burma Jones]

109. Touchy Touchy Touchy

Well, Philly IS nicer than Detroit or Houston or Gary. But I haven't seen that kind of bleak landscape except perhaps around Newark and I take the train between DC and Boston several times a year. I will grant that Downtown is OK and the area around the zoo is pretty.

[tishaLA]

107. I love Philadelphia

and I even grew up there!

[Bertha Venation]

79. Other: Washington, DC ("Dysfunctional City")

signed,

A Maryland Commuter

[fudge stripe cookays]

110. Funny story about "DC"

When reprehensor moved down from Canada, we were discussing American geography and important historical matters.

Seems like he hadn't originally known there were 2 Washingtons. So then I asked him, "Do you know what D.C. stands for, honey?"

He thought for a second and cocked his head.

"Da Capital?"

[elfwitch]

81. I say Dallas...

Because I live in Dallas and I hate it.
Houston is a pit of hell too, but I don't live there.

[fudge stripe cookays]

104. Gotta agree with you there.

But living in Dallas is even more bearable than certain suburbs.I didn't mind it when we lived in Lakewood in our little rental-- could walk to Cafe Brazil and the grocery store, Paperbacks Plus, the pub, Redenta's Garden, and other cool liberal sort of places. Or Oak Lawn.

But then we bought our house, and the only place we could afford was Rowlett.

Try living in Rowlett. You'll feel your brain begin shrinking upon arrival. Guck!

[Mrs. Venation]

92. Atlantic City, NJ

It's a tacky boardwalk bordered by urban decay. I spent one weekend there and I hope never to return.

[LynneSin]

127. Atlantic City is horrible

You walk a block away from the Casinos and you're in the worse slums. You'd think they'd use some of those profits from the Casino to help fix up the rest of the city.

[TrogL]

95. Detroit reminded me of pictures of war-ravaged cities

I was there in 1979 and air raid sirens wouldn't have been out of place. The downtown core had lots of damaged and burnt up buildings. There were few signs of viable businesses. We were on a concert tour and had security guards on the busses and at the church for the performance.

[tishaLA]

103. Indianapolis, if it is a city

Personally, I don't think any place with three (four?) sports arenas smack in the middle of downtown can be called a city, but I guess it calls itslf one. It's the very definition of blandness and homogeneity.

[name not needed]

106. Asbury Park, NJ

ravaged and destroyed by corruption and greed. just look at it now

[TreasonousBastard]

114. Yeah, that place is pretty sucky...

I used to pass through it every so often. Disaster. Atlantic City without the casinos. Even Camden has the aquarium, a battleship, and the ferry to Philly.

Ocean Grove is still kinda cute and didn't catch the disease, but now they allow cars in on Sundays.

But, I sees you lives in Bilgewater, which is another place I find gives me the creeps. Nothing blighted or "bad" about it, just no "there" there. Downtown is the mall.

Hunterdon County is full of places like that. The whole damn country is full of places like that.

Da 'burbs-- where you gotta get stuck in traffic for 10 miles just to get a quart of milk. If Sartre saw 202/206, he'd have written a different play.

At least you got a Wegman's near you. Almost makes the traffic worthwhile.

[name not needed]

126. bridgewater's ok

the mall, well, commons way is basically downtown. the mall and office parks and the municipal building. But the high school is hell on earth. Completely outdoors. And you know how cold it gets in New Jersey. I was almost gonna kill someone on those 8 below zero days.

[youngred]

148. at least you have kevin smith!

[Art_from_Ark]

151. I was going to say San Bernardino or Compton, California

but after seeing your pictures of Asbury Park, I might go with that.

Yikes! What a depressing place!

[Padraig18]

112. Gary f*cking Indiana!

If God EVER gives the state of Indiana an enema, Gary is DEFINITELY where he'll stick the hose!

:puke:

[TreasonousBastard]

113. Almost forgot...

Scranton, PA. should be pretty far up on the list.

[Donkeyboy75]

116. How could you leave off Newark or Flint, Mich?

n/t

[TexasMexican]

118. NYC

most definately.

[Tripper11]

121. Whatever town W was hatched in! (n/t)

[Bundbuster]

122. Anyone here familiar with El Paso?

I drove by on the Interstate overlook and said to myself: "Why would anyone choose to live here, unless sent by the military?"

Unusual for me - I've been through all 50 states, and almost always conjure up some positive possibility on anywhere, even Oklahoma City.

[rexcat]

131. Wichata Falls, TX is even worse...

than El Paso. I was stationed there for 7 months while in training in the USAF. The place is a hellhole. It is just like the rest of Texas.

[Gringo]

146. El Paso is my hometown

And many people who only go by on the interstate say the same thing.

It is actually, however, an extremely nice town. Aside from being one of the cheapest cities of its size to live in, the crime is not too bad, the people are really friendly and real, it's a democrat town, and many parts of it are quite beautiful (not by the interstate, though.

Ask someone who lives there to show you around, and you may change your mind.

[Bundbuster]

150. I'm glad to hear that, Gringo

I was hoping that my drive-by Freeway "evaluation" was of the classic "prejudice" category - judging without personal knowledge. It's been my experience that once you get off that damned ribbon of concrete and nose around a bit, you'll find a much more positive vibe. There are about 10 cities listed in this thread where I did just that, and found myself liking those places more & more.

[LTR]

124. Detroilet (nm)

[sweetheart]

129. Bridgeport, CT - or - Bakersfield, CA

I'm undecided on which is worse.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

136. Bridgeport is depressing

I got lost there last year-it was a really sad city!

[AlFrankenFan]

133. I hate to say it

but I can't stand LA.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

137. Hate to say it, but the city of my birth is pretty bad

Dallas. Big D.

In the past ten years, the pollution has become intolerable. Worse than ever.

I teach in a middle school that is in a burb to the southwest of Dallas proper. My room is on the second floor facing due east and five years ago, I could see the downtown Dallas skyline in the WINTER SOMETIMES.

Now? Never. Not on a single day. Never. It's like it isn't there anymore. I watched it happen over the last few years.

No good public transport, especially if you live in the burbs.

Two words: STRIP MALLS. As far as the eye can see.

Not much natural beauty to speak of.

The road construction? Well, I was born in 1970 and they were working on Central Distressway even THEN.

Traffic? UG. Criminey. Don't even ASK.

And if you are liberal.....well it's a GOP Gulag. Welcome to hell. Fortunately it isn't as bad as it used to be (thanks bush!!!) and I notice people speaking out about bush more and more everyday, which is great, but damn I would love to live in Portland or San Fransisco or even Minneapolis.

And the summers? I am a native so I am used to it, but unless you like many days in a row of plus 100 degree temps and air pollution so horrible they had to make up a NEW level of warning (purple, means NO ONE should do anything outside that day, not even the young and healthy) AND sometimes wonderful humidity, well stay away.

And the winters are just gray and dreary.


I swear, humans weren't meant to live here.

And the architecture and city planning definitely leaves something to be desired, too.

[SmileyBoy]

143. Detroit. aka "Detoilet".

I've been there a couple times on the way to Toronto, and lemme just say :puke:

[LuCifer]

144. Though I voted for Miami, the right choice, honorable mention to...

TAMPA! Talk about over-rated and just icky. The most polluted part of this state. 20th biggest city in the USA, and it has gomers out the yin yang! GAG. Also, don't forgot Ft. Worth and Sacramento. There's a reason why COPS films in those towns when they don't film HERE in the Palm Beaches!

Lu Cifer

[TOhioLiberal]

147. Detroit

Got lost there once :scared:

[Ladyhawk]

149. I vote Fresno, California.

I lived there for about six years. It's hot, flat, ugly and crime-ridden. I would vote someplace like Bakersfield, but I don't think it qualifies as a real city.

[maveric]

152. Lawrence MA. Hands down!

A delapatated mill city with 35% unemployment, the highest crime rate in NE and the Heroin capital of the northeast.
Go there and you will agree.
MAveRiC's hometown.

[strategery blunder]

153. Flint, MI.

Watch Michael Moore's documentary Roger and Me.

And it's all GM's fault.

(As far as cities I've actually been to, I'm going to have to say Phoenix--the school system sucks, it's a "right to work" aka unions are banned state, the summers are horrible, it's one of the smoggiest cities in the nation, wages are low, one of the terminals at the airport is named after BARRY GOLDWATER, etc.)

[UnAmericanJoe]

154. I voted for Phoenix

Because I had some bad times there.

But I thought Butte, Montana was a big shit-hole as well.

[corporatewhore]

155. Well the one time i went to miami i came in the middle of a police state

for the ftaa protests Houston and dallas suck too