# What U.S. CIty Has Had The Worst Decline?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-u-s-city-has-had-the-worst-decline/173664>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [May 7, 2003, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-u-s-city-has-had-the-worst-decline/173664 "2003-05-07T14:30:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-u-s-city-has-had-the-worst-decline/173664/101 "2003-05-13T19:23:10Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> The Inner Harbor is a legitimate vacation destination.

Well if you say so, but I never heard of anybody taking a 3 hour vacation. 😉

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**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-u-s-city-has-had-the-worst-decline/173664/102 "2003-05-14T02:08:42Z")

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Elizabeth is out under the “Cicero Rule”.

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**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-u-s-city-has-had-the-worst-decline/173664/103 "2003-05-14T14:40:59Z")

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Oh yes, I just realized I’m an idiot because Lehigh is in Bethlehem. Sorry. Next squalid town over. My bad.

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**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\
**Post date:** [May 14, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-u-s-city-has-had-the-worst-decline/173664/104 "2003-05-14T15:07:26Z")

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I would like to nominate Pine Bluff, AR. It barely qualifies in population, but it used to be an important city because of the railroad (Cotton Belt) and, of course, Cotton. Now their biggest business is probably the paper mill, and arsenal and perhaps Tyson. It died a long time ago. There is nothing to do there, nothing to see there, and absolutely no reason for anybody to stay there once they get out of school, but they do.

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