SHIT!!! Wrong board. Oh well, a tele-marketing call is always a nice change of pace 
Buffalo sucks as a large city but if you’ve lived here as long as I have and know where to go, even the East side is a much better city than say Baltimore or Chicago. (Crime wise)
Otherwise it is a dead city, that’s only good for raising families and abandoning after college.
Buffalo isn’t even the worst city in western New York…that honor belongs to Niagara Falls, once dubbed “America’s answer to East Berlin” by one travel writer. If you want an example of how politicians can ruin a city, look no further.
True, but, than again, if I remember my studies of NYC, your part of the Bronx (Woodlawn) is, demographically speaking, one of the parts that didn’t change during the 1960’s and 1970’s.
Clearly you were either there before the revitalization, or you were just stuck in all the wrong neghborhoods. There are enough nice areas to remove Baltimore from this list. And I’m not even a native.
No one here must read the Washington Post, specifically Gene Weingarten’s writings. The true Armpit of America?
Battle Mountain, NV
Battle Mountain isn’t a city. It’s a small town with a population of 3000. And it does have the distinction of being the location for the annual World Human Powered Speed Challenge (a record attempt for the fastest human-powered vehicle).
I don’t know. I’m from (and currently live in) Richmond, so I have a bias, but I also lived seven years in DC and have a great fondness for Baltimore, and . . .
Richmond’s not a bad place for a mid-sized city, especially compared to what it was ten years ago. The murder rate (AFAIK; though I couldn’t find per capita murder rate data anywhere in a quick-and-dirty) has gone down since the mid-90s (though it’s gone up again this year, hopefully just a—sad—fluke), Shockoe Slip and Shockoe Bottom are nice, the River area in lower downtown is being developed pretty well, and so forth. Every city has a stretch like the Broad Street you described. And there’s a Popeye’s on 9th & F NW in DC that ain’t so nice either, IIRC.
Richmond’s biggest problems are an idiotic city council, and the other jurisdictions (the counties), especially Chesterfield County, just won’t play ball.
Anyway, I’d say East Saint Louis wins in a walk. Arbutus, MD wins for worst city name, though; every time I drive by it, I think it would be a better name for an ass infection.
I disagree. I didn’t hate living in Lawrence half as much as Taunton (down by the RI border). God, I hate that city- still and it’s been nearly 6 years since I last stepped foot there. It’s a dirty, evil place.
Maybe Lawrence was nicer, relatively speaking, when I was little because it wasn’t so bad a place to be a little kid - as long as you avoided places like “crack alley.” I have quite a few fond memories of the city, believe it or not. The fact that we moved away when I was 10 probably helps though.
Baltimore and Buffalo tie for my own personal first place. Buffalo probably claims a slightly higher rung because six feet of snow on a fairly regular basis is not my idea of pleasant.
Newark is rather awful but it does have lovely suburbs, a good view of New York City and a very nice airport.
I think southern NJ is just fine. Take a trip down by Princeton sometime, very nice. Whooops, I did think of one exception, how about Atlantic City? I haven’t ever been to AC, but what I have seen in documentaries paints an ugly picture.
Memphis, Tennessee
It is really amazing that these hellholes can actually become nice places to live! All it takes is for people with money to move in…take the South End of Boston (Roxbury and Jamaica Plain). 20 years ago, it was filthy and run down…then, artists and musicians starting converting the old abandoned warehouses into loft apartments/studios. Then wealthy gay people moved , and renovated the old row houses. Now, the place is fullof trendy shops and restaurants, and the real estate values are throught the roof! You actually see people jogging on the streets…twenty years ago, this would have been impossible.
So, once real estate values drop so low that renovating abandoned buildings is possible, and the scum movews out, even the worst slum can turn around.
ccwaterback, you live in southern NJ but have never been to AC? What gives?
I live in northern California and have never been in Oakland. Driven through it many times, been in Berkeley several times, but not in Oakland.
I live in Newark, NJ. Trashy streets. Lots of people “hanging out”. Lots of violent crime. Every time I drive down South Orange Ave., I start thinking of that Grand Master Flash song that goes: “Don’t touch me cuz I’m close to the edggggge/ I’m try-ing not to lose my heaaaad./ It’s like a jungle sometimes/ I have to wonder how I keep from going under!”
But believe it or not, the city isn’t all bad. People tell me it used to be really bad, so I appreciate the improvements. I’ve never been the victim of crime, even when I used to commute on bicycle (a 10 mile trip). The people look grim and hard, but they are nice once you come to know them. I probably would look grim and hard too if all I could see around me were dirty streets, vacant lots, and abandoned warehouses.
My Nana lives in Gary, IN in a little rundown neighborhood called Tarrytown. She keeps her pre-fab house well-kept and nice, but she’s surrounded by rundown houses that harbor crackheads. Once a bullet came flying through her bedroom from next door. She was very nonchalant about it. Despite my mother’s insistence that she move, Nana wants to stay put. I can’t see why, but maybe it’s because she really likes the simple but well-kept home that she’s owned for fifty years.
Gary and Newark have two things in common: They were once very industrial, steel mill-centered locales. Now all that’s left of that history is a bunch of empty skeletons and people who are still picking and scratching on the bones.
San Bernardino CA.
What a crime infested, ugly, choking-on-smog shit hole. Fontana, the gateway to Berdoo, takes a close second.
Sorry, misunderstanding. One poster said the out-skirts of Newark, NJ were OK. I was just following up that southern NJ seemed fine to me. I was around Princeton once, seemed like a nice area.
I live in FL. Speaking of FL, the worst town I have been too down here is Florida City, south of Miami. Must be the crack capital of the world. I hate places where people always eyeball the shit out of your where ever you go, and Florida City is one of those places.
You my friend are ignorant. Buffalo in no way gets that kind of snow on a regular basis, that’s why it was front page news. We’ve had really weak winters and very strong ones. Saying all we have are the Bills and snow is pure ignorance on your part. It’s like saying Alaska is nothing but snow and Eskimos.
I totally agree, I took my son to the boxing gym around there a couple weeks back and was scared to leave the car unattended. That area could have turned into major city with high tourism but it’s gone down the drain and all we’re left with is the “hood”.
I haven’t been to any of the popular choices here (how did I manage that?), but do have a worst city to offer:
Coatesville, PA
Y’all realize that the worst Canadian city would be about six-hundredth on this list you’re creating?
[sub]heh-heh-heh[/sub]