Friday, February 19, 2010

OH LORD, STUCK IN A LODI AGAIN: Forbes brings you the twenty worst cities in America. A big shout-out for a local No. 2, Stockton, just edged out by Cleveland. Ohio and the California Central Valley can show ALOTT5MA fave Philadelphia (ha, No. 20!) what miserable is all about!

Here's the whole list, to avoid wading through the slideshow:

1. Cleveland, OH
2. Stockton, CA
3. Memphis, TN
4. Detroit, MI
5. Flint, MI
6. Miami, FL
7. St Louis, MO
8. Buffalo, NY
9. Canton, OH
10. Chicago, IL
11. Modesto, CA
12. Akron, OH
13. Kansas City, MO
14. Rockford, IL
15. Toledo, OH
16. New York, NY
17. Sacramento, CA
18. Youngstown, OH
19. Gary, IN
20. Philadelphia, PA

33 comments:

  1. Tony H.10:13 PM

    This seems as good a place as any to register my enormous antipathy to sites in which you have to click through each individual item to see the entirety of a list.

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  2. "Our Misery Measure takes into account unemployment, as well as eight other issues that cause people anguish. The metrics include taxes (both sales and income), commute times, violent crime and how its pro sports teams have fared over the past two years. We also factored in two indexes put together by Portland, Ore., researcher Bert Sperling that gauge weather and Superfund pollution sites. Lastly we considered corruption based on convictions of public officials in each area as tracked by the Public Integrity Section of the United States Department of Justice."

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  3. Anonymous10:41 PM

    I'm befuddled by them singling out Chicago for "long commutes". What long commutes? We have a fairly good transport system here. Of course, if you choose to drive...

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  4. I am not going to disagree about NYC. This place makes it hard to be a middle-class working slob. NYC is great for artists and rich people. The rest of us schmoes have to figure out some compromise to live okay.

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  5. Not to be a crankypants (and I realize many here will disagree), but unemployment, crime . . . and pro sports franchises? I'm not saying it's not an aspect of quality of life for many, but I just can't figure how this ranks among these key metrics. And if you're going down that road, why not have some arts measurement? Cultural institutions? Arts funding?

    And what decently sized American city doesn't have commutation issues of one kind or another?

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  6. The Pathetic Earthling12:55 AM

    It's a silly metric, certainly.  I mean the Stockton Ports - my second favorite minor league franchise (after the Arkansas Travelers) didn't seem to lift it off of near rock-bottom.

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  7. Joseph J. Finn9:04 AM

    I find it oddly interesting, according to Wiki, that the Ports have had 11 major league affilations, starting with the Sox (and the Cubs as well at one point).

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  8. What about misconduct *by* the Public Integrity Section?  DC was robbed.

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  9. bad dad10:42 AM

    Can we link to page 1 of the slide show instead of the final page? Kinda annoying to figure it out.

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  10. Anonymous11:34 AM

    Wait, Chicago ranks above Gary? Gary, who's sole claim to fame is Michael Jackson, closed steel plants and casinos?

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  11. My sole experiences with Gary involved rolling down my window to pay the toll on the Indiana Toll Road, in the pre-EZ Pass days, during road trips between U. of Michigan and Chicago.  The smell was unbearable.  People joke about N.J., but I've never smelled anything that bad in Jersey.

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  12. The Pathetic Earthling12:21 PM

    My one experience purchasing gas in Gary, Indiana it was like the Hyde Park's Amaco of Death but like thirty blocks of it.

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  13. Tosy and Cosh1:00 PM

    No New Jersey winners? Shocked. Maybe a factor of no one commuting TO NJ - we still have the long commutes, but going into NY.

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  14. Meghan2:27 PM

    Good to see Ohio is well represented in light of the fact that it's the worst state in the country.

    Jake, that's my limited experience with Gary too.  When were you at UM?

    I've had experiences in St. Louis and Detroit that scared the socks off me.  Not surprised to see them in the top 10.

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  15. Adam C.2:30 PM

    How interesting that Forbes didn't think that foreclosure rates or bank failures or business failures were relevant to the discussion.  I suppose there's an argument that unemployment rates are some sort of proxy for other adverse economic impacts, but there's not really much of an argument that sports results or weather or commute times are adequate proxies for anything.

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  16. Anonymous3:27 PM

    TPE, I guess you aren't choosing your favorite minor league franchises based upon name only, 'cause I can't imagine the Albuquerque Isotopes or the Montgomery Biscuits not ranking way up there.  Then again, it might be the Biscuits logo that makes me love them.  Pat of butter for a tongue!  Irresistible!!

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  17. Michelle3:29 PM

    Oops, Guest was me.

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  18. Michelle3:30 PM

    FWIW, my first thought when I saw Cleveland as the #1 city was "yep, those poor Browns fans."

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  19. I live in Sacramento-- we aren't miserable at all. I mean the Kings are awful and we are the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis and our state government is totally disfunctional but other than that... Seriously though, this doesn't take into account the way our city center is roaring back to life and the good work being done around here. Stockton and Modesto, though? YES. They are terrible

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  20. Adam C.4:30 PM

    All that said, if Philadelphia sports fans were feeling at all miserable, then Roy Halladay's meet the press session at Spring Training should have cleared that right up.  [Swoon!  Commence mancrush!]

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  21. Meghan, I was at UM 1991-1995.  You?

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  22. Maggie5:57 PM

    I've lived in three of the (Chicago, Cleveland and Toledo) and I wouldn't put Chicago anywhere close to miserable.  Cleveland is greyer than Seattle and colder, with a joke of an NFL team.  

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  23. girard316:21 PM

    Apparently, Forbes couldn't get any volunteers to go to Saginaw, MI to find what real misery looks like.

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  24. Meghan6:24 PM

    94-98.  A brief overlap!

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  25. So you got the football and hockey national championships.  Lucky.  Although I really can't complain either.

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  26. The Pathetic Earthling7:46 PM

    Michelle - I'll go to any minor league game any time.  Just that Stockton is the closest minor league team to the East Bay (San Jose Giants, I suppose are closer, but that's a PITA on weeknights) and I lived in Little Rock for a year and ended up going to about 20 home games the spring and summer I was there.  Lots of great minor league names: Lansing Lugnuts, The Isotopes, Modesto Nuts, Prince William Cannons. 

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  27. The Pathetic Earthling7:48 PM

    I couldn't quite see it, either.  Sacramento does have this weird thing that if you are coming in from Davis to downtown, the commute is quite moderate, but any other direction its a freaking nightmare.  I commuted from Pleasant Hill to Sacramento for almost two years and -- while long -- it wasn't that bad. 

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  28. Marsha10:23 PM

    My kids proudly wear their Lugnuts hats. Both will happily yell "Go Nuts!" on command.

    Minor league baseball rocks.

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  29. Marsha10:26 PM

    I'm surprised Chicago didn't do worse given that sales taxes are a factor.

    And I really detest these "weather metrics" - every last one of them assumes cold = bad. I hate the heat and like living somewhere with four seasons (well, at least two a year, sometimes more). I'm sure Miami ranks well on weather, nightlife, and sports, but I'd be utterly miserable there.

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  30. As an afionado of unlucky numbers, I loved that Kansas City made #13!  Even better is that they blamed it on our crappy sports teams! 

    I always suspected that the Chiefs and Royals were to blame for my inner Bitter Bitch, but now I have it IN WRITING.

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  31. How exactly did Baltimore not make this list? I mean, no public transportation system, crime (The Wire is a scarily accurate) , the Orioles, ground rent, a convicted mayor who just had to resign, as well as the fact that we are currently the snowiest city in the country (and completely unprepared for it.)

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  32. Donna3:55 PM

    How in the world did Birmingham, AL not maker this list?  Corruption?  Check. In fact, corruption that has driven the county to the verge of bankruptcy? Check. An incredibly cruel regressive tax system?  Check.  Horribly designed highways, including several federally funded roads to nowhere?  Check.  Complete and utter lack of public transportation?  Check.

    It must be the food.  It is hard to be miserable with food this good.

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  33. Stryker3:51 PM

    The majority of these are heavily populated by the black. Coincidence? I think not.

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