Miserable cities in America

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Laley23's avatar
Laley23
Posts: 29,506
Feb 18, 2010 12:22pm
St Louis (Arch)
or
Minneapolis (Mall of America)
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fan_from_texas
Posts: 2,693
Feb 18, 2010 12:23pm
Manhattan Buckeye wrote: For an event tourist spot, my guess is the Indy 500 in Indy. For a permanent tourist hotspot, my guess is the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.
I agree with the former, but I'm not sure about the latter. I bet some amusement parks have massive draws--Cedar Point, Noah's Ark, maybe King's Island. They're not year-round, which cuts down, but they're ridiculously busy in the summer. I would bet Branson, MO probably tops the list, with the Mall of American and the Wisconsin Dells in the top 5.



If you guys want to see a Rust Belt city that is doing okay and really transforming itself, you should come to Milwaukee. We still have some ugly spots, but on the whole, you get a nice mix of German/Midwestern culture (think: historic breweries), pro sports, beautiful lakefront, outdoors activities, and a nice, trendy area with good restaurants and shopping (3rd Ward). If you're ever up this way, drop me a line.
C
Con_Alma
Posts: 12,198
Feb 18, 2010 12:25pm
I've always liked Milwaukee. I used to spend a lot of time in Brookfield I think it is.
Q
queencitybuckeye
Posts: 7,117
Feb 18, 2010 12:29pm
BigAppleBuckeye wrote: Kindof random, but outside of Chicago, what do you think the next most-popular Midwest tourist spot is?
Branson?
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fan_from_texas
Posts: 2,693
Feb 18, 2010 12:30pm
Con_Alma wrote: I've always liked Milwaukee. I used to spend a lot of time in Brookfield I think it is.
That's where Mrs. FFT was born and raised. Her parents still live out there, and we make it out a few times a month. Nice place.
Writerbuckeye's avatar
Writerbuckeye
Posts: 4,745
Feb 18, 2010 1:01pm
I have a hard time believing Cleveland is more miserable a place than Detroit.

Detroit still has the charred remains of homes that were burned during the 1968 race riots.

Hard to beat that.

Oh and it's just generally an ugly, ugly place.
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vball10set
Posts: 24,795
Feb 18, 2010 1:05pm
^^^this,and Lima,O.
BigAppleBuckeye's avatar
BigAppleBuckeye
Posts: 2,935
Feb 18, 2010 2:34pm
fan_from_texas wrote:
Manhattan Buckeye wrote: For an event tourist spot, my guess is the Indy 500 in Indy. For a permanent tourist hotspot, my guess is the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.
I agree with the former, but I'm not sure about the latter. I bet some amusement parks have massive draws--Cedar Point, Noah's Ark, maybe King's Island. They're not year-round, which cuts down, but they're ridiculously busy in the summer. I would bet Branson, MO probably tops the list, with the Mall of American and the Wisconsin Dells in the top 5.



If you guys want to see a Rust Belt city that is doing okay and really transforming itself, you should come to Milwaukee. We still have some ugly spots, but on the whole, you get a nice mix of German/Midwestern culture (think: historic breweries), pro sports, beautiful lakefront, outdoors activities, and a nice, trendy area with good restaurants and shopping (3rd Ward). If you're ever up this way, drop me a line.
I was surprised when I visited Milwaukee about how much I enjoyed that city ... while not someplace I would be chomping at the bit to return to, it was a nice, clean city, nice museum, solid restaurants, etc.
ts1227's avatar
ts1227
Posts: 12,319
Feb 18, 2010 2:57pm
sherm03 wrote:
cbus4life wrote: No way to distinguish between Gary and Youngstown. Both shells of what they once were.

I don't feel scared in either, but they certainly seem to have ridiculously high crime-rates and just look like shit, by and large.
Just don't go to 8 am mass in Youngstown.
You can still go, I just recommend you travel there in one of these bad boys
krambman's avatar
krambman
Posts: 3,606
Feb 18, 2010 4:45pm
ManO'War wrote: I don't really think that pro sports plays that much of a factor in true happiness.

People were pretty happy in St Pete when I lived there...and that was before the Bucs or Bolts won titles, and the D Rays were still the D Rays.
That's because in St. Pete/Tampa Bay, the sports teams aren't nearly as tied into the identity of the city as the teams are in Cleveland.
fan_from_texas wrote:
Manhattan Buckeye wrote: For an event tourist spot, my guess is the Indy 500 in Indy. For a permanent tourist hotspot, my guess is the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.
I agree with the former, but I'm not sure about the latter. I bet some amusement parks have massive draws--Cedar Point, Noah's Ark, maybe King's Island. They're not year-round, which cuts down, but they're ridiculously busy in the summer. I would bet Branson, MO probably tops the list, with the Mall of American and the Wisconsin Dells in the top 5.
Cedar Point is the #1 rated ride park in the world. Every time I'm there I meet someone who has come across the country just to go there. Between CP, Lake Erie, Kalahari, etc, Sandusky is definitely the top tourism destination in Ohio and certainly one of the top in the Midwest.
ManO'War's avatar
ManO'War
Posts: 1,420
Feb 18, 2010 5:50pm
Krabman, if people really are basing their happiness on what a professional sports team does, with a bunch of millionaire players, and multi millionaire owners, do, then they have some real problems.

I'm the biggest Big Red fan in the world, but I don't base my happiness on the outcomes of games.

I would think the things that would affect your happiness would be your family and friends, job, and weather to some extent.
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Foul Tip
Posts: 113
Feb 18, 2010 5:59pm
Boy I'm really lucky! I live in Oregon ,Ohio just across the tracks from Toledo.
coyotes22's avatar
coyotes22
Posts: 11,298
Feb 18, 2010 6:06pm
Belly35 wrote: Top 20 Miserable Cities in America ..... thank you Forbes
1. Cleveland
9. Canton
12. Akron
15. Toledo
18. Youngtown

http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/11/americas-most-miserable-cities-business-beltway-miserable-cities_slide_21.html
LOL. Thanks to the Democratic Mayor we have now. This is the same city, that after all the snow we have had, still will not plow the SW side of town (Around the Timken plant area). My in-laws live over there, and we almost got stuck ON THE STREET, b/c they were never plowed, and had a foot of snow on them. But, you better believe Avondale streets were clean as a whistle!!!!
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visionquest
Posts: 206
Feb 18, 2010 8:22pm
I didn't read everything, so I don't know what the population cut-off was for this article but I'd throw a vote in for Wheeling, WV. I've lived near Wheeling for most of my life, and it's depressing going there anytime. The downtown as it is now is flat-out depressing. So, yeah, they get my vote.
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Manhattan Buckeye
Posts: 7,566
Feb 18, 2010 8:29pm
^^^

Huntington isn't much better, my parents are from Huntington (mom is an "old" HHS grad and dad is an East grad) and I remember the days when it was a somewhat respectful city with an active downtown (especially around Christmas). It is like a 3rd world country there now.
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visionquest
Posts: 206
Feb 18, 2010 8:33pm
Huntington is bad, but I don't get there as much as Wheeling...and Wheeling is depressing. The downtown, once a buzzing hive of business and shopping is now fueled by one porn shop and the wheeling nailers. Lol. Once in a while they have monster truck events or 4 wheeler races but that's about it. All the big stores down there are gone and it's just dirty.
dwccrew's avatar
dwccrew
Posts: 7,817
Feb 19, 2010 12:35am
Fab4Runner wrote: Welp I love living in the Midwest! I live near Akron and Canton, lived in Toledo for 6 years and go to Cleveland pretty frequently and I'm not miserable. :)
That's because you drink a lot.
tk421's avatar
tk421
Posts: 8,500
Feb 19, 2010 12:39am
I wonder what the correlation between this list of miserable cities and the percentage of people who drink is? I bet it'd be high.
2quik4u's avatar
2quik4u
Posts: 4,388
Feb 19, 2010 12:40am
nice to see Ohio making a good showing
Red_Skin_Pride's avatar
Red_Skin_Pride
Posts: 1,226
Feb 19, 2010 4:13am
Ahhh Cleveland. Still the asscrack of Ohio. And the midwest I see.
Darkon's avatar
Darkon
Posts: 3,476
Feb 19, 2010 5:24am
Red_Skin_Pride wrote: Ahhh Cleveland. Still the asscrack of Ohio. And the midwest I see.
I would say Canton and Akron are the ass and Cleveland is a few miles up it.:D
ManO'War's avatar
ManO'War
Posts: 1,420
Feb 19, 2010 8:11am
If it has anything to do with drinking, then Pittsburgh would be number one by a landslide! That is all these people do here. I've lived in a few different cities, and visited many others, but I've never seen more drunks (young, old, women, men) across the board than there is here.
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Tiernan
Posts: 13,021
Feb 19, 2010 9:07am
Maybe Steubenville was too small to make the list but they are truly the tiny exit hole of America's anus.
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manowar
Posts: 11
Feb 19, 2010 9:23am
Tiernan wrote: Maybe Steubenville was too small to make the list but they are truly the tiny exit hole of America's anus.
That's simply not true, and I know a lot about butts.