renovation

http://consumerist.com:80/355278/ame...serable-cities
Forbes has collected America's 10 Most Miserable Cities. True, it may suck to live in these cities, but at least you can take pride in knowing that you're tough enough. Flex those muscles.

America's Most Miserable Cities:

10. Providence, R.I.
Rhode Island loves your tax money, baby. Only NYC is worse. Maybe that's why everyone is leaving?

9 Charlotte, NC
Bank of America and Wachovia call this city home, which doesn't bode well for its unemployment rates.

8.Modesto, California
If you don't have a job, move to Modesto! You'll fit right in.

7.Los Angeles
Do you like driving, paying taxes and breathing pollution? Los Angeles is for you!

6.Chicago
If you like disappointing sports teams, wasting the best part of every day sitting in mind-bending traffic jams and freezing your ass off—move to my hometown—Chicago! If you're not sure you can take it, google "Gaper's Block" before you make any decisions.

5.Philadelphia
What do you get when you add long commutes, toxic waste, and violent crime? Sports fans who boo Santa Claus.

4. New York City
High income taxes, stupidly expensive housing, "the costs can make all but the super-wealthy miserable."

3. Flint, Michigan
You can buy a house for $104,000... but where will you work?

2.Stockton, California
Stockton is the epicenter of the subprime meltdown. What more do you need to say?

1. Detroit
The Motor City has high unemployment and tops the country when it comes to violent crime. As if that wasn't bad enough—Detroit is toxic. It's near the top of the list of cities that require the most Superfund dollars to clean up toxic waste sites. Congratulations, Detroit! You're the most miserable people in the U.S.!

with a mayor like the one in the motor city it has to be #1.
he so corrupt-here one of many city headlines in the local papers .and below it you will fine a link to the storys in the local paper.
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A timeline for the Kilpatrick scandal
http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs...IAL01/80214001
so he a pimp and running the 5th largest city detroit.
been involved and accused of be a wife cheater, had a affair with his help. had been accused of having wilded sex partys at the city's house that supplied to him . and his wife slaps a hooker who just happens to be found killed there just hours later.
and then they fire the 2 officers assign to investigate .and pay them millions . and theres tons more .

hay i have a great idea for this country .why not just put a big fence around this city of Detroit and send all the crooks there and let them live with this crooked mayor?

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You could pick up Lindsay Lohan for less than a intel 990x, and still have money left over to bail her outta jail

oblongmelon

Omg can I nominate Binghamton to be on that list??? 5000 homeless people in a city of 52,000 and our mayor wants to intall Wii-Fii downtown where they all roam instead of finding them a place to get out of the cold in the winter...and,what a drug infested joke this place has become too..and don't forget, we've got the highest rate of sex offenders per capita in all of NYS...not to mention the coke machine guy.

iamsheens

When I clicked on this I was thinking I bet Stockton is on the list...what a miserable city. I stayed there once and it was awful. I just can't believe the subprime meltdown is there...I can't imagine why anyone would want to live there...a lot of those cities in general I am not surprised by.

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"If you don't stand for something then you will fall for anything"

Kevster

I've been saying this for years: Stockton is the armpit of California. I find it hilarious that it's next door neighbor Modesto is on the same list.

Whenever I have to visit Rochester NY for work, people always ask me what it's like. I simply respond, "Ever been to Stockton? Picture Stockton with lots of snow 4-5 months out of the year and you have Rochester."

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I think over again
My small adventures, my fears.
The small ones that seemed so big,
For all the vital things I had to get and to reach.

And yet there is only one great thing, the only thing:

To live to see the great day that dawns,
And the light that fills the world.

-old Inuit song

beachgirl

I visited Salt Lake City for a while in January and the pollution and inversion was worse than LA. The people were not very friendly and the crime was bad. My eyes burned so bad from the time I got off the plane I cut my visit short and came home. Plus the vibe of the city was like something out of the twilight zone.

iamsheens

I feel for you if you live in Stckton. It was the most miserable visit of my life...not to mention I didn't sleep the entire night due to all the police sirens going off...

Salt Lake City I didn't remember being as bad, just a culture shock with all the mormon families everywhere..kinda reminded me of amish...

Markel

Oh great. Guess where I'm looking at booking travel to for the second week of July. The Junior Olympics Boys Volleyball tournament is in Salt Lake City (Sandy) this year.

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stay low... keep moving...

cheapie

what??? SLC is a great place. bad crime? pollution? you must have hit it on a terrible day or something.

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70% of the world is covered by water. The rest is covered by Bob Sanders

Maarchk

LA is pretty crappy. but it has some shining points. Kind of like NY. and SF would probably almost fit in that boat but it has mass transportation and hippies. and i'll say it. SF has gay people who are never miserable so that helps their stats.

I like LA but i definitely like it more that i live 30 miles away and visit it from time to time instead of driving across it twice a day. Thats when its miserable for every one out there.

it is hard for me to imagine any redeeming facets of stockton or modesto. NY and LA and Chicago and Philly i imagine have cultural benefits... I dont know though, haven't been to philly.

__________________
"The girl is crafty like ice is cold."

"I left my heart in san francisco... And my liver at Moe's Tavern."

A real friend is one who listens to you as much as they talk to you.

cheapie

good grief. i had no idea he was such a terrible person. why in the world does the city keep electing such a piece of work? cuz he's black? if so, there's GOTTA be a better black candidate out there!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Kilpatrick

Jeffbx

No, IIRC all of the candidates were black in the last election.

But I DO recall that his closest opponent, Freeman Hendrix, was favored to win, was ahead in all the preliminary polls, was endorsed by the 3 biggest local newspapers, and was ahead in the exit polls until after midnight on the day of the election. Then all of a sudden, in the last hours of tallying the results, the tide shifted sharply & Kilpatrick won with a wide margin.

Hmmmm.

beachgirl

I'm sure summer is not as bad as the winter months for the pollution. I couldn't tell you why. The inversion from what I gather. I did do some research though as we were thinking of moving there on the advice/recommendation of some people. Thanks goodness we didn't. It has the highest rate for lung infection and upper respiratory infections in the nation. Utah also is home of the most depressed people. I thought that Washington state took that honor because of the lack of sunshine, but the data is in and it is indeed Utah.
In fact if you go to Southern Utah most of the retirees from the SLC area are on oxygen. In fact I have never seen so many folks on o2. Visiting is one thing but do your homework before moving there. Seriously.

ski

SLC is a fantastic escape city from somewhere like DC. A "downtown" movie theater that has a parking LOT? And it's free to park everywhere?? Yes!!

I almost moved there last summer from DC (as you can tell with my username, my passion exists in a place like SLC).

Pros:
+ CHEAP cost of living. 4 bedroom "all-American" brand new house costs the same as a 1 bedroom apartment in a DC suburb.
+ Prime spot for outdoor activities: best snow in America for snow sports, camping, climbing, hiking, etc.
+ People are half decent Monday through Saturday.
+ Del Taco

Cons:
- There could be a wider range of businesses there.
- If you like green foliage, you'll hate SLC.
- If you want a good club scene, you'll hate SLC. A big complaint is that with downtown bars, you need to buy a "membership" to go into it. However, my friends that live there have this Irish pub they go to that is just like any other hole in the wall bar that I've been to across the country. You just have to look for the normal places to go out.
- People are not hospitable on Sundays, many Mormons* hold spite for people who are active on Sundays.



*My sister's in-laws are Mormon, and they are fantastic people despite the stereotype. The problem I was warned of was if I owned a home there, my neighbors would scorn me for mowing my lawn on a Sunday.

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And closer...

beachgirl

The snow is good but the SLC area has massive pollution no matter how you cut the cake. And of course compared to San Diego or most of SOCAL every place else pales as far as landscape and weather. In my humble opinion. Cheap housing is a factor where one lives, but so is the vibe of a city and what it offers. On the one hand if you are into winter sports and are athletic this could be paradise to someone.
I tried to buy a bottle of wine at Thanksgiving in Utah and was out of luck. No liquor sales in the stores. You have a state liquor store where alcohol is to be purchased. Very few restaurants qualify for a liquor license if you drink. I think I may just be jaded by living in SOCAL for most of my life. We are used to the good life. I have been to almost every state in the union except ALaska and Michigan. You can't beat SOCAL.
I think I know the Pub you speak of.

Napoleon54

I dunno, Buffalo's pretty crappy and it doesn't have ANY redeeming qualities like the big cities with their culture.

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There is all the difference in the world between treating people equally and attempting to make them equal. - Friedrich Hayek

ramazank2

Ski... You are hilarious. I just moved out the bay area and one of my reasonings was because there was only 4 Del Tacos in the bay area, all really far away.

BlueTriangle

I wonder how close that list matches this survey of how happy people are in their specific job industry, separated by state/region. I think career happiness has a lot to do with overall happiness. IMO.
http://www.careerbuilder.com/ngi/Def...256735831-JP-5)

cheapie

hey renot, kilpatrick should be okay. he and a bunch of his supporters just held a prayer session on the eve of the decision on whether or not he will be prosecuted.

Jeffbx

That's a good idea, because prayer is just about all he has to fall back on at this point.