cindyabs

I think they gentrified Lowell up-converting all the mills into loft apartments etc- that's where my Dad was from.

simongb

I have lived in Baltimore for 15 years. I don't think it's the worst city in the US, not by a long shot (umm...has anyone been to Newark, NJ or Detroit??). There is terrible crime here, it tops the STD charts for the nation, poverty, drugs, violence, murder...but, there are some nice areas and as long as you are not a drug dealer or you go into the bad neighbourhoods, you should be fine. It is provincial in many ways and doesn't have that buzz that places like London or NYC have, but it's inexpensive and close to lots of other interesting places. I wouldn't like to live here forever, but I have often thought, if I can survive a city like Baltimore, I can live anywhere and do ok!

at1

Oakland! No question. We lived there for 2 years and I still work there and when my job ends in December i really hope I never set foot there again!

lapin_windstar

It just reflects the local society and population then, doesn't it?

Ray

And do not allow the populous to protect itself
Washington, D.C. has enacted a number of strict gun-restriction laws. The Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975 prohibited residents from owning handguns, excluding handguns registered prior to February 5, 1977. Other local laws prohibit carrying guns (concealed or not), and all guns and ammunition must be registered

kingfisher241049

Harvey, Louisiana (Drug Dealer central)
Flint, Michigan

another bloody yank

You should submit that sentiment to the tourism board, maybe they'll make it their new slogan!

angelman

Someone mentioned Detroit earlier. I was very sad when I went to Detroit for the first time last year. It sort of reminded me of Liverpool quite a bit. Well Liverpool before it had all the investment. It really is a bomb site. Beautiful old buildings derelict in all directions. It's a total slum really. However it has soul. That city has so much soul it just pours out of every brick and stone. I have never been anywhere like it. We went to a restaurant there, one of the few that were open in the centre. Apart from the fact that we were the only white people there which was something of a novelty everyone was immaculately dressed. I have never seen people dressed like that except in the movies. Women had their hair done up, the guys wore the sharpest suits, spats and hats you have ever seen. The food was great and when the jazz band started everyone just started jamming away. This was an expensive very upmarket restaurant but everyone just got up and started dancing. Incredibly friendly, amazing experience.
Probably a dangerous shit hole but I liked it in it's rather forlorn sad way. Noweher is the end of the American empire more visible than Detroit...

Hiro11

You're probably right. It was definitely surprising to me, coming from New England, to see the extent of racial tension in DC.

clynnog

Well you can suggest that the crime figures of STL are being dragged down by a portion of the City; however, when you have to preface your suggestion that it is a safe City if you take away the North Side and parts of the South Side, then it doesn't cut it as a safe City to me. If there is only a North Side and South Side to STL, and the North Side is unsafe and parts of the South Side are unsafe, then more than 50% of the City is unsafe.

In my visit to STL it did like there was some hope for portions of the City, but IMHO I saw too many pawn shops, party shops, boarded up shops, abandoned homes, dubious characters on the streets to make me think that the whole City had hope. As a somewhat sheltered person now living in Canada (born and raised in Cheshire), the extreme depravity and poverty of the inner City of most American cities is quite disturbing. My BIL living in O'Fallon is blissfully unaware of the conditions in STL as he only heads into the City for baseball or hockey games. The McMansion suburbs are where he feels most comfortable.

Maybe now that the Chief Planner for STL is an ex-Toronto planner there may be hope. But until population levels start creeping back to their 1950 peak, STL is still a sorry place in general. There may be pockets of progress (i.e your SW STL neighbourhood), but large swathes are pretty squallid.

Scouse Express

My vote goes to New Orleans. It's the worst place I've ever had the misfortune to visit.

Yeah.....the French Quarter is nice, but, that's about it. The murder rate, per head of population, is very high. Take a wrong turn, and step a block or two out of the Quarter, and you're taking your life in your hands.

Jim.

gypsygirl

Nobody had better say NYC or they will be thumpin to be had

Id go with Newark NJ, but has anyone been to Middletown NY? Scary place, esp the estates.

Leslie

Lincoln Nebraska


Stinkin' Lincoln

lanky spoken here

Houston, without a doubt, its dirty, ramshackle housing plots and its seedy.

All this bullcrap about Texas is better, bigger, etc etc...Its all talk.

lanky spoken here

Yes, I agree, and I was there 2 weeks after Katrina cleaning up, its a place I wouldn't even put a paedophile....Nasty Place.