Miserable cities in America

• Laley23

  

  St Louis (Arch)
  or
  Minneapolis (Mall of America)
• fan_from_texas

  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.
• Con_Alma

  I've always liked Milwaukee. I used to spend a lot of time in Brookfield I think it is.
• queencitybuckeye

  BigAppleBuckeye wrote: Kindof random, but outside of Chicago, what do you think the next most-popular Midwest tourist spot is?

  Branson?
• fan_from_texas

  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

  

  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.
• vball10set

  ^^^this,and Lima,O.
• BigAppleBuckeye

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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

  

  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.
• Foul Tip

  Boy I'm really lucky! I live in Oregon ,Ohio just across the tracks from Toledo.
• coyotes22

  

  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!!!!
• visionquest

  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.
• Manhattan Buckeye

  ^^^
  
  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.
• visionquest

  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

  

  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

  

  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

  

  nice to see Ohio making a good showing
• Red_Skin_Pride

  

  Ahhh Cleveland. Still the asscrack of Ohio. And the midwest I see.
• Darkon

  

  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.
• ManO'War

  

  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.
• Tiernan

  Maybe Steubenville was too small to make the list but they are truly the tiny exit hole of America's anus.
• manowar

  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.