I have lived in many places, and my work has taken me to
dozens of others. Rather than sit in a
hotel bar to bide time, I like to move around and get the "feel" of
the places I visit.
I just returned from an extended visit, and found the city
I'd been to featured in a "Worst Cities" list (deservedly so). Based
upon my own observations and review of the local news and press, I found myself
drawn to a certain gut-feeling about why this place had declined so badly from
what I'd remembered of log-past visits.
I decided to look for similar recent compilations and dig a
little to see if my feelings were borne out, or completely off base.
What I discovered was that over the period from 2010 to the
present, several of these places were consistently among those listed as
"worst." Even more revealing
was that they shared several of the usual criteria for inclusion frequently
used for selection: crime, poverty, corruption, high taxes, housing and
services; but, that the mix varied and was never consistent.
However, there was one single factor that
these various "worst" places shared, and that it had not changed over
time.
Shockingly (?), the commonality they shared was that they
were at present, or had just recently been, governed by Democrat administrations!
Here is my run-down, in alphabetical order, of the worst of
the worst places to live with my notes and reference to this single unifying
criterion.
CA (Jerry Brown, (D))
El Centro (Benjamin Solomon (D))Los Angeles (Antonio Villaragosa (D))
Stockton (Anthony Silva ( R )defeated Ann Johnston (D), In Johnston's reign as mayor, Stockton twice topped Forbes magazine's "Most Miserable American Cities" list, as was about to become the largest US city to go bankrupt.)
Modesto (Garrad Marsh, (D))
San Bernardino (Pat Morris(D), largest city to file Ch 9 Bkcy.)
Oakland (Jean Quan (D), 3rd in US crime, catered to OWS and gangs)
Vallejo (Osby Davis (D))
IL (Pat Quinn, Democrat - 2 predecessors convicted of
corruption)
Chicago (Rahm Emmanuel (D))Rockford (Larry Morrissey (I))
Waukegan (Robert G. Sabonjian (D))
LA (Bobby Jindal ( R ),
New Orleans (Mitch Landrieu (D), predecessor indicted for
corruption, highest murder rate in US.)MD (Martin O’Malley (D))
Baltimore (Stephanie Blake (D), predecessor convicted of corruption, “on a path to financial ruin”)
MI (Rick Snyder ( R ), predecessor hosted [i]Current TV[/i]
“War Room” )
Detroit (Dave Bing (D), predecessor convicted of corruption,
no taxes paid by majority of owners)Flint (Dayne Walling (non-partisan))
MO (Jay Nixon (D))
St Louis (Francis Slay (D))
NJ (Chris Christie ( R ), predecessor, Jon Corzine (D) accused of misapplication of customers’ money, theft, corruption, adultery; bankrupted MFGlobal hedge fund)
Atlantic City (Lorenzo Langford (D))
Camden (Dana Redd (D))
Newark (Cory Booker (D)
NY (Andrew Cuomo (D))
New York (Michael Bloomberg, got on ticket as ( R ), formerly/actually (D))
OH
Cleveland (Frank Jackson (D))
Toledo (Michael Bell (D))
Youngstown (Charles P. Sammarone (D))
PA (Tom Corbett ( R ))
Philadelphia (Michael Nutter (D))
Scranton (Christopher Doherty (D))
Here are the sources from which I obtained the lists:
http://www.coli.org/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2013/02/21/detroit-tops-2013-list-of-americas-most-miserable-cities/
I started this inquiry with only a gut feeling; but what I
found appears to have borne-out my suspicions.
I still haven't had enough time to see if this holds true
over longer periods of time, or even why
it holds true at all. I will check to see if academics or peer-reviewed
analyses have examined this phenomenon.
2/24/13 ETA:
I used only certain criteria for these selections: crime, housing, corruption, taxes/cost of living, housing, services. Some people, using different criteria, have placed many of these cities on their own "Best Cities in America" lists. The criteria you set greatly influences the outcomes of any survey, as Pew and Gallup will tell you.
If you're criteria is "best creole food" then New Orleans would be "The Best," by far.
Likewise, if you value "automotive industry employment, then Detroit becomes "The Best."
Those were not my criteria,
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