Here’s mine:
5. Atlanta – Lived there for 9 painful years. It is really the worst of everything. Put it this way, I moved to Orlando which has a cheaper cost of living and despite not working for 18 months, I got a new job in Orlando that paid me 30% more than my old job. Literally, everything sucks there. If it does not suck, then it’s merely decent but it raved about as being the greatest thing ever. Had a 6 mile drive to work one time and it took me 30 minutes to get there. If you listen to traffic reports (which they do a terrible job with because they only mention 2 parts of the entire city), at least once a week there’s a car on fire. Crime rate is thru the roof and the city’s answer was to cut down on the police force and fire departments. Massive corruption in the city government, a public transportation system…which outside of going to the airport…absolutely blows. Generally the city is filled with uptight, unfriendly people. Typically the people there have gone to some SEC school and only want to deal with people that they went to that college with. There’s plenty of other things, but I don’t have time to write a thesis.
4. Buffalo – Awful weather in a very run down and dirty city with no chance for economic revival. One of the few places that never saw economic improvement in the huge economic boom in the 90’s. Crime rate is off the charts as well. The problem with a place like Buffalo is that it may not have the crime rate of a city like Atlanta, but Atlanta’s crime all happens in a few select places where people know to stay away from. Buffalo’s crime happens everywhere. Strangely enough, Toronto….which is about 90 minutes away…is like anti-Buffalo. And it’s a Canadian city. So for it to be completely different from Buffalo just absolutely puzzles me.
3. Newark – The only good thing I can say is that there’s a small section of Newark that is decent enough. And I mean a very small section. And I mean decent. The other parts of Newark are so horribly awful that I think most of us couldn’t comprehend how bad they are.
2. Flint, MI – I honestly cannot think of one good word to say about Flint.
1. Camden, NJ – I went to Camden once for a boxing match and was robbed at gun point. Everybody I’ve ever talked to that has been to Camden has been robbed or mugged at least once there. Had a friend who went to a pro wrestling card there about 15 years ago and when the event was over with, every single car in the parking lot had their windows smashed and anything they could get the hands on, stolen.
YR
But that Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area is often listed in the top on best places. Maybe they mean mostly Raleigh or CH. I know it has the highest concentration of PHDs in the world. Plus the geography is pretty with mountains and beaches not too far away. And they do actually have 4 seasons (with Fall and Spring being the longest).
