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Which US Cities are going uphill and downhill the most?
Which US cities are going uphill the most, and which are going downhill the most, in terms of crime, livability, appearance, desirability as a tourist destination, and overall quality of life? Crime is probably the most important indicator to me, but feel free to use all these indicators and more in ranking them.
The impression I get is that Chicago and Washington DC are two cities that are on the up. Their crime rates are declining and a lot of gentrification is taking place (note: I know gentrification is a controversial issue....I am not saying it's ALWAYS a good thing, but the way I see it, in these cities it has been). NYC's longterm rise is only continuing, as well.
As for cities going downhill, I get the impression that New Orleans has lately, largely due to Katrina. Also, when I was in San Francisco in '06, an impression I got from the large amounts of homeless and broken car windows I saw, as well as from chats with the locals, is that although it's still one of America's nicest cities, it's gone downhill a bit lately. Also, from reading statistics, it seems as though Cleveland and Birmingham's crime rates are rising. When I was in Cleveland a while back, on the east side, it struck me that there was a great deal of decay going on there. I can see how Cleveland is a city where this would happen--even Detroit seems to have more morale and optimism than it does (just watch this video, a version of it was recently featured in Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story-- YouTube - Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video: 2nd Attempt)
The Midwestern rust belt states that have lost all of their manufacturing jobs over the past twenty years are hurting the most. They won't recover until we figure out a way to keep American jobs in America. /jmho
The Midwestern rust belt states that have lost all of their manufacturing jobs over the past twenty years are hurting the most. They won't recover until we figure out a way to keep American jobs in America. /jmho
I would agree for maybe Detroit and Cleveland. For many of the others I might change it to Midwestern states that WERE suffering the most and losing their jobs. Areas like Chicago, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and St. Louis were all suffering in the 70's through early 90's, but they've turned the corner and compared to where they were, are doing fairly well right now (of course the past year has thrown the entire country on its head).
A lot of it depends on where cities are on their cycles of jobs. Chicago hit it very hard in the 70's, but really it just kinda threw off a great deal of its blue collar and manufacturing jobs, and luckly had the critical mass of size to snatch up other industries like high-tech, business, medical and finance. As a result it had a traumatic few decades, but was able to clean itself off and pull through much better than anyone in 1975-1980 ever would have dreamed.
Then you have cities like Detroit that for the most part clenched onto their manufacturing jobs with everything they had - but in the end the world just wasn't working in their favor. It really depends on if cities went with the flow of globalization and lucked out, or if they were too static and couldn't "move on".
The decay you saw on the east side of Cleveland has been there for decades. It's not something that is just now happening. I don’t think crime there is any worse than it has historically been either. If anything I see the groundwork being set for some positive things happening in Cleveland when the economy turns around, but it has many problems to overcome from years of economic hardships due to the loss of industry and poor leadership. The east side is actually better than it was a decade ago if you can believe that. The University Circle area has seen a lot of growth over the last decade and a new transit line was recently constructed to link it to downtown.
That video is satire based on negative stereotypes and poor local attitudes by the way, so don't put too much into it. I'm a native who actually finds it amusing, but some people from outside the area don’t get that and just think it's a video showing that Cleveland sucks.
As far as Chicago goes, I think you are correct about the gentrification improving much of the city, but there are still large areas that look like Detroit or East Cleveland. The good parts of Chicago are kind of in a bubble from the rest of the city. If you just go downtown and on the north side you do not have a full picture of the entire city. I believe DC has a similar dynamic going on, but I have not been there in a long time. San Francisco, despite the homeless problem, is in much better all around shape than Chicago and has a much lower crime rate.
As far as Chicago goes, I think you are correct about the gentrification improving much of the city, but there are still large areas that look like Detroit or East Cleveland. The good parts of Chicago are kind of in a bubble from the rest of the city. If you just go downtown and on the north side you do not have a full picture of the entire city. I believe DC has a similar dynamic going on, but I have not been there in a long time. San Francisco, despite the homeless problem, is in much better all around shape than Chicago and has a much lower crime rate.
Chicago is roughly 1/3 gentrified Yuppie playground, 1/3 stagnant blue collar, and 1/3 ghetto nightmare. Most outsiders don't get beyond the first third. For that matter, many locals never venture beyond that first third either.
5Lakes, I think you are giving Chicago a little less due than it deserves. I agree that much of the revitalization is concetrated in the North, but it's not limited to that area and stretches much farther than near north. Considering more than half of the population lives on the north side (including northwest neighborhoods), it is not the "bubble" you suggest it to be. And almost all of these neighborhoods have seen improvement. Places in the South loop and U. village have also seen a steady rise that I believe will continue to trickle South with time. All in all, a revitalization is under way.
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Which US Cities are going uphill and downhill the most?
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