Cities with Most Blighted Neighborhoods (cost, state, better, largest)
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I agree that residential areas with detached homes in various states of disrepair are not gritty. Grit, to me, is what describes dense inner city areas with apartment buildings, stores or industrial areas with old factories, warehouses, railroad tracks or bridges with a general lack of maintenance. I've been in Chicago for some time and I found it very gritty, downtown on the other hand is generally well maintained.
Parts of Chicago are gritty, but overall the city is not as gritty as most people think, at least in 2019. There's been a lot done since 2000 to erase grit in various areas so you don't see it as much. I definitely find NYC for example grittier than Chicago. I've lived in both cities and this is a no brainer for me.
The problem is that in some areas, some commercial streets have grit to them and this is where most people spend their time. They don't usually get to see the residential areas that are 50 feet away. In some of these areas, I would always think that if the commercial area was gritty then so too were residential areas. At least in Chicago in so many areas this is very far from the truth. Most of a city is residential streets, not commercial streets.
I recommend getting into residential areas where the majority of a land mass of a city is and not just the commercial streets. I've been shocked by visiting some areas like Chatham and South Shore, not the safest areas at all these days - commercial streets not too great and then surprised by how well maintained the residential streets were from the houses/buildings themselves, the grass, etc.
Last edited by marothisu; 01-05-2019 at 10:14 AM..
Parts of Chicago are gritty, but overall the city is not as gritty as most people think, at least in 2019. There's been a lot done since 2000 to erase grit in various areas so you don't see it as much. I definitely find NYC for example grittier than Chicago. I've lived in both cities and this is a no brainer for me.
The problem is that in some areas, some commercial streets have grit to them and this is where most people spend their time. They don't usually get to see the residential areas that are 50 feet away. In some of these areas, I would always think that if the commercial area was gritty then so too were residential areas. At least in Chicago in so many areas this is very far from the truth. Most of a city is residential streets, not commercial streets.
I recommend getting into residential areas where the majority of a land mass of a city is and not just the commercial streets. I've been shocked by visiting some areas like Chatham and South Shore, not the safest areas at all these days - commercial streets not too great and then surprised by how well maintained the residential streets were from the houses/buildings themselves, the grass, etc.
There is quite some improvement going on, for example in the Cabrini Green area but overall Chicago is an old city with a lot of grit. Not that there is anything wrong with grit, it can be quite fascinating actually. I've traveled mainly by subway and around the tracks I found Chicago to be very gritty everywhere except downtown.
Also, suburbs like Cicero are very gritty. Somebody drove us around there and for me, coming from Western Europe originally, I experienced a culture shock in parts of Chicago and in Cicero. Some of the far out suburbs of Chicago were nice again.
Location: Metro Atlanta (Sandy Springs), by way of Macon, GA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by UrbanLuis
The most blight I have seen is in north New Jersey.
Me too. I have a lot of family in Irvington, Newark, and East Orange. Macon, GA where I'm from is pretty blighted and even the stuff I see up there shocks me.
Parts of Chicago are gritty, but overall the city is not as gritty as most people think, at least in 2019. There's been a lot done since 2000 to erase grit in various areas so you don't see it as much. I definitely find NYC for example grittier than Chicago. I've lived in both cities and this is a no brainer for me.
The problem is that in some areas, some commercial streets have grit to them and this is where most people spend their time. They don't usually get to see the residential areas that are 50 feet away. In some of these areas, I would always think that if the commercial area was gritty then so too were residential areas. At least in Chicago in so many areas this is very far from the truth. Most of a city is residential streets, not commercial streets.
I recommend getting into residential areas where the majority of a land mass of a city is and not just the commercial streets. I've been shocked by visiting some areas like Chatham and South Shore, not the safest areas at all these days - commercial streets not too great and then surprised by how well maintained the residential streets were from the houses/buildings themselves, the grass, etc.
Chicago shows it self well to visitors, most would see little if any more blighted areas and its DT is very clean
Other cities seem to show their blight more readily
Parts of Chicago are gritty, but overall the city is not as gritty as most people think, at least in 2019. There's been a lot done since 2000 to erase grit in various areas so you don't see it as much. I definitely find NYC for example grittier than Chicago. I've lived in both cities and this is a no brainer for me.
The problem is that in some areas, some commercial streets have grit to them and this is where most people spend their time. They don't usually get to see the residential areas that are 50 feet away. In some of these areas, I would always think that if the commercial area was gritty then so too were residential areas. At least in Chicago in so many areas this is very far from the truth. Most of a city is residential streets, not commercial streets.
I recommend getting into residential areas where the majority of a land mass of a city is and not just the commercial streets. I've been shocked by visiting some areas like Chatham and South Shore, not the safest areas at all these days - commercial streets not too great and then surprised by how well maintained the residential streets were from the houses/buildings themselves, the grass, etc.
I don't know man. Southside Chicago is still very rough. While not gritty, since Chicago demolishes its abandoned homes, a lot of southside is looking like Detroit-lite, with major gaps where abandoned houses used to be, literally on every block.
You'd be very hard pressed to find a whole neighborhood looking like this anywhere in NYC: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7686...7i16384!8i8192
And Chicago images are taken in the summer, this block looks even worse once it gets cold and dark.
I don't know man. Southside Chicago is still very rough. While not gritty, since Chicago demolishes its abandoned homes, a lot of southside is looking like Detroit-lite, with major gaps where abandoned houses used to be, literally on every block.
You'd be very hard pressed to find a whole neighborhood looking like this anywhere in NYC: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7686...7i16384!8i8192
And Chicago images are taken in the summer, this block looks even worse once it gets cold and dark.
Hey, lots of pics out there with some grit, in NYC. Here's just ONE:
Parts of Chicago are gritty, but overall the city is not as gritty as most people think, at least in 2019. There's been a lot done since 2000 to erase grit in various areas so you don't see it as much. I definitely find NYC for example grittier than Chicago. I've lived in both cities and this is a no brainer for me.
The problem is that in some areas, some commercial streets have grit to them and this is where most people spend their time. They don't usually get to see the residential areas that are 50 feet away. In some of these areas, I would always think that if the commercial area was gritty then so too were residential areas. At least in Chicago in so many areas this is very far from the truth. Most of a city is residential streets, not commercial streets.
I recommend getting into residential areas where the majority of a land mass of a city is and not just the commercial streets. I've been shocked by visiting some areas like Chatham and South Shore, not the safest areas at all these days - commercial streets not too great and then surprised by how well maintained the residential streets were from the houses/buildings themselves, the grass, etc.
Yes. Exactly. Most peoples' only exposure to these neighborhoods are in commercial streets which count for something, but most of the streets in any area are NOT commercial streets. Chicago is a little interesting in this regard in that some of the areas that have semi blighted or blighted commercial streets, or at least a bit of grit often times have well maintained or not as badly maintained residential streets. You can always tell who has actually been around in a neighborhood by this and I suspect drro has not actually spent much time in many of these areas outside of commercial areas.
It's fairly different. Most people are inexperienced and just assume that the entire area must be like the commercial area. I used to think that way and was really shocked at how many areas are like this. There are many areas of Chicago on the commercial areas that are very gritty, but definitely a high percentage of the more residential streets are not gritty. There are some for sure percentage wise, but definitely much higher percentage wise for non gritty.
There are many areas of Chicago on the commercial areas that are very gritty, but definitely a high percentage of the more residential streets are not gritty. There are some for sure percentage wise, but definitely much higher percentage wise for non gritty.
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