Metro Detroit is the most stressful area in the country (Port Huron: power lines, health insurance)

[Jwo85]

Detroit Tops List Of Most Stressful Metropolitan Areas - Special Reports - Portfolio.com (http://www.portfolio.com/special-reports/2010/09/07/detroit-tops-list-of-most-stressful-metropolitan-areas - broken link)

[ForStarters]

To be fair, these lists are stupid. New Orleans and Miami-Fort Lauderdale as stressful as Detroit, L.A., New York, and Chicago? I think not.

I'm sure Katrina and the BP oil spill were stressful for N'orlens, but that city is the most laid back, no stress, bourbon drinkin, gumbo eatin, bayou bumpin, free-spirited place on earth. Same goes for Miami, and seriously.... Fort Lauderdale??? C'mon. No way Miami is more stressful than Minneapolis, the so-called least stressful city in America.

Plus, the factors they use are definitely biased against older major cities, especially industrial cities.

Poverty? Unhealthy air? Crime? Traffic? Expensive housing??? Most fast-paced, major cities have all of these, so if that's the test, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell you that living in L.A., NYC, or Chicago is more stressful than say Oklahoma City or San Antonio.

[Retroit]

I agree, ForStarters, these lists are misleading. Stress is not as easily measured as a compilation of a bunch of statistics. And each of these cities have good and bad areas within them. For example, Miami and Fort Lauderdale are considered one statistical area. Here's a list of the factors considered and my analysis:

Unemployment rate The rates vary from about 7-14%, but I think the possibility of being laid off has been equally stressful across the nation. Also not considered is the change in unemployment rate.
Rate of per capita income growth Varies from nearly unchanged to about a 5% drop, but I think nationwide people are expecting cutbacks in pay or having to pay more for their health insurance, or not getting as much company matching 401k, etc. So I don't think this causes as much variance in stress between cities.
Families living below the federally designated poverty level Vary from about 5-13%. A better measure would be the change in poverty. Once a person acclimates to a given level of income, the stress level moderates. A person who is born into poverty is not going to be as stressed out as a person who has lost their job and run out of unemployment and savings.
Deaths from circulatory-system diseases per 100,000 residents Vary from 140 to 410. Hard to believe there is that much variance. You mean to tell me that people living in some cities are 3 times more likely to die from heart disease as others??? I don't think that worrying about a heart attack causes much stress among people anyway.
Percentage of possible sunshine received during an average year Varies from about 47-85%. Again, once you get used to the climate, I don't think this generates much stress. Even people who visit Las Vegas (85%) spend much of their time in windowless casinos, so sunshine can't be that important.
Ozone level Varies from .06 to .11, but only a few of the notorious California areas have the high levels. I doubt if it really causes any stress among people.
Robberies per 100,000 residents Vary from 100 to over 800, but based on central cities, which as we know vary greatly, and doesn't necessarily translate out into non-central city areas. Also depends on whether a central city encompasses just slums or other nice areas, which moderate the rate. No doubt that crime causes stress, but people tend to adapt to the crime level. I've even heard people defend the level of crime in the central city as acceptable/normal.
Murders per 100,000 residents Vary from about 3 to 50, but like robberies, the great disparity is probably due to "central city" definitions, and shouldn't necessarily be extrapolated to the greater metro area. Most people, especially outside of central cities, don't spend much time thinking about being murdered.
Average commuting time from home to workplace Varies from about 20-30 minutes. I don't think a difference of 10 minutes is going to translate into different stress levels.
Mortgage affordability(house value per $1000 of income) Varies from about $2400 to $9800, but doesn't account for the different levels of income between cities or the fact that people are aware of these levels before moving to an area, so a person who makes more money should be no more stressed over affording a more expensive home than a person making less affording a less expensive home.


So yeah, another stupid list. Perhaps a better measure would be which cities' residents waste the most time debunking stupid lists.

[fmax]

A little wind and 85 homes go up in flames. Worrying about the weather all the time has got to be stressful. It was almost like 1805 all over again.

Detroit mayor calls fires 'natural disaster' - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100908/ap_on_bi_ge/us_detroit_fires_high_winds - broken link)

[Retroit]

Natural disaster, huh??? Why didn't downed power lines cause fires in the suburbs?

This is a clever concept though. Kind of like how the wildfires out in California are ostensibly attributed to Santa Anna winds. Hey, maybe Detroit could be declared a Natural Disaster Area and we could get some federal aid. Can't have all those dangerous "natural" electric wires hanging around those dangerous "natural" homes.

Where's Obama?????? Why isn't he flying here to hold a press conference and express his sympathy? Or was this all a right-wing plot by George Bush?

(Politics has gotten so confusing lately. )

[fmax]

Wildfires in The D.

At least there is a nice River Walk. No need for fire or police or EMS. 911 rung busy anyway.

[ForStarters]

Originally Posted by Retroit

Natural disaster, huh??? Why didn't downed power lines cause fires in the suburbs?

"Natural disaster" is probably an inaccurate description; "economic disaster" is more appropriate. The city has many more unoccupied buildings than the suburbs, which likely do not have sprinkler systems and alarms that would notify nearby homeowners and the fire department immediately of a fire. Power lines on unoccupied property likely haven't been well-maintained, so when they come down on those old vacant houses, it is a recipe for disaster. The high winds only exacerbated an underlying problematic situation. Add to that a woefully understaffed fire department, and what you get is an outbreak of fires. This is another reason that many of those structures, like the Packard Plant, which was burning several times this summer, need to be demolished and city services concentrated. If for nothing else, for the firefighters who are dying in Detroit's unnecessary blazes.

I created a thread about "BURN: One Year on the Front Lines of the Battle to Save Detroit" about the epic life of Detroit Firefighters a few months ago: //www.city-data.com/forum/detro...cumentary.html

Here is a link to the BURN documentary itself: http://www.detroitfire.org/

[fmax]

Detroit is flat broke.

Detroit needs more bailouts. More free money. LOL

The mismanagement is killing the Tri-County Area. The next fire originating in Detroit could torch the land clear up to Port Huron or down to Toledo!!!

Flee! Flee!! Detroit population numbers are going to get nailed on this next census cycle. There goes the Fed-Bucks.

[Jwo85]

The road construction doesn't help with the stress either. I will not go anywhere on Telegraph rd.

[Retroit]

I heard that some of those fires were caused by illegal electrical hook-ups. Hopefully the people responsible are cited for creating a natural disaster.