Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
A city that gets very little press in that department is Washington, DC. It was a craphole as recent as the mid 1980s when gentrification was yet unheard of. The nice areas of the city consisted really only of Georgetown and small sections of the NW quadrant. I used to live in an area called Logan Circle when I first moved to DC in 1988. I lived on a "park and run" block (you would park and run to your apt at night) near 15th and Corcoran St NW where hearing gunshots at night wasn't rare. Today the same neighborhood is completely overhauled and apts in my old building (now condo) are selling upwards of 350K for a 550 sq ft junior one bedroom. Today DC overall is thriving and continuing to grow and diversify. Nearly the entire NW quadrant is completely cleaned up and a very desirable place to live extending even down into Chinatown and the formerly scary section surrounding the Convention Center (Mount Vernon Square area). The NE side has seen dramatic changes and neighborhoods like Brookland and the Atlas District/ H Street Corridor are sought after to live in. The SW side (Potomac waterfront area) has seen massive redevelopment (anchored by the 350 acre National Harbor project) and is once again thriving. The SE section around Capitol Hill has been overall most recent and thanks to pioneering gentrification in the Eastern Market and Lincoln Park neighborhoods they're now sought after places to live also. Redevelopment around the new Washington Nationals ballpark has extended even further repopulation into the area.
For some reason DC never received much attention in the "down and out" department (other than some headlines with former Mayor Berry and his antics) which has kept the transformation more or less out of the media. It certainly is a beautiful, thriving city now and would urge those that knew the old DC to revisit once again.
Who dey? Who dey? Who dey think dey gonna beat Cincinnati in this category? Nobody.
All joking aside, I think that the four "AFC North cities" are probably at the top of this list, although the order is debatable.
I've never heard of Tacoma having a major crime problem, other than it was the higher-crime area between Seattle and Tacoma. What kind of crime rate are we talking about here? You mentioned "among the worst on the West Coast", which is very significant. That includes: Compton, Los Angeles, Fresno, Oakland, San Francisco, Richmond, Stockton, etc. I find that a little hard to believe....
Pittsburgh and Cleveland for me, in that order, and thinking about relative magnitude of change for its size. Other candidates that I can think of are: Philadelphia, Chicago (pre-1995 wasn't so nice), New York City (same as Chicago), and Oakland. But Pittsburgh in particular has gone from one of the least popular cities to being one of the more popular cities within a fairly short time span (~10 years)!
I agree with this completely...except I think that while Cleveland may have begun to turn a new corner, it still has a LONG way to go before it can claim to be as much of a "comeback" city as Pittsburgh. Considering the complete COLLAPSE of the steel industry and the disastrous effect that had on the region back in the 70s/80s and really lingering into the 90's/early 2000's....it's remarkable just how much Pittsburgh has changed it's image and economic livelihood. I think that a big part of that though is the fact that Pittsburgh has never had nearly the crime problem some of the other cities mentioned so far still suffer through. It's always been a relatively safe city compared to similarly sized metros.
I have no idea if it's the biggest, but Las Vegas has been saved from death more than once. At first when the government made Nevada a state, Vegas almost died until Nevada legalized gambling. Vegas was saved briefly but started to fall apart again with the great depression. Then the government decided to build Hoover Dam nearby. Vegas was saved again! Then it started to go into decline and the government threatened to shut down practically everything due to the Teamsters and mobsters. In came Howard Hughes and eventually Steve Wynn and Vegas was saved yet again!
Indianapolis. from the 1960s too today.
Ill let the pictures do the talking.
That was in the 1950s and 1960s
Fast Forward even 20-30 years. To the 1980s and 1990s through today.
Also a good 55 minute documentary on how did Indy did it is wonderful to watch. Even more pictures and videos of Indy's struggles and rebirth. Plus the secret Indy used to transform itself. WFYI Indianapolis - Naptown to Super City
on the right side of the screen is watch online here. Use that to pull the documentary up.
That documentary was made before Super Bowl 46 in Indianapolis so keep that in mind.
Not being too familiar with Indy's history, I really enjoyed this program. Thanks for posting it!
I've never heard of Tacoma having a major crime problem, other than it was the higher-crime area between Seattle and Tacoma. What kind of crime rate are we talking about here? You mentioned "among the worst on the West Coast", which is very significant. That includes: Compton, Los Angeles, Fresno, Oakland, San Francisco, Richmond, Stockton, etc. I find that a little hard to believe....
Pittsburgh and Cleveland for me, in that order, and thinking about relative magnitude of change for its size. Other candidates that I can think of are: Philadelphia, Chicago (pre-1995 wasn't so nice), New York City (same as Chicago), and Oakland. But Pittsburgh in particular has gone from one of the least popular cities to being one of the more popular cities within a fairly short time span (~10 years)!
Crips and Bloods came out and a lot of murders and drug dealing throughout Tacoma.
I have to go with Pittsburgh as well... even though I love my St. Louis, I realize it has a lot further to go before it can be considered a 'turn around'
New York City? I think in the 70's it even went (or was about to go) bankrupt, and it was losing population. High crime, graffiti covered subways.... NYC back in the 70s/80s was NOT the NYC you see today.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
