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Chicago. I hear people trash the city because of crime and taxes.
Life long Chicagoan here. My experiences with people in the Chicagoland suburbs is that they most have a very positive feeling about the city and know how fortunate we are to have a world class city as our core. Chicago is the magnet that draws us. And if we wish to see our kids after they leave college, we have to go into Chicago to do so....because that's where they are.
Newspaper comment sections are always filled with cranks, political/industry stooges, nutjobs, and shut-ins. It's like a rule. For example, if they're 90% against a ballot measure it still might pass overwhelmingly.
City/suburb divides are real but most people have more nuanced views than the loud voices we often hear, whether they're on talk radio or work with you.
As for Cincinnati, this is easily the situation - suburbanites loath the urban core. From idiotic talk radio to a worthless newspaper to political opportunists who hope Cincinnati will become the next Detroit, these malcontents are an insatiable and implacable adversary, especially in their contempt for any progress downtown.
This same objectionable profile is readily visible on City-Data's Cincinnati forum. Just post anything positive about the city and watch what happens. Like bottom feeders from the black depths of a pond, these suburbanites shoot up to strike any shiny lure breaking the water's surface. Personally, I liken them to a WWII U-boat wolf pack lurking in wait for some hapless Allied vessel to cross their path; the results are always the same. Positive news is torpedoed, the post is derailed and the thread is sunk.
I find it rich that any middle class or better suburbanite jumps on the negative train about the urban core's perceived issues which can mostly be attributed to disinvestment by the very same people who work in the city core, but who largely take home their disposable income to the the suburbs.
In Tennessee, it's Memphis. Suburbanites have a palpable disdain for the city. It's the reason the Mississippi suburbs have grown so fast, because moving out of state is the only way to live in the metropolitan area and still be guaranteed to never be absorbed into a crumbling city that has grown only through aggressive annexations. In fact, Tennessee's recent law that essentially stops annexations was pretty much aimed at Memphis which now has growing movements of large swaths of city neighborhoods that want to be de-annexed. Tennessee's other major metros (Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville) have suburbanites that still love their core cities and yearn for their core cities' successes. In Memphis, it's like the suburbanites are giddy to see the core city continue to decline and refuse to step foot in the core of the city unless it's absolutely necessary.
As for Cincinnati, this is easily the situation - suburbanites loath the urban core. From idiotic talk radio to a worthless newspaper to political opportunists who hope Cincinnati will become the next Detroit, these malcontents are an insatiable and implacable adversary, especially in their contempt for any progress downtown.
Yes, it is an interesting phenomenon. It seems like in other places, suburbanites just don't have anything to do with the city proper, or they are too scared to go there, but here in Cincinnati, it is more like they want the city to fail. They seem to take perverse pleasure in anything going wrong. I remember at work a few people laughing about someone getting mugged in Over the Rhine, saying they deserved it for living there.
Of course, this could simply be the reflection of my living here and not elsewhere. Although, I do know quite a few people from Columbus, and they do not hate the city itself. But other cities do seem to have similar problems. My cousin moved to Michigan some years ago. When I asked him where he lived, he said Troy. When I asked where that was, he said 'north of Detroit'. I took this to mean he was in a small town in the northern nothingness of Michigan's thumb, so when I went to Detroit for a trip, I missed a chance to visit him not knowing at the time that Troy was immediately north of the city line of Detroit.
Going by population loss, I would have to say though that the people of Detroit, Cleveland, and St. Louis must hate their respective cities the most.
I've noticed this....do you wish that there were more state pride or do you feel as though you are better than the state you're in?
Aside from its natural beauty, there's not much about outstate Missouri to be proud of. The increasingly far right-wing politics and bible-thumping mentality that pervades outside the biggest metros are not only hoinf the big cities back in a thousand different ways, but they also make us a laughing stock in the eyes of the rest of the country. If St. Louis seceded from Missouri and formed its own city-state, I'd fully support it.
I would say STL. The Baby Boomers (50+) in the suburbs seem to absolutely hate the city. They would take their kids to the city for the zoo, museums, etc., but once they became empty nesters, they never go back in. I've heard many just describe the city as a desolate and unsafe wasteland. To be honest, it's hard to blame them. STL has its issues. But it's better and safer than it used to be, at least in the desirable neighborhoods. In my experience, suburban Chicago dwellers know they are fortunate to live in a world class city. Chicago also has its issues, but they are overblown. It's not as safe as NY or LA, but it's a lot safer statistically than STL. The GOP focuses on Chicago, because it's their way of "proving" that progressivism, gun control, etc. don't work. And wouldn't you know it, I saw a poll where the majority of Americans listed Chicago as the city they think is most dangerous.
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