Being raised a country boy I thought they all were , along with 90% of towns . But I'm probably just biased
Being raised a country boy I thought they all were , along with 90% of towns . But I'm probably just biased
Smaller city shitholes in my neck of the woods:
Reading, PA. Total shithole.
Harrisburg, PA. State capital and mega shithole.
Newark, NJ. Need I say more? Except there are a few ethnic neighborhoods that are more or less safe and have some kickass restaurants.
Trenton, NJ. Just don’t.
Atlantic City, NJ. Scary, with a nice ocean breeze.
On the other side of the ledger, Pittsburgh is really nice. Bethlehem is charming. Easton used to be a real shithole but has been on the upswing over the past several years.
Phoenix, AZ and most of the surrounding areas. No matter the affluence of the surrounding neighborhood, there are packs of zombies inhabiting shopping centers and QT gas stations. It really is a sad sight, the complete waste of humanity, because of drugs.
Albuquerque, NM
Parts of Chicago. Some parts are really nice and others not so much. I really enjoyed the Museum of Science and Industry when I was there last time, then turned on the news back at the hotel and some was shot 2 blocks away that day.
-Seconds Count. Misses Don't-
Salt Lake certainly has some shithole spots. A few years ago, they ran most of the riffraff out of the city parks and downtown areas in a police operation my wife lovingly refers to as Operation Leafblower. They basically pushed the vagrants and druggies into other parts of the city and suburbs, and into other nearby cities. They didn't really solve the problems. They did arrest and/or offer drug treatment programs to quite a few of the people at that time.
All in all, SLC is not nearly as bad as it could be, and the people still generally support the police and enforcement of law.
Boise is a pretty nice "big" city, but it's also gone downhill in spots, and has its own bad areas. Their current mayor is... problematic. I will say downtown Boise doesn't give me the same anxiety as SLC does, but that may be a case of ignorance on my part. I'm far more familiar with SLC.
I would love to visit Seattle again, but I get the impression that the last ten years have seen it go downhill pretty severely. It's been that long since I visited, and my wife keeps bugging me to make a trip up there to visit some of her extended family (they are mostly living across the Sound, near Bremerton).
The last time I passed through Portland, I was ... less than compliant with their laws. Zero desire to go there again. Shithole 100% in my eyes. I do wish Oregon would unfuck their CCW reciprocity, so I could be legal in their state. (Hopefully that doesnt stray too close to politics) If they did, I'd love to visit other areas of Oregon, and I have family near Medford.