Jackson, MS:
Jackson, MS:
Dallas #1 by far
Rochester, NY #2
Phoenix, AZ #3
Jacksonville #4
El Paso #5
How are we now at 83 comments and no one has mentioned Flint, Michigan yet???
If you are talking strictly about downtowns and architecture, I would have to give the award to Charlotte, NC. Charlotte's exponential growth occurred between 1985 and 2015. That meant a substantial number of the buildings that make up the skyline are throw-up-in-you-mouth worthy examples of post-modern architecture. Not only is the architecture gag worthy, but it follows with the period of antipathy to the street level pedestrian environment. This is because the standard for development in the pomo period was for downtowns to be financial/business sectors where the streets were rolled up at night when everyone went back to their sprawl suburbs for their babybackbabybackbabyback ribs at Chilis. I actually like Charlotte a lot and go their on business all the time. It is a nice clean city with lots of nice places to visit. But downtown is a complete dud. It is also completely boxed in by highways on all sides, defeating any sort of continuity with some very nice close in neighborhoods.
Dallas gets honorable mention, but it is improving rapidly. Dallas also had a pomo explosion thanks to the tax shelter victory towers of the S&L scandal of the 1980s. I saw Zach Galifiniakis do stand up in Dallas before he hit the bigtime in the movies. He told everyone that their city looked like Tron. He was right. But Downtown Dallas' problem is that it was overbuilt in the 1980s and then a lot of the property owners went into bankruptcy. The result was that the occupancy rate downtown has been dismal for decades. Now, there are nice midcentury modern buildings that are completely empty and in various stages of decay/revival. Giant half full office buildings from the 1980s that are in dire need of updating. And lots of tourists going to see the building where some a-hole shot the president. There is very little in the way of street level retail/restaurants, but things have been improving. Add to that a ton of long overdue street improvements making it impossible to get around an already weird street grid, and Dallas is a stinker.
I used to live in Cleveland. It definitely deserves the knocks it gets. While Pittsburgh moved very quickly to de-industrialize and transform itself into a tech/med hub, everyone in Cleveland just sat around eating perogies and pinning their hopes on a young Bernie Kosar. But for every reason, and there are many, that Cleveland comes in as a punching bag when talking about crappy cities, there are some surprising and little known joys around the city. The metroparks are known as the Emerald Necklace. There are miles of trails for running/biking. I am talking run a marathon without ever having to do a loop or out and back. The orchestra and art museum are as good as anything in NY or Chicago. The public library downtown is also on par with any major US city.
Shoebacca wrote:
The bad parts of Baltimore far outweigh the good parts of Baltimore. When driving by Pittsburgh or Philadelphia I'm constantly surprised by just how bad the cities look. Washington DC looks beautiful compared to those ones. While I'm talking about east cost cities, I'll also mention that it's hard to appreciate New York if you've visited DC. The air policies in DC somewhat assured that none of the buildings got too tall and the result is that you feel like everything is fairly open. Once you go to New York you could get claustrophobia from never seeing the sun when surrounded by all the buildings.
I agree with everything you wrote except for your comment regarding Pittsburgh. It is one of the best looking major cities I’ve spent a lot of time in. And not just the downtown area. It is one of the few major cities in the country that has more clean and safe neighborhoods than rundown and dangerous ones.
thefinalword wrote:
Dallas #1 by far
Rochester, NY #2
Phoenix, AZ #3
Jacksonville #4
El Paso #5
I would like to nominate a smaller city, Lawrence, Mass., A cesspool of governmental corruption, violence and drug dealing thanks to our Dominican "friends." It is the go-to place for heroin and fentanyl for northern New England.
There was a gas line explosion six months ago that burned a number of homes, and many folks lost everything and are still displaced.
But i do occasionally visit the New Balance outlet store there before noonish, since the locals arent up yet.
Desert Trash wrote:
How are we now at 83 comments and no one has mentioned Flint, Michigan yet???
Howz the drinking water?
Silver Spring, MD
DC baby! At least the other cities are open.
Probably Camden and Gary.
But, for so called major cities, Baltimore wins hands down.
It changes, donny keeps moving around!
team Unruly Bush wrote:
For a running website, I'm surprised Portland get so much hate. The running is fantastic, views of Hood are dramatic, and the bridges actually have character... and the adult industry
In my opinion, Portland is a little overrated on the running side of things. The best places for training I've found are smaller towns that have dirt roads and trail systems that nobody knows about and random middle school tracks that are never used. So I guess Portland has decent running for an actual city but the actual downtown area near Tom Mccall Park is overall just a mess.
I am not very well traveled but Milwaukee is the ugliest city I visited.
SadSack wrote:
Desert Trash wrote:
How are we now at 83 comments and no one has mentioned Flint, Michigan yet???
Howz the drinking water?
I did not want to pick on Flint, they have had enough, but yeah. I needed a Michigan race to get to "All 50" and chose Crim 10M a few years back. Very nice race in almost every way, but I felt so bad for that city. On top of that I got food poisoning, almost dropped out and puked right after crossing finish to ensure that I get nauseous every time I think of Flint.
brogan1 wrote:
I am not very well traveled but Milwaukee is the ugliest city I visited.
The Villages,Fl
Celebration, FL
(BOTH FAKE TOWNS)
California (specifically SF) is a 3rd world country.
thefinalword wrote:
Dallas #1 by far
Rochester, NY #2
Phoenix, AZ #3
Jacksonville #4
El Paso #5
I'm in the ROC and honestly I don't have much to say.
Wonderin' wrote:
Portland has changed tremendously in the last five years. All for the worse. It's horrible. Worst downtown of a major city in the country. Nothing else is close.
Hahaha. You think Portland is a major city. That's a good one. It is just some wastoid place where stupid, America hating liberals live. It doesn't have to be downtown to be ugly. Hate is ugly.
You folks have never been to Fairbanks, AK, during breakup.
people are delusional... wrote:
Harrisburg PA is also pretty bleak.
As a Pennsylvanian, that is putting it incredibly mildly.