Tuesday, August 5, 2008

We're not #1! In fact, we're not even in the top 60!

We've already had to endure being called one of the most miserable cities in America by Forbes. But now, finally, there's a "worst of" list we can endorse.

Worst-city.com offers up sixty of the "most vile and violent places to leave." There's Chernobyl and Gary; Brazzaville and Compton; Hanford and Bucharest.

But there's one city we all know and love that is NOT on this list — Flint!

Now there are some less prominent sub-lists on the site that rank cities according to various crimes stats, and Flint does show up on those. And the site inexplicably mixes in a lot of photos of cute girls and sometimes reads like it was written by someone under the influence of, well, something.

But who cares?

I repeat...Flint is NOT on list of the worst cities in the world.

at 4:44 PM
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousAugust 5, 2008 at 9:19 PM

    WOO HOO! Hey, 'ya gotta take 'em however you can. -- KenR

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gordon YoungAugust 5, 2008 at 9:28 PM

    Exactly, Ken. There are no small victories at this point.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousAugust 6, 2008 at 2:36 PM

    Gary "out-Flints" Flint any day of the week. I think East St. Louis and Camden might actually be more miserable as well. All of these cities however do benefit from their proximity to major metropolitan areas.

    Flintoids and suburban Flintoid posers sometimes take a perverse pride in being the worst. (Un)fortunately we got a long way to go before we reach the despairity levels of Port au Prince or Kabul.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousApril 7, 2009 at 4:06 PM

    Perhaps what they're saying is that Flint has dropped off the list of urban locations that deserve the title "city."

    I was born and schooled in Flint. At the time it was thriving and there were certainly some good times to be had there.

    The last time I was back to visit was when Michael Moore happened to be making his first film about my home town. Can't imagine what it's like these days.

    Say what they will, there is one thing Flint leads the nation in: The effects of a wrecked economy thanks to de-regulation, globalization, and "free market" trade policies. Take what comfort you can in knowing where you've been, the rest of the nation is fast approaching.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.

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