mzpro5 wrote: 
Plus y'all have Beanie, so that negates any of the 'bad' stuff...

Damnville VA is a very miserable, effluent city. About 40,000 people and shrinking. The main business was a large Mill that closed about 4 years ago. It employed most the town either directly or indirectly. Since then most have lost their houses and moved away including most my friends here. There is still a very large number of houses for sale or in foreclosure here. Most the restaurants have also gone under because no-one can afford to eat out anymore. That's fine with me most of the time because I like to cook. I've been trying to bail this place for about 4 years and have been through 4 realtors and I can't even give my house away for the mortgage amount. If it sold for that I will lose the $133k I invested in it above the mortgage but even so I'd be glad to get out from under it. The only jobs here are minimum wage jobs. There aren't any good contractors here anymore because they all left for greener pastures. Living here makes me feel like I have been put into cold storage and forgotten.

Well I live 25 miles from Cleveland, about 50 miles from Akron, 65 miles from Canton and 90 miles from Toledo so I guess I may be in the "miserable vortex".

Honestly I think it is a bad rap.  As someone has stated the cost of living is very affordable.  There are tons of excellent entertainment/cultural opportunities (Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Museum of Art, Rock n roll Hall of Fame) we have a number of great colleges/universities (Case Western Reserve).  And though our winters can be hard we really are pretty good weather wise.

Sports? Well aside from the Cavilers we are dismal but try really hard.

I've lived all over the country and several places outside the US and ended up coming back to the region of my birth.  Gues it can't be too bad.

 sirdroseph wrote: 
I remember meeting a waitress named Joan who was from Columbia and quite proud of it.  She had good things to say about her home town.

 oldviolin wrote: 

Not at all; I live in the relatively unknown jewel of the South; Columbia SC. Nobody thinks of us or stops very long when they pass through and that is what makes it so great!

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
I liked Oakland in the days I lived there...  A lot more than I like Scummyvale, which is supposed to be the "best run city in the USA". 

"Q: What is the difference between Sunnyvale and Yogurt?  A: Yogurt has a live culture."

 Alexandra wrote: 
Why bring cookinlover into this?

 maryte wrote: 
I just did go thru the list... Stockton, Merced, Sacto. I don't think it's fair to put a town on the list just because their NBA team sucks. Stockton  & Merced aren't that bad, either. At least they're close to San Francisco!

 Inamorato wrote: 
My mom said Toledo was the BEST town she ever lived in (in the 50s, anyway).

Don't blame an entire state for a few "miserable" (who's judging, anyway) cities, you know? Fair is fair.
It would be like saying RP is a bad place just because of our few trolls!

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 

I think Compton did instead...

did Oakland make that list? It usually does make "worst" lists. I love it tho. Diversity in culture, music, architecture, I think it's a decent place to live.

Cleveland. It deserves its miserable rating, although I also lived in Detroit, and I think it's worse.

 geordiezimmerman wrote: 
And Toledo. And Akron. That fully 25% of the miserable list is in Ohio is no accident.

 geordiezimmerman wrote: 

i have friends who live there. they're not so miserable.

 geordiezimmerman wrote: 
And there is a GREAT wine bar in Columbus, where someone's cool-ass dad works!

 Zep wrote: 
together we're strong.

No. But I grew up in one.
It wasn't my fault, I swear...

*edit*
After thinking about it for awhile, I decided that It isn't so much
miserable as it is rich in misery, just like anywhere else.
Then, there's the beautiful parts...

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 

 

I'm working on it.