Hartford named Worst State Capital in America

[Dooley]

I wish threads like this would stay on the Cesspool so I never have to see them.

 

[Oregon Owl]

That's crazy. Have you been to ... Trenton? .... Harrisburg?

Nutso

By any metric, Harrisburg is by far the worst. The state legislature there obtained millions of dollars for expressways in all directions to get them the hell out of there on Friday afternoons.

 

[ct06111]

Man, we crap on our own state capital way too much:
A Visitor's Happy Tweets: OMG Hartford Pretty, Cute, Friendly!!

 

[SubbaBub]

I'll echo Harrisburg and Trenton.. Maybe the worst in New England. I'm not entirely sure what this has to do with Conference Realignment.

Concord says, "hello." Augusta is no prize either and unless your a hippie or want to open a coffee shop, Montpelier is no economic juggernaut.

Today, I learned most people don't know what states comprise New England or the state capitals.

 

[ZOOCONN]

Man, we crap on our own state capital way too much:
A Visitor's Happy Tweets: OMG Hartford Pretty, Cute, Friendly!!

hmmm very interesting, sometimes its nice to be reminded the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

 

[Adios]

The history of Hartford never gets boring.

 

[huskyinfl]

Worst? I am living it right now. Baton Rouge, LA. High violent crime, unemployment, bankrupt, low education, corruption.

Hartford is a dream compared to the BR.

 

[djct1999]

I am looking for the CT rebuttal. Maybe from UConn Magazine that votes Boston as the worst college sports town in America.

 

[UConnFranklin]

If you notice, Hartford's two problem areas center around economic issues (affordability and economic stability). This is because Hartford is such a small, geographically speaking, city (17.95 sq miles) with a high percentage of the poverty of the area concentrated in it. Much of the wealth has moved out over the past 60 years. If you included the wealth and other resources located in the land area of the suburbs surrounding Hartford equal to the land area of capital cities throughout the rest of the nation you would see a dramatic rise in the ratings. The data has been manipulated to hold us down.

Could you imagine where Hartford would rank if it included the areas surrounding it which equaled the area of Austin at 271.8 sq. miles or Indianapolis at 368.1 sq. miles. At this size the new Hartford would include Hartford, West Hartford, Avon, Bloomfield, Simsbury, Farmington, Wethersfield, Windsor, Glastonbury, South Windsor, and East Hartford for a total 296.27sq miles.

Even Boston: 89.63 sq mi, Raleigh, NC: 144.8 sq mi, Denver: 155 sq mi, Salt Lake City 109.1 sq mi dwarf Hartford and other New England capital cities such as Providence at 20.6 sq. mi.

This is just another unfair, biased attack on Hartford and Connecticut by uninformed journalists bent on destroying and degrading us for their own benefit. Specifically, those of Boston. In this case our old New England beliefs of small, local control is really hurting the country's perception of us. This is one reason why we have difficulty getting into a P5 conference. PERCEPTION!!! If we want to change the script, we can no longer accept and be quiet about inaccuracies and the constant manipulation of the script to benefit others.

 

[Chin Diesel]

If you notice, Hartford's two problem areas center around economic issues (affordability and economic stability). This is because Hartford is such a small, geographically speaking, city (17.95 sq miles) with a high percentage of the poverty of the area concentrated in it. Much of the wealth has moved out over the past 60 years. If you included the wealth and other resources located in the land area of the suburbs surrounding Hartford equal to the land area of capital cities throughout the rest of the nation you would see a dramatic rise in the ratings. The data has been manipulated to hold us down.

Could you imagine where Hartford would rank if it included the areas surrounding it which equaled the area of Austin at 271.8 sq. miles or Indianapolis at 368.1 sq. miles. At this size the new Hartford would include Hartford, West Hartford, Avon, Bloomfield, Simsbury, Farmington, Wethersfield, Windsor, Glastonbury, South Windsor, and East Hartford for a total 296.27sq miles.

Even Boston: 89.63 sq mi, Raleigh, NC: 144.8 sq mi, Denver: 155 sq mi, Salt Lake City 109.1 sq mi dwarf Hartford and other New England capital cities such as Providence at 20.6 sq. mi.

This is just another unfair, biased attack on Hartford and Connecticut by uninformed journalists bent on destroying and degrading us for their own benefit. Specifically, those of Boston. In this case our old New England beliefs of small, local control is really hurting the country's perception of us. This is one reason why we have difficulty getting into a P5 conference. PERCEPTION!!! If we want to change the script, we can no longer accept and be quiet about inaccuracies and the constant manipulation of the script to benefit others.

In other words an article like this needs context. There is the city of Hartford, which has to own its numbers. Then there is the Hartford metro area which comes in several other flavors. I would think Hartford metro would be in the top 1/2 of state capitol metro areas.

As you said, Hartford's biggest hindrance is its physical size and the fact that no surrounding suburb would ever willingly be annexed.

Fortunately most adult decision makers for business and industry and most homeowners who care, know to look beyond one statistic when evaluating an area.

For the context of this article, low income, low education and relatively high crime areas are a hindrance.

I'd still rank at least 10 state capitols lower than Hartford.

 

[willie99]

Boston is a great city; but, how the numbers are cut-up are telling. This about a 'family' living in a city.

Looking at the report, I think affordability kills Boston's ranking, which I can see since housing prices in Boston are approaching NYC prices (but still behind SF) plus public schools except for a few like Boston Latin are not good.

I've spend a lot of time in Concord NH. Its OK, couple of good resultants, a few things to do, public schools are decent and relatively low crime. While downtown Providence, Federal Hill and College Hill are great, neighborhoods to the north, such as around PC's campus, and to the south are not good and there are a few places I would not want to walk around at night. Thus, Concord ranks higher than Providence with respect to raising a family.

so being incredibly popular sucks, I get it now

one of my favorite Yogi lines, "nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded'

 

[Adios]

Worst? I am living it right now. Baton Rouge, LA. High violent crime, unemployment, bankrupt, low education, corruption.

Hartford is a dream compared to the BR.

Is this why Tulane is in the AAC?

 

[tiger paw]

being ranked worst might be a good thing ! 1st on list to receive federal funding for urban redevelopment. start with a new 20k seat downtown arena.

 

[31GuardTrap]

Any list like this that has Honolulu outside the top 5 is ludicrous.

 

[Waquoit]

Any list like this that has Honolulu outside the top 5 is ludicrous.

Yeah, but the have 5-0.