What exactly does it mean to be labeled “the most miserable city in America”? Is it the absolute worst place to live in our increasingly miserable country?
“Not the worst, just the most miserable,” explains the Business Insider story that denigrates Gary with this infamous ranking.
The story, which has garnered national attention, ranks the 50 most miserable cities based on U.S. Census data from 1,000 cities. Two other Indiana cities landed on this list: Hammond (23rd) and Anderson (35th).
“These cities have things in common — few opportunities… high crime and addiction rates, and often many abandoned houses,” the story states.
“The most miserable city in the U.S. was once a manufacturing mecca, but those days are over,” states the online story.
“We are keenly aware of the challenges reflected in the data used by the Business Insider,” Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson told me. “At the same time, the article or ranking does not reflect the reality of improved data.”
For example, the city’s population decline has slowed over the last decade, and the number and percentage of vacant and abandoned buildings has been reduced, she noted.
“The glaring omission is that this minimizes the work under way to change these circumstances,” the mayor said. “Nothing is said about the thousands of jobs created over the past six years. Nothing is said about the infrastructure improvements.”
Freeman-Wilson insisted she was not attempting to ignore the obvious challenges facing her city. “I am simply saying that the ranking is one-sided and seems only contemplated to emphasize the negative aspects of our community and others,” she said.
The mayor is right. Statistical data can be cold as steel. Notorious labels can be long lasting. The city of Gary, once labeled “the murder capital of the nation,” knows this better than most any other U.S. city, including every other top-50 “miserable” city.
“I don’t see it. I see a community of people who want to be here,” Gary Common Council President Ron Brewer said at Tuesday’s Council meeting. “People can write what they want about our city. I know we have good residents.”
That Business Insider story doesn’t offer any input from Gary residents or city officials, but instead quotes a “drug-enforcement agent who grew up in the area” as told to The Guardian in 2017.
“We used to be the murder capital of the U.S., but there is hardly anybody left to kill,” the story states. “We used to be the drug capital of the U.S., but for that you need money, and there aren’t jobs or things to steal here.”
This is a purposely harsh quote to punctuate the story’s data-driven narrative.
“I don’t see any interviews from citizens that would support this negative ranking,” Freeman-Wilson said.
When I first contacted Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., he was hesitant to help publicize a story written by journalists who’ve likely never visited Hammond. However, he also felt instinctively compelled to defend his city.
“Internet polls usually aren’t nice to cities like mine, nor did the story’s one paragraph description of Hammond mention any of our positives, like lowering crime rates, positive business environment, rising home prices, and the CollegeBound program,” he said.
I reached out to the story’s two reporters, James Pasley and Angela Wang, asking if they have ever visited Hammond or Gary. It’s unlikely they tried to contact any residents or officials in either city. Because Gary is ranked first on their list, even a token phone call would have been a polite gesture, if not a journalistic standard. Neither reporter immediately replied to me.
Pasley, a New Zealand native, is a “visual features fellow” at Business Insider, according to his online bio. Wang is an “editorial fellow” who earned a master’s degree in data journalism. Their story exemplified, and oversimplified, data journalism, based strictly on figures, not feelings or people or context.
Unfortunately, it will only confirm the biases of anyone who’s already critical of Gary or Hammond or Anderson, or any of the other 47 cities on that list. They’re all convenient targets for a long-held consensus of criticism, now bolstered by outdated census data.
Challenged? Beleaguered? Troubled? Sure. Miserable, I say, was a miserable word choice to define these communities.
Jerry Davich, a Gary native, is a columnist for the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana. Send comments to [email protected].
