Hartford is rated #1

[NewJeffCT]

Most stressful city...

Hartford is a troubled city.

Connecticut¡¯s capital is burdened with more socioeconomic stress than any other major city in the United States, according to a new study by American City Business Journals.

¡°Hartford is one of those places that continually pops up when urban hardship is measured,¡± says Lisa Montiel, a research scientist at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany, N.Y.

¡°Several indicators point to Hartford¡¯s problems,¡± she says. ¡°The poverty level is substantial. A large percentage of its housing is old, and a good bit of that is vacant.¡±

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6988164/

[underpants]

1. You know maybe some insurance could help ease that stress

now we have several packages that you might like whats say we set up a time for one of our representatives to come over to our lovely house and you your wife and our knowledgeable staff member can talk about it....m'kay?

[Lavender Brown]

2. My Dad lived there

when he first came to the U.S. He never says much about it, but it must have been pretty bad if he moved to Schenectady to get away from it! :7

[drumwolf]

3. Not surprising

I went up to Hartford a few times when I was at college in Middletown. It wasn't a particularly interesting city -- it would be fine as a smaller city in a major metropolitan area, but it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere. I'm surprised that they actually were able to support a major-league sports team (the NHL's Whalers).

[NewJeffCT]

4. within 60 minutes of Hartford

With 60 minutes of Hartford are a lot of people - Waterbury; New Haven; New London; Springfield, Mass.; not to mention fairly large suburbs like West & East Hartford, Bristol, Middletown & Meriden.

Within 90 minutes, you have the whole state of Connecticut (over 3 million people), plus most of Western Mass.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

7. I went to college in Hartford-it was a war zone

we couldn't walk around campus without escorts.

[AndyTiedye]

5. That's Why The Insurance Execs Who Work There Leave Work So Early

Evening rush hour starts well before dark in Hartford, even in the dead of winter when the sun goes down at 4.
No reason to stick around.
There's never been any culture in Connecticut -- you go to NY City for that.
Even professional sports is largely absent.
So there really isn't much IN the city to attract people.
Leaving only those who can't leave.

Connecticut was like when I was growing up there, and it seems to
have only gotten worse.

[NewJeffCT]

6. actually

Hartford is actually decent when it comes to culture - the Bushnell, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford Stage - the problem is that the downtown has such a bad reputation that people are scared to stay downtown after dark. For a city its size, it has been rated fairly highly when it comes to culture.

Granted, it's not Broadway, little Italy, Chinatown, 5th Avenue, etc... but, what city is?

People just don't want to come downtown if they have a family.