Top 10 mean cities in U.S.

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NPR has the list

NPR.org, July 15, 2009 · To some people, the Land of the Free doesn’t always seem so free. And America the Beautiful doesn’t look so pretty.

That’s the viewpoint of two Washington-based groups — the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, and the National Coalition for the Homeless — that have targeted the country’s mingiest municipalities.

1. Los Angeles
2. St. Petersburg, Fla.
3. Orlando, Fla.
4. Atlanta
5. Gainesville, Fla.
6. Kalamazoo, Mich.
7. San Francisco
8. Honolulu
9. Bradenton, Fla.
10. Berkeley, Calif.

They built this index by how people treated the poorest folks. Its funny this list is Cali and Florida heavy. I am probably just throwing out a nutty a hypothesis, but I wonder if this list speaks somewhat to the reasons Florida and California are sub-prime/alt-a mortgage ground zeros. Brokers peddling that garbage to consumers was pretty mean as well.

Maybe if they averaged their data with indexes for sub-prime/alt-a mortgages, pay day loans and other predatory lending, this list would change significantly.