My oldest daughter lived in St. Louis for awhile. The city has a terrible reputation and big portions, especially on the north side feature a lot of poor and homeless people, many of them black. But the city as a whole is delightful, with wonderful parks, great sporting arenas, plenty of colleges and universities, great food and tremendous history. I love St. Louis. I feel bad for the poor, but missing out on St. Louis because the poor and troubled people bother you just by being seems strange to me.
My youngest daughter lives in Baltimore. It is much like St. Louis in that a lot of very poor people including homeless live there and of course the areas where they are a majority are blighted. But Baltimore has much to recommend it, nice night life, a gorgeous harbor, some really nice solid working class neighborhoods,and plenty of history and a lot for a resident or visitor to do.
SFO has been full of homeless, wayward and wandering poor people since the 1960s that I know of, probably longer. It's also a great city, in an amazing location and there are many great places to live.
I could go on, but where is the utopia in which you live where there are no poor people, no litter and almost no blighted areas? I am very familiar with NC, SC, Ga and Fl, so I know you must not live in any of those states if the big city troubles are so terrible for you. I am an old guy. I remember vividly when every small town and middle sized city in SC had a terrible side of town full of the poorest of the poor. Perhaps that's why seeing poor people and their surroundings does not bother me aside from making me feel sorry for the down and out and wishing things could be better for them.
BTW, I live in Charlotte fairly close in. We have some poor people. I tell people that Charlotte is a great place to live, work and raise a family, but it would be an awful place to spend a week or two on vacation. The places you named are all great destination cities.
