I've lived in North East Arkansas all my life and it's sad to see and know that West Memphis isn't even the worst one. We have way too many towns dying out and its sad to see. Maybe one day when we can get rid of all this meth, we might be able to start building these places back up
Finally someone who is willing to at least acknowledge the drug problem behind several major reasons of decline in this country and the world. It's everywhere!
@@Freedomovrdeath I 110% agree. All my family lives here so it’s hard to want to move far from them but my wife and I are saving up and hoping in the the next couple of years we can buy a home and move out west. Don’t know where or how far west but that’s why I love watching this channel.
I grew up in West Memphis. It isn't a place people have a goal of moving to, it's a place 99% of people have the goal of moving out of. I'm lucky that I was able to move out.
There are many places in this country that look similar to West Memphis. It makes you think this country is slowly dying. Furthermore, What the heck do the politicians care about people living in poverty in this country? They're only for themselves that's it.
I genuinely don’t understand how America is considered No.1 country in the world it wouldn’t even be considered in the top 20 countries in Europe in terms of health care, education and cost of living in certain parts is crazy expensive I would say infrastructure in terms of highways, bridges etc is Better in the US but that’s about it.
@John Stuart Mill like the mayor of west Memphis has any money to do anything. I love how republicans never take responsibility for their states pushing blame on local government but call out “liberal” states
I grew up in the hills of Kentucky no good paying jobs and lot of people was on welfare and my family were sharecroppers but those were great times because yu could trust people to do the right thing we worked hard in the fields every day and just because someone is poor doesn't mean they are lazy or no good to society
Government plays a role, yes. But it’s also the breakdown of the family, people feeling they have nothing in common with each other, drugs, breakdown in institutions, etc. cultural decay is very real.
The democrats are some of the most depressed people. They try to find meaning in their lives by getting rid of religion and redeclaring what a family should look like,. They do this so that they appear like they care, when they really don't want to help people. They go and buy the latest trends and fashions but money doesn't buy happiness either. They just don't get that the path to happiness is by truely giving of yourself to help others, not by forcing others to bend the knee to their will and making the government "help" others. They don't want to spend their time and money on helping, just force others to do it.
Thank you for sharing views of the places that most people drive around. I grew up in the midwest and taught there for many years before moving to Arkansas to teach. When I was a child, my father drove through East St. Louis (which you have also toured) every day to go to work in St. Louis. I have been to/through West Memphis many times and just had lunch in Pine Bluff with a friend yesterday. Conversely, I also taught in Aspen (yes, Colorado) for two years. As grim as some of these places appear, I have met good, caring and compassionate teachers doing their best to improve kids' opportunities from each of them.
I lived there in the 70s. A lot of people came there for the dog races. The main road at the time had some very bad shacks where people lived. The homes I’m seeing are much better than they were. Would have liked to see the business area near the interstate.
It is sad that he only showed half of the city. He didn’t show any of the nicer neighborhoods. He only showed the bad parts. West Memphis has $200,000.00 plus houses. We have new apartments. New schools being built all around the city. Our city looks a whole lot better than some of these major cities. Including the part that he showed. If you show the bad , show the good as well. That part of town don’t define West Memphis. We living very well in our town. If i do say so myself. Crime is everywhere, you can’t run from that. This is just ridiculous!!! Give the people a glimpse of the whole city not just the bad part.
This guy is up for his objective: focusing on flaws. That's it. His mind is like refinery, extracts flaws from every location and then uploads them on TH-cam.
See the "worst parts of West Memphis" title. It certainly a great looking place even in the poor areas compared to LA or Baltimore. Not nearly the amount of loose garbage filth just impoverished zones with much less of that.
My company had a small manufacturing plant there. As an senior engineer I visited the plant a couple of times to assist with new equipment installations and start up. The plants workforce was 95% women. When I asked an employee why they had no men working there she responded with.... their at home, they don't work...when I asked what do they do? Nothing was the response.
Look into the history of Scottish immigrants into the southern US and what employers had to say about them. It's really interesting to find out the trend of the lazy southerner goes back 200 years.
@@darkminstrel2041 And yet field work which used to be abundant was tough grueling work. I'm from SE Missouri and I know we were known for astoundingly strong work ethic. Maybe we would do best to not spew about the lazy southerner. Yes times have changed. The whole concept of farming with its automation has wiped out the jobs for whole communities and left nothing to replace those lost jobs. Small factories have disappeared leaving few enjoyment options. Drugs have become the huge employer. Sad. So tragic.
@@darkminstrel2041 lazy Scott got your food to market, theres lazy everywhere, also there judgemental people everywhere most of them have not clue what they talking about, so be careful what you read especially what you repeat.
When it comes to the world of investing,most people don't know where to start. Fortunately, great investors of the past and present can provide us with guidance.
@@theresasidneyy5838 There are platform where you can invest and they trade your money. Then pay you profit either weekly or monthly. That's investing.
Nah you didn’t have to do my hometown like this. Is it crappy? sure. Even so this video makes it seem slightly worse than it actually is. Lol there are good parts…ish
FYI: I went into the Taco Bell on the SW corner of exit 280 on I-40 in West Memphis awhile back and the cashier told me she had worked there 20 years. She deserves a video all about her. Plus she should have her own star on the West Memphis Walk Of Fame.
She would have the only star, on the non existing, WestMemphis Walk of Fame. Whats so special about working at one company for 20 years? The Boomer generation has a 47 year work life on average.
@@robotbuster1487 I am 58 and have worked 42 years of my life. I still have 7 year's before I can even receive my Social Security ( if there is anything left) Almost 36 years as a Nurse working in the same nursing home, 4 back operations. This is my American Dream. Same thing for my husband he works in a Rock Quarry, digging out those rocks in a 992 Komatsu. God bless you. I hope our new generation will find job's they love without the injuries and stress.
Still prettier than the Tenderloin in San Francisco, one of the most expensive cities in the US. Nice trees, well kept home and yards and no trash. Didn't look too bad.
True, but you have to account the fact the tenderloin is one square mile with more people opposed to the same amount of people over a greater area so naturally garbage and stuff like that is going to accumulate, but with that being said it’s pretty shitty in that area and when I visit the city I avoid it!
i live in west memphis, it’s so terrible here. i know everything that goes on here and it’s really the worst place to live. i grew up here and all i wanna do is leave
@@metalmike570 lies...pretty much a neighborhood of Memphis (except with a state income tax and other inept laws) that is very similar to Binghamton or Whitehaven.
When my band was on tour I went to towns I had never heard of. The first thing I would notice on the drive from the airport to the hotel was how clean the streets were. This town looks better than most of the lower income places I visited. I was especially impressed with the ballpark. Nick, I’ll bet the people here are just trying to get by but it seems like they have dignity. No tents, no crackheads, go garbage on the streets. Give them a break.
@Ace's Cafe - interesting comment, thank you for sharing that. Contrast those clean towns with someplace expensive like *Seattle,* that has deteriorated at a tremendous rate over the past few decades, but still has a high cost of living. I get notifications from the *"Seattle Looks Like Sh*t"* FaceBook page and went there recently. It's horrendous for anyone who still lives there.
My home town! I moved away when I got older but it’s still my home town. It’s always sad when I hear the responses from people when they ask me where I’m from and I say WM.
It's sad--and scary, it almost looks like a ghost town. I am talking about early on in the video when he was going into the trailer park. Rundown with faded-out paint and the plants overgrown. If I didn't see those cars leaving for work I would think people have abandoned the town, but the music is really nice and comforting. Good choice.
"Is there hope?" "What can we do?" Nick, you started off in a grim neighborhood (the washer and drier in the front yard caught my eye), but around 9:00 minutes in, the houses were substantial, tidy, and spaced far apart. Granted, there were no people on the streets, but what time did you drive around? I wouldn't expect too many people to be out and about at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday. I could move into a neighborhood like that in a heartbeat! I checked the city website. There are parks and some things to do. Dealing with the drug problem would help, but good luck with that! The drug problem in the U.S. is NOT going away. (Keep visiting the Sackler Galleries and Wings, though.)
These places are not that bad. Those neighborhood homes are decent brick homes. Everything is how you look at it. These places could be a come up, I'f you have the right mindset to know how to use it. Those homes rent for 800 per month. Nice passive income.
I thought the exact same thing. Those looked for the most part, like nice working class neighborhoods. There are neighborhoods like that here where I live in South Carolina. Maybe the reason Nick didn't run into any people was because they were at work.
@@sarahussery5868 I know people that stay in neighborhoods like this one with the brick homes, and most of those people are factory workers that drive across the bridge to Memphis to work every day. Most of the people are home owners, very little section 8 housing. Most people do not have time, to do extra repairs on their homes, because they are in busy interstate 40 traffic everyday commuting to FedEx, Amazon, EXEL, Kelloggs, warehouse jobs like this. When they get home, they are resting. Now that trailer park is hopeless SMH. Also, it is far from dangerous in west Memphis. I've been to East St Louis, Cleveland Ohio, Youngstown Ohio, even worse i have a uncle in Wilmington, Delaware, a complete shit hole. Most of these southern cities and towns, are no comparison in crime, and poverty, those northern infested, abomination of a city are.
Don't know why, maby it's in my DNA, but I get sentimental when I see older run down places. I thought the place was beautiful. But if I bought back there, I'd be fixing up my place as best as time and money would allow. Can't help that either, fixing things up is in my DNA too Loved the video.
This is what happens when you take the industry, give it to other countries, and kill the income. You see this in other third-world countries and I never thought I'd see this back home. This is so sad. I really do weep for the United States.
Yes, but it's also our fault. We've been "cowed, bowed, bought off, distracted, and become willing participants in our own extinction." Liz Berrigan in the book Seeking Peace.
It's terrible how many manufacturing jobs have been lost in the United States over the last 50+ years. For clothing, more than 95% of what we wear is made outside the USA. In the 1970's, the majority of clothing was made in the USA. Other industries as well, including textiles, shoes, household goods and furniture, and even our over the counter medicines are made elsewhere now. The decisions by a few at the top (who got rich really quickly) decimated people's lives by putting them out of work from jobs where the skills were not usually transferrable (or if the skills were transferrable, there were then 100 applicants for every 1 job). I estimate it would take 25-50 years to bring a sizable portion of manufacturing back to the USA, and that's if we started *today.*. It does not seem like there is any real effort to do this, and as a result, we will be seeing many more towns and cities like this one.
You can't blame an entire country for that! It's these horrible corporations, usually financed by the professional thieves in Washington, or at least that's where the kickbacks go. Welcome to the United Corporations of America. I didn't do what you said, you didn't do that either. It's plain old fashioned greed, which has been around since the dawn of humanity.
I grew up in West Memphis in the 70s, up to 1990. And I lived in some of those neighborhoods shown in the earlier portions of this video. Not the first neighborhood, but the ones north of Broadway. I know exactly what happened to some of them, because I watched it transpire. Unfortunately, youtube frowns upon folks who aren't politically correct. So in a nutshell, demographics began to shift in the 80s. And what were once nice, quiet neighborhoods increasingly became places you wouldn't want to be caught in after dark. People with sense and means got out asap before they lost too much real estate value. I got out before I ended up getting tied to anything that would make leaving too difficult. It may not be PC, but that doesn't make it less factual. And yes, there are some nice areas on the west side of town that may weather the storm, so to speak. But all in all, West Memphis looks far better in the rear view mirror than it does through the windshield.
@@wildestcowboy2668 it's basically an extension of Memphis added in with the Arkansas Mississippi River Delta. Research the Mississippi Delta on both the Arkansas and Mississippi side(also west TN side) and you will find poverty, crime, drug abuser etc. West Memphis is no different than any neighborhood of majority of Memphis. Gangs, crime, drug dealing, drug abuse, poverty, etc. Both are infested with Chicago and LA Gangs that found new territory to sell drugs, increase their membership, etc plus local gangs have been a thing even before the Chicago/LA sets came about.
I grew up in the Rust Belt Cleveland Ohio when all these companies were busy sending things overseas cuz it was cheaper they never thought about what they were leaving behind people fending for themselves because they stripped all the jobs away and they wonder why people are so anti-government these days
i live in missouri. we have a lot of small town decay. this is due to limited jobs and very low dead end jobs. we really need a path to prosperity in the usa. i see a lot of small business in countries like mexico and other parts of the would. i wonder if this wouldn't be the answer. today we make it so hard for small business to get started and support the job killing large business. in one of your video you show the dollar store and casey's as the only two business. of course these suck the life out any town and don't put anything back into the community. just like when walmart came to monett mo. and all main street business closed. if we could refocus and allow more small business. this would help
Our flat taxes on income once one gets above a certain level effectively favor monopolies and cartels. Giant firms can hire veritable armies of bureaucrats deputed to treat workers badly. I'm tempted to believe that giant entities hire people who might otherwise become dangerous revolutionaries or at the least social reformers who might improve things for workers. I see the decline of labor unions as much of the problem. When unions were strong, America had a large base of people of middle incomes who could patronize mom-and-pop stores and restaurants. Union families were better ones in which to grow up than other working-class families.
Mexicans have ALWAYS been hard workers.. You can go into a neighborhood in America where they live, and even if they are poor.. They will keep things tidy.. The problem isn't the dirt people live on, but how they respect themselves..
I wouldn’t even know this place existed had it not been for the West Memphis Three. It was horrible what that town put those young men through for all those years. I’m so glad they finally got the justice they deserved and moved as far away from that hellhole town as they could get. I hope they’re all doing well now.
West Memphis isn't that bad. I go there to shop every week, and I'm thinking about buying a fixer home over there. There are jobs in west Memphis. You just have to be a down to earth person that doesn't mind making the best out of what you have and living within your means, until you can do better.
People who live in West Memphis should be working across the river in downtown Memphis. I'm sure there's plenty of jobs in the high rise office buildings and all across Memphis.
@@mkesmoke That would truly be a bad idea. I don't care how good the money might be, you couldn't pay me enough of it to even visit that city again. Once was one time too many, it is one of the most dangerous cities in the US, if not the world. But you know, they have buses that will take you anywhere in the US for very little money. I sold my own blood to get out of Orlando and have a better life somewhere else, it can be done.
@@stevemarino5745 Most major cities across the US are high in crime. That shouldn't discourage people from commuting to work in the city. You just have to stay away from the dangerous neighborhood and head straight home in the suburbs after work.
America isn't only slowly dying, it is being killed by increasingly bad governmental oversight. Those that we have hired by the casting of votes, many who ran on a pledge to correct many of these issues, have failed us spectacularly.
America isn't dying, it's just turning into Brazil. Brazil has the highest crime in the world and ridiculous poverty but it's one of the most stable countries politically, with no real chance of separatism or foreign invasion.
I live in West Memphis and your right you drove through the worse part but didn't showcase the other side the west end of town you drove throught an area thats almost abandoned but hey I guess anything for likes We have a casino that brings millions to our town and we have one of the biggest interstates and truck stops in the world and we have a college please do your research West Memphis is a gold mine thanks to the new Mayor and others
Off topic but the ambient music in this during the drive through was really cool. I had no idea you were also a musician. It was slightly mysterious but calming at the same time, super well fitting. Thanks for the drive through!!
The whole country is like this where you been, and it's getting worse, been saying this for the past twenty years, no one listens Sin has and is destroying this country and it's your fault for not listening to us when we tell you, you wrong. Can't run away, buy your way out of it.
I grew up in West Memphis and graduated high school in 1976. It's sad to that my hometown has come to this. The leaders of West Memphis lack vision and the result is what you see here.
I'm speechless! My eldest folks that I knew once said " this country is going to hell in a hand basket* boy they weren't kidding!! At least we didn't see any tent communities, I guest maybe there will be a "part two" to this video.
Yes and yes. Right now you are one of the few out there who can see this because of what you do. But at some point, we won't be able to ignore it any longer. Very sad.
I feel like the US peaked in the 2000s. I have friends that would come from Europe and wish they could live here, wanted to see all the cool spots that were shown on TV and they got that. Now they say they would pass on moving here even if they could. The capitalism that everyone thought was a great thing is showing now. The US is so dated, from infrastructure to other things. It really feels like everything stopped in the 2000s and now it's all falling apart. Just like your video about Las Vegas, how in the 90's early 00's it was all new and exciting and now everything just looks dated and messy.
Live in Little Rock drove to Tunica over 20 years passing thru West Memphis and its sad to see the slow but steady decline in that area. Crime poverty and dangerous doesn't describe how bad it has become.
There’s really nothing wrong with demographic changes that result in abandonment of cities, towns, and regions. It’s a natural part of the economic cycle and it’s unrealistic to think that economic and urban development is permanent. Nature is permanent and all human development will ultimately be returned to nature. In order to minimize crime and maintain safety and security, abandoned buildings should be demolished.
I live in Arkansas 2 hours from West Memphis, and while your talking about how bad West Memphis is, let's compare it to California shall we? How many Homeless people did you see in West Memphis, in your video I see None? How many Tent City's did you see in West Memphis, I see None? How many people did you see shiting and pissing in the Street like in LA an San Francisco Fresno or Bakersfield, I didn't see Any? How much trash did you see piled up everywhere, I didn't see any? How many People do you see Stealing Less than $950 in merchandise and walking out of the stores with shopping bags full of Stolen Items, I didn't see any? While some parts of West Memphis is Dangerous, that can be said about any State in the Union? However, being from California originally and knowing how it use to be a Wonderful place to live, and what it's now become, I'd take my chances in West Memphis!
California got some very nice areas in Orange County and Placer County. Outside of those and the ones way up North, the media is always over exaggerating than what is being displayed. LA, SF will always be high crime, high cost and wealth inequalities and it don’t matter if it’s rich Republicans or rich liberals. Unfortunate due to the virus 🦠 we have been seeing demographic changes in Orange County, Placer County and the supermajority state legislatures. The cost in these good areas are overwhelming and breaks the bank due to rich transplants from LA, SF. Arkansas is pretty bad. I went down to Fayetteville and Little Rock about 7 years ago. It was never great even when it was controlled by the Democrats and now the Republicans for the last 20 years. Some of these states Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama need infrastructure badly and new business investments. Mississippi is worse, I went there in 2019. I saw so many dilapidated buildings, houses, public grounds and pothole roads. It was extremely bad.
@@deeplyk506 These crimes take place at night through acquaintances, mostly gang related. Arkansas got a lot of bad spots but these have some nice areas outside of Little Rock.
People around the world, and in parts of America, think America is a rich country and a great place to live but parts are like a third world country. Poverty, no free health care, and fatherless children are endemic in modern day America sadly.
This is very similar (not even as bad as) the nicer residential areas in Detroit. No pride is taken into peoples homes in the D. I hope that all these places in the us that are terrible and not getting any better can become better one day
Sadly this is my hometown, definitely made me to the man I am today…bt I can definitely say from years of experience that the town ain’t worth a piss nothing bt hate n envy
I grew up here in the 90s and early 2000s. Lots of talented people, but they all leave because of the condition. You even drove through my old neighborhood. Situation has a lot to do with industry and politics.
Nick: "Is America slowly dying?" Me: "Faster than you think!" Nick: "Is thus becoming the 'new normal?'" Me: "Sadly, yes!" Nick: "Is there hope?" Me: "No. They don't even want to try, Nick. Let them cancel themselves & each other." Nick: "What can we do to fix it? How can we find it a new soul?" Me: "You can't. It's soul has long left it, just like many big cities." Nick: "Can we prevent this?" Me: "We can start with teaching future generations to be more self-sufficient, make the most out of what little they have, even teach them trade skills at early ages...Provided the nation doesn't become a failed state, or is broken apart by authoritarian nations."
I appreciate everything you do I live in Elyria Ohio and I would like to get out of here but everything that you show I appreciate it so I don't know where I'm going from here
I See a lot of houses like that around here some cleaned up some not so cleaned up.. what I'm noticing is they never update them or do anything to make it look better! Bet some of those are rentals and when you live in an older neighborhood if people don't paint update it starts looking run down! Doesn't help property values either!
Some type of poison has permeated into the heart of American values. Back in the day, most people didn't have much, but they took care of what they had. No excuse for garbage laying out on one's own yard, in fact, that there says it all about a person's own state of affairs.
Seems like every state needs to do some soul searching and with inflation rising so will poverty meaning so will crime. The future is going to suck unfortunately.
This is all across America, in every state. Rural areas are dying. Jobs left and went overseas and left rural areas with nothing. Small farms couldn't compete anymore, they surrounded small towns and cities. Industrial farming and farming overseas helped kill rural America. I remember when West Memphis, Arkansas was popping in the 60s.
Even American cars are now made from Canadian, Mexican, and Chinese parts. US plants just assemble them. Remember when we used to make TVs, stereos, furniture, and a ton of other things? Those items lasted for decades. I guess selling one TV or one fridge to a family every 20 years was bad for business so now we have cheap crap from China that breaks down two months after the warranty runs out. * Wanna buy an extended warranty? It covers everything except for what's broken! There is also a deductible.
@@midcenturymodern9330Damn I remember it well. We made toys that lasted forever. I also remember being dressed in clothes and shoes everything from head to toe made in America.
@@NickJohnson drove through like a pro, almost like you’ve driven through before. Thank you for your contribution to the city, those moving violations are adding up nicely❤️
This video made me think of an old Tricia Yearwood Song... "...I've been living on the wrong side of Memphis..." Its basically East St Louis with more trailers.
It's very sad to see towns deteriorate like this. This really needs to change. Communities need to gather friends, family and neighbors and start cleaning up their towns and maybe they will get the right attention and care that is desperately needed.
These suburbs were built unsustainably, once population growth has stopped they immediately switch to a death spiral because the cost of maintenance is greater than the tax bases and the only option is a rapid increase in taxes or dramatically cut services. basically American suburbs were built with low densities but expected urban like services and paid for this with development and debt. once development stop the whole suburb is in a death spiral.
I wish you’d drive with bullet-proof glass. You visit some places I worry you’ll make it back. The first time we’d visited Memphis, we went to Mud Island and Beale Street, Germantown and the Peabody Hotel. Took the kids. All delightful. The people were friendly and they make great barbecue. My close friend’s brother was murdered in Memphis in 2009 delivering a pizza. He was a native Memphian. Gang initiation of some type. A college friend of my son’s who had spent a weekend at our home once, was also murdered sitting in a car, after he returned home to Memphis several years ago. He was a native Memphian, too. Also gang related I believe. Both good kids from good families. Ruined the place for me. For my close friend, too. She’s a native Memphian. Won’t move back. I’d never known anyone who’d been murdered before and I’ve been kicking around for a while. Memphis’s population is only 651,000.
I have to work over in West Memphis 4-5 weeks per year. Always very happy when each of those weeks is over. The video is spot-on. WM is very poor, very rundown, and smells of petrochemicals. Well, petrochemicals and weed of course. The smell of skunk weed in the hood is pervasive at all damn hours of the day.
I recently moved to Horseshoe Lake, Arkansas which is 20 minutes away from west Memphis. I moved from Milwaukee, Wi. People in West Memphis say the crime rate is so high. Now I’ve had a few cashiers here try to cheat me out of my money. That’s happened too many times, to just be a coincidence. Besides that..I don’t see or hear of anything else. What are these so called crimes that are being committed? You barely see people outside. When I do see kids playing outside..I get excited because for a long time after moving here..I was wondering, what do parents have their kids doing? I was like.. why aren’t there any kids out here playing? I don’t like the bad attitudes that people, here have. They say “yes ma’am/no ma’am all day but they’re rude to you at the same time. So they can keep that ”yes ma’am, crap. The taxes are high. They don’t have generous people here, like Wisconsin. When I didn’t have much..I furnished my whole house from people just giving things away on fb and Craigslist. Here?.. you’re not getting anything free. They actually have people selling things.. telling you exactly what they paid for it.. used it and want to sell it to you for that same price. The driving.. they’re very selfish drivers. They either drive so slow. Not even the speed limit. Or they tailgate you. Nobody uses a turn signal. Not even the police. They don’t let you cut in while they’re sitting at a red light and you’re exiting a parking lot. They actually block you. Made sure you can’t cut in. There are some beautiful homes here. There are some houses that look like they need to be tore down and you wouldn’t believe people really live in them. I love the quietness. It’s quiet EVERYWHERE. Even in the projects. In some spots..it does look like a ghost town though. Looks depressing. There are barely jobs over here. I have to go to Memphis to work. Everybody I know, here works in Memphis. Why did I move here?.. long story. Why don’t I go back to Milwaukee?.. well, I am. Too depressing here.
Thank you for this video of West Memphis. You are correct on the poverty and crime, which is sad. I live in Memphis and have just renovated a house in West Memphis. Thinking about donating the house for some non-profit that will help the community.
Just know it from the West Memphis 3 case. Looked rough back then & the people even worse. I heard some of the houses on the kids street are abandoned. Just sad.
You can thank our politicians and financial elites for most of this terrible decay.....Really accelerated with good old Billy Bob Clinton signing the NAFTA agreement and hasn't slowed down much since then....We "EXPORTED" our prosperity to overseas entities and now here we are!
@@michaelriley9315 But my point is that it doesn't look bad, no litter everywhere, no iron bars over windows. If I was just driving thru or walking or riding a bike, it wouldn't clue me that it's crime ridden, not like neighborhoods with boarded up houses and graffiti everywhere and piles of trash.
Appearance wise it doesn't look much different from the small towns I live by, save the fact its streets are very vacant like a ghost town. The vacancy is strange and unsettling.
West Memphis will forever be tarnished by the death of three innocent children back in 1993. Rest in peace Christopher Byers, Stevie Branch, and Michael Moore.
Q: "Is America slowly dying?" Nick, the question predicts the answer but then you say, "Is there hope?" We are all scratching our heads, knowing that what you're recording could be happening in our neighborhoods next. Great video! 👏 A.: 🤞Fingers crossed.
Here in the UK there's very much a North/South divide when it comes to jobs, quality of life,, house prices etc etc. I'm very lucky to be a mortgage free home owner in West London. A person from up north could not sell their home and be able to buy something the same size in the south, but if I did the reverse I could probably buy bigger and have money left in the bank and live quite comfortably. I work remotely so location isn't an issue for.
I live & from West Memphis . You didn’t even cross the tracks . The west side of West Memphis . Where we gated communities, golf courses, a college , Land you can own , great neighborhoods . Quiet community’s , a growing high school . SO that side of West Memphis don’t define us . You ain’t even show our brand new hospital.
Love your videos you bring to light problems that most people choose to ignore. I find abandoned homes very interesting , where did they go , how do you just leave something you worked so hard to get . How do you buy a new home without selling your existing home ? Living in California Oregon and Washington my whole life I fail to understand. I currently live in Vancouver Washington a suburb of Portland. I know of two abandoned homes in the metro. So someone please explain how someone just leaves behind there home. Also Nick, what about a video on red lineing, and the effects on cities in crisis today. Wondering if that is to blame for a lot of the blighted third world neighborhoods in our country. Thanks again for your videos and insight.
I live in west Memphis and it is very bad in some parts. What he shows is not what it is. And there are houses that are millions of dollars. He’s showing the WORST parts which barely no one lives in…
If there's no opportunity this is what happens. A city or town has a life span just like a person. If it's not growing & thriving, it's shrinking & dying. Only thing left to do is numb yourself on opioids and try to scrape by long enough to get on government cheese.
I've lived here for 50 years.. yes it's bad.. but there are pockets of good neighborhoods.. come let me show you.. west Memphis' height of explosiveness ended the night of the 1987 tornado.. it cut straight through the town. Then FEMA money poured in. Those who saw the decline took the insurance money and left then.. but then the slow exodus began.. now those of us who live here now is just here for memories and nostalgia
Most of it is run down and destroyed one neighborhood is doing fairly well but that doesn’t mean much overall overall this place is going down hill bad from my reaserch
Still looks nicer than many parts of Los Angeles, CA in my opinion. Probably less dangerous too. At least people here aren’t living on the streets in tents!
Wrong answer Baby, I worked in LA for twelve years recently left to work on FedEx certificate Compton, East LA 6th Street dont hold a candle to this place.
I've lived in North East Arkansas all my life and it's sad to see and know that West Memphis isn't even the worst one. We have way too many towns dying out and its sad to see. Maybe one day when we can get rid of all this meth, we might be able to start building these places back up
Just get out of there, much better places to be then north east Arkansas
Finally someone who is willing to at least acknowledge the drug problem behind several major reasons of decline in this country and the world. It's everywhere!
Meth is one of the countries biggest problems. It's bad here to in palm springs
@@Freedomovrdeath I 110% agree. All my family lives here so it’s hard to want to move far from them but my wife and I are saving up and hoping in the the next couple of years we can buy a home and move out west. Don’t know where or how far west but that’s why I love watching this channel.
Nah its not meth in wmphs!! Has nothing to do with that here
What you said at the end about politicians not caring and taking personal responsibility for your neighborhood is spot on.
I grew up in West Memphis. It isn't a place people have a goal of moving to, it's a place 99% of people have the goal of moving out of. I'm lucky that I was able to move out.
I'm also from West Memphis...and you're right.
Me 2 marion accualy
There are many places in this country that look similar to West Memphis. It makes you think this country is slowly dying. Furthermore, What the heck do the politicians care about people living in poverty in this country? They're only for themselves that's it.
the only priority for a politician is their bank accounts and power
I genuinely don’t understand how America is considered No.1 country in the world it wouldn’t even be considered in the top 20 countries in Europe in terms of health care, education and cost of living in certain parts is crazy expensive I would say infrastructure in terms of highways, bridges etc is Better in the US but that’s about it.
@Marty Yo it’s the history of the world. People are displaced by others.
@John Stuart Mill Arkansas is a heavily conservative state
@John Stuart Mill like the mayor of west Memphis has any money to do anything. I love how republicans never take responsibility for their states pushing blame on local government but call out “liberal” states
I grew up in the hills of Kentucky no good paying jobs and lot of people was on welfare and my family were sharecroppers but those were great times because yu could trust people to do the right thing we worked hard in the fields every day and just because someone is poor doesn't mean they are lazy or no good to society
Great comment. Being poor doesn't mean you have to be a scumbag.
@Thundering Applause Diversity is our greatest strength. E Pluribus Unum
@Thundering Applause Aha now I get it! Federalism. I agree that is a very bad idea.
Yes, that's just the marketplace determining the value of the occupation
@@jpjp3873 Fr
Government plays a role, yes. But it’s also the breakdown of the family, people feeling they have nothing in common with each other, drugs, breakdown in institutions, etc. cultural decay is very real.
I agree.
The problem is complex.
Breakdown of the family, complacency, a defeated attitude, government, lack of jobs, and many others.
📻🙁
@@pamlaenger6870 The family that prays together stays together. I thought it was just a corny slogan but theres alot of truth to it.
The democrats are some of the most depressed people. They try to find meaning in their lives by getting rid of religion and redeclaring what a family should look like,. They do this so that they appear like they care, when they really don't want to help people. They go and buy the latest trends and fashions but money doesn't buy happiness either. They just don't get that the path to happiness is by truely giving of yourself to help others, not by forcing others to bend the knee to their will and making the government "help" others. They don't want to spend their time and money on helping, just force others to do it.
@DarwinAward yep authoritarians don't quit until government is your daddy and your God.
The Titanic was an unsinkable ship........ not.
The US is kind of like the Titanic and we hit the iceberg. Some are not surviving.
Thank you for sharing views of the places that most people drive around. I grew up in the midwest and taught there for many years before moving to Arkansas to teach. When I was a child, my father drove through East St. Louis (which you have also toured) every day to go to work in St. Louis. I have been to/through West Memphis many times and just had lunch in Pine Bluff with a friend yesterday. Conversely, I also taught in Aspen (yes, Colorado) for two years. As grim as some of these places appear, I have met good, caring and compassionate teachers doing their best to improve kids' opportunities from each of them.
Colorado has become a bug gang zone
I lived there in the 70s. A lot of people came there for the dog races. The main road at the time had some very bad shacks where people lived. The homes I’m seeing are much better than they were. Would have liked to see the business area near the interstate.
You can find these condition all over America..check Detroit
Interesting but most places don't look as bad as I thought they would.
@@centertonarkansastyrantpatrol bug gangs are hard af
Should have paid respects/mentioned to those 3 poor kids murdered in the 90's. Horrible tragedy that is still unsolved today.
Yeah... I can't watch these views without think about those little kids murdered and the guys, you know West Memphis Three...
I lived in West Memphis in the late 70's and early 80's, it was much different back then, a shame what has happened
After those three little boys were killed in the 80's, its like a curse came over the town. It just really changed.
@@martinabernathy205 They were murdered in 1993.
My grandfather was a farmer and my dad loved the dog track
It is sad that he only showed half of the city. He didn’t show any of the nicer neighborhoods. He only showed the bad parts. West Memphis has $200,000.00 plus houses. We have new apartments. New schools being built all around the city. Our city looks a whole lot better than some of these major cities. Including the part that he showed. If you show the bad , show the good as well. That part of town don’t define West Memphis. We living very well in our town. If i do say so myself. Crime is everywhere, you can’t run from that. This is just ridiculous!!! Give the people a glimpse of the whole city not just the bad part.
This guy is up for his objective: focusing on flaws. That's it. His mind is like refinery, extracts flaws from every location and then uploads them on TH-cam.
Agreed!! He only showed a tiny little area
EXACTLY! We got plenty good he got right off the old bridge and went to the trailer park, like be fr
See the "worst parts of West Memphis" title. It certainly a great looking place even in the poor areas compared to LA or Baltimore. Not nearly the amount of loose garbage filth just impoverished zones with much less of that.
@@finequaking5753 I don’t even comment on stuff cousin but he pissed me off. Frfr
My company had a small manufacturing plant there. As an senior engineer I visited the plant a couple of times to assist with new equipment installations and start up. The plants workforce was 95% women. When I asked an employee why they had no men working there she responded with.... their at home, they don't work...when I asked what do they do? Nothing was the response.
Damn
Look into the history of Scottish immigrants into the southern US and what employers had to say about them. It's really interesting to find out the trend of the lazy southerner goes back 200 years.
@@darkminstrel2041 And yet field work which used to be abundant was tough grueling work.
I'm from SE Missouri and I know we were known for astoundingly strong work ethic. Maybe we would do best to not spew about the lazy southerner. Yes times have changed. The whole concept of farming with its automation has wiped out the jobs for whole communities and left nothing to replace those lost jobs. Small factories have disappeared leaving few enjoyment options. Drugs have become the huge employer. Sad. So tragic.
@@darondatoole7439 technology is killing the common man and blue collar manufacturing jobs unless you you are in control of that technology
@@darkminstrel2041 lazy Scott got your food to market, theres lazy everywhere, also there judgemental people everywhere most of them have not clue what they talking about, so be careful what you read especially what you repeat.
When it comes to the world of investing,most people don't know where to start. Fortunately, great investors of the past and present can provide us with guidance.
Interesting. I have a lump sum doing absolutely nothing at all in my bank account, I wanna get something started with it, any reasonable ideal?
@@theresasidneyy5838 There are platform where you can invest and they trade your money. Then pay you profit either weekly or monthly. That's investing.
West Memphis is honestly one of the most miserable places that I've ever seen. Good video
It's sad chris isn't it? You were a hit on the small town illinois video we did :)
Blytheville & Osceola Arkansas are looking mighty tragic also.
Nah you didn’t have to do my hometown like this. Is it crappy? sure. Even so this video makes it seem slightly worse than it actually is. Lol there are good parts…ish
@@NickJohnson thats because thats all you decided to show ..
Or lived,,
FYI: I went into the Taco Bell on the SW corner of exit 280 on I-40 in West Memphis awhile back and the cashier told me she had worked there 20 years. She deserves a video all about her. Plus she should have her own star on the West Memphis Walk Of Fame.
She would have the only star, on the non existing, WestMemphis Walk of Fame. Whats so special about working at one company for 20 years? The Boomer generation has a 47 year work life on average.
@Lynn Adamson How do you know how much the 20 year T Bell worker makes? The "worker", might be the franchisee/owner.
@Lynn Adamson no it show obedience and complacency
@@robotbuster1487 I am 58 and have worked 42 years of my life. I still have 7 year's before I can even receive my Social Security ( if there is anything left) Almost 36 years as a Nurse working in the same nursing home, 4 back operations. This is my American Dream. Same thing for my husband he works in a Rock Quarry, digging out those rocks in a 992 Komatsu. God bless you. I hope our new generation will find job's they love without the injuries and stress.
@@robotbuster1487 Dude, you've never been to West Memphis have you? She deserves it for just staying alive there.😆😆😂😂
Still prettier than the Tenderloin in San Francisco, one of the most expensive cities in the US. Nice trees, well kept home and yards and no trash. Didn't look too bad.
Tenderloin is definitely the worst district in SF. (Just drive by or walk by Turk & Hype and you know what I mean ! )
True, but you have to account the fact the tenderloin is one square mile with more people opposed to the same amount of people over a greater area so naturally garbage and stuff like that is going to accumulate, but with that being said it’s pretty shitty in that area and when I visit the city I avoid it!
@@justsomeguywith3boys133 I been living at SF for 25 years and I always try not to drive around the Tenderloin....
Lmfao you're smoking crack! No city in the south is better than the worst neighborhood in California
i live in west memphis, it’s so terrible here. i know everything that goes on here and it’s really the worst place to live. i grew up here and all i wanna do is leave
Mane frfr it ain’t nun ta do down here its jus sooo bad here 💀
Greetings from Libya North Africa, wishing all the best to the people of Memphis
That's West Memphis, Arkansas; it's nothing like Memphis, Tennessee
The difference is here the trash is inside the trash containers.
@@metalmike570 lies...pretty much a neighborhood of Memphis (except with a state income tax and other inept laws) that is very similar to Binghamton or Whitehaven.
@@joeswartz8286 lol, sure. It's plenty of litter in WM.
@@justinshields7446 Oh Binghamton New York, gotcha.
When my band was on tour I went to towns I had never heard of. The first thing I would notice on the drive from the airport to the hotel was how clean the streets were. This town looks better than most of the lower income places I visited. I was especially impressed with the ballpark.
Nick, I’ll bet the people here are just trying to get by but it seems like they have dignity. No tents, no crackheads, go garbage on the streets.
Give them a break.
Agreed. I lived for several forgettable years near downtown Los Angeles in an area that even the locals called El Salv A dor or El Salv A hole 🕳
@Ace's Cafe - interesting comment, thank you for sharing that. Contrast those clean towns with someplace expensive like *Seattle,* that has deteriorated at a tremendous rate over the past few decades, but still has a high cost of living. I get notifications from the *"Seattle Looks Like Sh*t"* FaceBook page and went there recently. It's horrendous for anyone who still lives there.
I've noticed in a lot of places people will live in horrible places but some will have nice vehicles.
Because they're drug dealers.
you have to have a car to live there for the most part and cash for clunkers took a lot of beaters off the road
I noticed the same thing.
My home town! I moved away when I got older but it’s still my home town. It’s always sad when I hear the responses from people when they ask me where I’m from and I say WM.
It's sad--and scary, it almost looks like a ghost town. I am talking about early on in the video when he was going into the trailer park. Rundown with faded-out paint and the plants overgrown. If I didn't see those cars leaving for work I would think people have abandoned the town, but the music is really nice and comforting. Good choice.
In the early part of the video, I thought no one lived there until I saw the cars parked in the driveways of the homes.
It’s really not
"Is there hope?" "What can we do?" Nick, you started off in a grim neighborhood (the washer and drier in the front yard caught my eye), but around 9:00 minutes in, the houses were substantial, tidy, and spaced far apart. Granted, there were no people on the streets, but what time did you drive around? I wouldn't expect too many people to be out and about at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday.
I could move into a neighborhood like that in a heartbeat! I checked the city website. There are parks and some things to do. Dealing with the drug problem would help, but good luck with that! The drug problem in the U.S. is NOT going away. (Keep visiting the Sackler Galleries and Wings, though.)
These places are not that bad. Those neighborhood homes are decent brick homes. Everything is how you look at it. These places could be a come up, I'f you have the right mindset to know how to use it. Those homes rent for 800 per month. Nice passive income.
Maybe west Memphis improves and people move there Frank! Maybe that's the new thing- fixing up former shitholes.
I thought the exact same thing. Those looked for the most part, like nice working class neighborhoods. There are neighborhoods like that here where I live in South Carolina. Maybe the reason Nick didn't run into any people was because they were at work.
@@sarahussery5868 I know people that stay in neighborhoods like this one with the brick homes, and most of those people are factory workers that drive across the bridge to Memphis to work every day. Most of the people are home owners, very little section 8 housing. Most people do not have time, to do extra repairs on their homes, because they are in busy interstate 40 traffic everyday commuting to FedEx, Amazon, EXEL, Kelloggs, warehouse jobs like this. When they get home, they are resting. Now that trailer park is hopeless SMH. Also, it is far from dangerous in west Memphis. I've been to East St Louis, Cleveland Ohio, Youngstown Ohio, even worse i have a uncle in Wilmington, Delaware, a complete shit hole. Most of these southern cities and towns, are no comparison in crime, and poverty, those northern infested, abomination of a city are.
Don't know why, maby it's in my DNA, but I get sentimental when I see older run down places. I thought the place was beautiful. But if I bought back there, I'd be fixing up my place as best as time and money would allow. Can't help that either, fixing things up is in my DNA too
Loved the video.
This is what happens when you take the industry, give it to other countries, and kill the income. You see this in other third-world countries and I never thought I'd see this back home. This is so sad. I really do weep for the United States.
Yes, but it's also our fault. We've been "cowed, bowed, bought off, distracted, and become willing participants in our own extinction." Liz Berrigan in the book Seeking Peace.
Those jobs are now in red china, Mexico, Brazil, India, Korea, just not in America.
It's terrible how many manufacturing jobs have been lost in the United States over the last 50+ years. For clothing, more than 95% of what we wear is made outside the USA. In the 1970's, the majority of clothing was made in the USA. Other industries as well, including textiles, shoes, household goods and furniture, and even our over the counter medicines are made elsewhere now. The decisions by a few at the top (who got rich really quickly) decimated people's lives by putting them out of work from jobs where the skills were not usually transferrable (or if the skills were transferrable, there were then 100 applicants for every 1 job). I estimate it would take 25-50 years to bring a sizable portion of manufacturing back to the USA, and that's if we started *today.*. It does not seem like there is any real effort to do this, and as a result, we will be seeing many more towns and cities like this one.
You can't blame an entire country for that! It's these horrible corporations, usually financed by the professional thieves in Washington, or at least that's where the kickbacks go. Welcome to the United Corporations of America. I didn't do what you said, you didn't do that either. It's plain old fashioned greed, which has been around since the dawn of humanity.
I grew up in West Memphis in the 70s, up to 1990. And I lived in some of those neighborhoods shown in the earlier portions of this video. Not the first neighborhood, but the ones north of Broadway. I know exactly what happened to some of them, because I watched it transpire. Unfortunately, youtube frowns upon folks who aren't politically correct. So in a nutshell, demographics began to shift in the 80s. And what were once nice, quiet neighborhoods increasingly became places you wouldn't want to be caught in after dark. People with sense and means got out asap before they lost too much real estate value. I got out before I ended up getting tied to anything that would make leaving too difficult. It may not be PC, but that doesn't make it less factual.
And yes, there are some nice areas on the west side of town that may weather the storm, so to speak. But all in all, West Memphis looks far better in the rear view mirror than it does through the windshield.
Bill are you saying that it's getting as bad as Memphis? My aunt moved from Memphis to South Haven Ms to get out of the unsafe areas.
@@wildestcowboy2668 it's basically an extension of Memphis added in with the Arkansas Mississippi River Delta. Research the Mississippi Delta on both the Arkansas and Mississippi side(also west TN side) and you will find poverty, crime, drug abuser etc. West Memphis is no different than any neighborhood of majority of Memphis. Gangs, crime, drug dealing, drug abuse, poverty, etc. Both are infested with Chicago and LA Gangs that found new territory to sell drugs, increase their membership, etc plus local gangs have been a thing even before the Chicago/LA sets came about.
@@justinshields7446 I can believe it. My mom is from Helena. It’s gotten progressively worse over the years
I grew up in the Rust Belt Cleveland Ohio when all these companies were busy sending things overseas cuz it was cheaper they never thought about what they were leaving behind people fending for themselves because they stripped all the jobs away and they wonder why people are so anti-government these days
Ironically, now those people without jobs can't even afford to buy the stuff those companies make.
i live in missouri. we have a lot of small town decay. this is due to limited jobs and very low dead end jobs. we really need a path to prosperity in the usa. i see a lot of small business in countries like mexico and other parts of the would. i wonder if this wouldn't be the answer. today we make it so hard for small business to get started and support the job killing large business. in one of your video you show the dollar store and casey's as the only two business. of course these suck the life out any town and don't put anything back into the community. just like when walmart came to monett mo. and all main street business closed. if we could refocus and allow more small business. this would help
I agree 100% I'm gonna talk about that a lot more!
People have no children anymore and communities are aging.
Our flat taxes on income once one gets above a certain level effectively favor monopolies and cartels. Giant firms can hire veritable armies of bureaucrats deputed to treat workers badly. I'm tempted to believe that giant entities hire people who might otherwise become dangerous revolutionaries or at the least social reformers who might improve things for workers.
I see the decline of labor unions as much of the problem. When unions were strong, America had a large base of people of middle incomes who could patronize mom-and-pop stores and restaurants. Union families were better ones in which to grow up than other working-class families.
Mexicans have ALWAYS been hard workers.. You can go into a neighborhood in America where they live, and even if they are poor.. They will keep things tidy.. The problem isn't the dirt people live on, but how they respect themselves..
@@lorriecrow7872 Not always.
I wouldn’t even know this place existed had it not been for the West Memphis Three. It was horrible what that town put those young men through for all those years. I’m so glad they finally got the justice they deserved and moved as far away from that hellhole town as they could get. I hope they’re all doing well now.
I thought of them as soon as I had seen this video.
I've read the book, it's called Paradise Lost
@@trevorcollins4464 it was also on HBO.
They did it. That documentary left so much shit out.
@@trevorcollins4464 the book is called Devils Knot by Mara Leveritt- Paradise Lost is the HBO documentary by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky.
West Memphis isn't that bad. I go there to shop every week, and I'm thinking about buying a fixer home over there. There are jobs in west Memphis. You just have to be a down to earth person that doesn't mind making the best out of what you have and living within your means, until you can do better.
People who live in West Memphis should be working across the river in downtown Memphis. I'm sure there's plenty of jobs in the high rise office buildings and all across Memphis.
Right show the other areas..
@@mkesmoke That would truly be a bad idea. I don't care how good the money might be, you couldn't pay me enough of it to even visit that city again. Once was one time too many, it is one of the most dangerous cities in the US, if not the world. But you know, they have buses that will take you anywhere in the US for very little money. I sold my own blood to get out of Orlando and have a better life somewhere else, it can be done.
@@stevemarino5745 Most major cities across the US are high in crime. That shouldn't discourage people from commuting to work in the city. You just have to stay away from the dangerous neighborhood and head straight home in the suburbs after work.
My mother lives there you drove by her house I lived there 2 years in 2013
America isn't only slowly dying, it is being killed by increasingly bad governmental oversight. Those that we have hired by the casting of votes, many who ran on a pledge to correct many of these issues, have failed us spectacularly.
America isn't dying, it's just turning into Brazil. Brazil has the highest crime in the world and ridiculous poverty but it's one of the most stable countries politically, with no real chance of separatism or foreign invasion.
@Marty Yo I checked your other comments. You must be a troll.
@Marty Yo I’m Mexican and i can never forgive the US because they stole land from us During the US Mexican war
@Marty Yo btw where are you from.
@Marty Yo 👌
I live in West Memphis and your right you drove through the worse part but didn't showcase the other side the west end of town you drove throught an area thats almost abandoned but hey I guess anything for likes
We have a casino that brings millions to our town and we have one of the biggest interstates and truck stops in the world and we have a college please do your research West Memphis is a gold mine thanks to the new Mayor and others
LoL 🤣😆🤣. Wow! A large truck stop and a casino?! West Memphis moving on up huh?! LoL 🤣🤣😆
Don't forget the Family Dollar warehouse...oh nevermind it shut down due to rat infestation.
Just when I thought my life sucked you swoop in & make me feel alright about myself, thanks, Nick (& West Memphis;-).
Off topic but the ambient music in this during the drive through was really cool. I had no idea you were also a musician. It was slightly mysterious but calming at the same time, super well fitting. Thanks for the drive through!!
For a bad run down city it looks really nice and pretty clean nature took over in some areas. It seems quiet but at night things could change.
The whole country is like this where you been, and it's getting worse, been saying this for the past twenty years, no one listens Sin has and is destroying this country and it's your fault for not listening to us when we tell you, you wrong. Can't run away, buy your way out of it.
Because your politicians are too worried about race
I grew up in West Memphis and graduated high school in 1976. It's sad to that my hometown has come to this. The leaders of West Memphis lack vision and the result is what you see here.
I'm speechless! My eldest folks that I knew once said " this country is going to hell in a hand basket* boy they weren't kidding!! At least we didn't see any tent communities, I guest maybe there will be a "part two" to this video.
They have trailer parks instead of tent communities.
Yeah there's no tents in the south
I don't see the need for a handbasket. We seem to manage without any outside transportation.
Its a crime to loiter. They will lock you up for 30 days.
Yes and yes. Right now you are one of the few out there who can see this because of what you do. But at some point, we won't be able to ignore it any longer. Very sad.
"Violence, criminal activity, drugs,etc."
Pretty much sums up the world of today... 💔🙏☝️
And that's just the government.
West Memphis is one of the worst place I've ever been as otr truck driver that's saying a lot
Awesome dashboard tour with nice audio, thanks for sharing Nick n Sage 🍀
Hey Jeff ❤️
I feel like the US peaked in the 2000s. I have friends that would come from Europe and wish they could live here, wanted to see all the cool spots that were shown on TV and they got that. Now they say they would pass on moving here even if they could. The capitalism that everyone thought was a great thing is showing now. The US is so dated, from infrastructure to other things. It really feels like everything stopped in the 2000s and now it's all falling apart. Just like your video about Las Vegas, how in the 90's early 00's it was all new and exciting and now everything just looks dated and messy.
@Thundering Applause Republicans intensify the disparities, changing the system to reward people for already being rich.
Yes, decline started around 2005
Live in Little Rock drove to Tunica over 20 years passing thru West Memphis and its sad to see the slow but steady decline in that area. Crime poverty and dangerous doesn't describe how bad it has become.
There’s really nothing wrong with demographic changes that result in abandonment of cities, towns, and regions. It’s a natural part of the economic cycle and it’s unrealistic to think that economic and urban development is permanent. Nature is permanent and all human development will ultimately be returned to nature. In order to minimize crime and maintain safety and security, abandoned buildings should be demolished.
Yes Dennis
Nawwl it’s a whole lotta ppl down here in WM it jus look ugly 🤣
I live in Arkansas 2 hours from West Memphis, and while your talking about how bad West Memphis is, let's compare it to California shall we?
How many Homeless people did you see in West Memphis, in your video I see None?
How many Tent City's did you see in West Memphis, I see None?
How many people did you see shiting and pissing in the Street like in LA an San Francisco Fresno or Bakersfield, I didn't see Any?
How much trash did you see piled up everywhere, I didn't see any?
How many People do you see Stealing Less than $950 in merchandise and walking out of the stores with shopping bags full of Stolen Items, I didn't see any?
While some parts of West Memphis is Dangerous, that can be said about any State in the Union?
However, being from California originally and knowing how it use to be a Wonderful place to live, and what it's now become, I'd take my chances in West Memphis!
Did we ever see anyone outside at all? So what crimes are these people talking about?
California got some very nice areas in Orange County and Placer County. Outside of those and the ones way up North, the media is always over exaggerating than what is being displayed. LA, SF will always be high crime, high cost and wealth inequalities and it don’t matter if it’s rich Republicans or rich liberals. Unfortunate due to the virus 🦠 we have been seeing demographic changes in Orange County, Placer County and the supermajority state legislatures. The cost in these good areas are overwhelming and breaks the bank due to rich transplants from LA, SF.
Arkansas is pretty bad. I went down to Fayetteville and Little Rock about 7 years ago. It was never great even when it was controlled by the Democrats and now the Republicans for the last 20 years. Some of these states Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama need infrastructure badly and new business investments. Mississippi is worse, I went there in 2019. I saw so many dilapidated buildings, houses, public grounds and pothole roads. It was extremely bad.
@@deeplyk506 These crimes take place at night through acquaintances, mostly gang related. Arkansas got a lot of bad spots but these have some nice areas outside of Little Rock.
@bigw281 I actually saw quite a lot of rubbish!
People around the world, and in parts of America, think America is a rich country and a great place to live but parts are like a third world country. Poverty, no free health care, and fatherless children are endemic in modern day America sadly.
It takes more than a politician to clean up a neighborhood. People saying the govt doesn't care about them is a total cop out for their own laziness.
No kidding, it starts in one's own yard. Personal pride non-existent. It's a cultural thing.
So , the average cost of a 40 year old Single Wide Trailer in mostly deserted West Memphis is $85,000.00 ? And i thought my Property was overpriced .
I wouldn't say USA is 'dying'........more like transitioning into something more affordable/sustainable?
It's turning into Brazil.
@@TheHispanicUsername Why Brazil? Feels more Venezuela!
Everyone should do their best to avoid this part of Arkansas
This is very similar (not even as bad as) the nicer residential areas in Detroit. No pride is taken into peoples homes in the D. I hope that all these places in the us that are terrible and not getting any better can become better one day
With inflation and hyper-inflation otw, I doubt it gets better...
Hey Nick. Thanks for taking us with u. As well to teach us about different states and what they offer. Good content. Keep it up. 👍🏻
Ok irma
I'm surprised you didn't bring up the West Memphis 3 case.
Sadly this is my hometown, definitely made me to the man I am today…bt I can definitely say from years of experience that the town ain’t worth a piss nothing bt hate n envy
I grew up here in the 90s and early 2000s. Lots of talented people, but they all leave because of the condition. You even drove through my old neighborhood. Situation has a lot to do with industry and politics.
Nick: "Is America slowly dying?"
Me: "Faster than you think!"
Nick: "Is thus becoming the 'new normal?'"
Me: "Sadly, yes!"
Nick: "Is there hope?"
Me: "No. They don't even want to try, Nick. Let them cancel themselves & each other."
Nick: "What can we do to fix it? How can we find it a new soul?"
Me: "You can't. It's soul has long left it, just like many big cities."
Nick: "Can we prevent this?"
Me: "We can start with teaching future generations to be more self-sufficient, make the most out of what little they have, even teach them trade skills at early ages...Provided the nation doesn't become a failed state, or is broken apart by authoritarian nations."
Those neighborhoods look pretty good to me.
Dang we had a conversation didn't we?
I appreciate everything you do I live in Elyria Ohio and I would like to get out of here but everything that you show I appreciate it so I don't know where I'm going from here
I would like to go back to Louisville Kentucky but it seems like I'm stuck where I'm at I don't know I just feel too old to move
God I've went over that bridge god knows how many times since our trips to my Dad's hometown in Arkansas always brought us through West Memphis.
I See a lot of houses like that around here some cleaned up some not so cleaned up.. what I'm noticing is they never update them or do anything to make it look better! Bet some of those are rentals and when you live in an older neighborhood if people don't paint update it starts looking run down! Doesn't help property values either!
Yep.... Should have stopped in Lakeshore & I'd given you a tour of the corruption that causes it!
Some type of poison has permeated into the heart of American values. Back in the day, most people didn't have much, but they took care of what they had. No excuse for garbage laying out on one's own yard, in fact, that there says it all about a person's own state of affairs.
Seems like every state needs to do some soul searching and with inflation rising so will poverty meaning so will crime. The future is going to suck unfortunately.
This is all across America, in every state. Rural areas are dying. Jobs left and went overseas and left rural areas with nothing. Small farms couldn't compete anymore, they surrounded small towns and cities. Industrial farming and farming overseas helped kill rural America.
I remember when West Memphis, Arkansas was popping in the 60s.
Even American cars are now made from Canadian, Mexican, and Chinese parts. US plants just assemble them. Remember when we used to make TVs, stereos, furniture, and a ton of other things? Those items lasted for decades. I guess selling one TV or one fridge to a family every 20 years was bad for business so now we have cheap crap from China that breaks down two months after the warranty runs out.
* Wanna buy an extended warranty? It covers everything except for what's broken! There is also a deductible.
@@midcenturymodern9330Damn I remember it well. We made toys that lasted forever. I also remember being dressed in clothes and shoes everything from head to toe made in America.
Sure it's a bit rundown but the trees are lovely!😉
I have seen areas in AZ that are worse than that, sans any green vegetation.
@@manfredmann2766 so true also loved your earth band
@@stevensmith516 Thank you 😊
I like how you conveniently skimmed over the multi million dollar schools, the new ER, and the entire west side of the town.
Oh wow
@@NickJohnson drove through like a pro, almost like you’ve driven through before. Thank you for your contribution to the city, those moving violations are adding up nicely❤️
How-C00l?
T00-C00l!
This video made me think of an old Tricia Yearwood Song... "...I've been living on the wrong side of Memphis..." Its basically East St Louis with more trailers.
It's very sad to see towns deteriorate like this. This really needs to change. Communities need to gather friends, family and neighbors and start cleaning up their towns and maybe they will get the right attention and care that is desperately needed.
These suburbs were built unsustainably, once population growth has stopped they immediately switch to a death spiral because the cost of maintenance is greater than the tax bases and the only option is a rapid increase in taxes or dramatically cut services. basically American suburbs were built with low densities but expected urban like services and paid for this with development and debt. once development stop the whole suburb is in a death spiral.
I wish you’d drive with bullet-proof glass. You visit some places I worry you’ll make it back.
The first time we’d visited Memphis, we went to Mud Island and Beale Street, Germantown and the Peabody Hotel. Took the kids. All delightful. The people were friendly and they make great barbecue.
My close friend’s brother was murdered in Memphis in 2009 delivering a pizza. He was a native Memphian. Gang initiation of some type.
A college friend of my son’s who had spent a weekend at our home once, was also murdered sitting in a car, after he returned home to Memphis several years ago. He was a native Memphian, too. Also gang related I believe.
Both good kids from good families. Ruined the place for me. For my close friend, too. She’s a native Memphian. Won’t move back. I’d never known anyone who’d been murdered before and I’ve been kicking around for a while. Memphis’s population is only 651,000.
Hey Nick we love your channel !
I have to work over in West Memphis 4-5 weeks per year. Always very happy when each of those weeks is over. The video is spot-on. WM is very poor, very rundown, and smells of petrochemicals. Well, petrochemicals and weed of course. The smell of skunk weed in the hood is pervasive at all damn hours of the day.
I went through this same area when I was a teenager in the mid 80,s and it didn't look as bad as it does now ... So sad
I recently moved to Horseshoe Lake, Arkansas which is 20 minutes away from west Memphis. I moved from Milwaukee, Wi. People in West Memphis say the crime rate is so high. Now I’ve had a few cashiers here try to cheat me out of my money. That’s happened too many times, to just be a coincidence. Besides that..I don’t see or hear of anything else. What are these so called crimes that are being committed? You barely see people outside. When I do see kids playing outside..I get excited because for a long time after moving here..I was wondering, what do parents have their kids doing? I was like.. why aren’t there any kids out here playing? I don’t like the bad attitudes that people, here have. They say “yes ma’am/no ma’am all day but they’re rude to you at the same time. So they can keep that ”yes ma’am, crap. The taxes are high. They don’t have generous people here, like Wisconsin. When I didn’t have much..I furnished my whole house from people just giving things away on fb and Craigslist. Here?.. you’re not getting anything free. They actually have people selling things.. telling you exactly what they paid for it.. used it and want to sell it to you for that same price. The driving.. they’re very selfish drivers. They either drive so slow. Not even the speed limit. Or they tailgate you. Nobody uses a turn signal. Not even the police. They don’t let you cut in while they’re sitting at a red light and you’re exiting a parking lot. They actually block you. Made sure you can’t cut in. There are some beautiful homes here. There are some houses that look like they need to be tore down and you wouldn’t believe people really live in them. I love the quietness. It’s quiet EVERYWHERE. Even in the projects. In some spots..it does look like a ghost town though. Looks depressing. There are barely jobs over here. I have to go to Memphis to work. Everybody I know, here works in Memphis. Why did I move here?.. long story. Why don’t I go back to Milwaukee?.. well, I am. Too depressing here.
I am so sorry 4 your bad times 2. But on a positive note, not all of Arkansas and it's people are like you described.
Thank you for this video of West Memphis. You are correct on the poverty and crime, which is sad. I live in Memphis and have just renovated a house in West Memphis. Thinking about donating the house for some non-profit that will help the community.
Just know it from the West Memphis 3 case. Looked rough back then & the people even worse. I heard some of the houses on the kids street are abandoned. Just sad.
HAPPY SUNDAY NICK!! 😃👍
Take a ride through Orange Mound, Frayser or Nutbush in Memphis. Thennnnn talk to us💯
The entirety of our country is in dire straits. Sad to see.
Elections have consequences
your channel grew up a lot recently! keep going.
You can thank our politicians and financial elites for most of this terrible decay.....Really accelerated with good old Billy Bob Clinton signing the NAFTA agreement and hasn't slowed down much since then....We "EXPORTED" our prosperity to overseas entities and now here we are!
I blame the people who live there
In 2017 I “attempted “ to make a short documentary on our way to TN. I’m from the San Antonio area…..WM is ghetto and scary!
To me it doesn't look that bad. It looks semi rural, most houses look lived in, not boarded up and no iron gates on windows. No litter and graffiti.
He's showing where neighborhoods used to be. There's nothing rural about West Memphis.
@@michaelriley9315 But my point is that it doesn't look bad, no litter everywhere, no iron bars over windows. If I was just driving thru or walking or riding a bike, it wouldn't clue me that it's crime ridden, not like neighborhoods with boarded up houses and graffiti everywhere and piles of trash.
I still think the Step Father and his friend did it.
Yeah he was definitely pretty naughty
The music is so depressing, haunting, ghostly
Very depressing.... without factories, farming, business, stores there is no future for any place...
Yards are clean unlike many places here in north florida.
I was thinking of moving to north central Florida. Any areas to stay away from? And why?
Appearance wise it doesn't look much different from the small towns I live by, save the fact its streets are very vacant like a ghost town. The vacancy is strange and unsettling.
I've gone over that bridge a lot but not once have I ever been like "hey let's stop in west Memphis for some coffee"
West Memphis will forever be tarnished by the death of three innocent children back in 1993. Rest in peace Christopher Byers, Stevie Branch, and Michael Moore.
I've always wondered how people can live in a house that's falling down but they're driving around in a new car.
Drugs
Q: "Is America slowly dying?" Nick, the question predicts the answer but then you say, "Is there hope?" We are all scratching our heads, knowing that what you're recording could be happening in our neighborhoods next. Great video! 👏 A.: 🤞Fingers crossed.
Here in the UK there's very much a North/South divide when it comes to jobs, quality of life,, house prices etc etc. I'm very lucky to be a mortgage free home owner in West London. A person from up north could not sell their home and be able to buy something the same size in the south, but if I did the reverse I could probably buy bigger and have money left in the bank and live quite comfortably. I work remotely so location isn't an issue for.
Funny, no matter where you live, it's always a north/south thing.
I live & from West Memphis . You didn’t even cross the tracks . The west side of West Memphis . Where we gated communities, golf courses, a college , Land you can own , great neighborhoods . Quiet community’s , a growing high school . SO that side of West Memphis don’t define us . You ain’t even show our brand new hospital.
Also we building 3 Brand new schools . Like you missed all of that
I didn't even show your worse side either so let's call it even
Oh this is definitely the worst side of West Memphis Ar
@@NickJohnson you did show the worse side , so let’s not to that.
Love your videos you bring to light problems that most people choose to ignore. I find abandoned homes very interesting , where did they go , how do you just leave something you worked so hard to get . How do you buy a new home without selling your existing home ?
Living in California Oregon and Washington my whole life I fail to understand. I currently live in Vancouver Washington a suburb of Portland. I know of two abandoned homes in the metro. So someone please explain how someone just leaves behind there home.
Also Nick, what about a video on red lineing, and the effects on cities in crisis today. Wondering if that is to blame for a lot of the blighted third world neighborhoods in our country.
Thanks again for your videos and insight.
I live in west Memphis and it is very bad in some parts. What he shows is not what it is. And there are houses that are millions of dollars. He’s showing the WORST parts which barely no one lives in…
If there's no opportunity this is what happens. A city or town has a life span just like a person. If it's not growing & thriving, it's shrinking & dying. Only thing left to do is numb yourself on opioids and try to scrape by long enough to get on government cheese.
Or just try harder
Well I don't see the power lines dress with tennis shoes
I've lived here for 50 years.. yes it's bad.. but there are pockets of good neighborhoods.. come let me show you.. west Memphis' height of explosiveness ended the night of the 1987 tornado.. it cut straight through the town. Then FEMA money poured in. Those who saw the decline took the insurance money and left then.. but then the slow exodus began.. now those of us who live here now is just here for memories and nostalgia
Most of it is run down and destroyed one neighborhood is doing fairly well but that doesn’t mean much overall overall this place is going down hill bad from my reaserch
and dont forget roots. All of our people are here too.
Still looks nicer than many parts of Los Angeles, CA in my opinion. Probably less dangerous too. At least people here aren’t living on the streets in tents!
Wrong answer Baby, I worked in LA for twelve years recently left to work on FedEx certificate Compton, East LA 6th Street dont hold a candle to this place.
It's sad poverty is real in America
All those poor states vote red. They deserve what they get.
I got off the first exit after the bridge and drove north in 1991 and it looks the same.
It takes energy and or lots of money to maintain the huge properties in this area. Two things that are NOT available.