In the 1980s, Rand McNally published its Places Rated Almanac in which Pine Bluff fell dead last in the country in terms of desirable places to live. Now, more than three decades later, another publishing house has produced a list of the most miserable places to live, and once again, Pine Bluff has been judged the worst.
24/7 Wall St., a Delaware corporation that operates a website that produces financial news and opinions, said in an article published earlier this month that it created a ranking of cities after talking to 450,000 people across the country.
The index, the company said, "measures communities' overall health on the basis of 10 domains" and "600 elements of social determinants of health from additional data sources."
Five of the domains look at "individual well-being factors," such as "physical, community, social relationships, financial, and sense of purpose," the story stated.
The other five had to do with "social determinants of health," according to the story, such as "health care access, food access, resource access, housing and transportation, and economic security."
Based on the research, 24/7 Wall St. stated, "Pine Bluff, Arkansas, is America's most miserable city. According to Census data, the poverty rate in the city is a remarkably high 26.8%."
Reaction in Pine Bluff to the ranking varied. Some city officials brushed it off or said it could be a motivator, while one said Pine Bluff deserves the distinction.
"I agree with that," said Pine Bluff Council Member Glen Brown Sr., after being told the different criteria on which the city was judged. "I hate that from the bottom of my heart, but we are the black eye that I hate."
Brown blamed some of the city's woes on lending institutions that did not help people buy homes and businesses decades ago.
"The result of that is showing right now on the radar," he said.
He also said he thought city institutions such as the Pine Bluff Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Jefferson County Alliance should do more to bring businesses to town, adding that members of the city council can only do so much.
"We do what it takes to keep citizens happy and make sure the city has employees and work is being done and we pay bills," he said. "But we don't bring in businesses. That's not our job. Who's in charge of bringing businesses here? Where are the Chamber and the Alliance?"
Brown said that for the city to progress and for citizens to see their own city in a better light, there needs to be a better quality of life.
"We need more recreation and eateries, entertainment and shopping," he said. "But instead of having more of those, we're losing them."
He said Pine Bluff also has a "flight problem."
"Not white flight or Black flight but flight from both races," he said.
Because people have moved away, particularly young people, he said, there's no one stepping up to take over family businesses when parents who have been running those businesses retire.
"That's what's happening," he said. "The people with money are leaving, and when they leave, you're in a drought."
Allison Thompson, president and CEO of the Economic Development Alliance of Jefferson County, an entity that includes the Chamber, said, in response to Brown, that she would be eager to sit down with the council member to give him an overview of their activities. "I will reach out," she said.
As for the story, Thompson called it a "broadbrush collection of generalities" based on statistics.
"In real estate, there's a concept called ground truth that speaks to the fact that you can't know a place until you have been there," Thompson said. "You need to go there to see it and know what's going on. The ground truth of Pine Bluff would show the heart and soul and positivity of all of the different people here, all pulling in the same direction. In that regard, the conclusions they reach are very, very limited."
Thompson said she is happy to be living in Pine Bluff.
"I am a Pine Bluff transplant," she said, "but I've never regretted living here. So I would disagree with their findings that we're all miserable, just from a personal perspective."
Sheri Storie, director of the city's Advertising and Promotion Commission, took the online article in stride.
"It doesn't deter us at all," said Storie, whose job it is to bring tourism to Pine Bluff. "We continue to focus on our mission. We've been at the bottom of lists before. We know that Pine Bluff has so much to offer. We have good people and great things happening."
Asked if such a negative story, which, according to the company, is distributed to major news outlets around the country, will make her job more difficult.
"Maybe," she said. "But mainly it serves to drive us and push us a little harder to develop tourism. I'm very proud to be in Pine Bluff. I'm not a Pine Bluff native, but I'm very happy to live in Pine Bluff."
Storie said the secret to bringing tourism to Pine Bluff is in having one-on-one conversations with people who are in charge of tour groups and convention planning.
"We tell people about all the wonderful, wonderful things happening here," she said. "I've been selling Pine Bluff for many many years. We've gone head to head with other cities and come out ahead. I have 100 percent confidence in Pine Bluff and have never regretted bringing people and groups to the city. We believe in what we do, and I believe in Pine Bluff."
Many of the photos of the Pine Bluff downtown area that accompanied the online story appeared to be several years old, with most of them capturing scenes of closed down and dilapidated buildings. Missing were any photos of Main Street as it appears today, the new main library or the aquatic center.
Two other elected officials didn't take exception to the survey results but said the findings provided an opportunity for the city to do better.
"There's no way we can control what entities like this publish or say," said Mayor Shirley Washington. "The only thing we can do is to continue pushing forward and making the city a better place over time. In time, they will see the difference we are making in our community and see what and who we really are."
Washington pointed out the many groups she works with that are helping improve Pine Bluff, including Go Forward Pine Bluff, which recently announced a plan it put together to help low-income people buy homes.
"Once we've had a chance to build some homes and then get our code officers out and help neighborhoods, we will dispel these misperceptions in our community," Washington said. "That's the best that we can do."
Council Member Joni Alexander said she didn't think any community deserved to be labeled as the most miserable place to live.
"But I will say that when there is much misery, there is plenty of opportunity to grow," she said.
Alexander said she didn't agree with the list, but she said she thought it could serve a purpose.
"Citizens should consider this in how we are portrayed to people who live here and who used to live here as well as those who are considering moving here," she said. "Not that we should take it to heart, but determinations like this can be useful when we are planning and acting the way we do."
The publication's story includes a link to the 50 "most miserable cities in America," which includes other Arkansas cities. Fort Smith comes in at 47th, while Texarkana is 41st. The tourist mecca of Hot Springs is 21st on the list. And Yuba City, Calif., which, like Pine Bluff, also was listed at or near the bottom in multiple editions of the Places Rated Almanac, was 29th, having put at least some distance between itself and Pine Bluff in the intervening 30-plus years.
Another link on the 24/7 Wall St. site has the top 50 cities to live in. Many of them were in California and the Northeast, where the cost of housing and per capita incomes far exceed that of many other areas of the country. The best place to live, according to the site, is Burlingame, Calif., located in the Bay Area near San Francisco. According to one website, the median price of a house in Burlingame is about $2.6 million.