Website names Bainbridge as state’s ’10th worst’ city

Published 11:24 am Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Bainbridge Island received the rather questionable honor of being counted among the top 10 worst cities in Washington state, according to a recent roadsnacks.net list.

“When you think of Washington, you normally think of Seattle, rain, and beautiful mountains,” the article reads. “What you don’t normally think about are the potential stink holes that are around the mountains. So we dug in and did the dirty work for you to figure out where the worst places to live are in the Evergreen State.”

Topping the list of the so-called “not so evergreen places” in the state was Centralia.

Bainbridge Island was ranked 10th, though, ironically, it was simultaneously ranked as the eighth “snobbiest” city in the state.

Also appearing on the list of worst places is Bremerton (second), Port Orchard (fourth) and Port Angeles (sixth).

The site, which describes itself as “the ‘other’ side of regional infotainment,” described their selection process as such: “To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what cities have the least amount of those things.”

The good things considered included, “good education, lots of jobs, low crime, great weather, high incomes, high population density (lots of things to do), short work commutes and houses that aren’t vacant and boarded up.”

The author said that they then “ranked the list based on places that are the worst in all of these categories that have over 10,000 people.”

Each of the top 10 worst places were then described and their inclusion defended.

The Bainbridge Island entry reads: “Bainbridge Island sticks out like a sore thumb on our list. It’s the odd duck of the worst places to live. The black swan. Basically, it’s a bad place to live because it’s in the middle of nowhere. Or better yet, the middle of water.

“You can tell by our quick summary that people make plenty of money and crime isn’t a problem,” the article continued. “However, the median commute time is the second worst in the state and the population density is fifth worst. Stuck on island with nothing to do. Sounds a bit like it should be home to Gilligan and the Skipper.”

The article includes a disclaimer stating that the selections are “opinion based on fact” and that none of the selections should “be taken as fact.”

In its entry on the snobbiest city list, Bainbridge received a more complimentary summary.

“Here’s a fun little exercise,” the article reads. “Google all of the famous people who either live in or have lived in Bainbridge Island. Go on, we’ll wait.

“You see? The list goes on and on!” the author wrote. “Perhaps this is because it’s a bit removed from the buzz of bigger cities like Seattle, maybe it’s the natural beauty, the incredibly high percentage of college grads (65 percent), or maybe it’s just that the houses are so damn nice.

“Whatever it is, Bainbridge Island is pretty, and pretty awesome,” the article concludes. “And you guys seem to know it.”

Visit www.roadsnacks.net/worst-places-to-live-in-washington to see the entire list of the state’s so-called worst places.