Jay Evensen
  • Front Page
  • Opinions
  • Second Thoughts
  • Portfolio
  • Awards
  • About

Salt Lake City, a den of sin

12/12/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Salt Lake City, that den of sin and vice; a city where anger and hatred is more prevalent than on the mean streets of Chicago; a place where jealously reigns far worse than in New York City; and a place where excesses and vices are worse than in Miami.
​
Salt Lake Vice? That might not be a ratings bonanza as a new prime-time crime show. But then, the above description might come as a surprise to a vast swath of the nation and to the millions who have visited the city as tourists.
Source: WalletHub
Wallethub.com has listed the most sinful cities in the United States, using metrics to rank the largest cities in terms of anger and hate, jealousy, excesses and vices, avarice and lust. To no one’s surprise, Las Vegas finished first overall. The least sinful city, according to the list, is San Jose.

Salt Lake City finished a troubling 24th, fueled by two categories. In terms of hatred and anger, it ranked a whopping third in the nation, behind only Detroit and St. Louis. On the jealousy index, it finished 14th.

The study said Salt Lake has the most thefts per 100,000 people, at 95.75. That was a key statistic for judging jealousy, as was identity theft and fraud. Hatred and anger was measured by violent crimes, sex offenses, bullying and suicides.

But let’s get serious. Salt Lake City always gets a bit skewed in these kinds of rankings because of the fractured nature of the metropolitan area. Utahns seem to like small towns. It has something to do with a philosophy that government is best when it is closest to the people it serves. So Salt Lake City, with a population estimated at about 190,000, is a small part of a metropolitan area that, if you include the Ogden and Provo-Orem folks, has a population of about 2.5 million.

Because it is home to the commercial and industrial center of that metro area, Salt Lake City attracts an outsized proportion of the urban problems. It also is the magnet for homeless people and the criminals who prey on them, and it has a disproportionate amount of valuable things to steal.

Compare Salt Lake City to only the central business district of Chicago and you might see a different result. Include even just Salt Lake County (population about 1.2 million) in the statistics and you would get a different result.

On a positive note, Salt Lake City ranks 147th out of 150 cities in terms of avarice, defined by the number of casinos, people with gambling-related disorders and counter-weighted by the amount of charitable donations per capita. It also scored low on the lust scale, at 114th.
​
That may be the main reason “Salt Lake Vice” never would get picked up by a major network. 
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Search this site


    Like what you read here?

      Please subscribe below, and we'll let you know when there is a new opinion.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Picture

    The author

    Jay Evensen is the Senior Editorial Columnist of the Deseret News. He has nearly 40 years experience as a reporter, editor and editorial writer in Oklahoma, New York City, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. He also has been an adjunct journalism professor at Brigham Young and Weber State universities.

    Archives

    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

    Categories

    All
    Campaign 2012
    Congress
    Crime
    Culture
    Iran
    Oil And Gas
    Poverty
    Steroids
    Taxes
    Utah
    Washington
    World Events
    World Events

    Links

    Deseret News
    Newslink
    Marianne Evensen's blog

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.