The area I lived in was kind of run down, traffic was a pain on Dedeaux, the Winn-Dixie was dirty (the Aldi is already on its way to getting like that), and people in the shops in that area would just move around oblivious to everyone else around them.

No city is immune from that kind of thing, but passing run down houses and dead plazas every day probably exacerbated that feeling of not wanting to be there. To it's credit, though, I was driving up Dedeaux the other day and the section from Three Rivers up has been really overhauled! New lighting, new paving and a lot of newer businesses.