I assumed that the reference was to Pittsburg, Calif., on the banks of the Sacramento River, which seems to be a pleasant place to live.
It's not. Lower-middle class blacks fleeing Oakland's and Richmond's crime wave moved there in large numbers in the 1990's...and their teenage kids brought the crime wave with them. Pittsburg/Bay Point and (increasingly) Antioch are kind of the armpit of eastern Contra Costa County, even though many of the surrounding areas are quite upscale.
On another note, I took a walk through downtown St. Louis, MO on a Sunday morning last fall...I've never seen a more deserted city. Everything was closed, and once I left the area near the Arch, there wasn't a soul to be seen. It doesn't really seem to be a city at all - just a place where a bunch of semi-tall buildings get used on weekdays. ;)