It was a ghetto..called Corn Hill..and yes it was,but I survived. Lot's of murders,drugs etc.. God was watchin' out for me even back then. Whe I turned like 15,we moved to a city about 15-20 miles away,which was Rome..was half the size of Utica,but had a huge major Air Force base there...once that closed down (thanks to Bill Clinton) The city basically died. Went from 85K to less than half that in a months time.