By Curmudgeon
Another of those "ten best places to live/retire" lists is out. This one from US News. Here are the criteria it the paper used to compile the list:
In selecting our Best Places to Live for 2009, U.S. News took a thrift-conscious approach: We looked for affordable communities that have strong economies and plenty of fun things to do. The cities we selected are as distinct as America itself--ranging from a quaint suburb to a live-music mecca. But whether you prefer hiking through the Rocky Mountains, pulling a fish out of the Atlantic Ocean, or grilling hot dogs at a college football tailgate, here are 10 places that will fill up your daybook without emptying your wallet.I am saddened to report that Ogden, UT did not make the list. The ten cities that did were [in order, top choice to last] Albuquerque, N.M.;Auburn, Ala.; Austin, Texas; Boise, Idaho; Durham, N.C.; La Crosse, Wis.; Loveland, Colo.; San Luis Obispo, Calif.; St. Augustine, Fla.; Upper St. Clair, Pa.
[NB: It is unknown whether any of the top ten cities boasts a flatland downtown gondola, nor did US News comment on why its selection criteria, inexplicably, did not include municipal flatland gondolas. ]
12 comments:
Boise, Idaho beat out Ogden???
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!
The writing is on the wall.
Soon the Geigerites, and their cheap fuax french (japanese) polyester manufacturer employer (Descente) will be compelled to move their fly-by-night operations to Boise.
Good riddence, I say!
San Luis Obispo is a sweet place to live if you enjoy surfing and have a liberal and extremely laid-back lifestyle sensibility.
It has very well-kept infrastructure, and none of the problems that have plagued Ogden for half a century.
The people? The people possess a huge sense of civic pride, and, being a bit of a drive from large cities, the feeling is a bit isolated, a little ruaral.
Lots of dirt streets with no curbs, horses on the shoulder, things like that.
It is also on a snenic roadway, the coastal highway. It has superb sweeping pacific ocean vistas.
Nice university, waterfront; bout 50,000 people, 90 percent Caucazoidial and Hispanic. Much of dowtown gives priority to bicycle traffic, while special bicycle traffic signals allows bicyclists their own phase in traffic flow.
They have a free bicycle valet service.
In 2007, the city was designated as a Bicycle Friendly Community.
It was the first municipality in the world to ban smoking in all public buildings, including bars and restaurants.
It looks like the movie set for Cool.
The reason we only visit, and dont take up permanent residence there: the mostly brown-dry rolling hills to the east,
We do not find that appealing.
Just shows to go you that these kinds of articles are just plain silly puff pieces. Whatever cities that get named are a result of that city putting persuasive PR in the hands of the reporter. Very seldom does the reporter actually go to any, and certainly never to all, of the cities that are named as tops. In order for this sort of thing to be legit the reporter would have to go to virtually every city in the whole country and do a comprehensive study of each place.
As the old saying goes: "In one reporter's opinion........"
This particular article is just plain silly as who in their right mind would prefer Boise over Ogden? All one has to do is go to Boise one time and you would realize that Ogden is an infinitely more interesting and better place to live.
The only thing wrong with Ogden is the corrupt mayor and all of the debt he has created chasing his ego dreams.
I've visited Boise several times for conferences (at the university) and always been impressed. What I especially like is that you can easily walk from the university to downtown and along the river. There are also some nice historic neighborhoods. Ogden's big advantage over Boise is that the mountains are right on the edge of town.
The article said:
"U.S. News took a thrift-conscious approach: We looked for affordable communities that have strong economies and plenty of fun things to do."
Maybe it is implied that the "fun things to do" are also affordable ... ? Then there would be several reasons why Ogden would not be included on the list, methinks.
And the "strong economies" would probably NOT include entire blocks of boarded up businesses right in the center of town.
It's a no-brainer
TLJ
I would add - to the last sentence:
"... entire blocks of boarded up businesses right in the center of town, forcing people to shop at three (count them: three) Wally Worlds within spitting distance."
TLJ
TLJ,
There are plenty of fun things to do in Ogden that are either free or inexpensive.
But I'm afraid you're right about our not measuring up in the "strong economies" department.
Nor did US New comment on why it selection criteria, inexplicably, did not include percent of population that just sits all day a their computers and think of things to complain about instead of actually going out and participating in their community.
Dan
I didn't mean to denigrate Boise, but it just doesn't compare with Ogden in my opinion. I do recognize that I may be biased toward my home town however.
One of the things I found in Boise that was of major interest was the historic district that is heated by hot water that comes out of the ground for free. Some really great architecture therein that I went through once on a homes tour.
zzzzzzzz
You did notice, didn't you, that some of the computer sitters you claim do nothing, were at recent city council meetings? Why, one might almost say they were "actually going out and participating in their community." Wonder if you noticed that many were also at the recent "Ogden River Clean Up," volunteering their time to make things a little better by... oh, what's the phrase? Ah, I have it.... by "actually going out and participating in their community." The list goes on and on.
Time to give up on the "naysayers" meme. You can't make it stand up, even weakly, on the evidence. Unless of course you're among those not interested evidence-backed arguments and conclusions. If you are among those, and you're not already working for the Godfrey Administration, I'd get an application in over there real quick. They're always looking for people for whom conclusions come first, and evidence either second or not at all. The possibilities for swift advancement are great.
Curm, are you picking on the geigers again?
I believe we're all familiar with their perspective. Having returned to Ogden after some time spent living elsewhere, they came to the conclusion that Ogden simply put sucks. The only salvation for this terrible state of their deflated egos would be to totally erase from memory everything Ogden has been and totally replace the whole population with what ever sort of person their marketing staff, which is short deck, has determined is inclined to purchase overpriced inefficiant cheap synthetic flashy kind of gag me with a spoon imatation outdoor apparel of defective Chinese manufacture, with a quassi somewhat French sounding name.
To lure this type of fool to town will require the construction of a devinely inspired urban gondola to exactly nowhere built totally with funds ripped from the wallets of poor working families under the guise of tax collection. This, coupled with the elimination of all public services and any hint of the rule of law, will cause a total out migration of the existing residents making way for the influx of gondola worshipping poorly attired fools that will come in droves to repopulate the city.
All new reisidents will be required to purchase a premium membership to Gary Neilson Gold's Gym, and a no cotton or wool clothing ordinance will be passed, constitutionality certified by none other than Gary Williams, adorned in his new brightly colored extremely snug fitting spandex bicycle shorts that will become the required uniform of all City personel, even Mark Johnson.
So Curm, please if you can, envision Ogden.
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