Posted July 17, 200618 yr Well...the secret is getting out. :clap: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2006/top100/bigcities.html Rank City Population 1 Colorado Springs, CO 369,800 2 Austin, TX 690,300 3 Mesa, AZ 442,800 4 Raleigh, NC 341,500 5 San Diego, CA 1,255,500 6 Virginia Beach, VA 438,400 7 Omaha, NE 414,500 8 Columbus, OH 730,700 9 Wichita, KS 354,900 10 New York, NY 8,143,200 I'm glad to see Austin getting some love. IMO, that's the city that Columbus needs to model itself after. Big University, no pro sports, great arts scene, and a lively downtown. They also managed to create a well populated downtown without being landlocked by a major geographical feature to stop sprawl.
July 17, 200618 yr Omaha??? Wichita?? Really???...maybe i am just pissed because cincy didn't make the cut...........Omaha???
July 17, 200618 yr Other than New York & San Diego, I beg to differ that these are big cities. Colorado Springs although nice feels smaller than Dayton. Raleigh is an awful suburban driven town with a downtown that is very bland and boring with more grit than you would expect. Virginia Beach doesn't even have a downtown but it does have a decent beach strip. Wichita is probably the most laughable one on the list. Once of the most boring towns you will ever visit for a population over 300K. Austin is no surprise because that city has it's shit together, they have feeding money to publications for the last 10 years to stay on top of these lists. Lastly I have never been to Mesa or Omaha to really comment but both are relatively small. What is the square miles of Mesa?
July 17, 200618 yr Austin is probably high on the list because of the job growth. Idonno...it's only 2.77%, while Mesa's is an astonishing 13.32%! You can click on the cities from the list to see thier stats. I'm guessing that these were weighted with different values to come up with the Top-10 list.
July 17, 200618 yr raleigh and wichita are "better" big cities than nyc. i stopped acknowledging lists like this for a reason..
July 17, 200618 yr Of that list, strange to say, the only ones that appeal to be are Columbus (because I know about it) and NYC (duh!). San Diego. Is it really that special? Isn't Mesa a suburb of Phoenix?
July 17, 200618 yr Merge this thread with the "Why is Columbus so GAY" thread and I think some conclusions begin to form.
July 17, 200618 yr I have a brother that lives in San Diego. I have been there a few times. And let me tell you that city has SERIOUS problems. Real estate is so RIDICULOUS. They have a pension plan that on the verge of bankruptcy(more than 1,000,000,000 underfunded). The weather is great though. If San Diego is up there it's only because of it.
July 17, 200618 yr Interesting thing about San Diego--and this one goes out to you subset of municipal government wonks--is that they recently voted to go back to Strong Mayor form of government after years under the City Manager model. Discuss. Or don't.
July 17, 200618 yr Mentor makes list of top cities 6:05 p.m. Mentor ranked 68th on a CNN and Money Magazine list of America’s best small cities. The Lake County city was the only Ohio community on the list of 90 cities with a population exceeding 50,000. But Columbus was ranked 8th among the 10 best big cities. “Mentor truly shines in what it has to offer visitors and residents in service, housing and recreational activities,” said Ronald Traub, community development director for Mentor. The rankings were based on 38 quality-of-life indicators and six economic opportunity measures covering ease of living, health, education, crime, park space and arts and leisure, CNN and Money Magazine reported. Fort Collins, Colo. received the top ranking for small cities. Colorado Springs, Colo. Received the No. 1 ranking among big cities.
July 17, 200618 yr This particular Time Warner list is crap. Its all advertising/Opinion poll! I can't say anymore than that. Fortune is your best ranking source in the Time Warner stable. Opinion polls IN cities with large universities always make the city seem better than it actually is....HINT HINT!
July 18, 200618 yr Omaha is a nice city. Great parks, very good art museum and theater, cost of living is excellent (housing especially), and you casn go into the scruffiest-looking hole-in-the-wall restaurant and still get the best steaks of your life. The Italian steakhouses (there are several) serve spaghetti as a side dish instead of potatoes! Great and authentic Mexican food. Decent sports with Triple-A baseball and the College World Series, and Nebraska football just down the road. And.... oh yeah.... Omaha has passenger rail service. My wife and I spent five years living there and loved it, but the TV news business brought us to Ohio. But we've got a lot of love for Columbus. The two cities compare favorably.
July 18, 200618 yr http://www.dispatch.com/business-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/07/18/20060718-E1-04.html Columbus among ‘best places to live’ Tuesday, July 18, 2006 Marla Matzer Rose THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Confirming its place as one of the biggest small towns or smallest big cities in the country, Columbus has made Money magazine’s just-released Best Places to Live issue, ranking eighth in the magazine’s picks for 10 best big cities. Columbus was one of only three cities with populations of more than 700,000 on the list, putting it in a league with San Diego (No. 5) and New York City (No. 10). The annual rankings appear in the magazine’s August issue, due at newstands by next week. Tara Kalwarski, a Money editor who worked on the feature, said the list of 10 big cities was culled from 59 considered. She said Columbus ranked first in safety and second (behind Austin, Texas) in arts and leisure offerings. Other factors taken into consideration included education, job climate and park space. Paul Astleford, president and CEO of Experience Columbus, the city’s convention and visitors bureau, said such accolades are important to the perceived attractiveness of a city, not only to potential residents, but to visitors. "There have been recent studies showing that people in the 20- to 35-year-old range actually first choose where they want to live, then worry about finding a job," Astleford said. "And the way people determine where they want to live is by making weekend visits to a place." Even if they don’t end up moving here, Astelford said, those visitors help support the cultural institutions, restaurants and other amenities that make Columbus an attractive place to live. Astleford cautioned that Columbus can maximize the benefit of such praise only if it builds on this kind of buzz. "This community is so unknown. There’s a lack of marketing mentality in our leadership today," Astleford said. "You have to take something like this and use it in a full-blown brand presentation to the outside world. What that could do for our community is enormous." He pointed to Austin as a prime example of a city that has reaped the benefits from promoting a consistent brand image for more than two decades. Ty Marsh, president of the Columbus Chamber, called the magazine’s recognition "very helpful" in getting the word out about Columbus to business leaders. "We know from a nationwide poll of CEOs we released two years ago that only 56 percent had even heard of Columbus," Marsh said. "This is an awareness issue. It’s not what decisions are based on, but it just helps spread the news that this is a great region to live in, to work in, to have a family and to run a business." Mentor, in northern Ohio, was the only city in Ohio to make the main list, landing at No. 68. The list was topped by Fort Collins, Colo.; Colorado Springs topped the list of big cities. [email protected]
July 18, 200618 yr "We know from a nationwide poll of CEOs we released two years ago that only 56 percent had even heard of Columbus," Marsh said. " Personally I think this is a reflection of how fucking stupid CEOs are, not Columbus' lack of national awareness.
July 18, 200618 yr ^Further proof that any idiot can head up a major corporation. But what about THIS idiot? Gimme some of that 600-times-the-wage-of-the-lowest-paid-employee style compensation! Gimme gimme gimme! Tying into the article's premise that people choose Columbus irrespective of employment, I enjoyed the convention bureau chief's dig: "This community is so unknown. There’s a lack of marketing mentality in our leadership today." Ironic talking points for a guy in the business of fostering a positive image, no? Wait--I just reread the article. This explains everything: "Paul Astleford, president and CEO of Experience Columbus, the city’s convention and visitors bureau..." Silly, silly CEO.
July 18, 200618 yr I'm glad to see Austin getting some love. Yeah....its not like everyone is constantly stroking the ego of Austin anyways (great music scene, arts, university, its hip, great nightlife, young professional, creative class). These are just some of the things that are constantly associated with Austin as being the best in the nation.....give me a break, they get enough love!!!!!!!!
July 18, 200618 yr To David and Kingfish. When you live (or visit) outside of Ohio and say you're from Columbus, without mentioning Ohio, there is still a good chance you'll be asked "which Columbus." So it's not just "Silly CEOs," but "silly commoners" as well.
July 18, 200618 yr Every other Columbus is a lot smaller though. It said that the poll revealed that they never heard of "Columbus" not "guess which Columbus made the list"... if you've never heard of Columbus, Ohio then you don't deserve to be CEO of anything. What gives a city more recognition than anything is having professional sports. Then you have merchandise, news coverage and word of mouth all over the place, spreading the name. I bet all of those CEOs that haven't heard of Columbus Ohio are quite aware that Green Bay exists.
July 18, 200618 yr Every other Columbus is a lot smaller though. It said that the poll revealed that they never heard of "Columbus" not "guess which Columbus made the list"... if you've never heard of Columbus, Ohio then you don't deserve to be CEO of anything. What gives a city more recognition than anything is having professional sports. Then you have merchandise, news coverage and word of mouth all over the place, spreading the name. I bet all of those CEOs that haven't heard of Columbus Ohio are quite aware that Green Bay exists. You shouldn't be alowed to head any large American company if you don't knnow the capitol of every state. screw the sports crap
July 18, 200618 yr In fact, I think if you can name the capital of South Dakota without looking it up, you should automatically be promoted to CEO. But back to stupid executives, I once worked with a senior level executive who happily admitted to me that she had no idea Hitler was "with world war two" until someone had recently told her. I don't know what they're teaching in MBA programs, but I want none of it.
July 18, 200618 yr It's about a lot more than just size. A city can be "known" for all sorts of things. Very true....see: Columbine :-(
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