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Another Dumb-a$$ List / Ranking of Cities

Ctownrocks1
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It's no secret that Cincinnati consistently places high on these lists, considering both its large Hamilton County/University of Cincinnati Library system, its reading public, and its swath of Corporate 500 communities to the northeast and east.  In these comparisons, the city ranks with cities like Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, and Seattle.

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I went to an event at the Mercantile Library back in March, I think, and sort of got a taste of the intellectual side of the city there...I liked it.

 

I guess this is why Cincy is able to support a bookstore like Joseph Beth.

I saw that survey.  Maybe it's just me, but that seems like a really weird thing to do. 

Worst Dressed Cities

http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-worst-dressed-people/2

Try as I might, no Ohio cities made the list.

 

Apparently they didn't visit the Cleveland casino.

 

They were making mention of the fact that a lot of people from West Virginia and Pennsylvania were visiting Cleveland's casino just to try it out.  That might explain the clothing issue.  :-)

its much more insidious thatn that: Most people have no tatse!  There should be mandatory classes in fashion and style.

Worst Dressed Cities

http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-worst-dressed-people/2

Try as I might, no Ohio cities made the list.

 

Apparently they didn't visit the Cleveland casino.

The way someone dresses at a casino is indicative of the whole city?  Hell I wore shorts!

 

Ha, I was only kidding, making light of that casino dress code discussion from a few weeks back!  It's not like I will be going with the black tie, white coat, and top hat when I go to the casino.

Worst Dressed Cities

http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-worst-dressed-people/2

Try as I might, no Ohio cities made the list.

 

Apparently they didn't visit the Cleveland casino.

The way someone dresses at a casino is indicative of the whole city?  Hell I wore shorts!

 

Ha, I was only kidding, making light of that casino dress code discussion from a few weeks back!  It's not like I will be going with the black tie, white coat, and top hat when I go to the casino.

 

Obviously!  HA!

The New York Times features Dayton (including a pix of Main Street downtown) on the growing divide btween educated and uneducated metro areas...

 

As College Graduates Cluster some Cities are Left Behind (article has a good set of comments).

 

DAYTON, Ohio — As cities like this one try to reinvent themselves after losing large swaths of their manufacturing sectors, they are discovering that one of the most critical ingredients for a successful transformation — college graduates — is in perilously short supply.

 

Just 24 percent of the adult residents of metropolitan Dayton have four-year degrees, well below the average of 32 percent for American metro areas...

 

 

The "dumb-ass list" of dumb-ass cities (, ie.e ones that are poor prerformers in porportion of college grads to the population and in not being able to generate a college educated population since 1970) can be found at this link

 

 

Note that Columbus shows VERY good on this list, once again showing it as the outlier among Ohios big seven metro areas...

 

 

The rankings of metro area pop with degrees in 1970 was a bit suprising:

 

For Ohio

1. Columbus,  12.3%

2. Dayton,      11.0%

3. Akron ,          10.8%

4. Cleveland ,    10.5%

5.  Cincy,            10%

6.  Toledo,        9.3%

7.  Youngstown,  7.1%

 

...suprising in that Akron & Dayton are near the top of the list.

 

Today, the rankings have shifted, with Dayton dropping to near bottom, and Cincy rising.

 

1. Cols    32.5%

2.  Cincy  29.3%

3.  Akron  28.5%

4.  Clevo  27.7%

5.  Dayton  24.4%

6. Toledo  24.3%

7.  Younstown  19.3%

 

 

...and the rate of change in college grads since 1970 tells a similar story:

 

1. Cols, 20.3% increase

2. Cincy, 19.3% increase

3. Akron,  17.8%

4. Cleveland 17.2%

5.  Toledo, 15%

6.  Dayton,  13.4%

7.  Youngstown,  12.2%

 

I guess the positive number, the real suprise, is how well (relatively speaking) Akron is performing, for being a former heavily industrial one-industry city.

 

The bad number is Daytons, mainly because expectations would have been higher since there is that big military R&D presence in the community combined with two engineering schools (WSU and UD).  Apparenlty not enough to withstand the hemorrage of talent elsewhere.

 

Columbus is one of the very best peformers regionally (ie Midwest)..in the same range as:

 

Indy:  32% grads, 20.3% growth in grad % since 1970

Des Moines:  30.7% grads, 20.5% growth..

Milwaukee:  3.7%,  20.6%,

 

Top Midwest perforer was the Twin Cities,  37% grads, 23.6% growth in grad % since 1970

 

 

 

Akron is no surprise. It has a huge State university smack dab in the middle of it just like Columbus and Cincinnati.

...and Youngstown.

Akron is no surprise. It has a huge State university smack dab in the middle of it just like Columbus and Cincinnati.

 

I don't know, doesn't basically every major city in Ohio have a "huge state university smack dab in the middle of it"?

 

There's something else going on here, obviously there also has to be jobs to keep graduates around.  I suspect if Dayton were the state or even national capital, with the state flagship university, it would be higher up or near the top of that list.  Seems to be one of the common themes, more so (IMO) than just having one or more supposed major universities. 

Wouldnt put Youngstown, Cleveland, Toledo, Central etc on same level as the others. Plus there's decent sized metro areas near/around OSU, UC, Kent, Akron

Akron seems to have done well in shifting to modern industry.  The city and its university settled on a specialty (polymers) which is uncommon and follows naturally from the previous one (rubber).  Cleveland's choice of biotech and Toledo's choice of solar haven't worked out as well thus far.  I think that's due to more competition from other metros in those industries, and the fact that both industries are less established. 

I'm in the middle of a book referenced in the NYT article that explains this clustering/agglomeration effects, as well as "thickness" vs "thiness" of employment opportunities and labor pools....

 

Here is the Forbes review:  The New Geography of Jobs

 

(the book is probably a populariztion of economic development theory...tho written by an economist, not heavy math involved in the text...just a good narrative with examples...)

 

It also might explain why that biotech play might not be that sucessfull for Cleveland, and it would explain that polymer thing for Akron....depending a bit on uf the scientific/R&D talent decided to stay after "Big Rubber" pulled out...pretty much what 327 said...

Big Rubber didn't entirely pull out, not the way Big Paper did, IIRC.  And I think Dayton was adversely affected by auto industry restructuring more than any other Ohio city.  And the contraction of the legal sector as well.  Unfortunate trends for Dayton across the board.

 

I would also say that Akron has done a better job of staying urban, keeping up its downtown and its yp-friendly neighborhoods, and building a lot of new housing with substantial density.  This seems like more of a strategic choice than luck of the draw.  It doesn't help that Dayton's Oregon district has virtually no apartments while Akron's Highland Square has tons.  I think this sort of thing makes it easier for up-and-comers to settle in a particular city.

Which U.S. City Has the Hottest Food-Truck Scene?

By Lauren Bloomberg

 

It’s become a phenomenon - food served from roving street vendors whose every stop and turn are tracked by websites and promoted through Twitter. Their lines can run city blocks and turn an average gourmand into an obsessed bite-searcher. The food-truck scene is different in every city. In Chicago, trucks are illegal, and prospective vendors have to find loopholes to run the town. However, in Boston, they’re welcomed with open arms. New York City’s cops spend taxpayers' bucks chasing around illegally parked outposts.

 

 

http://blog.zagat.com/2012/02/which-us-city-has-hottest-food-truck.html

^Not bad company on that dumb-a$$ ranking

I'm in the middle of a book referenced in the NYT article that explains this clustering/agglomeration effects, as well as "thickness" vs "thiness" of employment opportunities and labor pools....

 

Here is the Forbes review:  The New Geography of Jobs

 

(the book is probably a populariztion of economic development theory...tho written by an economist, not heavy math involved in the text...just a good narrative with examples...)

 

It also might explain why that biotech play might not be that sucessfull for Cleveland, and it would explain that polymer thing for Akron....depending a bit on uf the scientific/R&D talent decided to stay after "Big Rubber" pulled out...pretty much what 327 said...

 

"...where you live may matter more than your resume, but living in metropolitan areas where there are high concentrations of college educated workers is what will push your pay higher."

 

Key quote from that article.

Akron seems to have done well in shifting to modern industry.  The city and its university settled on a specialty (polymers) which is uncommon and follows naturally from the previous one (rubber).  Cleveland's choice of biotech and Toledo's choice of solar haven't worked out as well thus far.  I think that's due to more competition from other metros in those industries, and the fact that both industries are less established. 

 

How has bio-tech not worked out well for cleveland? 

How has bio-tech not worked out well for cleveland? 

 

I was musing specifically about the percentage-with-degree rankings Jeffery had posted, which involve a surprising but negligible difference between Akron and Cleveland.  One might expect Cleveland to be a lot higher than Akron on that list. 

 

So it's not that biotech hasn't worked out well... it's that it hasn't worked AS well as polymers have for Akron, at least at present.  Biotech hasn't established itself as a definitive specialty of the Cleveland economy yet.  It's maybe just past the aspirational stage, and there remains considerable ground to be covered. 

 

My first google hit for "top US biotech hubs" gives a list that includes Saskatoon (!) but not Cleveland. 

 

http://biotech.about.com/od/introtobiotechnology/tp/NAclusters.htm

 

Second google hit lists four states: MA, MD, NC and CA.

 

http://www.genengnews.com/insight-and-intelligenceand153/largest-u-s-biotech-clusters-faced-similar-challenges-this-year-as-seen-elsewhere/77899521/

 

As my old avatar Shatner might say, "it hasn't happened yet."

Right.  Supposedly Cleveland has been going through the seed planting stage, which according to the "authorities", should start to pay off in a noticable way in 2 to 3 years... 

How has bio-tech not worked out well for cleveland? 

 

I was musing specifically about the percentage-with-degree rankings Jeffery had posted, which involve a surprising but negligible difference between Akron and Cleveland.  One might expect Cleveland to be a lot higher than Akron on that list. 

 

So it's not that biotech hasn't worked out well... it's that it hasn't worked AS well as polymers have for Akron, at least at present.  Biotech hasn't established itself as a definitive specialty of the Cleveland economy yet.  It's maybe just past the aspirational stage, and there remains considerable ground to be covered. 

 

My first google hit for "top US biotech hubs" gives a list that includes Saskatoon (!) but not Cleveland. 

 

http://biotech.about.com/od/introtobiotechnology/tp/NAclusters.htm

 

Second google hit lists four states: MA, MD, NC and CA.

 

http://www.genengnews.com/insight-and-intelligenceand153/largest-u-s-biotech-clusters-faced-similar-challenges-this-year-as-seen-elsewhere/77899521/

 

As my old avatar Shatner might say, "it hasn't happened yet."

 

lol google....but other than RTP in the raleigh area, what biotech exists in NC?  Other Johns Hopkins in MD, what biotech exists in MD?  Granted, CA and MA go without saying.  Seems to me with all the venture capital pouring in to CLE/NE OH it's beginning to do quite well. 

10 stunning riverfront towns

 

Cincinnati, OH

 

Why Go: Cincinnati's taken an especially hands-on approach to reclaiming its waterfront, clearing a path through old highways and industrial parks. This Fall, it's slated to open the first phase of a $120 million, 45 acre riverfront park at its center—the crown jewel in a decades' long revitalization effort.

 

What to Do: Montgomery Inn at the Boathouse is a favorite for local barbecue, as well as its unique riverfront setting (925 Riverside Dr., 513/721-7427, pork loin back $21, montgomeryinn.com). To get even more up close, hop aboard a historic riverboat for a cruise along the Ohio River (bbriverboats.com, Historic Harbor Sightseeing Cruise, $18).

 

http://travel.yahoo.com/ideas/10-stunning-riverfront-towns.html?page=all

San Antonio is a river town? Is that even a real river there?

^  Yeah, SA's the "Venice of Texas," alright--i.e., if all of Houston's industrial canals are discounted.  But, in all fairness, SA has created a truly scenic waterway attraction right in their city's center--maybe Covington or Newport could follow suit by diverting the Licking River through the center of their towns...  :laugh:

San Antonio is a river town? Is that even a real river there?

 

Yeah, but I dont think its all that.

San Antonio's riverfront is awesome and we'd be lucky to have anything like it here.

I've seen this stat put out a lot recently in Cincinnati videos/advertising, but I can't find one citation for it....

 

@ArtsWave Cincinnati is one of only 13 US cities representing all 5 arts disciplines - ballet, opera, museums, symphony, and theater.

 

I just don't see how this could be true. Anyone know of where I could find this list?

I've seen this stat put out a lot recently in Cincinnati videos/advertising, but I can't find one citation for it....

 

@ArtsWave Cincinnati is one of only 13 US cities representing all 5 arts disciplines - ballet, opera, museums, symphony, and theater.

 

I just don't see how this could be true. Anyone know of where I could find this list?

 

Are there really only five arts disciplines?  Also, "museums" seems kind of vague.  Art museum?  Or would a "Ripley's Believe it Not" qualify? ;)

What makes relatively wealthy people cheat on each other so much? I suspect that the underclass just doesn't get married in the first place.

^Probably because a lot of them took the "marry rich, learn to love" approach

I think it skews wealthier because the data used is an adultery website subscription.  A less wealthy person is less likely to have access to a computer; likely to have less free time to seek out such a site; if they have a computer it is more likely shared with their significant other; and so on.

Maybe wealthier people are dopey enough and have more discretionary time to fill out stupid surveys.

  • 2 weeks later...

Isn't Ohio's unemployment rate below average? Or is that just in the big cities? And why does that weigh in heavily for someone who is retiring?

 

Cold winters? All of those states listed, except CA and NV have colder winters than the bulk of Ohio. Kansas, Iowa, and South Dakota make the top 10 and have cold winters. KY comes in 2nd and NKY has identical winters to southern Ohio...

 

Plus, notice Michigan isn't on there.

 

Dumb-a$$ list, for sure. Really, the top 10 list is even worse than the worst list.

^not to mention how auto dependent some of the "best" states are.

seriously wack

Maybe wealthier people are dopey enough and have more discretionary time to fill out stupid surveys.

 

Actually, yes.  Older people too.

  • 2 weeks later...

Didn't see this posted yet,

 

http://www.weather.com/news/20120629-great-american-state-fair-201206?pageno=3

 

America’s Greatest State Fairs

 

Ohio State Fair

 

The Ohio State Fair has been a staple for residents across Buckeye State since 1850 except for three years during World War II. During that time, the facility was used for handling airplane parts and equipment. 

 

Traditions are key at this fair and are one of the reasons more than 800,000 people come back each year. There are three things that set this fair apart. First up: the butter and cow calf....

 

Didn't see this posted yet,

 

http://www.weather.com/news/20120629-great-american-state-fair-201206?pageno=3

 

America’s Greatest State Fairs

 

Ohio State Fair

 

The Ohio State Fair has been a staple for residents across Buckeye State since 1850 except for three years during World War II. During that time, the facility was used for handling airplane parts and equipment. 

 

Traditions are key at this fair and are one of the reasons more than 800,000 people come back each year. There are three things that set this fair apart. First up: the butter and cow calf....

 

 

That's cool...I've never been to the fair, but it's on my list of things to do someday!

^^^Following the links on the side of that page, I found this:

 

The 10 Most Depressing States in the US

 

1)  Arkansas

2)  Indiana

3)  Kentucky

4)  Michigan

5)  Mississippi

6)  Missouri

7)  Nevada

8)  Oklahoma

9)  Tennessee

10) West Virginia

 

OHIO IS NOT DEPRESSING!!!

 

http://www.weather.com/health/fitness-exercise/10-most-depressing-states-20120404

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