 The Commons is a popular gathering place in downtown Ithaca, N.Y. (Photo by Gloria Wright) |
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Posted on 07/23/2008 10:44:08 AM PDT by Incorrigible
The Commons is a popular gathering place in downtown Ithaca, N.Y. (Photo by Gloria Wright) |
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ITHACA, N.Y. — When your town has made more than 25 lists that call it one of the best cities in America, you might be surprised that one magazine would call it one of the "Twelve Great Places You've Never Heard Of."
But along with that 2006 designation from Mother Earth News, Ithaca seems to make the grade no matter what's being ranked. It's one of the "lesbian friendliest cities," has the "best fly fishing" and is one of the "greatest places to retire."
Outside Magazine has released its August issue and ranked Ithaca sixth in its "20 Best Towns in America." Five years ago, Outside picked Ithaca, home to Cornell University and Ithaca College, as one of the "40 Best College Towns."
It might seem that getting on one list ups the odds that you'll make another.
"They do feed off each other," said Bruce Stoff, marketing communications manager for the Ithaca/Tompkins Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Magazine rankings should be approached with caution, especially if they claim to be objective and scientific, said David Kay, an economist at Cornell University who studies land use in Upstate New York.
"Many of the magazines do not have as their fundamental mission the creation of a reliable, valid measure," Kay said. "They are trying instead to be interesting and to sell their product.
"Indeed, simply to avoid boredom, they probably wouldn't want to rate places the same every year," he said.
That would get dull, agreed Outside Magazine's Senior Editor Jeremy Spencer.
"You can always put Portland, Ore., back up at the top," Spencer said. "But they're so much more fun when you have a theme."
This year, Outside was looking for cities that reinvented themselves, coming up with creative solutions to economic problems, such as abandoned factories or Superfund sites. It cites the way an old Woolworth's store in Ithaca became the home for the public library.
Next year, a different set of 10 or 20 cities are likely to take their place in Outside's limelight.
That's what happened in other rankings.
Relocate America ranked Ithaca third in its top places to live in 2007, but it didn't even make the top 100 this year.
But Stoff wouldn't be surprised to see it make its way to the top again.
"All these top-10 lists ultimately get back to college towns — places that are young and active and have strong, stable economies," he said. "They have to go through the cycle and make sure they haven't picked you lately."
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Ithaca has garnered a top spot in more than 25 magazine or Web site rankings, among them:
In 2008, Forbes Magazine ranked it third among "America's Smartest Cities."
In 2007, a Farmers Insurance study also listed it third, this time in the "Most Secure Places to Live" in the small towns category.
In 2005, Kiplinger's Personal Finance called it one of "12 Great Places to Retire."
In 2002, Girlfriends Magazine included it in "The Ten Lesbian Friendliest Cities in the USA."
In 2001, Mothering Magazine chose it as one of "25 Terrific Places to Bring up a Family."
(Rebecca James is a staff writer for The Post-Standard of Syracuse, N.Y. She can be contacted at rjames(at)syracuse.com.)
Not for commercial use. For educational and discussion purposes only.
What? They seem to be on the top of the Most Evil City list every year!
Bump!
Prolly also has citations from Pravda, Gramma, and Mother Jones...
But . . . it’s “lesbian friendly.”
High taxes, brutal winters, thousands of annoying college kids - what’s not to love?
City Of Evil BTT.
I think the keyword is "city". My brother lives maybe 20 miles away and it's a beautiful country type atmosphere. Maybe we could get Osama to nuke just the "city".
Well it's better than Harare.
I can’t believe any city in NY is voted one of the best places to retire. Property taxes are outrageous there.
Girlfriends Magazine? With an endorsement like that, you gotta believe it.
when i retire, i need a state that does not tax pensions. i’ll find a good city from that information. hopefully relatively warm with a good school system.
Plan on going back to school after you retire?
“All these top-10 lists ultimately get back to college towns — places that are young and active and have strong, stable economies,” he said. “They have to go through the cycle and make sure they haven’t picked you lately.”
Yeah, and uniformly liberal. These top place to live rankings are usually code for anything goes and worse. Hence, college towns always rank well and are a good place to live if you don’t have to live there.
Read this book if you get the chance. It is a fun, quick read that shows how insane and out of touch leftists are with normal people.
Ithaca: 10 square miles surrounded by reality.
no. i’m stopping at a masters. but when i retire, my kids (who have yet to be born or cenceived for that matter) will at most be in their early teens. so i need good middle/high schools and hopefully good state universitites.
Be seeing you #6.
“Magazine rankings should be approached with caution, especially if they claim to be objective and scientific, said David Kay, an economist at Cornell University who studies land use in Upstate New York.”
I’ve seen the criteria for some of these “best of” lists. Among them are “proximity to New York City”.
There was a time when I enjoyed Outside magazine. Now I can hardly stand it with their ever left leaning bent.
Her husband made her move up north??? That has got to be grounds for divorce.
Perhaps enough angry readers wrote in to say how horrible their experiences have been since they relocated to Ithaca.
You aren’t the demographic they are seeking.
Neither are the poor migrant worker class. They’ll need a place to retire too.
How friendly is the city to single white males?
Rather ironic huh?
He was a southern boy, too. Newlyweds, and he with a brand new law degree, they thought they were oh so sophisticated and first moved to NYC, then followed his career to Philadelphia, Ithaca and finally back to normal in Tennessee.
“when i retire, i need a state that does not tax pensions”
Is this info readily available somewhere for comparison?
- John
Friendly population (except for that surly newcomer who doesn't like his number), civic band and other activities, free elections (well, freer that Chicago), tight border sercurity - there's something for everyone in the Village.
Most of these "best city" designations are rigged by the choice of criteria. If I was setting up the scoring and gave a very high ranking to first run Broadway plays, New York would come up at the top. On the other hand if I gave big negatives to cramming way too many people on a couple of islands like some over the top version of Lord of the Flies, then New York would be near the bottom.
www.retirementliving.com
Hello Sailor Magazine rated it #1 for single fellas.
Ability to evacuate in the event of a natural or man-made disaster/attack is clearly not a factor in the MSM’s decision to advise people to move to NYC.
It may not be white males that are hated as are masculine white males.
It's fine. The dating scene is pretty good- you have two colleges right in town. I'm not an objective observer, though- I met my life in Ithaca. The locals in Ithaca are the usual collection of nuts you expect in a college town, but it's a perfectly nice town to live in. Winters suck, but summers are really nice.
Anyone visiting should home in on Watkins Glen or Corning/Elmira area to get a true dose of the slow easy living in Upstate N.Y.
Ithaca is a strange place which was overrun by the liberals long ago.
Best places??? I lived there 4 years.
Horrible weather. It even has its own verb:
Ithacation - A prolonged period of freezing rain/drizzle. The temperate zone equivalent of a tropical monsoon.
“What’s the weather like outside? Oh, its still Ithacating”
Slums. The city is an odd mixture of lots of really poorly maintained homes with a small amount of real gems.
Monotone cultural availability. Believe me, its wall-to-wall liberal. Poetry readings. Coffeehouse guitarists. Modern sculpture exhibits. Film festivals touting the sufferings of homosexuals. Uber-liberal speakers. Expression of women/homosexual suffering gets old real quick. If it weren’t for Cornell hockey, I’d have gone nuts.
There are a lot of pretty nice places scattered in around that area, Watkins and Corning being just a couple. There is also a great deal of history there.
“How friendly is the city to single white males?”
As long as you freely admit you are the root of all societal evil, and you don’t mind working for incompetents less qualified than you - you should do just fine.
Growing a ponytail, wearing a hemp bracelet and frequently using the term “dude” won’t hurt either.
South Carolina? I'd be there yesterday...Greenville/Spartanburg area is real nice. Rest of the state can get real hot and humid during summer, though. I have run into lots of people heading south from New England in the near future. (If they seemed nice and personable, I was as encouraging as possible...if they struck me as a**h****; I told them the south was overrun with snakes, giant spiders, and so forth; and that they probably wouldn't like it...)
Utne Reader voted it most "enlightened" city in America. Same difference.
Ithaca is the Commie-Fag capital of central NY...
**“How friendly is the city to single white males?”**
If you’re referring to Heterosexual ones ... they’ll run you over with their Volvo’s (the ones with the French “SMART” Car haven’t tested the Crashworthiness, yet)
And whatever you do ... DON’T LOOK AT THE WOMEN ... the pretty ones are STUDENTS! The rest (that haven’t shaved since Woodstock) Will have a Baseball bat in one hand, and a Judicial Petition in the other.
My advice ... Stay on I 81 ... it’s SAFER!
**Ithaca is the Commie-Fag capital of central NY...**
Central, Upstate, Downstate and the rest of the Northeastern corridor COMBINED.
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