Rating Columbus

There has been a rash of posts in various blogs about stories where Columbus has been rated (or not) in one way or another.

First up, Joe Peffer notes that

Allstate Insurance just released their annual list of safest drivers in the United States. This year Columbus is down almost 10% from the National Average and ranks 106 in the country. Not pretty Columbus.

Drivers in Columbus can expect to be involved in an accident about once every 9.1 years.

106th place is pretty bad. Joe also has a post titled “Columbus also not one of the Top 25 Greenest U.S. Cities“:

With Green being at least as hot a topic/buzzword as anything else in the local housing markets, you’d think Columbus might be close to being America’s greenest city. I think most of the buzz from City Hall is lip service, ditto the bigger developers, though some are putting their green-backs into going green.

I couldn’t help but notice Ann Arbor came in at number 11 for crying out loud. That should be all it takes to get Columbus in to the top 10.

Columbus ranks at number 147!

Eddy Monday at columbusING is concerned about the the fact that Columbus isn’t in the top 5 of MSN’s Best Cities for Young Singles:

I have to say after reading the list of cities that made the top 5 I am EXTREMELY dissapointed that Columbus didn’t make the cut. Whenever I read studies like this it makes me (as a Columbus citizen) feel like the kid at the playground whose always picked last to pay basketball, not because he sucks but because he’s home schooled. Check out the cities that made the list.

C’mon, Eddy, did you really think Columbus had a chance here? He has a good line comparing Columbus to one of the cities on the list: “I swear Austin is Marsha and Columbus is Jan Brady.”

And finally, Massey, also at columbusING, has an overview of several magazines’ lists of best places to live. We did well in Money Magazine and Forbes, but on the other hand Forbes ranked Columbus number 88 on best places for business.

Of course most of these lists are more about selling magazines than anything real. One might as well get worked up about a low score on a Cosmo quiz.