Kansas City Makes A Great Cut

Yes sir! Kansas City makes part of a great top ten, nationally:

The Top Ten Cities for Creatives

From The Huffington Post . First, a bit of a description:

A thriving creative class is a key feature of nearly every successful modern city. A vibrant culture is not only valuable in its own right, it also often serves to attract and inspire talented workers in non-creative fields, creating a rising tide that benefits the entire city...

...the financial realities of creative fields such as dance, photography and music often mean that creatives cannot afford to live in many of the places where they have historically had the most success and influence. Cities like New York and Los Angeles have, simply put, become too expensive for many working artists.So which cities present the best opportunities for today's creative workers? To answer that question, SmartAsset compared the cost of living in major U.S. cities to the concentration of creative workers in those cities. We considered 28 different professions in our analysis, including jobs like graphic designer, choreographer and photographer.

And here it is. Kansas City makes the top 10, nationwide:

10. Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City has emerged in recent years as a creative hub to rival those in the northeast and on the West Coast. The city's Crossroads Art District has gained national recognition for both its growth and the quality of its offerings. Crossroads alone has more than 70 art galleries, to go along with larger institutions like the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.

Now, then, what's interesting, though, and what needs to be mentioned  and acknowledged, too, though, great as this is for KC, is that nearby neighbor Des Moines, Iowa "beat us out" at the number 8 spot and none other than Omaha, Nebraska came in at 7. 

 Gadzooks.

We gotta' get busy, Kansas City. We have to do better.

Quote of the day, after Iowa caucus

The big Iowa endorsement: oh, here's a shock, huh?

Breaking Republican political news: Des Moines Register backs Mitt Romney for GOP nomination Wow, didn't see that coming, huh? Link: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/des-moines-register-backs-mitt-romney-gop-nomination-014155146.html

"15 Best Cities for Young Adults"? Not KC

Yes, indeed, another list, another ranking. This one also by Forbes Magazine ranking, as I said, the "15 Best Cities for Young Adults" and Kansas City ain't on it. But Omaha? Number 5. And Des Moines? Number one, for pity's sake. Yow. We gotta' get busy, folks. Links: http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mhj45effk/introduction#content?partner=yahoo; http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mhj45effk/5-omaha-neb; http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mhj45effk/1-des-moines-iowa

Another local link in The New York Times Sunday

I love looking in The NY Times on Sunday for, well, anything and everything, really, because you just never know what you'll find.  It's like life on a hallucinogenic, that paper.  It's great.  Mind-blowing, even.  What a fantastic way to end and start a week.

And I love checking out the "Vows" section each week, even, because, unlike all the rest of the parochial, condemning newspapers across the country, the Times can and does show marriages, however few, between same-sex couples.

So there one was this week and it had a local connection, too:

Jack O’Kelley III, John Haskins

Jack O’Kelley III and John Alan Haskins were married Saturday evening at Meridian House in Washington. Judge Barrington D. Parker Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit officiated.

Mr. O’Kelley (left), 43, is a partner in New York for Heidrick & Struggles, an executive recruiting and consulting firm. He advises boards and companies on succession planning for chief executives. He graduated summa cum laude from Hampton University and received a law degree from Yale.

He is the son of the late Maxine H. O’Kelley and the late Mr. O’Kelley Jr., who lived in Burlington, N.C. His mother was an assistant superintendent of the Burlington City school system. She was a member of the board of governors of the University of North Carolina System and a founding director of MidCarolina Bank in Burlington. His father was the chairman of the Alamance County Commission and also a member of the board of governors of the University of North Carolina System.

Mr. Haskins, 48, is an associate managing editor of The International Herald Tribune in Paris, which is published by The New York Times. He graduated from the University of Missouri.

He is the son of Joyce Lee Johannsen of Manchester, Mo., and the late John Lee Haskins, who lived in Des Moines. His mother retired as a public affairs specialist for the Army Reserve Personnel Center in St. Louis. His father owned Gold Coast, a tavern in Des Moines.

My real reason for posting this--besides the fact that he's a local boy--is to point out that, if Mr. Haskins stayed in the area, he wouldn't have this option, unless he drove up to Iowa, got married and came back.

And even then, the Star couldn't and wouldn't show it in the Sunday paper.

Here's hoping for an open-minded, accepting and equal future for us all one day.

And the sooner, the better.

Link:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/fashion/weddings/08OKELLEY.html?ref=weddings

Manhattan, KS on "Best Small Cities" list

Yes, you read it right--Manhattan, Kansas makes it--at number 3, no less, out of 10--on Forbes Magazine's "best small American cities for business and careers". Good on ya', "Little Apple": ...Manhattan, Kansas, Bismarck, N.D., and Logan, Utah round out the top five cities on our list.." while "Iowa was the clear standout in the ranking with five metros in the top 20 including Iowa City, which ranked No. 2 (Des Moines nabbed the top spot on out the list of bigger metros). Other leading Iowa metros include No. 13 Waterloo, No. 14 Sioux City, No. 15 Dubuque and No. 17 Ames. They share some similar characteristics like business costs at least 16% below the national average and crime rates that fare at least 16% lower. These metros are all home to top-ranked colleges that churn out a steady crop of highly educated labor Not to be outdone, our own Columbia, Missouri makes it at a very strong and respectable no. 8 so good for you, Mizzou. A final note, you might look at that entire list- and see that most all of that list--6 out of 10--come from right here in the heartland, too, folks--Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and North and South Dakota. There's something to be said for living right, don't you think? Link to original post: http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-best-small-cities-for-business-and-careers

Best city to raise a family?

Well, Des Moines has done it again.

They've come out on top of a list of "best"--this time, the "Best City to Raise a Family." It comes from Forbes Magazine.

I have to say, as an aside, this is fairly clever on Forbes' part as the magazine repeatedly gets quoted for these rather arbitrary rankings, first, and second, Americans love rankings and competitions, if even phony ones. Also, they only rank the "top ten", it seems, so we have no way of knowing where Kansas City ranks.

So hats off to you, Des Moines--great job.

The cities were ranked on cost of living, crime rate, commuting, household income, home ownership, homeowner costs and education.

There are some notable points of this list:

First, New York State was the one state that had more ranked cities in it than any other: Buffalo-Niagara Falls (10), Albany/Schenectady/Troy (9), Syracuse (4) and Rochester (3). For one state, that's fairly outstanding. New York State gets kudos, too.

Second, Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh-7 and Harrisburg-2) and Utah (Ogden-6 and Provo/Orem-5) each had 2 top ten rankings. Not shabby.

Third, I'm thinking our local political and city leaders shouldn't maybe mosey up to Des Moines in the near future, to see what they're doing right that we could emulate.

Fourth, I think we should try, if anything, shrinking our city limits so the core of the city is valued more and we don't keep sprawling. It hurts us maintaining all of it (sewers, streets, schools, etc.) and makes commuting that much worse, too.

Finally, I know our local crime rate hurts us, of course, in this ranking but I'm wondering if those same local political and city leaders (hear that, Mr. and Mrs. Mayor, etc?) might look at these and, after addressing our most pressing problems (especially the shootings, murders, murder rate, drive-by killings, etc.), they might not try to get us higher on these categories, for our own benefit.

That would make this list a valuable assist to us, at least here in town, so we could make this a better place to live yet.


Link to original post:
http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/04/best-places-family-lifestyle-real-estate-cities-kids_slide.html?partner=yahoore