Neighbors bask in sunlight of Fayetteville’s latest ‘best city’ honor
Posted on Friday, June 20, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/229144/
The honor went to Fayetteville, but the top person at the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce knew he could brag about it, too.
Raymond Burns, the chamber’s president and chief executive officer, said he posted a notice on the chamber’s Web site last week that Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine has selected Fayetteville as the nation’s seventh-best city.
Burns made sure it was clear on his chamber’s site that the distinction wasn’t exclusive to Fayetteville. Kiplinger’s “city” meant the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers metropolitan statistical area.
“At the end of the day, it probably should be Northwest Arkansas,” Burns said.
The latest national attention is the perk of being Fayetteville, big brother to the smaller cities and towns that make up the metropolitan statistical area.
“It’s not offensive, but it is misleading,” said Rogers Mayor Steve Womack. “You can’t just zero in on Fayetteville. Rogers is just as much a part of that Kiplinger report as Fayetteville is.”
So are Bentonville, Bella Vista, Siloam Springs and two dozen towns with a thousand or more residents each in Benton, Madison and Washington counties in Arkansas and McDonald County, Mo., said Bob Frick, a Kiplinger’s senior editor who was in charge of the “best cities” project, ap- pearing in the July issue.
Houston received the top spot on the magazine’s list followed by Raleigh, N. C.; Omaha, Neb.; Boise, Idaho; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Austin, Texas; Fayetteville; Sacramento, Calif.; Des Moines, Iowa; and Provo, Utah.
The magazine describes Fayetteville as a “funky green valley” and university town with 419, 455 residents that’s “within reach of Wal-Mart’s corporate backyard.”
The population refers to the metropolitan statistical area; Fayetteville’s population is 67, 158.
Before the first best cities list was published three years ago, Frick said editors discussed whether to mention only a city or to list regions.
“We were going to offend people one way or the other,” Frick said.
Those unfamiliar with Northwest Arkansas are likely to see only the headlines that rank Fayetteville as a top town and make no mention of the other cities, said Paul Justus, a planner with the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission.
“It’s a perception,” Justus said. “We know there are quality of life places to live in Rogers and Springdale and the other cities, but people in California don’t.”
Fayetteville adds the latest distinction to a list kept by city spokesman Susan Thomas since 2003.
Fayetteville claims 42 national distinctions, including best college town, best business place, best city to relocate a family, fabulous place to retire, best small place, hottest midsize city, best place to live and top town for grownups.
Some of those distinctions were based on amenities in surrounding towns and mentioned that the designation was intended for the metropolitan statistical area.