WASHINGTON – D.C tops the list of Outside Magazine’s “20 Best Towns in America.”
“D.C. is one of the greatest cities in the world, especially in the United States when it comes to being a city that is extremely rich in culture and has made a lot of smart changes in recent years toward greater sustainability, using its own best assets, instead of ignoring them,” says Jeremy Spencer, Outside’s senior editor. Spencer says D.C. and other places on the list “are riding the wave of civic intervention and fresh ideas” and are the “stars of America’s 21st century renaissance.”
The cities on the list “have turned things around for themselves” and have become “community-centric place to live,” Spencer says. The District topped the list because of its size and the amount of effort that went into making progressive changes.
Here are the top 10 towns:
1. Washington, D.C.
2. Chattanooga, Tenn.
3. Ogden, Utah
4. Portsmouth, N.H.
5. Tacoma, Wash.
6. Ithaca, N.Y.
7. Louisville, Ky.
8. Eureka, Calif.
9. Crested Butte, Colo.
10. Columbia, Mo.
I guess they’ve never been there. I am canceling my subscription to Outside Magazine. And BTW, Crested Butte isn’t even the best town in Colorado!
I thought the place was run by a bunch of con artists and pathological liers but maybe that’s just me.
Maybe other people see our national leaders the way they see themselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Barry
was this vote taken on diebold machines?
you said it best Uncle Dave when you told us all top any thing lists were from bullshit sessions in staff meeting rooms with no sense of reality
Maybe it depends on what you like to do “Outside”
The map is false. Guns were outlawed there YEARS ago. No criminal would break the law and carry one, must less shoot someone!
Cripes, Crested Butte is a ski area for well-off Californians. Everyone who works there – lives in Gunnison.
I smell a lobbyist payoff here. This doesn’t even make a believable lie.
Overpriced and full of crime! Sounds like the American dream.
This sounds like a “most improved” list, rather than “best”.
Like when the kid who usually gets all F’s finally gets a D.
That’s a far cry from “smartest kid in the class”.
Chattanooga Number 2?!?
I went there this weekend and it didn’t seem so great to me. It seems like Knoxville should be on the list if Chattanooga is.
5. Tacoma, Wash.
Yes – Tacoma has turned its self around. But it was more of a ‘nowhere to go but up’ situation. kind of like Detroit in the 1980’s.
Tacoma? Come on! Even the people who live in Tacoma only think of it as a place that everybody drives by on the interstate.
Thats pretty funny. I used to live right off route 1 near Crystal city.
D.C. is a huge headache to drive in, the rats are as big as dogs and your lucky not to get mugged if you walk anywhere on the streets. And the Potomac river smells like a sewer. Of course that was back in the 80’s when I was a long haired white boy living in an all black neighborhood. I’m sure its better now.
Funny, this article came out just recently…
“National Mall in monumental disrepair, activists say”
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/04/national.mall/
Where’s Oakland on that list? Should be at least number 3.
# Story Highlights
# National Mall’s backlogged maintenance needs are estimated at $258 million
# Officials, activists say America’s “front yard” in dire need of improvements
# Restrooms, parking, transportation, places to eat needed, activists say
# National Park Service: Three to four tons of trash generated on mall on average day
Ummm,
If this list is 1/2 true…i would hate to see the WORST towns to live in..
1. most people working THERE, dont LIVE THERE. they dont CARE what happens in this TOWN.
2. DC, is not considered part of the USA, it is OUTSIDE of all STATE governing..
3. those that WORK there, dont pay TAX THERE, no money stays in the area..
4. DC was built in a SLUM and a SWAMP…
List is a perennial joke. Couple of years back Morgantown, West Virginia topped the list. As a then resident I almost had to go to the ER I was laughing so hard. Good thing I didn’t have to though, since I’d have most likely died en route sitting in the god-awful traffic.
this list only makes sense on opposite day
I’m canceling my public libraries subscription to Outside Magazine.
D.C. homicides are homey’s popping caps in each others ass.
“progressive changes” is now the standard for judging greatness????
incredible
I can tell most of the folks who commented don’t live here in the DC metro area. Okay, I was like you all. I moved here from Nashville TN. A great town. I was skeptical like you all. The city itself is great for the creature comforts. Miles and miles of off road bike paths, Rock Creak Park is full of nature- not to mention the national zoo,it’s in the middle of the city and is larger than Central Park in NYC. Large areas of green space and world class museums, theater, Stadiums, ball fields and galleries. Yes there are areas not to travel and the local population has a over inflated sense of entitlement, but hey they don’t have any representation in congress so who cares. Eric is correct. In the counties right out of the city, are some of the most affluent areas in the country as well. I’d recommend this area to anyone.
McCullough your rejection of DC means you are a racist.
#24: Metrorail does not run to Frederick!!!
D.C. can be a very pretty city. In some places it kind of reminds me of Paris. But that is only in a few places if you look in one direction at the right time of day.
D.C. has big problems, though. Transportation is a bear, much worse than in many larger cities. There isn’t much tax base in the city itself. Most of the people with money live outside and commute in. This means that the district makes a lot of its money off of tickets.
Some areas, notably Chinatown, have been gentrified successfully. There are still large areas where you wouldn’t want to park your car or walk around at night, notably ALL of northeast.
D.C. has come a very long way since Marion “Bitch set me up” Barry made it the laughing stock of the entire country. That was before he did a bit in the slammer, and then got reelected.
During the bad old days police and government corruption was everywhere and very in your face. It was common for police to shake down drug dealers and then hotbox the squad car, or hand it off to their own people for redistribution.
The level of violence and criminality was shocking, now that I’ve seen the “modern” D.C.
Still this list of cities should say most improved rather than best. Those are two different things.
Many of you obviously don’t live here, or you’d know large chunks of the city are actually very livable these days. I live in a section of NW that not 10 years ago I drove through with the windows up and practically kicking the hookers off the tailgate.
NE still has problems, as does SE near the river, but overall it’s a great place to walk around, have dinner, and pick up a book to read while you sit at a fountain in one of the circles.
That is largely because of the huge amount of money that was funneled into the city over the past ten to fifteen years for housing and other development and a city government that gradually realized outside investment was a GOOD thing, not a source of bribes.
But you all can just go back to believing it’s a horrible place so that housing values will drop to where I can pick up a good condo.
As a matter of fact, yeah, it’s a baaaaad place, you shouldn’t come here evah.
Umm… as a Canadian that has lived in the U.S. (Nashville, TN to be exact), this is a joke. Where is Burlington, Vermont? Dunlop, Georgia (near Chattanooga)? And (imho), Cincinnati, Ohio?
Ugh DC.
Probably the worst traffic in the country.
Housing is so expensive that low level fast food employees have to be bussed in from 70 miles away.
Horrific crimes in the news every day.
After New Orleans and Detroit DC has to have the most corrupt local government.
They re-elected their mayor after he did time for buying crack for cripes sake!
I know two people who have quit high paying jobs with a Fortune 100 company rather than take transfers to DC.
ha i like the big halo of no murders around the capitol, but across the river, different story.