Thursday, December 27, 2007

Phoenix falls flat on list of fun cities (Phoenix Business Journal)

A new survey done by Bizjournals ranks the Phoenix metro area 42nd among the 50 largest metro areas in the U.S.

The Dec. 21 issue of the Phoenix Business Journal reviews the results in an article titled, "Phoenix falls flat on list of fun cities".

Highlights:

The study ranked the cities in fourteen fields from the following seven categories:
  • Shopping -- Retail trade establishments
  • Food and drink -- Full-service restaurants; drinking places
  • Culture -- Museums and historical sites; performing arts
  • Popular entertainment -- Motion picture and video exhibition establishments; spectator sports establishments; amusement parks and arcades
  • Gambling -- Gambling industries
  • High-impact sports -- Fitness and recreational sports centers; skiing facilities
  • Low-impact sports -- Golf courses and country clubs; marinas; bowling centers
The article cites three main challenges facing the area:
  • suburban sprawl
  • lack of a dynamic central core
  • limited public transportation
Here is the top 13:
1. New York City
2. Boston
3. Chicago
4. Los Angeles
5. Seattle
6. San Francisco/Oakland
7. Minneapolis/St. Paul
8. Pittsburgh
9. Philadelphia
10. Providence (PHX got crushed by Providence???)
11. Miami
12. New Orleans
13. Las Vegas

Here's how Phoenix fared in each of the categories: (including the top and bottom ranked cities)

Shopping: 46 (1 - Boston; 50 - Riverside/San Bernardino)
Food and drink: 36 (1 - NYC; 50 - Memphis)
Culture: 45 (1 - NYC; 50 - Detroit)
Popular entertainment: 30 (1 - LA; 50 - Jacksonville)
Gambling: 20 (1 - Las Vegas; 46 (tie) - Orlando, Salt Lake City, Columbus, Birmingham, Memphis)
High-impact sports: 40 (1 - Boston; 50 - Memphis)
Low-impact sports: 17 (1 - NYC; 50 - Salt Lake City)

Overall pitiful results for the 5th largest metro area in the U.S.

I love this section from the article:

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"Phillips said he is stunned that metro Phoenix would be ranked so low in the survey. He pointed to the numerous cultural attractions, including art galleries, the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, the Museum of Modern Art, luxury shopping and the Parada Del Sol."
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(Mike) Phillips is a spokesman for the City of Scottsdale. Noted, most of the people interviewed for the article are biased (i.e. Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman)...but stunned??? This guy is in serious denial! That, or he needs to do a bit of traveling to other cities.

We need to get out of here soon...

12/28 update:
I found the full rankings:
America's Fun Cities: Rankings for 50 markets (bizjournals.com)


4 comments:

Jay said...

Hear Hear! I think we've known this all along in our hearts. Even the writers were in denial, they didn't even link to the study! Did you find it anywhere?

Andy said...

The online version was missing a few of the tables found in the print edition. Also note -

"Bizjournals is the research arm of the Phoenix Business Journal's parent company, American City Business Journals of Charlotte, N.C."

Andy said...

FYI - here are the full rankings:

America's Fun Cities: Rankings for 50 markets

Anonymous said...

Wow, Seattle is #5. :)