It was a misleading commentary, because Mr. Aho didn't even state the correct designation for U.S. News and World Report's ranking.
He wrote in his Eden Prairie News commentary that the ranking is for the "best cities in the nation." No, that's not what the ranking is for; it's for the "best healthy place to retire."
"Staying fit in the Home of Purple Power." That’s what the U.S. and News World Report Ranking is based on, not the "transportation or budgeting" prowess Brad Aho claims it's partially attributable to.
The U.S. and News World Report Ranking is based on a “mix of fitness options”, not "bugeting or transportation" options. It's based on "trails, parks and parkland" and local amenities that Brad Aho inherited from previous councils, which undoubtedly took prudent investment for decades. Investment in trails, city amenities that service the public and parkland are key to creating a livable city.
That includes critical services.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/best-places-to-retire/2008/09/18... [1]
Mr. Aho is certainly not responsible for "Eden Prairie Center, Lifetime Fitness, the Minnesota Vikings or Leona Mosow’s yoga classes," which are also mentioned in the article. In general with the exception of city services, local council members have very little control over factors outside their purview that effect city costs: state and county taxes and decades and decades of planning that got us to the point we're at today. (Butcher and Case can legitimally take some credit because they've been active council representatives, each for over a decade.)
Unlike Money Magazine, US News World Report’s ranking isn’t based on plentiful jobs, excellent schools, affordable housing or low taxes. And it’s not based on "responsible spending."
Minneapolis, not Eden Prairie, ranked third on Forbes List for America’s most affordable places to retire in 2008.
Behind those numbers are cost of living factors, housing affordability and inflationary pressures. All Forbes data was provided by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics and the U.S. Census.
http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-most-affordable-places-to-ret... [2]
What are city rankings really based on?
According to Governing.com, "these days, you can find city rankings based on just about any criteria imaginable. If you are so inclined, you can move to the Healthiest City for Women (San Francisco), the Best City for Dogs (Colorado Springs) or the Most Romantic City for Baby Boomers (Pittsburgh). It seems that every week, another magazine or news Web site has found a new "best of" niche.
But the most venerable and most well known is Money magazine's "Best Places to Live" issue. Eden Prairie was ranked 40th in 2008. Brad Aho forgot to mention that in his commentary. Published almost every year since 1987, it's the go-to guide for civic rankings.
Bert Sperling provides the data for the magazine's report. Here's the current take on Eden Prairie:
Compared to the rest of the country, Eden Prairie (zip 55347)'s cost of living is 42.91% Higher than the U.S. average.
Eden Prairie (zip 55347) public schools spend $5,517 per student. The average school expenditure in the U.S. is $6,058. There are about 15 students per teacher in Eden Prairie (zip 55347).
The unemployment rate in Eden Prairie (zip 55347) is 3.80 percent(U.S. avg. is 4.60%). Recent job growth is Negative. Eden Prairie (zip 55347) jobs have Decreased by 0.12 percent.
Eden Prairie has more physcians. But our air water and supefund sites are ranked low for quality-of-life compared to the rest of the U.S.
Health Eden Prairie, MN United States
Air Quality (100=best) 11 48
Water Quality (100=best) 27 55
Superfund Sites (100=best) 21 71
Physicians per 100k 370.2 169.7
Eden Prairie Residents Commute 15 to 29 min. 48.33% the average of U.S. cities commute 36.08%
http://www.bestplaces.net/zip-code/Eden_Prairie-Minnesota-55347.aspx [4]
"To keep these lists fresh — and to stoke ongoing interest — Sperling and other researchers change the factors they use to determine city rankings. One year, crime statistics may be given more weight. The next, education is treated as a bigger concern. The focus depends, Sperling notes, on what current issues resonate with the public. As a result, these lists can vary widely from one year to the next. For that reason, many people view these kinds of rankings as arbitrary. (That's right, ARBITRARY.) But the methodology doesn't really matter to the cities themselves. The effect is the same: Someone's called you the best place to live. You'd better be ready to deal with the title.
Sperling himself is the first to admit that his rankings can have a downside. "When cities appear in the top 10, it has a very significant effect on the interest they get from businesses and individuals. But a lot of places do see this as a double-edged sword. They're flattered by the attention overall, but they also feel like, 'Please don't tell anyone else about us. We like our town the way it is.'"
http://www.governing.com/articles/0802places.htm [5]
Based on the unreliability of Mr. Aho's assertion that the ranking is in part due to his co-management of the "budget and transportation," there's no way to look at the U.S. News Report article without stating his claim is blatantly false.
Right-off-the bat, his first campaign commentary, Brad Aho is gilding the lily, icing the cake, exaggeration at its worst.
Hyperbole aside, the U.S. News and World Report's best healthy place to retire," ranking has zip to do with Brad Aho.