Posted on 09/21/2009 8:26:44 AM PDT by george76
Orlando, the vacation destination for millions of families worldwide, is getting a bit of a smackdown: Children's Health magazine, in an issue on newsstands Tuesday, has ranked the 100 best and worst cities to raise a family -- and Orlando finished almost last.
Burlington, Vt., came in first, while Orlando finished 98th, ranking just above Miami and last-place Detroit.
What doesn't Orlando have? Editors at the magazine dinged the City Beautiful for its relatively low per-pupil spending, high crime rates, low homeownership rate, high unemployment and the number of sex offenders and missing children per capita.
Burlington, by contrast, was near the top in public-school funding, graduation rates and the percentage of adults who have advanced degrees. The median family income is also relatively high. "Its population is also exceptionally healthy," said Stephen Perrine, the magazine's editor. "Burlington has the fewest fast-food restaurants per capita, so it's no surprise that the city has less obesity than anywhere else in the country."
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
Orlando has become a toilet.
Aside from the crime rate, I don’t see the problem here. Orlando isn’t high on my list of places to live or visit, but higher spending on public schools don’t translate into a better standard of living for me ... more likely the opposite, in fact.
Burlington, VT? I wonder how many minorities live there? One? Racist liberals.
Burlington sounds like a place where they’ve driven out all but the rich and their 1.1 children per completed family. Is there a major university there?
Why isn’t DIVERSITY one of their criteria?
They use the DIVERSITY argument only when it supports their desired results.
Barf alert!!!
1: Per-capita spendign has no correlation with quality of schools
2: What the hell does fast food joints have to do with how good a place is for raising kids. I suppose Childrens Health prefers if parents blow their bank account buying food at Michele’s organic bobo farmers market.
3: Burlington, VT has only a population of around 40,000. How can you compare what is essentially a small town with large cities.
4: Of course Burlington has a high per-capita income when the only major employer in town is a medical center.
Orlando schools are horrible. We moved to a gated community out of the city in Sanford (connected) and my daughter was chosen to be BUSSED past the neighborhood school to some nasty school. Apparently there are only two counties in the US that still do this....Seminole County and another. Needless to say, I home schooled my kid until we got back to Texas and proper schools (at least in our district). Orlando was a nice place to live before school-aged kids. I talk to friends back there and they’re worried. Too many third-world illegals. Too many Haitians.
Burlington: 93% white.
So the black/illegal populations of Orlando vs. Burlington?? Naturally, that would have NOTHING to do with the crime and graduation disparities. It’s those damned FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS causing all of the problems!!!
I am sure that U of VT is probably there. University towns in the USA and UK are huge state welfare sink holes.
Online educational uni’s and education is advancing to the point that universities may become dinosaurs. Universities are just professional sports teams and entertainment anymore.
I know someone who works for a major uni doing research that is very well known. Lots of med research. He said the grant and funding chase is a scam. He setting getting grants is job #1 and the research is probably job #10.
Orlando is a disgusting big hole.
Bingo!!! U of VT is located in Burlington.
Demographics for Burlington, VT:
http://www.muninetguide.com/states/vermont/municipality/Burlington.php
White - 86.6%
Black - 3.4%
Latino - 4.3%
Asian - 1.9%
Other - 3.0%
Always has been.
Before the Rat came to town it was simply a cow town. Still has that attitude and though Orlando has become massive it still is a cow town surrounded by Palmettos.
Step 1. Pick city/cities you like.
Step 2. Gather a bunch of statistics about each city. It doesn't matter what they are, but you will need a pile of figures.
Step 3. Run solver on Excel to figure out the weighting to put on each statistic needed to make your city the top of the ranking.
Step 4. Present the list to everyone and pretend that the method is scientific.
Method 2.
An alternative method is to force high values on the weighting of your favorite topics. The NRA ranking of best cities will place a high value on per capita gun ownership. The NEA will place a high value on per student spending. Since your top picks probably already have those qualities, it shouldn't have much effect on the order.
Yup - just like other marxist college hell holes like Boulder, CO or Madison, WS, etc etc.
I drove around Boulder once and it was very white. A few token minority hipsters.
Uni towns are welfare sink holes propped up by govt welfare and parents money sending their kids to school to learning about drinking and sex.
My guess is they lie about the demographics and it is probably 95% white.
Wake County, North Carolina is probably the second system you mention that busses children by income levels. There are four School Board positions that will be voted on in November and the race is all about bussing for diversity.
They say this like it's a bad thing.
According to Wilkipedia, Burlington's population is 92 percent White, 2 percent Black, and 3 percent Asian.
Its cultural attractions include the Vermont Lake Monsters, an A rated minor league baseball team (affiliated with the Washington Nationals), and the Frost Heaves, a semi-pro basketball team.
Its sister cities include Elk, Poland; Yaroslavl, Russia; Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua; Bethlehem, Palestinian territories; and Moss Point, Mississipi. Notable residents include Howard Dean, Patrick Leahy, Bernie Sanders, and Ted Bundy.
IMHO, all this definitely qualifies Burlington as the best place in the U.S. to raise kids.
absolutely correct.
Why isn’t DIVERSITY one of their criteria?
They use the DIVERSITY argument only when it supports their desired results
I’d have to agree. It’s not the Orlando I grew up in the 50’s.
I grew up in Orlando and still visit family there frequently. Many of Orlando’s problems today stem from massive illegal immigration and an influx from Puerto Rico. The result was higher crime rates, more poverty, over burdened roads and schools, and rising public spending.
For all of the liberalism, the suburbs of NYC are still far superior places to raise children, if you have the money. If you don't want to go broke raising your kids, let me suggest the Dakotas, Indiana, etc.
Orlando is the anus of Florida. -— Clemenza, one-time resident of Boca Raton (1991-1994) and Miami (1999-2002).
Orlando’s really not so bad as long as your hold your nose while driving past.
Bussing for diversity? It’s disgusting. There is a legitimate, non-racially-motivated reason for “urban flight.” And when people decide to fly, they should be allowed to take their kids with them. I think it WAS Wake Co., NC that was the other one. I couldn’t believe it. Sad, sad situation there. Hope you get a competent new school board!
I drove around Boulder once and it was very white.
_______
LOL. Perhaps a glance at the migration of blacks after the turn into the 20th century would provide you insight into why a city like Chicago would be a higher percentage black than your example of Boulder.
Of course, this is the magazine that put Michelle Obama on its inaugural issue cover last month, so a grain of salt might be in order. Besides which, they rated Washington DC as “healthier” for kids than Manchester, NH (in my area). Um... yeah, sure...
Vermont, at least that I remember, redistributes the local taxes meant to fund schools as they see fit so no one area will have greater funding that the others. It's a mess. Burlington is a nice small city if you're just visiting. Living full time with the Marxist denizens and their never ending winter? No thanks.
I was raised in College Park and know Alba Dr. well. Classy neighbohood. Expensive homes. I remember Bumpy Hughes (ex CEO of Hughes Supply) lived on Alba.
Dumb in ANY city. I had a friend get his Camry stolen the same way a few months back.
Beautiful city
Respectfully disagree. Ass ugly swamp town with no coastline.
fun city
Compared to Barstow, yes. Compared to NYC or even Miami, no.
overrun with bums and Haitians
You forgot 'Ricans and their low IQ and gangbanging ways. I knew that sh-tholes like Kissimmee had become San Juan North/South Bronx south, but didn't know that Haitians had migrated north of Palm Beach County.
faking car accidents for insurance fraud.
This has been problem throughout Florida for some time, and the Haitians have raised it to an art form.
It's unbelievable, and dangerous.
Damn straight, which is why I will NEVER again live in the Sunshine State, even in retirement.
‘Frost heaves’ sounds like a combination of brain freeze and vomiting.
In addition to hotels, the construction industry hungered for cheap labor from illegals. The Orlando area does have some quality and high tech employers, but their contribution to the local economy is over shadowed by low wage employers. There are many smaller outlying communities in central Florida are still relatively cheap and pleasant.
That’s about the size of it. Several years ago, on a weekday afternoon, my brother beat off a carjacker in the parking lot of a Home Depot on east Colonial.
‘Frost heaves’ sounds like a combination of brain freeze and vomiting.
I was forced to post the team logo because I was afraid nobody would believe me -- making this my new all time favorite sports franchise.
Incidentally, a "frost heave" is a slang term for a pothole caused by freezing water (see above).
You have to admit, the "Burlington Frost Heaves" as a certain more elegant sound to it than the "Burlington Potholes."
We were under a desegregation order in Nashville (might still be), so I got bused downtown to inner-city schools from the suburbs in the ‘80s.
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