A Monstrous Conspiracy
Bert Sperling, co-author of the aforementioned Frommer’s Cities Ranked and Rated, has a rather amazing bio on Amazon:
Bert Sperling has been choosing our country’s Best Places for 20 years. He created Money magazine’s original “Best Places to Live” list, and his work continues to appear in the media on a monthly basis. His studies have become part of our national culture, appearing in The Simpsons, Jay Leno jokes, and questions on Jeopardy. His website, Sperling’s BestPlaces (bestplaces.net), has become a popular Internet resource, and provides content to other sites such as Yahoo!, MSN, eBay, and the Wall Street Journal.
Annually, his “Healthiest Cities for Women” study is featured in SELF magazine. Other recent projects include “Best Places to Retire” (MSN), “Best Cities for Women” (Ladies’ Home Journal), “Great College Towns” (Newsweek), “This Town Rocks! Best Cities for Teens” (Seventeen), “Best Places to Buy a Second Home” (Smart Money), “Best Places to Raise an Outdoor Family” (Outdoor Explorer), “Hot Dating in Small Towns (MTV), “America’s Best City to Live” and “Most Energetic City” (USA Weekend) and features in Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, Men’s Fitness, and Kiplinger’s.
Now, this is when the eerie realization starts to set in. Doesn’t that cover just about every best-of list that A2’s been on? This bio doesn’t mention it, but the “Least Stressful Cities” list that Ann Arbor appeared on a while back is also Sperling’s handiwork.
Could it be that the whole Ann Arbor bubble (the overvaluation kind, not the climate-control kind, unfortunately) is the work of one man? One very determined man who, by quietly taking over best-cities list after best-cities list, has singlehandedly created an empire of city bestness over which A2 rules with a non-pre-patinated copper fist? No, Ann Arbor never or almost never captures the very top spot on any of these lists - because that would be too obvious.
We think someone needs to tell the drawbridge crowd about this guy.
ok, nice conspiracy and all, but now you need to prove his Ann Arbor connection, yes your evidence of his monopoloy on city ratings is very keen, now we need to figure if he really has a A2 bias, and how he got it
posted by Just a Voice on April 15th, 2004 at 7:55 am eIf he’s related to Gene B. Sperling, chief economic adviser to president clinton, then there may be an ann arbor connection. But Sperling is apparently a common name.
posted by Anonymous on April 15th, 2004 at 9:27 am eI have dabbled in place ranking myself, and it’s dirty business.
If you’re trying to rank areas of radically different sizes, and make something publishable out of it, you don’t want Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles to always be the winners. Hence, you have to jiggle with the numbers and the weights so that random “interesting” smaller cities can rise to the top.
So what does that do? Affluence counts. White-breadedness counts. Crime rates are such an obvious thing to use, and the people who use them are so naive about the problems with the data, and so willing to draw facile and unwarranted conclusions. (Hint: I remember finding that the FBI Uniform Crime Reports had to do without any data from Ann Arbor in some fairly recent year.)
And they throw in all kinds of ludicrously bad or meaningless numbers. Population density sounds like a good metric, but it shouldn’t be used raw. Consider that the denominator may or may not include bodies of water, airports, etc. Chicago’s population density was noticeably reduced when it sent out a long tentacle to annex the vast and “unpopulated” O’Hare Airport complex.
With population density in the equation, cities which have taken in huge rural territories, like Oklahoma City or Jacksonville or Louisville, rise to the top.
I could go on, but your eyes glazed over several paragraphs ago.
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on April 15th, 2004 at 9:29 am e(And of course those rankings are based on the notion that low population density is a GOOD attribute of a city, which I’m sure most of us here would not accept.)
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on April 15th, 2004 at 9:35 am eI once spent a couple of days trying to find the most writers per capita in the US. If anyone is interested, going simply by word of mouth I goT SanFrancisco, Austin, Boulder-Denver, Vermont, Minneapolis, Montana, Key West and Reno, Nevada. It is tough, of course, to quanitfy what a writer is.
posted by Lucky Jackson on April 15th, 2004 at 9:59 am eSperling now lives in SE Portland.
posted by Brian on April 15th, 2004 at 11:20 am eActually, Larry, I thought that many of the “best places” indices (like Money Magazine) had gone to stratifying their rankings by population size and region to account for things like big-city/small-city and climate preference. I may be wrong, but I seem to remember that.
And I’m heartened that you could say that AA might not stack up well in a direct comparison to Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. You may be the first local to ever do so.
posted by Nick on April 15th, 2004 at 11:25 am eAnd Paris is better than Ann Arbor too. As is Tokyo. As soon as I finish my prelims I’m moving to Tokyo and all I’m going to eat is whale, and monkey brains. And I’ll have a shot of snake venom in my tea every morning and I’ll live forever. And I’ll laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh because I’ll know that everyone I ever knew in Ann Arbor is long dead, with most of them perishing in line outside of Cafe Zola on a cold Sunday morning. But not me! I’ll be famous. A famous professor! And I’ll have my own geisha and she’ll rub my feet. And no one in Ann Arbor has a geisha, now, do they? Which is one more thing to hate about Ann Arbor. That, and that PETA won’t let you eat whales. I do so miss the whales.
posted by Seething on April 15th, 2004 at 1:03 pm eI’m sure I wasn’t the first local to say that A2 doesn’t stack up well in direct comparison to Chicago, NYC, LA, SF or DC, but I don’t disagree with the premise or the subjective facts.
I’ve always been of the belief that for all the good things that A2 offers, it doesn’t scale up very well against the larger, more interesting, fun, culturally, socially, economically and politically diversity that larger, major metropolitian areas offer. For all the grit, and difficulty (density, stress, traffic, crime, etc) of living in cities like Chicago, SF, LA, Atlanta, etc. those areas have loads more to offer the people who live in those place.
Even though I’ve lived here for more that 30 years (and I love Treetown), I’ve been to all those big cities. I love them for everything they offer and all the challenges they make upon their residents. In comparison, A2 is relatively sterile and shallow.
posted by mucho (Tobacco Road) gusto on April 15th, 2004 at 1:05 pm eI’m not sure if he has a conscious A2 bias, or if he just controls every best-cities list and has been doing it so long that the same cities keep getting mentioned over and over again.
Anyone want to check to see if he owns real estate here?
posted by ann arbor is overrated on April 15th, 2004 at 2:23 pm eThere’s a Larry Sperling on Lincolnshire Lane, but no Bert in the city’s online database of property tax information. You know, you can look up anyone’s house. It’s kind of fun. Your Mayor, for instance, bought his house at 1900 Traver Road in 1995 for $113,000. It’s currently assesed at only $98,800, which seems pretty generous, but then would you reasses your boss’s house? You can even see a picture. It’s sort of early 70’s Brady Bunch Modern. There’s a bike on the porch even though there’s a foot of snow in the yard.
posted by torONTo on April 15th, 2004 at 2:45 pm eDoesn’t it ever matter that bigger cities are not homogeneous when these rankings appear? Detroit may be the pits, but it has some really nice suburbs. There are parts of Chicago I’d never dare to drive through in a humvee, but I’ve jogged beside the lakeshore. It’s easier to judge smaller towns, there’s just less variation to confuse things. Here’s my list of the local scene
Jackson: pits
posted by Mike Gorund on April 15th, 2004 at 4:32 pm eDexter: charming but trending down
Ann Arbor: endearingly pretentious except for Barton Hills area which isn’t endearing to anyone who doesn’t live there, in fact, downright hostile
Saline: problematically unpretentious
Chelsea: problematical, but in an endearing kind of way
Ypsi: pits
Why is being unpretentious problematic?
I’m not sure I agree in Saline’s case, anyway. Isn’t Saline where people move when Ann Arbor becomes too much for them?
I confess to being an online property database junkie. I know that’s really awful but I can’t help myself…In fact, I already knew all that about the mayor.
posted by c-loh on April 15th, 2004 at 4:45 pm eWhen they move to Saline they still think like A2 folk, but feel obliged to act like simpleton villagers. I’ve seen them go schiz.
posted by Mike Gorund on April 15th, 2004 at 5:01 pm eI thought the way assessments worked was that the house + lot is assessed at 50% of its purchase value?
posted by Alex on April 15th, 2004 at 6:12 pm ePeople used to move to Saline to get away from Ann Arbor. But it followed them there, and did a 180° on the way down Michigan Ave.
Wherever you go, there you are.
posted by mucho gusto on April 15th, 2004 at 7:18 pm eYpsi is pits, Mike? Well, hey, more Elbow Room for me.
posted by js on April 15th, 2004 at 7:31 pm ejs
Assessed taxable values are loosely based on the 50% rule. It’s a rule of thumb. And for developed property it is the value of the home and the lot. But that percentage depends on the dwelling’s location. The taxable valuation would be a lower percentage on a property’s market value if it’s located in a more desirable neighborhood. The percentage taxable valuation of a home on the east side of Ypsi, when compared to a similar property in the OWS in A2, is probably higher as it’s market value would be lower.
When there are bidding wars on nice homes in desirable neighborhoods the rule isn’t necessarily true. Thus some of the properties in A2 are undertaxed if valuation is actually based on half of a property’s market value.
N’est pas?
posted by Anonymous on April 15th, 2004 at 7:36 pm eNo, it’s both simpler and considerably more complicated than that. Don’t get me started.
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on April 15th, 2004 at 8:24 pm eMr. Sperling thinks A-Squared is so best. Obvs.
posted by RDS on April 15th, 2004 at 8:53 pm eI just stumbled across this site… was unable to send a general email (this is not a comment on the Sperling thing)
Ann Arbor really is overrated. I am pleased to find I’m not the only one who
thinks this. But I worry… are you all just a bunch of Ypsi zealots in
disguise? Because I hate them too.
But the reason I write is because I want to read more of your site… but I
posted by M on April 15th, 2004 at 9:12 pm ecan’t. White type on a black background is THE worst possible design choice
you could have made. Please consider making your site more readable. And
let me know if you do, ’cause then I’ll be back to read more.
Hmmm
posted by Anonymous on April 15th, 2004 at 11:29 pm eI have also been meaning to address issues of accessibility with you. As M’s post makes clear, people of all abilities dislike Ann Arbor, and would certainly enjoy taking an active roll in this community. To that end, it clearly behooves you to examine your page to ensure that it complies with all of the automatic and manual checkpoints of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. At the very least, you will need to come into compliance with all of the Priority 2 guidelines. M’s post highlights the urgency of this, and though I wouldn’t presume to discuss her/his ability issues, I can discuss my own. As a person who has suffered from cataracts, I too have difficulty reading white text on a black background. It is a peculiar fact of my life that green text on a pink background is most soothing to my eyes, but I would never suggest you adopt such a color scheme unless the opinions of others seemed to overwhelming be in favor of it(?). As a matter of actual practice, I generally use a device that allows me to have your postings and commentary read aloud to me through a pair of headphones. For this reason, I often find the obscenity that you allow, and seem to even encourage, particularly grating. You see, when one is reading, and encounters a vulgar word, one can simply allow one’s eyes to skim over it. But when one is being read to, one is somewhat unprepared for the precise enunciation of the inelegant syllables being spoken directly into one’s ears. I have occasionally found myself at a cafe, squirming uncomfortably at some of the graphic language I’ve had whispered intimately to me. For this reason, I would be very gratefull if you could reign in the boisterous spirits of some of your enthusiastic young friends.
But that’s neither here nor there as far as accessibility is concerned. Prudishness is still not a recognized disability, though one holds out hope.
So please, I cannot state this strongly enough. Please take some time, and seek some assistance from experts (one of whom I am certainly not), as you consider the needs of your community. I can only assume, that a site as popular as this has fans who labor under every affliction known to humankind, people who are already suffering the moment by moment degradations and oppressions of life in Ann Arbor, and who then find their voices silenced here, even here, where they might otherwise find solace and succor.
One is put in mind of that poor, sweet, troubled creature who was so angry with the Jewish people last month. I hope she’s getting some help.
posted by Jon on April 16th, 2004 at 9:41 am eLike old people don’t curse?
posted by Alex on April 16th, 2004 at 10:16 am eAccessibility standards are a fine thing. But in the immediate term, anyone who is troubled by web site color or font size choices can always set their browser, either temporarily or permanently, to override those with choices of their own.
I have done this myself at times.
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on April 16th, 2004 at 11:31 am ePersonally, I think that black text on a black background would be a far worse design than this. Second worst would be, say, blinking hot pink text on a dayglo orange background. White text on black is somewhere around 200th worst, and, even then, only if you’re not very creative.
As much as I really would like to see Larry cut loose on the property tax explanation (remember that he’s running for office as Washtenaw Co’s register of deeds), there’s a pretty good (simple/clear) explanation of Michigan’s taxable value system on the Freep’s webpage.
If you’re nerdy enough to still be curious after reading that, I’m sure Larry’d be happy to help you out.
posted by Murph on April 16th, 2004 at 4:50 pm eThis is my first visit to this site, so my apologies if I’ve missed previous evidence otherwise, but the comment above re: white type on black background being only 200th worst seems a bit moronic. The original suggestion/request to change things so the site is more accessible wasn’t talking web-fashion or attractive color combos. There are many conditions that make white on black extremely difficult to read, if not impossible - it’s a neurology thing. Sometimes I wish people with such little sensitivity to differing abilities would get the chance to walk a mile in those shoes before they open their mouths (or keyboards) again… And it occurs to me that much of what many folks here claim to despise about A2 is personified in the snobbish “we like our color choices - if you don’t like it go to ypsi…” commentary above. seems kindof hypocritical.
posted by cm on April 17th, 2004 at 10:17 pm eC’mon, AAIO- what about people who, in their differently-but-by-no-means-not-as-entitled-to-blog-content-ly-abled state, can’t even read? I think that it’s rank hypocricy not to personally visit their houses and read the updates and comments for them every day!
posted by js on April 19th, 2004 at 12:53 am eAnd just to show that you’re willing to change yourself to fit their needs, you should come up with different voices for every poster here (regular or driveby), and keep a handy audio key to let those who may not be able to keep Peter and the Wolf straight (who are, again, no less deserving of piping hot “content”) know that Anna is the one who sounds like an Eli woman, and Nick is Pittsburgh by way of LA.
Also, you should bring them soup and feed it to them.
Joshua, your sarcasm is very witty, and I am convinced that you have a bright future ahead of you in realms literary, but I might remind you that sarcasm, when so biting, can be hurtful. It is also, of course, frequently a defense posture. Do you have something to be defensive about? Did you yourself have trouble learning to read? Many of us did. I myself was dyslexic and it wasn’t until my third grade teacher, Mrs. House, literally held my hand and guided it as I wrote that I began to make the connection between letters and words and meaning. Difficulty reading is nothing to be ashamed of, especially for one such as you, who have so thoroughly overcome it.
Now, of course it would be silly for AAiO to gallivant around town (and heavens, the country!) to read this website to people. He could much easier telephone them. But I’m sure that he’s already more than busy enough with his studies, and with the composition of his intricately clever posts for this site. Even spending a few hours each day on the phone would be a poor use of his time. Probably much wiser to employ someone else to do it, or a team of people if the service proves popular, and perhaps a separate team to transcribe the spoken thoughts of people and enter them into these discussions. I’d wager that many of us would take advantage of such a service.
In the meantime, as I said earlier, there are software programs that can read to you, and even select different voices for different “characters”, which is done by analyzing their speech, or on-line posts, and assigning them a personality based on the idiosyncrasies of their “voices”, or language patterns. You, Joshua, you may be flattered to hear, have the voice of one of my favorite characters: Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. It’s perfectly adorable every time you speak, and without that voice, I daresay you mightn’t have become one of my favorites!
I am pleased to see so many of you jumping on the accessibility “bandwagon”! (There’s an old joke about the accessibility bandwagon, and the difficulty certain people face in jumping on, but it’s rather long, so I’ll spare you). Pleased, even despite the exaggerations one or two of you resort to to make your points. We know you’re acerbic and wry, Joshua, but we also know about the difficulties you’ve overcome, and because of that we’re confident that your heart is in the right place. Bless you!
posted by Jon on April 19th, 2004 at 4:08 pm eThank you, Jonathan, for validating my triumphs over my many disabilities. I cannot tell you how much the palliative polite praise of strangers on the internet has made dealing with my many shortcomings so much more manageable.
posted by js on April 20th, 2004 at 3:55 am eFor, not a lot of people know this, but I was born not only with a rare form of dyslexia that makes it hard for me to read while tapping on my eyes with my fingers, but even further was born without proper eyes at all.
Even more tragic, as my family was poor, I had to forgo the traditional glass eyes for painted and sanded blocks of pine. Yes, they were also lacquered. We were poor, not barbarians.
This hideous deformity not only hampered my reading ability (I only read now through an elaborate form of reflective sonar, in which I feel the minute variations in typography through horrible screeches rebounding into special pores which evolution has thankfully blessed me with), but also my ability to socialize. I’m sure you can only imagine the unfortunate emotional outbursts every time I confused the phrase “Would I?” with a derogatory comment about my own wooden eyes. The tears I wept gave the scent of a car freshener of despair.
And while I feel duly flattered by your reading my comments in the Eeyore voice from Pooh, I must admit an unfamiliarity. Your comments on my defensive sarcasm have finally given me the courage to bring this up, but I imagine that long-time readers of my column (or reviews) must have suspected it: I have no ear for any form of pitch or tone commonly understood by human ears. No, intonations and timbres all sound the same to me, leaving Eeyore to be indistinguishable from Piglet or Tigger. However, when I use my tongue to read the Braille lettering (I must have mentioned being born without arms at some point), I do give Eeyore what I understand to be known as a ’saucy Mexican accent,’ replete with trilled r’s and suggestive inflections bordering on obscene. Or, at least that’s why the librarians say I’m no longer welcome at the Main branch. ‘The childen,’ they say, ‘must learn that Pooh is nothing nasty.’ But I give my apologies to A.A. Milne.
Thank you, Jon, for finally giving the the courage to admit that in a pile of leaves I’d be a Russel, and in the ocean I’d be a Bob. In the parish, I’d be a Neil, in a pot I’d be a Stu. But here, Jon, I’m no cripple next to you.
Bless me, Jon? God bless us, every one.
js
Look how creative you are, Joshua! I was delighted to read your post. So many clever details, a veritable whirlwind of prose. Reading it has left me flushed and short of breath! My one quibble would be that perhaps it was a little “much”. Is it possible, do you suppose, that in your enthusiasm for your topic you piled on too many clever details? Which is to say that sometimes humor suffers when one lays it on too thick. But nevertheless, a masterful effort. Your future is as bright as I had thought. A real triumph!
I do have one concern, and I won’t beat around the bush about it. Are you a drinker, Josh? I only ask because reading your work has put me in mind of a dear friend, a former lover in fact, and also named Josh. He was a delightful person when sober, but absolutely mad when drunk. He would lock himself in his study and type furiously all night, crafting prose very much like yours. It was dramatic, exciting, unbridled, but also uncontrolled. Too full of ideas, but with no coordination. In the morning he could scarcely remember writing any of it and could never later put any form to it. Infuriated he would begin drinking again, and the whole process would repeat. Sometimes at 3:55 in the morning he would send out wild, brilliant, incoherent e-mails. Does this sound at all familiar? Of course I hope that it doesn’t. I hope that the recklessness of your prose is merely a byproduct of youth and hormones, but if I have struck at all near the truth, please seek help. I can recommend several good therapists and one or two effective service organizations. If only my own dear Josh had sought help, or I had known then how to help him.
posted by Jon on April 20th, 2004 at 10:44 am eOh, Jon, I remind you of a former lover? You sure know how to make a boy swoon.
posted by js on April 21st, 2004 at 1:59 pm eAnd no, what forced my fingers on was the sweet muse of procrastination during finals, not drink.
Though I do find it comforting that I can arouse sympathy in the former paramours of lushes.
Joshua, as we both know alcoholism is a disease, a dissability, and not something to feel ashamed of. Pejoritives like “lush” really should have no place in your vocabulary, especially since I am quite certain that I was, if not in this precise instance, at least in a general sense, correct in my diagnosis. When you disparage alcoholics, one detects the faint hint of self loathing about you. It’s frightening. Please, Joshua, let me make you an appointment with a clinician of my acquintance. She’s very talented and works with a lot of troubled young people. Why, she often jokes that she’s treated half of Community High School! Would you mind if I ask her to e-mail you via your livejournal site? I would hate to have to embarass you by staging an intervention right here on AAiO.
I might also add that your sarcasm vis-a-vis my revealed sexual orientation leads me to wonder about latent issues on that front as well.
No matter, my friend can go over all of it with you.
posted by Jon on April 21st, 2004 at 3:33 pm eJon, I delight in your continued attempts to solve everything with counselling. I can only imagine that having people talk to you in soothing tones got you through some tough times, and now you want to share. Good for you Jon, but you must understand that the well-meaning comments of a rather naff internet stranger are very unlikely to influence actual behavior change.
posted by js on April 22nd, 2004 at 4:36 pm eBut perhaps this is something that you can discuss with your mental health professional- your need to fix people. You know, Jon, trying to help other people without their desiring help often a sign of deep unhappiness on the part of the the prospective helper. Maybe your neediness stems from some other source, Jon, but I think you would be happier if you looked into it. Perhaps then you’ll stop seeing the phantoms of disease in other people’s posts.
But please, go ahead and stage an intervention, Jon. Being able to have that kind of mock-power might do you some good, and allow you to relinquish some of your own issues.