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Re: Rank MVC cities

PostPosted: September 28th, 2011, 4:28 pm
by panther-state
Cedar Falls was ranked as one of the Top Ten "Most Livable (whatever the heck that really means) Bargain Markets". #4 Actually, along with Rochester, Pittsburgh, Lincoln, Ann Arbor and Fort Worth-Arlington. Here's
Waterloo, and smaller Cedar Falls along the Cedar River, recovered nicely after losing a significant part of the population during the agricultural recession of the 1980s.

John Deere is still the largest employer here, but the local economy has expanded to include more jobs in health care, other types of manufacturing and financial services. Unemployment is low, and the median home price was the lowest on our list at $114,700.

The adult population skews a little older, with many people past 65, but the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) in Cedar Falls adds a younger influence and a bit more cultural diversity and entertainment.

Cedar Falls and Waterloo both have an active visual-arts community. The Hearst Center for the Arts in Cedar Falls has two large galleries and classrooms, as well as a theater for films and studios for rent. UNI has its own exhibit space, and there's also the Waterloo Center for the Arts, a regional center for visual and performing arts that houses works by many artist,s including Iowa painter Grant Wood of "American Gothic" fame, as well as an interactive children's art museum. In summer there's the College Hill Arts Festival, where artists exhibit and sell their works in the parks of Cedar Falls.

"Cedar Falls has always had a reputation for its efforts, to maintain a high level quality of life for the citizens," says "Mr. Lucky," a former resident responding on a City-data.com forum. "Great schools, great parks and walking trails, the music festival every year, nice houses, the 'Parkade' (shopping area) downtown. What is there not to like?"

Locals don't have any professional sports teams to brag about, but many take in the UNI NCAA Division I Panthers.

Population: 163,486
Affordability index: 2.4
Unemployment: 6.35%
Job growth: 1.5%
Median home price: $114,700
Cost-of-living index: 82.7
Median household income: $47,100
Average commute time: 18 minutes
Commutes longer than an hour: 2.58%


Took out a lot of crap about Waterloo but...BOOM!

I have also seen Wichita and Des Moines listed pretty highly on "Top Cities to Raise a Family"; Des Moines usually in the top 10 and Wichita in the Top 25...however I believe thats mainly due to the suburbs of Des Moines (West Des Moines being the obvious #1 :Yea!: :Yea!: and then others like Altoona, Urbandale, Waukee, Ankeny and Johnston) as DM is pretty sketchy around the Drake area and East-side. All the good stuff is North and West of Drake :twisted:

Can't speak for any other MVC schools really although my buddy who plays for SIU tells horror stories about living in Carbondale, and Normal seems okay but nothing special. Omaha is alright too but pretty scary at times

Re: Rank MVC cities

PostPosted: September 29th, 2011, 1:58 am
by JayJ79
CaseyGarrisonforPrez wrote:Cedarloo is what I think the locals call it. It wasn't a bad experience for me but it was bleak and wintery. It is how I am imagined Stalingrad being like. On my way driving south across miles and miles of cold farmland I thought this must be what it was like when Napoleon retreated from Russia.

had no idea that Cedar Falls was the only place in the MVC that had winter. wow.

Re: Rank MVC cities

PostPosted: October 18th, 2011, 12:24 am
by MoValley John
I guess I'd rather be buyist than sellist.

Re: Rank MVC cities

PostPosted: October 19th, 2011, 10:02 pm
by uniftw
JayJ79 wrote:
CaseyGarrisonforPrez wrote:Cedarloo is what I think the locals call it. It wasn't a bad experience for me but it was bleak and wintery. It is how I am imagined Stalingrad being like. On my way driving south across miles and miles of cold farmland I thought this must be what it was like when Napoleon retreated from Russia.

had no idea that Cedar Falls was the only place in the MVC that had winter. wow.

Apparently Des Moines Iowa doesn't have winter, but an hour north in Cedar Falls, IA it is a completely different story....or Omaha, even though they are at basically the same longitude as DSM, and not that far south of CF.

Re: Rank MVC cities

PostPosted: October 20th, 2011, 9:29 am
by CaseyGarrisonforPrez
It has just been bleak when I visited there. The people weren't very friendly and just vast farmland all around. Very flat land. Not what I am accustomed to. My opinion is all I was voicing. Iowans as a people just make me chuckle sometimes. Des Moines isn't bad and Iowa City is okay even if it isn't as cool as Ames. And with not as pretty girls too. Culturally Iowans fascinate me. This thread is for entertainment, I don't mean to offend UNI fans and especailly Drake fans.

Re: Rank MVC cities

PostPosted: October 20th, 2011, 10:12 am
by DUBulldog
CaseyGarrisonforPrez wrote:It has just been bleak when I visited there. The people weren't very friendly and just vast farmland all around. Very flat land. Not what I am accustomed to. My opinion is all I was voicing. Iowans as a people just make me chuckle sometimes. Des Moines isn't bad and Iowa City is okay even if it isn't as cool as Ames. And with not as pretty girls too. Culturally Iowans fascinate me. This thread is for entertainment, I don't mean to offend UNI fans and especailly Drake fans.


Some Missourians make me chuckle a lot of the time.

What ever happened to GoSMSGo? or whatever his screen name was.

Are you less concerned about offending UNI fans than Drake fans?

Re: Rank MVC cities

PostPosted: October 20th, 2011, 11:01 am
by CaseyGarrisonforPrez
DUBulldog wrote:
CaseyGarrisonforPrez wrote:It has just been bleak when I visited there. The people weren't very friendly and just vast farmland all around. Very flat land. Not what I am accustomed to. My opinion is all I was voicing. Iowans as a people just make me chuckle sometimes. Des Moines isn't bad and Iowa City is okay even if it isn't as cool as Ames. And with not as pretty girls too. Culturally Iowans fascinate me. This thread is for entertainment, I don't mean to offend UNI fans and especailly Drake fans.


Some Missourians make me chuckle a lot of the time.

What ever happened to GoSMSGo? or whatever his screen name was.

Are you less concerned about offending UNI fans than Drake fans?


No, no, no. I think Drake fans are cool. Des Moines is cool, what happened to me there one time was an isolated incident. I don't particularly care for UNI or their fans however.

Missouri has a lot of different peoples. Pretty diverse culture. The Missou and Central Missouri fans make me chuckle because they are pretty backwards up here in M. Missouri State fans have a pretty sparkling reputation. We are well regarded and pretty knowledgeable especially in women's basketball. It doesn't suprise me that some would chuckle at us.

Re: Rank MVC cities

PostPosted: October 20th, 2011, 11:06 am
by valleychamp
LMAO

Re: Rank MVC cities

PostPosted: October 20th, 2011, 11:10 am
by DUBulldog
CaseyGarrisonforPrez wrote:
DUBulldog wrote:
CaseyGarrisonforPrez wrote:It has just been bleak when I visited there. The people weren't very friendly and just vast farmland all around. Very flat land. Not what I am accustomed to. My opinion is all I was voicing. Iowans as a people just make me chuckle sometimes. Des Moines isn't bad and Iowa City is okay even if it isn't as cool as Ames. And with not as pretty girls too. Culturally Iowans fascinate me. This thread is for entertainment, I don't mean to offend UNI fans and especailly Drake fans.


Some Missourians make me chuckle a lot of the time.

What ever happened to GoSMSGo? or whatever his screen name was.

Are you less concerned about offending UNI fans than Drake fans?


No, no, no. I think Drake fans are cool. Des Moines is cool, what happened to me there one time was an isolated incident. I don't particularly care for UNI or their fans however.


Don't worry Casey....I'm just messing with you a little bit. I should have put some kind of smiley at the end of my post to give you an idea I wasn't 100% serious.

Re: Rank MVC cities

PostPosted: October 20th, 2011, 11:15 am
by DUBulldog
Since there was a thread revival here, I'll just throw out this link

http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2011/07/12/americas-best-cities-for-young-professionals/

Forbes named Des Moines as the #1 place in the country for young professionals.....one of many high rankings for Des Moines recently (stolen from a post on a different site):

2011 Rankings

•U.S. News Says Des Moines is Richest Metro Area (June 2, U.S. News & World Report)
•Greater Des Moines ranks #2 in the Midwest and #16 nationwide for small business and population growth. (April 14, The Business Journals)
•Des Moines #5 Best Midwest Food Town. (March, Midwest Living)
•Des Moines named the best place to live on the Silicon Prairie, and one of 18 “coolest places to live in America.” (March 8, Men's Journal)
•Des Moines ranked in the top 100 socially networked cities. (March 8, Men's Journal)
•Des Moines Arts Festival #7 on list of Top 10 Fairs and Festivals (February 2011, AmericanStyle Magazine)

2010 Rankings

•Des Moines placed No. 35 out of the 200 largest metro areas in the United States in national brainpower rankings (December 23, compiled by Portfolio.com and American City Business Journals Inc.)
•Des Moines fourth in ranking of best business cities (December 20, Marketwatch)
•Des Moines ranks in the top 10 best cities for doing business for the second year in a row (December 20, Market Watch).
•Des Moines metro economy again rated in top tier (December 16, desmoinesregister.com)
•Des Moines among the top 10 American cities best situated for recovery (November 8, newsweek.com)
•Des Moines/West Des Moines rank #6 best cities to move to in America (October 27, Bestplaces.net)
•Des Moines is #14 among most attractive metros (Aug/Sept, Area Development)
•Des Moines is No. 2 on the economic performance list (June, Brookings Institution)
•Des Moines receives its fifth All-America City award (June, National Civic League)
•Des Moines is #1 place to raise a family (June, Forbes)
•The #7 pick in Kiplinger's Best Cities 2010 is fertile ground for new jobs (July, Kiplinger)
•Des Moines is rated the #1 place for business and careers by Forbes after ranking 7th last year (April 13, Forbes)
•Des Moines-West Des Moines Metro Area in Top 25 U.S. Cities with the Most Energy Efficient Buildings (March 23, EPA)
•Des Moines #26 on list of happiest, healthiest people (February, Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index)
•Des Moines: John & Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park listed as one of the 45 Best New Midwest Spots to Play, Eat & Stay (January, Midwest Living)
•Civic Center of Greater Des Moines ranks 17th in ticket sales in the Jan. 11, 2010 edition of Pollstar magazine’s annual list of the top 100 worldwide theater venues(January)



I have no idea how they came up with these rankings, or what they really mean.

Now, to the important stuff for MVJ.....we've got Maid-Rite and George the Chili King! :Cheers: