Men’s Health is back with another list that Fresno is near the bottom of: “Where America’s eligible women live.” Fresno ranked No. 97 out of 100, receiving an F grade, and beating out only Toledo (98), Bakersfield (99) and Las Vegas (100).
Washington D.C., because you’re wondering, ranked No. 1. Full results are on Men’s Health’s site under the headline “Where the babes are.” Makes it sounds super scientific, huh?
Per a press release from the mag:
To determine this ranking, Men’s Health examined data on the ratio of single women to single men, the percentage of college-educated women, the percentage of gainfully employed single women (all from the Census) and the number who work out (Experian Simmons).
Hmmm. I wonder what the ladies of upstart local blog The Full Moxie think about these findings.
UPDATE: Hey, so: false alarm. Fresno has not been voted drunkest city again. Not yet, anyway. Totally my bad; I chose to pretend this Fox News article — dated February 4, 2011 — was legitimate.
Thanks to the anonymous reader who kindly pointed out the error in the comments. If we knew who he was, we’d buy him a drink at the Brig later.
Hey, and feel free to keep commenting. The info may be old, but the topic is still something worth talking about.
Original: Hey, look at that. A certain men’s magazine has named Fresno America’s drunkest city for the second year in a row.
Instead of again going into detail about why this is bullsh*t, let me refer you to the blog post Mike Oz wrote last year on this very subject. An excerpt:
1. One of the main factors was DUI arrests. As anybody here knows, Fresno PD is out in full force trying to nab DUI offenders. In fact, we’ve been profiled by USA Today as a model for the rest of the country. Really, it sounds like Fresno won the title of “City with the most DUI checkpoints.”
2. Sometimes I think these researchers are drunk. Let’s just say that I don’t exactly trust their methodology. In 2005, this same magazine named us the 14th fittest city in the U.S., then turned around a few months later and ranked our eating habits 89th out of 101 cities, giving us an F. Make sense? Not really.
Our view on the matter hasn’t changed a bit: these lists are totally subjective and totally without merit. Want proof? The Daily Beast, that other frequent list maker, doesn’t even feature Fresno in its list of drunkest cities.
What say you, citizens? Is there something to Fresno’s ranking, or is it just a pile of hooey?
This year, Fresno jumped up from the bottom, passing San Antonio and Las Vegas (so now we’re only ranked 3rd from the worst). Here are the results for Fresno:
Voting for this year’s Fresno Magazine “Best of Fresno” awards has begun, and you can now vote online. I know The Beehive community has proven itself no fan of the “Best of Fresno” awards.
But there’s no snark or trash-talking here — I genuinely want you all to go vote. If we don’t, the same ol’ winners we complain about each year will probably just win again.
There are two separate ballots, so be sure to fill out both. Deadline to vote is May 31.
It’s no secret that I think most of these city-ranking lists have as much credibility as T-Pain’s singing career — but I think we’ve found the best example yet that they are total b.s.
WalletPop.com, which is some Web site owned by AOL, recently put out its “America’s Safest City Neighborhoods” list. Basically, they took the top 50 cities in the country (we’re No. 36 on that list, btw) and then did some number-crunching to determine the safest neighborhood in that city. They explain:
Using exclusive neighborhood crime data developed by Dr. Schiller at NeighborhoodScout.com, and based on FBI data from all 17,000 local law enforcement agencies, we found incredibly safe neighborhoods in every major American city. Some big cities offer neighborhoods that are among the safest of any place in the nation. Here we reveal for the first time the safest neighborhood in each of America’s 50 biggest cities
By now, you’re probably wondering — what did they pick for Fresno? Champlain & Perrin? The Tower District? Nope and nope. This survey’s result is far more absurd …
As you might have already heard, Fresno has topped another silly survey. This time we’ve been proclaimed “America’s Drunkest City,” an improvement from when we were No. 8 on the same list in 2007.
Of course, this has inspired the typical responses** we expect every time the survey-come-lately mentions Fresno: All the local news broadcasts were promo-ing it last night. Some Fresnans were using this latest survey to validate their ill will toward ol’ Ash Tree city. Some were celebrating it. And others realized it’s all a bunch of b.s.
Here’s the thing: This magazine only makes these lists so that all the news stations, newspapers and blogs will mention its name. (Notice that I haven’t here). If that’s not enough, here are three reasons why this study is totally watered down:
One of the main factors was DUI arrests. As anybody here knows, Fresno PD is out in full force trying to nab DUI offenders. In fact, we’ve been profiled by USA Today as a model for the rest of the country. Really, it sounds like Fresno won the title of “City with the most DUI checkpoints.”
It’s all the local news and stuff from the blogosphere that you need to Fres-Know.
SO FRESH AND SO CLEAN: Finally, Fresno’s Fresh & Easy markets have opened their doors, including the long-awaited downtown store. Head over to Fresno Famous for a review, to Central Valley Moms for a video and to the News Blog for a rundown of its green practices. [Fresno Famous/Central Valley Moms/News Blog]
FRESNOTAGOODIDEA: This is Conlan sets out to mock the campaign to change Fresno’s name, but ends up making a really good point — and does quite well with the mockery stuff too. [This is Conlan]
TALENT LOCAL: The Fresno Blogosphere has produced yet another great new series profiling the best of Fresno. This one is Travis Sheridan’s Talent Local segment, in which he celebrates skilled professionals — designers, photographers, lawyers, etc. — in Fresno. Definitely worth checking out. [Travis Sheridan]
As you might remember, I’m no fan of Fresno Magazine’s annual “Best of Fresno” list — not its results anyway. They’re usually laughable at best and depressing at worst.
Knowing that this year’s “Best of Fresno” party is Tuesday (go here for details, and cue jokes about the party being in Clovis) I knew it was only a matter of time before I came across the list. And only a few more minutes until I shook my head at it.
The entire list is below. I actually don’t think it’s as bad as years past. You guys can go at it in the comments about what doesn’t deserve to be there and what got snubbed. But I’ll offer up a few thoughts:
BALLOT-STUFFING? Is it just me, or do you think that Cool Hand Luke’s and Tahoe Joe’s were doing some ballot-stuffing?
LATE-NIGHT WINNERS & LOSERS: I’m happy to see Livingstone’s break into the pack. But I scold you, Fresno, for still making Taco Bell No. 1.
WEB WOES: Guarantee.com for best local Web site, huh? Talk about deja vu. Also interesting is that CBS47′s site was No. 2. I’m sure that has nothing to do with links to 47′s site on the Fresno Mag site, right?
The Contra Costa Times came to Fresno this week, on a mission to find intelligent life in Fresno. They were doing their own little inquiry into Fresno’s most recent accomplishment as the country’s unsmartest city (see what I did there?). They talked to me (cue joke about not finding intelligent life) and a few other much more intelligent than me. You can read their story here, and check out a video version below.
Also: I recorded an episode of KFSR’s The Pulse this afternoon that also talks about The Daily Beast’s list. Travis Sheridan was on with me. It’ll air at noon on Saturday on 90.7 FM. Oh, and if you missed my column on this topic, you should definitely give it a read.
Well, Fresno, I’m not sure what kind of silver lining we’re going to put on this one. I’ll just give you the bad news straight up.
The Daily Beast measured the intelligence of America’s 55 largest cities … and Fresno finished dead last.
The study looked at factors such as how many college graduates we have, how our educational institutions measure up and how many non-fiction books we read.
You can read all about the process on their site. Of Fresno, they wrote:
