Forbes’ ranking of Niles is well deserved

Published 7:56 am Saturday, September 9, 2006

By Staff
Well, how 'bout that?
Thanks to an email from Niles Main Street's Lisa Croteau late this week, we learned Niles has made the annual Forbes magazine list of the "Best Small Places for Business and Careers."
It's a national ranking of the top 200 small communities and Niles came in at 159.
That's pretty great by anyone's standards.
Forbes is known for its lists. In this ranking, the magazine looked at things like cost of doing business, the educational attainment of the community and other quality of life issues, like crime rate, cultural and leisure opportunities and job growth.
Niles came in at 82 among the 200 nationwide for access to colleges, which measured the number of four-year colleges in the area, giving extra credit for higher-ranking colleges.
We came in 136 in terms of cost of doing business, which measured labor and energy costs and costs of office space and taxes. Niles ranked a whopping 67 in terms of cost of living, a measure of housing, utility and transportation costs.
We're ranked 68 nationwide for our low crime rate, which was based on number of crimes per 100,000 in population in the area.
In the area of culture and leisure, we got our highest ranking of 64. This category ranked Niles' proximity to museums, theaters, golf courses, sports teams and similar activities.
We're 84th among small places nation-wide for the educational attainment of our population, which ranks the share of the population over 25 with a bachelor's degree or higher.
We're lower on the list – but still among the nation's top 200, in terms of income growth (170), job growth (178) and net migration (146).
The ranking is a fitting pat on the back for area's leaders in government and business.
We've always known Niles is a great place to do business. We're happy others recognize that, too.
About my gray hair…
Some of you may remember back in late spring, I mentioned in a column that I had decided to no longer color my gray hair.
I made a real big deal about it, wrote about how it was going to be authenticating and lots of other good things like that.
I need to learn to just keep my mouth shut.
Why? Because I recently fell off the no-hair-color bandwagon.
The truth is, I'm a weak woman. I just couldn't do it. I feel silly now, but I simply couldn't take all that gray hair! And it was really, really gray.
I gave up and, after five months, got my hair colored last weekend. I'm brown again, at least for the next three weeks or so, when I'll have to do it all over again.
Am I sorry I gave in to vanity? Kind of. What I learned is that I'm just not ready to give up yet. There's still some fight left in me.
Don't get me wrong. Gray hair can be alluring and sexy and all that. The growing out process isn't.
Maybe I'll try again in a couple of years, but when I do, I won't write a column about it. Like the process of growing older should be, I'll try to just age gracefully. Unfortunately, grace has never been among my best qualities.