The latest news about Maine lakes and ponds.

U.S. News: Portland a Top Retirement Destination

September 24, 2008 - PORTLAND -- Portland will land on another Top 10 list next week, when U.S. News & World Report names the city one of its "Best Places to Retire."

In its second annual retirement issue, set to hit newsstands on Monday, the magazine touts the city's network of public trails and its proximity to outdoor opportunities as attractive to seniors.

"What we loved about Portland is that it was just so easy to stay active and healthy there," Kimberly Palmer, a senior business editor at U.S. News, said Thursday.

Portland is listed alongside cities such as Boulder, Colo., and Punta Gorda, Fla., in the magazine. The final cities were not ranked from No. 1 to No. 10; they were just included as a group.

City and AARP officials hailed the rankings as free publicity that will enhance Portland's reputation.

Retirees are a sought-after lot because they do not strain city services, bringing few children to schools and often serving as volunteers around town. Many have significant amounts of disposable income, said Phyllis Cohn, spokeswoman for AARP Maine.

"It's a great thing to be receiving the positive press," Mayor Edward Suslovic said.

But the rankings are mostly subjective and always beg a challenge from other communities.

Media and psychology experts say that's the point: Americans love to argue over how their hobbies, hometowns and alma maters stack up to those of their peers.

Magazines, Web sites and television shows have over the past decade taken to ranking everything from music to hospitals.

"It turns your life and your jobs into a competition, which provides a degree of sport for people," said Jason Mittell, a professor of media studies at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vt.

The "Best Places to Retire" designation is the latest of several superlatives for Portland over the past decade, mostly from magazines.

The city was named "Best Place to Become an Old Salt" by Outside magazine in 1999 and ranked 45th on Forbes magazine's list of the Top 50 Best Places for Business and Careers in the United States in 2006.

For the latest list, U.S. News staffers compiled data on crime, cost of living, health care, education and cultural activities in 2,000 communities nationwide.

Palmer said new retirees want to live active lifestyles and get involved in their communities, both strong suits for Portland.

The retirement destination list is part of a sprawling set of rankings guides from U.S. News, which has come to define the genre -- and the controversy that follows -- with it's annual college and graduate school rankings.

The lists are fine for party conversation but can be detrimental to the public when city officials or college administrators take them too seriously, Mittell said. Colleges have been known to alter their decisions and the way they report data with their rank in mind, and it would be unfortunate if that practice carried over to cities and towns, he said.

BEST PLACES TO RETIRE
U.S. NEWS & World Report's top 10 list:
Bella Vista, Ark.
Boulder, Colo.
Eden Prairie, Minn.
Green Valley, Ariz.
Issaquah, Wash.
Long Meadow, Mass.
Portland, Maine
Punta Gorda, Fla.
Reston, Va.
Walnut Creek, Calif.

By ELBERT AULL, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, September 19, 2008


Lakes:
Regions: Sebago


Print this story

Email this story

return to Lake News