Roswell Third Best Place to Raise a Family
Anyone who has set foot in Roswell already knows this, but it was cool to see it documented: City ranks as third best place to raise a family (in the country)
The book is here: Best Places to Raise Your Family
By PAUL KAPLAN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/11/06
As it turns out, General Sherman's army really had an eye for a place.
When Sherman's Union troops were making their epic march toward Atlanta during the Civil War, they burned much of what they conquered along the way. But not Roswell.
The town 20 miles north of Atlanta, with its stately Southern homes, was ordered spared, except for its mill, which was making uniforms for the Confederates.
Today, everyone is starting to appreciate what Sherman's men saw in the place a long time ago.
"Best Places to Raise Your Family," a new book published by Frommer's, the travel guide giant, ranks Roswell as third best in America. The rankings are based on demographics, standard of living, education, lifestyle, health, safety, and, as co-author Peter Sander put it, "how all the puzzle pieces fit together."
Other surveys in recent years have named Roswell the safest city in the Southeast and one of the best places in the nation to live. Atlanta magazine has rated it the best place to live in the area.
"It's a mid-size city with a small-town heart," said Mayor Jere Wood, who was born in Roswell 57 years ago and never left. "As towns grow, they lose some of that character. Roswell hasn't."
Like Roswell, which has 85,000 people, all of the top 10 towns are relatively small, including the No. 1 city, Louisville, Colo., an old mining town. "When you look at big cities, you start picking up a lot of negatives -- crime, schools, air quality," Sander explained. "We didn't find a big city we could be comfortable with, particularly the schools, to put a family in."
Roswell is the only city in Georgia to make the authors' list of the 100 best cities to raise a family, although there were other areas they liked, including Gainesville and Dunwoody, Sander said.
A lot of it came down to gut feelings, Sander said. "It's the general look and feel and ambiance, the sense of place," he said. "Do people [from Roswell] say they're from Roswell or from Atlanta? Definitely Roswell. Do people feel they have to go somewhere else to enjoy themselves? Not in Roswell. Is there a downtown where they can come together, or just a maze of housing? I saw that [downtown] in Roswell."
Cities that don't make the list often think they should have, or will next time.
"We haven't been a city very long," said Sandy Springs Mayor Eva Galambos, who raised her family there. "But this is a wonderful place, and we'll soon be on that list."
The book is here: Best Places to Raise Your Family
By PAUL KAPLAN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/11/06
As it turns out, General Sherman's army really had an eye for a place.
When Sherman's Union troops were making their epic march toward Atlanta during the Civil War, they burned much of what they conquered along the way. But not Roswell.
The town 20 miles north of Atlanta, with its stately Southern homes, was ordered spared, except for its mill, which was making uniforms for the Confederates.
Today, everyone is starting to appreciate what Sherman's men saw in the place a long time ago.
"Best Places to Raise Your Family," a new book published by Frommer's, the travel guide giant, ranks Roswell as third best in America. The rankings are based on demographics, standard of living, education, lifestyle, health, safety, and, as co-author Peter Sander put it, "how all the puzzle pieces fit together."
Other surveys in recent years have named Roswell the safest city in the Southeast and one of the best places in the nation to live. Atlanta magazine has rated it the best place to live in the area.
"It's a mid-size city with a small-town heart," said Mayor Jere Wood, who was born in Roswell 57 years ago and never left. "As towns grow, they lose some of that character. Roswell hasn't."
Like Roswell, which has 85,000 people, all of the top 10 towns are relatively small, including the No. 1 city, Louisville, Colo., an old mining town. "When you look at big cities, you start picking up a lot of negatives -- crime, schools, air quality," Sander explained. "We didn't find a big city we could be comfortable with, particularly the schools, to put a family in."
Roswell is the only city in Georgia to make the authors' list of the 100 best cities to raise a family, although there were other areas they liked, including Gainesville and Dunwoody, Sander said.
A lot of it came down to gut feelings, Sander said. "It's the general look and feel and ambiance, the sense of place," he said. "Do people [from Roswell] say they're from Roswell or from Atlanta? Definitely Roswell. Do people feel they have to go somewhere else to enjoy themselves? Not in Roswell. Is there a downtown where they can come together, or just a maze of housing? I saw that [downtown] in Roswell."
Cities that don't make the list often think they should have, or will next time.
"We haven't been a city very long," said Sandy Springs Mayor Eva Galambos, who raised her family there. "But this is a wonderful place, and we'll soon be on that list."
posted by scott long at 3:40 PM
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