Letter: Here’s a ranking you won’t see touted by the Chamber of Commerce
You published an article, “Ranking the Rankers,” about the continuous drumbeat of Ann Arbor’s rank of No. 1 City, No. 1 Suburb, etc., and how those ratings are obtained. I have found those ratings to be questionable both in their conclusions and in their methodology (nicely reviewed by you).
I found the AARP Livability Index via a citation in The New York Times today. While their orientation is naturally to retired people, they make the point that liveability is important to all ages. “People experience communities as a whole, so the Public Policy Institute looked across multiple aspects of livability to get the full picture. The Livability Index assesses seven broad categories of community livability: housing, neighborhood, transportation, environment, health, engagement and opportunity.” The ratings are on a basis of 0-100. “We score communities by comparing them to one another, so the average community gets a score of 50, while above-average communities score higher and below-average communities score lower.”
So what is Ann Arbor’s score? 58.
Here is the index based on all those categories. https://livabilityindex.aarp.o
I think that assessment of those categories can tell us some useful things about ourselves. At least we are still “above average.”
Vivienne Armentrout
