Looking through the online edition of REALTOR Magazine and there is a story posted this morning that references an article published on Forbes.Com by Zack O'Malley Greenburg that claims to have found the 10 Safest Places to Live, in the USA.
The criteria was reviewed with four factors in mind:
- Workplace Accidents
- Weather Catastrophes
- Crime Rate
- Traffic Accidents
OK, so I can see why these issues are considered and will help define safty for the average family looking to find a place to call home and raise a family.
The problem I have with the results is that they are all cities of significant size. Take a look:
- Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wisc.
- Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wisc.
- Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Ore.-Wash.
- Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.
- Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, R.I.
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.
- New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa.
- Cincinnati-Middletown, Ohio (tie)
- Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio/Denver-Aurora, Colo. (tie)
No where on this list do I see either Hemet or San Jacinto. Granted we may only have about 100,000 residents in the entire valley but I can almost guarantee that we have NOT had any Weather Catastrophes (OK, maybe a case or two of sun stroke or an occassional dehydration - but hey, this is Southern California and we are in a very arid valley...could be considered desert by some).
I'm quite positive that we have a very low WORKPLACE ACCIDENT rate here in the Hemet - San Jacinto Valley. Since they quit building new homes about 2 years ago, there are hardley any jobs here for anyone to get hurt at. Most of our employers are either retail or service related and most are very low risk. Many of our residents commute to places like Temecula, San Diego, Riverside,m San Bernardion, Ontario and even Orange County. Hemet and San Jacinto is very safe when it comes to the workplace...I can practically guarantee it.
If it wasn't for TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS. Granted our 'Blue Haird Ladies' and 'Old Men with Hat' population is rapidly declining as the average age (but it does seem that we have more senior involved traffic accidents than ever, as they continue to age) in the vally has dramitically lowered itself from the high 40's to the early 30's in just the last 5 years, we still do have a few crazy drivers around here. Heck, on July 11th of this year, I toateld my car on the Ramona Expressway when som yahoo ran a red light at 8:00 on a Sunday morning. So, I guess traffic accidents is our Archilles Heel when it comes to being a safe city.
I just can't imagine the 10 safest places to live are 10 major metropolitan areas. Heck, I moved out of the City in '92 becuse they tried to burn down LA - how safe is that?
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