Studies mean what we want them to mean
National surveys comparing cities, while always interesting for their content, are equally interesting for the knee-jerk, cover-your-nethers defensive posture of those whose oxes are being gored.
Invariably, a favourable study will have the mayor and chamber of commerce becoming instant believers in the truth of the study. An unfavourable one confirms them as doubting thomases.
Last week, the annual Macleans magazine study on crime statistics put Kamloops in 20th spot on the “most dangerous cities in Canada” list. Nothing to write home about but it was greeted with a sense of relief hereabouts in view of last year’s 13th place finish (the year before that we were in 12th).
“That’s a significant improvement,” concluded RCMP Insp. Yves Lacasse, who went on to explain the police strategies that resulted in the ranking change. He’s hoping for even better next year.
Yet, after the 2009 version of the same study was released, Mayor Peter Milobar brushed off the methodology — and, hence, the validity of the entire study — as flawed because it used outdated statistics.
“I know our crime rate is going down and the local RCMP have been working very hard to address targeted areas,” Milobar said in a Daily News story headlined “Danger City — Mayor Decries Old Info.”
RCMP agreed with the mayor’s assessment. Even this newspaper felt behoved to defend Kamloops at that time. The Tournament Capital is, we contended, a safe city, and its comparatively poor showing actually showed that Canada is a safe country.
But now that we’ve improved a few rankings, the survey suddenly has more cred.
What did other cities have to say this year? Mayor Pat Fiacco of Regina, which ranked third, “freely uses an eight-letter word starting with ‘bull’ to describe Maclean’s coverage of his town,” said the magazine.
Second-place Victoria downplays the survey. “It’s safe to walk downtown, you can go for dinner and go to a movie and you’re safe — it’s a safe city,” said Sgt. Grant Hamilton.
Dan Rogers, the mayor of Prince George (“The Most Dangerous City in Canada”) is one of the few to acknowledge that the study reflects something close to reality. Rogers promised crime issues in Pulp Town will be addressed.
We take from surveys what we want. Back in May, MoneySense magazine put us in 63rd spot among Canada’s Best Places to Live. That was an improvement from 81st the year before.
Again, Milobar saw the bright side — Kelowna placed 115th. And we were “moving in the right direction.” Even though his math was a little off, he preferred to think of us as being in the top third.
Interestingly, Victoria — despite being the second most dangerous city in Canada — was in the top 10 as one of the most livable. Apparently, it’s a great place to get mugged in.
Burnaby, if you didn’t already know, is Canada’s Best-Run City, according to a 2009 study done by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies for Macleans. And, would you believe Surrey is third?
Kamloops wasn’t included in that study because it didn’t make the cut population-wise. Too bad; comparisons with our arch-rivals Prince George and Kelowna on that score would make for some great editorials.
Despite being number one, Burnaby came out as one of the least politically engaged cities along with Calgary, Burnaby, Richmond and poor old Victoria. Conversely, the worst-run city, Charlottetown, had one of the highest voter turnouts. Not sure what the message is there.
If “best and worst” studies of our cities upset us so much, maybe we should just all ignore them. Easier said than done, of course. If you live in Williams Lake, or Quesnel, or Campbell River, and your town is declared one of the worst places in the country in which to live, you’re going to find it hard to ignore a study that says so.
Cities live or die on their reputations just as businesses do. Being known as the best of something beats being the worst of something every time, no matter how good or bad the study that says so. That’s why community leaders get their feelings hurt so easily if the reviews aren’t positive.
And that’s also why studies that judge our cities make such good fodder for the water cooler.
mrothenburger@kamloopsnews.ca
http://www.armchairmayor.wordpress.com
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