Thursday, July 23, 2009

#18



Ottawa is probably the Rodney Dangerfield of Canada, the city that "Don't Get No Respect!"  A sleepy government town, where everything seems to close at 6pm, and where most of downtown is empty and seeming to beg for some way to bring some life to it.   Government officials make decisions that don't seem to take into account something called "fun".  And even the residents can drive you mad.  A coalition was formed to protest Lansdowne Live, made up of residents who live right beside a football stadium that's been falling apart the last few years.  They don't want their sleep disturbed, you see.

But, there are a number of good things going for Ottawa that make it a nice city to live.  It's probably one of the safer metropolitans in North America.  Certainly I never feared for life walking home at 1am after a drink or two. Some of the best music comes to Ottawa, and it's recent Bluesfest set attendance records and is one of the largest concerts in North America.  We have a pro NHL team, the largest outdoor skating rink, Gatineau park to enjoy a bike ride or hike...I'm just tipping the surface.   And there are others from outside that think Ottawa is the bee's knees as well.

A study by Mercer ranked the top cities to live in, using 39 different factors including recreational amenities, access to health care, quality housing, schools, political stability and censorship, revealed Ottawa to be the 18th best city to live in the entire world.  I doubt they include weather in the report, as most complain bitterly about the cold, snowy winters the capital of Canada endures.  But still, I was surprised and proud that Ottawa was ranked so high.  Other well ranked Canadian cities included Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal ranked #3, 15 and 22.  Zurich and Geneva in Switzerland ranked first and second.  No U.S. of A. cities cracked the top 25.

Go Ottawa go!

# posted by SBP : 11:35 PM
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