There's No Place Like Home

Cranes Roost Park in Altamonte
Springs.  We walk around this lake
often. 

Dave and I like to travel but we always like coming home as well.  We love where we live.  Do you love where you live?

The Economist Intelligence Unit just published its list of the world's most livable cities - based on five areas:

Stability - We have this.  Altamonte Springs, Florida was settled around 1892 and our condo community, Oak Harbour, has been here since the 1970s.  We've had no uprisings that I know of.

# 1 Most livable city for second year
in a row,  Melbourne, Australia.

Infrastructure - Altamonte is a small town 15 minutes from the center of Orlando so we have all the amenities.  Lots of traffic but - most of the time - it flows.  

Education - Our public schools are excellent.

Health Care - Florida Hospital, North is 5 minutes from our door.

Environment - We live in the middle of a Live Oak forest.  We breathe clean (but hot) air.

So is my city in the top ten?  No, and neither is any other city in the United States.  We didn't make the cut.  The only city on this continent that did is Toronto at # 4.

Least livable, Damascus, Syria

The # 1 most livable city is Melbourne, Australia, followed by Vienna, Austria.  (By the way, Dave and I will be in Vienna in a few weeks so we'll check it out for ourselves.)

The least livable cities are all in the middle east.  Terrorism and other violence causes all the factors above to decline.  So, despite living in Loserville, I'm grateful to be safe, sound and comfortable in my city.

The city that rated last on the list is Damascus, Syria.


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