Alerts & Briefs

City Receives National Praise for Local Quality of Life
4/16/2010

In recent months, Binghamton’s quality of life and market values have been applauded by national organizations and media outlets such as NBC, Farmer’s Insurance Company, CNN, and Newsweek.

Please read on to learn more about such recognition, which includes praise for Binghamton’s local government, schools, companies, and community organizations.

Nation's #1 Housing Market - 3 Years in a Row: Earlier this month, Business Week listed Binghamton as the 4th strongest market. Last year, NBC’s Today Show recently ranked Binghamton as the nation's top market for "making money and quality of life," and Forbes.com ranked Binghamton among the 10 most affordable housing markets in 2008. Forbes.com also ranked Binghamton #2 in its December 2007 report on the country’s ten top housing markets, recognizing Mayor Matt Ryan’s Restore NY initiatives as a key to strengthening the local market.

Award-Winning Government Innovation: For two years in a row, the City of Binghamton has won first place NYCOM awards for Public Administration & Management, first for the City's Blight Prevention Initiative, and then for the Restore NY Program. The award is open to municipalities state-wide, and recognized those that had developed and implemented innovative, effective practices. The City was also lauded by the national think-tank PolicyLink, whose report on renewing smaller, industrial cities recognized several practices as models for other municipalities to draw from. These included the City's  consolidation and shared services agreements with the County, and the City's targeted code enforcement, law enforcement, and community development measures. As the report stated, these efforts increase reduce costs, while improving service quality.

Nation's Top Retirement Community: U.S. News and World Report last year named the City of Binghamton the top place to retire in the nation, based on affordability and access to arts and culture, sports, and health care.

Growing Economy: Moody's has named Binghamton as one of only 13 metropolitan areas whose economies are growing. A total of 381 metro areas were included in the survey.

Award Winning Projects: Landscape designer Michael Haas, the Discovery Center and the Junior League were recently honored by the Upstate New York Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects for their work on The Story Garden, an interactive garden featuring characters and elements of well-known children's literature.

Green Cred: Binghamton was ranked 9th in Country Home Magazine’s 2007 report “Best Green Cities in America.” The report rated 379 metropolitan areas across the nation on the basis of air and watershed quality, mass transit use, power use and number of organic producers and farmers' markets. In 2007 and 2008, the National Arbor Day Foundation named Binghamton a Tree City USA in recognition of the City's ongoing community forestry program - including the Shade Tree Commission, which Mayor Ryan re-instated in 2007 after a 19 year hiatus. (See dedicated page on "Greening Binghamton")

Top Flight Schools: Binghamton University has been rated one of the best universities for its value by such publications as the New York Times, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and the Princeton Review, and a recent ranking Forbes ranking places Binghamton University graduates among the nation’s top income earners. 

Newsweek Magazine ranked Binghamton High School in the top third of the country’s 1,300 top public high schools of 2009. The schools were rated according to the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2008, divided by the number of graduating seniors at that school. The ratio, designed by Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews and named the Challenge Index, measures a public high school’s effort to challenge its students. This is the sixth consecutive year Binghamton High School has made the list.

Premier Sporting Events: In addition to hosting the Empire State Games in three times since 2000 and the AHL All Star Game in 2008, Binghamton features annual athletic events that draw participants and spectators from around the world, including the Chris Thater Memorial Bike Races, which was ranked 2nd in the nation by USA Cycling and among North America's top 24 events by Velo-News: The Journal of Competitive Cycling.

Strong Local Culture: In both 2007 and 2008, Binghamton was named “Capital of the Pierogy Pocket of America” by Mrs. T’s Pierogies. The City won this distinction through petitions and rallies showing residents’ community spirit. The contest brought a $10,000 prize, which was dedicated to supporting local food pantries.

When Mayor Ryan took office in 2006, the City of Binghamton adopted the motto “Restoring the Pride.” Together, residents and officials in all sectors are embodying this adage through fruitful partnerships and participation.

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