Edmond on the Top 100 List (and yes, the others are all big cities)
- Cody Boyd
- 14 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Hey check it out - Edmond was included on the Top 100 Places to Live in the U.S. list by Livability. Here's the whole link:
But what's even more important than the ranking itself, are the social media posts and press releases. This is what what chambers of commerce and city governments love to see, because it can be used to show results and build confidence - in other words, "self promotion."
As comments sections go, one of the first responses was from a cynical (or just sarcastic) user saying "Paid for the by Edmond tourism department". Eye roll, sure, but it's actually true, just not in the way you think.
I've worked on many dozens of projects for Oklahoma state and local government agencies that were eventually submitted to some organization to consider for an award. Why do government agencies vie for national awards and recognition? Well, for decades the public has demanded government be "run like a business" and shocker - businesses spend a lot of time and resources on marketing themselves!
Cities all over the U.S. are competing against each other - for business investment, population growth, sports teams, rail or highway routes, state and federal government funding, and on and on.
And since Edmond (or insert any city in Oklahoma) needs to grow our local economy (sales tax) just to pay the bills for streets, police, and fire, we know the chamber of commerce, EEDA, and the city government are going to work together to market the hell out of this place. Just look at Oklahoma City. It's entire existence and history since 1889 is owed to ambitious and shrewd marketing by city boosters that has often bordered on pure manifestation (...ever heard of the Seattle Sonics?)
Landing exciting businesses, building beautiful downtowns that get thousands of likes on social media, and getting on Top ___ lists are important because marketing is a key strategic part of growth for cities. And guess what? It works for cities like Edmond because the product lives up to the hype, aka folks want to live in and/or do business here.
Why wouldn't people want to be here? Great schools, great neighborhoods with trees, great trails, a lake, a cool downtown, a university, excellent restaurants..
But big yikes - look at the photo the Livability list chose for Edmond.
This isn't a knock on the quality of the photo - it's obviously a great aerial real estate shot. But that photo could be of a suburban neighborhood anywhere. It lacks anything that's ICONIC to Edmond. Where's the charm? Where's the brand? And yes, Even cities with a lot of high income residents like Edmond need an an accessible brand.
But maybe that's another discussion for later...
Another SHOCKER - the other cities on Livability's list are all large or medium-sized communities that either anchor or are situated in a metro area.
The smallest: Flower Mound, Texas with 77,000 residents.
The largest: Colorado Springs, with nearly half a million residents.
Edmond has nearly 100,000 citizens, and sits within a metro area of 1.5 million
That's what YIMBY is all about. People want to live in big cities with big city stuff. Edmond is one of those places in Oklahoma. How could our response not be to share it with the world?