A real estate-sponsored Web site has named Lewiston and Auburn two of the top 100 places to live in the country.
The ranking comes from a pool of 5,100 communities highlighted on Relocate-America.com.
Portland, Orono and Bangor also made the recently released 2002 list.
Relocate-America spokesman Steve Nickerson said the Web site solicited nominations all last year, and personal anecdotes of what makes your city great. Judges mixed those comments with statistics on crime, employment, housing and education.
More than 1,000 towns were nominated, Nickerson said. Some repeatedly. “It’s not a popularity contest – otherwise Chicago would always be in the top,” he said.
Chicago isn’t on the list at all.
The ranking isn’t heavy on popular, listing towns like Walla Walla, Wash., Lubbock, Texas, Crest View, Fla., Keyport, N.J., and Fremont, Calif., in the top 100.
The Web site features average housing costs in each community, important phone numbers and a bit of regional history. Local real estate agents from dozens of different companies pay an annual fee to be the sole person recommended in each area.
That fee doesn’t influence ranking, Nickerson said. Real estate agents aren’t involved in the judging.
Brenda Fontaine, the local sponsor, admits to putting in a good word for the Twin Cities on a nomination form, but only once.
The cities made the list because they’ve got good things to offer, Fontaine said. Two hospitals, five colleges, a strong chamber of commerce, festivals and nice neighborhoods.
“Lewiston’s gotten a bad rap,” she said. It’s “not as congested as people think it is; there’s a lot of nice country neighborhoods.”
Jim Bennett, Lewiston’s city administrator, said the ranking speaks to progress made in the last few years.
“It’s always good news when you’re compared to 5,100 potential locations and are ranked in the top 100,” said Roland Miller, Auburn’s director of community and economic development. “Again, I’m not surprised.”
The cities haven’t been bashful about using these sorts of rankings to promote themselves in the past, Miller said.
Since 1993, Lewiston and Auburn have been named No. 200 in the top 300 places to live by Money magazine, the strongest manufacturing metropolitan area in New England by Industry Week and one of the top 100 best small arts communities in the country by John Muir Publications.
An informational graph on the Relocate-America Web site describes Maine as “known for its picture postcard villages that lure many summer vacationers and provide needed relief from the urban grind. It has no metropolises.”
No Maine towns made the 2001 rankings. In 2000, only Portland did. In 1999, only Naples.
kskelton@sunjournal.com
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