Business Week Magazine says “Arcadia Is The Best Place To Raise Kids”

National Magazine Says Arcadia “Best Place to Raise Kids”

Arcadia Mayor Robert C. Harbicht;  Joann Steinmeier, president of the Arcadia Board of Education–"they knew it all along"

The City of Arcadia is bursting with pride after a national magazine listed the city as the best place in California to raise kids. The report, appearing in Business Week’s November edition, is the second year the national magazine has commissioned such a study.

Arcadia Mayor Robert C. Harbicht took the article in stride.
“We’re happy to be recognized.” the Mayor reported. “It is a validation of what we know. We do have a city that offers a great deal.”
Harbicht went on the list only a few of the programs that came to mind quickly that are special to the community. He cited the recreation programs and listed the deep culture of volunteering that makes Arcadia so special. Not just these, he said, but “all our programs are head and shoulders over many other communities.” Asked if he was surprised by the accolade, Mayor Harbicht seemed unimpressed. “We knew that all along” that Arcadia is a great place to raise kids.

The report in Business Week is the second time the magazine has published a series naming the “Best Places” to live. A variety of criteria in various categories are used in its listing. The list is prepared with the help of OnBoard Informatics, a New York-based provider of real estate analysis to realtors nationwide. The “Best Place to Raise Kids” category seeks towns with at least 50,000 residents and a median family income between $40,000 and $100,000. It then whittles the list down with weighted criteria including school performance, number of schools, household expenditures, crime rates, air quality, job growth, family income, museums, parks, theaters and other amenities. It also considers diversity. But, the article in Business Week states, “We weighted school performance and safety most heavily, but also gave strong weight to amenities and affordability.”

“Obviously, the Arcadia Unified School District is proud to be named given the heavy significance in the study of an excellent school district.
“Arcadians have long shared a community ethic to care for our children and to educate them well,” said Joann Steinmeier, President of the Arcadia Board of Education.
“Their support of our recent school bond issue, ongoing support of school based organizations and child welfare groups, is proof positive. Our community should rightly be pleased and honored to be recognized by Business Week as a great place to raise kids, because it is,” she asserted.

The school district is often the leading reason families decide to settle here, according to local realtors.

In the listing, the report says that Arcadia has a population of 56,394 with a median household income of $81,417. Amenities recognized as special are both the Santa Anita Park racetrack and the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. Also noted, in somewhat of a back-handed compliment, is that “Peacocks now live in the neighborhood near the arboretum where they walk on lawns or cross the street and, for some are a bit of a nuisance.” The peacock encroachment has been a point of contention within the community for several years, if not decades.
Both Mayor Harbicht and Joann Steinmeier chuckled at the thought of Arcadia as “affordable”.

In another report of favorable places to live, CNN Money Magazine also declared in August 2008 that Arcadia was a “Best Place to Live”, rating it high in many areas it focused on. That report says the median home price is $753,720 and compares it to a median price of $293,712 of all the cities in its listing. That comparison of affordability, if taken into consideration by Business Week, would seem daunting for Arcadia, but its placement on the list was decided, apparently, on other issues.
CNN, in its report, points out such favorable items as the school district’s 56.3% test scores in reading and math which is more than double all the other cities in its review of cities nationwide. Other community pluses CNN mentions that rated startlingly high over competitor cities to their findings, include the fact that within 30 miles there are 81 colleges, universities and professional schools, and 57 junior colleges. Within 15 miles the report mentions that there are over 9,000 restaurants, 311 public golf courses and 157 libraries.
Among the details which were important to the Business Week report was diversity. On that score, Arcadia came in handsomely. Another report, the General Demographic Characteristics Report for 2000, reports that Arcadia is home to citizens from around the world with about half native to the United States. Asians are the largest component of the non-native population, but also includes a sizeable number from Latin America and Canada. A category listed as “Native to the United States” does not end the diversity, however, as the Demographic Report lists 28 differing ancestries. The foreign-born represent about half the population with most reporting as Asian.
But, Business Week must have found many amenities. In addition to city-maintained pocket-parks located around the city, there is a dog park, a skate park and in the foothills, a Wilderness Park. The centrally located County Park, owned and operated by Los Angeles County, is used by thousands for a variety of activities year round. The city’s museum plays an active role in archiving the city’s illustrious history and the Community Center provides citizens with numerous programs.

The Arcadia Unified School District continues to graduate students who go on to esteemed four-year institutions, many returning to Arcadia to raise their families and continue its scholastic traditions.

Runner-up candidates for the “Best Place to Raise Kid” in California were Diamond Bar and Monterey Park. Perhaps the report missed one vital issue about Arcadia: It is home to very nice people.

by Bill Peters

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