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Slicker Cities

Aired December 16, 2003 - 15:12   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well if you're watching us today from Plano, Texas or Naperville, Illinois, congratulations. You're in "Money" Magazine's pick of the best cities in the USA for 2003. Randolph, New Jersey, Roswell, Georgia, Allen, Texas, you're on the "Money" list, too.
Farnoosh Torabi is live from New York, not on the list, we're sorry to say, with all the facts and figures, but she knows all about it.

Farnoosh, good to see you.

FARNOOSH TORABI, "MONEY" MAGAZINE: Hi there. How are you?

PHILLIPS: Good. So what does this tell us about Americans and all these small towns, places we'd never think would be our dream areas to live?

TORABI: Well, it means location, location, location is not beachfront, it's not New York City, I'm sorry to say. But it's people looking for a more balanced life. And they're finding that more and more in small town America.

PHILLIPS: All right. We picked some of these places. You and I were talking earlier, and some that stuck out to you, Sugarland Run, Virginia.

TORABI: Right, Sugarland Run, Virginia made number one for places under 100,000 population. And actually, Sugarland Run, Virginia, despite the fact that it's, you know, a small town, it's close to Washington, D.C., it has great schools, population has grown 100 percent since 1990. So it's not a shocker that it's made our hot list.

PHILLIPS: All right. Another one that made the hot list, Kansas. I mean, kind of looked at as the heartland, right?

TORABI: Right. Leewood, Kansas, heartland of America, actually has a lot of cultural life within a 30-mile radius, 1,800 restaurants, 20 golf courses. So these are places that are, you know, not your run of the mill, but if you look closely, there's a lot of attraction there for people who are newcomers to the area.

PHILLIPS: All right. And Plano, Texas. Now, I used to live in Lubbock, and I remember going to Plano, Texas. And I guess this surprised me. But you're saying it's the little additions like the free medical care for kids that makes this the little... TORABI: Exactly. Plano, Texas, not so plain. It's got a lot of -- a lot of the growth there has to do with the corporate life. As you may know, Ross Perot's corporation was sort of the launching corporation that brought along a number of other companies, like Frito-Lay. So that's a place where a lot of people are going for jobs.

Secondly, like you mentioned, it's a caring community. We have found that one clinic actually offers free health care checkups to children that don't have health care. So it's sort of a high class, upper class neighborhood, but also we find that it's very caring and very communal.

PHILLIPS: Now, are all these places close to a big city? I mean, there's things in these small tows you just can't get.

TORABI: Well, actually, in doing the survey, we isolated towns that were at least within a 60 mile radius of a large city because, you know, we want to make sure people have the -- at least the convenience of going to a bigger city to watch that Broadway show or that -- catch that baseball game and be home before midnight, you know. Usually 60 miles takes about an hour to drive.

So we thought that that was still important because these places, mind you, are not just about job growth, not just about housing prices, but places that offer a balanced life. And that means education, cultural life, recreation. So it was definitely important that these places weren't in the middle of no where. No black holes. These are places that are relatively close if you want to still experience the city life.

PHILLIPS: OK. Now, Anchorage, Alaska made the list. But I would think, why Anchorage, Alaska? Why not Hawaii? Isn't that paradise?

TORABI: Well, actually, for me, actually, Anchorage, Alaska, no sales tax.

PHILLIPS: Oh, you can't argue with that.

TORABI: You can't argue with that. But actually, more importantly, I think Anchorage, it comprises 40 percent of Alaska's population. So if you're going to move to Alaska, Anchorage is it. For people who are nature lovers, recreation lovers, this is a hotbed. So actually, it had about a 50 percent population growth, not as hot as some of these other towns that we found, but still quite impressive.

PHILLIPS: All right. Farnoosh, are you moving?

TORABI: I'm not done with New York yet. I think I'm going to stick around for a little longer.

PHILLIPS: There you go. You have a few more Broadway shows to catch?

TORABI: Yes, exactly.

PHILLIPS: All right. Now, the magazine comes out on the 22nd, right?

TORABI: Exactly. If you want a more comprehensive list, you can also go right now onto our site at cnnmoney.com, and there you can find not only the list that's in the magazine, but 1,200 other towns that you can find much more detailed information.

PHILLIPS: All right. Farnoosh Torabi, thank you so much.

TORABI: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired December 16, 2003 - 15:12   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well if you're watching us today from Plano, Texas or Naperville, Illinois, congratulations. You're in "Money" Magazine's pick of the best cities in the USA for 2003. Randolph, New Jersey, Roswell, Georgia, Allen, Texas, you're on the "Money" list, too.
Farnoosh Torabi is live from New York, not on the list, we're sorry to say, with all the facts and figures, but she knows all about it.

Farnoosh, good to see you.

FARNOOSH TORABI, "MONEY" MAGAZINE: Hi there. How are you?

PHILLIPS: Good. So what does this tell us about Americans and all these small towns, places we'd never think would be our dream areas to live?

TORABI: Well, it means location, location, location is not beachfront, it's not New York City, I'm sorry to say. But it's people looking for a more balanced life. And they're finding that more and more in small town America.

PHILLIPS: All right. We picked some of these places. You and I were talking earlier, and some that stuck out to you, Sugarland Run, Virginia.

TORABI: Right, Sugarland Run, Virginia made number one for places under 100,000 population. And actually, Sugarland Run, Virginia, despite the fact that it's, you know, a small town, it's close to Washington, D.C., it has great schools, population has grown 100 percent since 1990. So it's not a shocker that it's made our hot list.

PHILLIPS: All right. Another one that made the hot list, Kansas. I mean, kind of looked at as the heartland, right?

TORABI: Right. Leewood, Kansas, heartland of America, actually has a lot of cultural life within a 30-mile radius, 1,800 restaurants, 20 golf courses. So these are places that are, you know, not your run of the mill, but if you look closely, there's a lot of attraction there for people who are newcomers to the area.

PHILLIPS: All right. And Plano, Texas. Now, I used to live in Lubbock, and I remember going to Plano, Texas. And I guess this surprised me. But you're saying it's the little additions like the free medical care for kids that makes this the little... TORABI: Exactly. Plano, Texas, not so plain. It's got a lot of -- a lot of the growth there has to do with the corporate life. As you may know, Ross Perot's corporation was sort of the launching corporation that brought along a number of other companies, like Frito-Lay. So that's a place where a lot of people are going for jobs.

Secondly, like you mentioned, it's a caring community. We have found that one clinic actually offers free health care checkups to children that don't have health care. So it's sort of a high class, upper class neighborhood, but also we find that it's very caring and very communal.

PHILLIPS: Now, are all these places close to a big city? I mean, there's things in these small tows you just can't get.

TORABI: Well, actually, in doing the survey, we isolated towns that were at least within a 60 mile radius of a large city because, you know, we want to make sure people have the -- at least the convenience of going to a bigger city to watch that Broadway show or that -- catch that baseball game and be home before midnight, you know. Usually 60 miles takes about an hour to drive.

So we thought that that was still important because these places, mind you, are not just about job growth, not just about housing prices, but places that offer a balanced life. And that means education, cultural life, recreation. So it was definitely important that these places weren't in the middle of no where. No black holes. These are places that are relatively close if you want to still experience the city life.

PHILLIPS: OK. Now, Anchorage, Alaska made the list. But I would think, why Anchorage, Alaska? Why not Hawaii? Isn't that paradise?

TORABI: Well, actually, for me, actually, Anchorage, Alaska, no sales tax.

PHILLIPS: Oh, you can't argue with that.

TORABI: You can't argue with that. But actually, more importantly, I think Anchorage, it comprises 40 percent of Alaska's population. So if you're going to move to Alaska, Anchorage is it. For people who are nature lovers, recreation lovers, this is a hotbed. So actually, it had about a 50 percent population growth, not as hot as some of these other towns that we found, but still quite impressive.

PHILLIPS: All right. Farnoosh, are you moving?

TORABI: I'm not done with New York yet. I think I'm going to stick around for a little longer.

PHILLIPS: There you go. You have a few more Broadway shows to catch?

TORABI: Yes, exactly.

PHILLIPS: All right. Now, the magazine comes out on the 22nd, right?

TORABI: Exactly. If you want a more comprehensive list, you can also go right now onto our site at cnnmoney.com, and there you can find not only the list that's in the magazine, but 1,200 other towns that you can find much more detailed information.

PHILLIPS: All right. Farnoosh Torabi, thank you so much.

TORABI: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com