To Become No. 1, Westerville Needs More Fans

WESTERVILLE, Ohio -- Everybody loves his or her hometown. But the folks in Westerville are taking it to a whole new level. They're competing with cities from around the nation to take the No. 1 spot on Money magazine's list of "100 Best Place to Live."

In its original article, Money writers picked Louisville, Colorado, as the 2009 Best Place to Live in America. "Ice cream shops dot the historic downtown," they said. "Families grab burgers at the cozy Waterloo Café. A Friday-night street fair, with a beer garden, live music, and games for the kids, runs all summer."

Hmmmmm. Sounds a lot like Westerville to us.

Historic uptown with ice cream: Westerville has the world-famous Graeter's. What's Louisville got?

Friday-night festivals: Westerville has the Uptown Celebration every 4th Friday.

Always lots of stuff for the kids in The 'Ville.

Still, Westerville ranked No. 15 by the magazine's standards. Bah! Humbug!

"Wow! I've been here 31 years, actually, and I won't leave because I love it!" says long-time resident and business owner Lisa Herrmann. "The people are great! So, I'm not going to leave!"

"It's nice and quiet and a safe area," Dublin resident Gail MacKenzie told NBC 4.

The city has even won over the out-of-state crowd. Joan Riff of Berlin, New Hampshire, giggled as she told us, "Well, it's very quaint. It's very pretty here."

Now, Westerville fans have a chance to speak up.

The magazine has opened the rankings to the internet. Specifically, to Facebook. Facebook members are singing the city's praises, hoping to beat out 99 other cities by collecting enough fans to become the users' favorite place to live.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Westerville had 427 fans and that was enough to push it up to the No. 5 slot behind

No. 4 Papillion, Nebraska (494 fans).
No. 3 Mukilteo, Washington (503 fans),
No. 2 Louisville, Colorado (645 fans),
and No. 1 Keller, Texas (1,279 fans).

To create its Top 100 List, Money says it looked at data for cities with populations less than 50,000 and average incomes. Then factored in things like job growth, crime, cost of living, taxes and the quality of the schools.

The city's official site trumpets its No. 15 ranking and says Westerville has everything. "With fantastic safety services, more than 40 parks, a community recreation center and 23 miles of leisure paths," the site proclaims, "Westerville is just right for you, your family and your business."

The magazine got immediate responses when it asked Facebookers, "What's the best part of living in Westerville?"

Colleen Streetman wrote that she thinks the city is the "best place to raise a family bar none, wonderful community events, parks, bike trails, neighborhoods were people actually know each other and spend time together. Small town feel with lots of wonderful shopping, dining, culture nearby."

In her Facebook post, Lori Taggart told the magazine she loves "the great friendly people who live here!!!"

"We would love to be Facebook Fan No. 1!" Westerville Mayor Anne Gonzales told NBC 4.

Facebook fans have until July 30 to make it happen.

CNN-Money's 2009 List of 100 Best Places to Live:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2009/

Money's Best Places to Live (Facebook page):
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Moneys-Best-Places-to-Live-2009-Westerville-OH/101777062079?ref=nf

City of Westerville:
http://www.westerville.org/

Westerville Visitors & Convention Bureau:
http://www.visitwesterville.org/

City of Louisville, Colorado (Money Magazine's city to beat):
http://www.louisvilleco.gov/

City of Keller, Texas (Facebook's city to beat):
http://www.cityofkeller.com/