Fake News
This appeared in Thrillist Travel under:
AMERICA’S BEST SMALL CITIES TO MOVE TO BEFORE THEY GET TOO POPULAR
Burlington, Iowa
Scenic downtown hills and an artistic bent make for a tiny, corn-fed San Francisco
Population: 25,000
How can you pass up a town with a street called Snake Alley? It might be beyond anyone’s powers to fact-check the city’s claim that this is the “crookedest alley” in the world, but the fact that citizens want such a serpentine-award is typical of the burg’s offbeat nature. On its surface, Burlington looks like the apotheosis of scenic small-towns: sloping hills, suspension bridge cutting across the Mississippi, and a business district home to a vintage record shop called Weird Harold’s. A cost of living 22% below the national average makes buying one of the turn-of-century mansions dotting the landscape both attainable and a solid investment.
Getting out and making friends will be cheap. Besides hosting some great bands, downtown’s vintage theater savvily runs free classic films along with current low-budget indies. Recently opened wine bistros and cocktail lounges mean there’s more bartenders-per-capita than most midwestern towns. The place consistently scores higher than its neighbors on a variety of diversity report cards, while cultural center and MFA-magnet Iowa City is barely an hour’s drive. And if you do get the itch for a weekend some place with a little more concrete, there’s both a regional airport and an Amtrak station for a quick visit to Chicago or St. Louis that’ll barely cost you more than you might’ve spent on round-trip gas. — Peter Rugg
Burlington Iowa on a list of best small cities? Absolutely ridiculous. Schools are horrible (for Iowa standards), crime has been rising steadily for a decade. Shootings are a regular occurrence in this small town. Selling a home and trying to escape Burlington has become a nightmare for many.
Very small towns surrounding Burlington are quite livable and have decent schools. They are safe, but boring. Burlington is not safe… and boring. I wish it were not so. But this is truly fake news. Shameful. How does something like this get published?