The state of Michigan's motto is: "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you."
Perhaps the city of Chelsea's motto should be something similar: "If you seek a pleasant suburb, look about you."
Not only is Chelsea home to the "Best Small Library in America" (see related story), one of the top hospitals in the nation and one of the top public school districts in the state; now it has been ranked "Best Affordable Suburb" in Michigan by a national business magazine and Web site.
"This is a fabulous time to live and work in Chelsea," said Bob Pierce, executive director of the Chelsea Area Chamber of Commerce.
"The recent announcements about our library's national award and Business Week's recognition of Chelsea are a strong testament to the people and leadership of the Chelsea area."
The honor is an annual ranking given by Business Week magazine and Sperling's Best Places Web site.
The judges ranked suburbs of major metropolitan areas in each of the 50 states on a number of criteria to determine the admittedly subjective results.
"Affordable" and "expensive" are relative terms, notes the magazine article, and factors such as median home price and median household income were key, and other quality-of-life issues also were considered.
"BusinessWeek.com, with the help of Sperling's BestPlaces (BestPlaces.net) put together a list of best affordable suburbs in each of the 50 states," the Business Week article states.
"Of course, the list doesn't catalog all the great suburbs out there, but we tried to discover relatively affordable communities where you'll find low crime and unemployment rates, decent schools, reasonable commutes, and good shopping and entertainment options."
While civic leaders were pleased with news of the rankings, some questioned some of the individual criteria.
"It's a great honor; we're proud to be a suburb of Ann Arbor," said Mayor Ann Feeney.
"But there's no way on a scale of 1 to 10 Chelsea would rate a 4 in violent crime," she added.
That figure was derived from FBI statistics, the magazine stated, and therefore could have included all of Washtenaw County.
Feeney also took issue with the population the magazine quoted - 13,136 - which was based on the entire 48118 zip code and included portions of neighboring townships.
"Chelsea's population is 5,000," Feeney pointed out. "The entire area's population has to be closer to 14,000 or 15,000."
Nevertheless, the mayor said, "it was flattering to be designated."
"Even though the information is a little out of date, it's nice to be mentioned in a magazine with as wide a readership as Business Week," Feeney said.
"I think it's well deserved."
With the quality of local schools being another criterion for the ranking, Chelsea Schools' Superintendent Dave Killips had this reaction to the news:
"I think it's wonderful; it's certainly an accolade for the community," Killips said.
"Obviously we think Chelsea is a great place to live because of a combination of factors: schools, community health care, the arts, senior citizens component, service clubs all contribute to the general welfare of the community, which many people speak about with a lot of pride."
Kerry Colligan, director of marketing for Chelsea Community Hospital, was pleased that the rankings took into account local health care.
CCH consistently ranks very high in nationwide surveys of patient sartisfaction and quality of care, regardless of size.
"CCH is proud to be a part of this community and proud to contribute not only to the quality of health care but the quality of life in Chelsea," said Colligan.
"People are always willing to give back to the community and that's what makes Chelsea, Chelsea."
Pierce took a more historical view of the honor.
"I believe that those of us who are trusted with the development and promotion of Chelsea must recognize that this community has been built by visionaries. It is our duty to be good stewards of their community," the chamber director said.
"These awards validate that we are preserving the good works of our predecessors and moving Chelsea in a positive direction."
On the other hand, other business leaders looked to the future with the announcement.
"It's wonderful to be recognized nationally - it's well-deserved, it's exciting for the community," said Downtown Development Authority President Mike Jackson.
"It's an opportunity to reflect on what we've been doing well, and a reminder to keep striving for that position in the future."
Defining 'affordable'
The distinction of "best affordable" suburb is nebulous, because affordable is in the eye - or wallet - of the beholder.
What's affordable to one may be far beyond the reach of another.
That's why Business Week and Sperling's Web site used very flexible guidelines.
In general, they found that home prices in the middle part of the country (like Michigan) rose less than those in and around major metropolitan areas on both coasts, and salaries were generally more closely tied to home prices.
Bert Sperling, founder and president of Sperling's BestPlaces, based in Portland, Ore., said his favorite affordable suburbs have a "small-town" quality of life, and that is certainly true of Chelsea.
He especially likes Coralville, Iowa, near Iowa City, the home of the University of Iowa.
And Snohomish, Wash. — about 15 miles northeast of Seattle — is "separate enough from the metro area that it has its own distinct quality, with a sense of history and a real downtown," Sperling said.
Sounds a little like right here, doesn't it?
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