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UPDATE: Geneva Is Illinois' Best Place to Raise Kids in 2013
Bloomberg teams up with Businessweek to select "America's Best Place to Raise Kids in 2013."
Swedish Days Kids Parade, Friday, June 22, 2012.
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Geneva has been selected by Bloomberg and Businessweek as the best place to raise kids in 2013 in Illinois.
This is the seventh year Bloomberg has evaluated the best small towns to raise kids. Geneva was selected from more than 3,200 places nationwide with populations between 5,000 and 50,000.
According to the article on businessweek.com, public school performance and public safety were weighed most heavily. The organization also looks at median income and county-level unemployment, housing costs, commute time, poverty, adults’ educational attainment and share of households with children.
“Geneva is a wonderful place to live, and we are very pleased that Geneva has received this much-deserved recognition,” said Superintendent Dr. Kent Mutchler. “We are fortunate to have such strong intergovernmental partnerships in Geneva, and this collaborative effort reflects very well on all those who live and work here.”
“We believe our schools reflect the community well, and the success of our students demonstrates the quality work of our excellent staff and the strong support of our parents and community,” Dr. Mutchler added.
"We're honored that Bloomberg and Business Week have endorsed what we who call Geneva home, have known all along — our community is indeed special," said Geneva Mayor Kevin R. Burns.
From the article, it appears the organization was seeking not so much a rural "Mayberry" environment, but a town with some sophistication, diversity and proximity to cultural centers—i.e. suburbs.
According to the article, No. 1 on the list was Solon, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland.
In 2011, neighboring St. Charles was named No. 1 on Family Circle magazine's list of top towns to raise a family.
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Dan Simon
12:22 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
With all of the horrible news in the world these days, this is really great to hear! Proud to be a Genevan!
Elmer Elmer
12:57 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Obviously they don't know the school board or superintendent.
David
10:00 am on Monday, December 24, 2012
The GEA no doubt will say it is because of our hardworking teachers that make our town a nice place to live. So lets give them all another raise.
Melissa
12:58 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
I was a happy kid here and I am proudly raising mine here.
marsha engle
1:02 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
It is a special town. We moved away and moved back to raise our daughter here. We are all blessed to call Geneva home.
Ann
1:03 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
The school board?? How about the GEA! A union that received a contract, yet pursues a lawsuit against the city!?! No one continues with a lawsuit after a contract has been resolved- only those wishing to pour salt in an open wound. Teachers, please recognize some will forget your greed, but those of us involved will be certain you did not hesitate to punch the citizens in the gut.
MK
1:12 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Yes, Geneva is a special town. You can't expect Bloomberg to know all the sordid details of our disastrous debt problems in the school district. But I believe we are a whole lot smarter as a community wrt to these issues than we were just 2 years ago.
I have faith we can right this ship together.
Pat Fitz
1:31 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Elmer & Ann... Do you always need to find a negative in a positive. STC grad and have raised my kids in Geneva. Both are great communities!!
Betty Collins
3:14 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
How fortunate we all are to live in such a great area! Let's just count our blessings and have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2013.
samcar1
5:53 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Of course if you can't afford Geneva, there's always beautiful, arts-driven Batavia!
Mike Bruno
7:18 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Most every resident knows that Geneva is very special place, so it is good to receive this sort of validation. Still; we didn't become this town by accident. It took generations of engaged citizens and thoughtful staff to protect that which is valuable and reinvent what what might not have been so great.
While I am proud of our City, I am more proud of our community of citizens that played the long game and nurtured Geneva into the gem that it is.
Colin C.
9:55 am on Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Good point Mike.
As I have mentioned several times here, we lived for 25 years in a town very much like Geneva in population, county seat, near a big city, all the potential. However its citizens and government were not engaged in the kind of planning, development, and forward thinking that we saw in Geneva over the last fifty years or so. By the time we left there were security guards in the schools, the downtown was virtually boarded up, and property values were devastated. Developers and absentee landlords had pretty much ruined the town for their own, short term profit.
Some years ago there was a movie called "Pleasantville", At a GHS class reunion that yearvone former resident remarked that they had all grown up in their own Pleasantville, no irony intended. She was right.
We can't tell you how happy we are to be back in Pleasantvill, IL.
Do we have problems? Conflicts? Of course. Is it all perfect? Of course not. But for the most part the people of Geneva work together, even if they are at odds, to do what is best for the town. So far we have been pretty successful.
Since 1984
8:23 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
I'm proud... enough said. Let's come together again. The recent tragedy shows how strong kids, families, and teachers can be together. TOGETHER. It was like this recently. Let's work toward this goal.
Martha Hanna
8:26 am on Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Hmm, Bloomberg looks at school stats first...it looks like a good education is the first thing they compare small towns with. Thank you teachers for your good work, and may you never have to be armed to teach our kids!!
John R
12:52 pm on Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Schools, schools, schools
Be very careful with D304. It is a very valuable community asset. Families have, do and will continue to move to our community because of our school's.
I concur with Mike and Colin community involvement is key. Regardless of where you sit on any one issue it's important that you speak up or get involved in one capacity or another. Our local political leaders need to hear from the general public.
This is great news for Geneva. Congratulations to everyone for all their hard work and committment. Congrats to the Mayor, the Alderman, school administrators, school board, teachers and expecially the taxpayers. We are the ones that foot the bill.
John Rice
Beth Wheeler
5:41 pm on Friday, December 21, 2012
Yay, Geneva! A big thank you to our schools, our city workers, our park district, our local businesses, and our many community volunteers for making this such a great place to live.
Carrie
4:20 am on Saturday, April 6, 2013
Are same sex couples with children welcome in Geneva?