Rapidly growing O’Fallon has again found itself in the national spotlight as a great place to call home.
Relocate-America.com, a consumer web site featuring profiles and statistics on communities throughout the nation, ranked the city ninth in a top ten 2007 poll of best places to live in the country. Asheville, N.C., Traverse City, Mich. and Utica, N.Y. ranked first, second and third. Other cities on the list were Chicago, Cary, N.C. Portland, Maine, San Francisco, Stevens Point, Wis. and Spencer, Ia.
According to its web site, cities on the list were first nominated by residents and businesses in the communities. Officials with the company then evaluated education, employment, economic, crime, parks, recreation and housing statistics to devise the final ranking.
O’Fallon was noted for its rapid growth and its sense of community. O’Fallon currently has an estimated population of 72,000 people, but more than half of its population has been in the city less than ten years.
“Although this growth is welcomed, the community continues to maintain a friendly atmosphere of a small town,” the web site said.
I lived in O'Fallon for a couple of years, my parents still live there, and I can safely say it is a hellhole. O'Fallon, Missouri suffers from as bad a case of suburban sprawl as anywhere in the nation. (Yes, I'm very familiar with the suburbs of Northern Virginia and they are a larger mess I'll grant you. But mile-for-mile O'Fallon is just as bad.) There are so few main roads that it can take 30+ minutes to go 6 or 7 miles AND NEVER LEAVE THE CITY LIMITS. There are few good restaurants; even fewer places to go for a walk. The "downtown" area is downright ugly. Imo's coverage is spotty at best. (St. Louisians will know how important that can be.) And traffic will be snarled to a standstill on highway K each and every Saturday and Sunday.
Ah yeah....paradise.
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