August 11, 2006
Section: News
Article ID: 4166361
Bennington a best small town

MATT TUTHILL, Staff Writer

Friday, August 11 BENNINGTON — The town was ranked the 49th best small town in the country and eighth best in the east region based on several quality of life standards, according to a recently published report. The publication bizjournals.com, a small business magazine, released the rankings of "micropolitan" areas on Aug. 7 in an article titled "Where to find the best quality of life." The quality of life rankings are based a number of factors including the rate of small business growth, per capita income, low taxation, affordable housing, the number of adult residents with college degrees and proximity to a major metropolitan area.

"I've always know that Bennington was a great place to live," Town
Manager Stuart A. Hurd said. "I tell people that all the time. It's nice to know that people are beginning to realize it."

Better Bennington Corp. Executive Director Robert Stannard said he
was thrilled with the high national ranking but felt a special
satisfaction from the fact that Bennington's regional ranking edged out Keene, N.H., by a single placing. Keene, N.H., a town Stannard recently challenged to a pumpkin carving contest, came in ninth place in the region and did not place within the top 50 in the country.

"It's amusing that we're ahead of Keene," Stannard said. "We're ahead of them in quality of life, and we'll be ahead of them in pumpkins. But obviously we want to be number one, so we've got some work to do."

Bennington County Industrial Corp. Executive Director Peter Odierna said there is a direct correlation between the high ranking and recent efforts to diversify the economy.

"We were primarily a manufacturing-based economy," Odierna said.
"Over the last several years there has been a concerted effort to
diversify our economic base and we've been able to do that to a
degree."

Bozeman, Mont., ranked as the number one micropolitan area in the
country. Barre ranked 18th in the nation and second in the region
behind Easton, Md.

Bizjournals is the new media division of American City Business
Journals, the nation's largest publisher of metropolitan business
newspapers. It operates the Web sites for each of the company's 41
print business journals. American City also publishes Hemmings Motor News, based in Bennington.

(c) 2006 Bennington Banner. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Media NewsGroup, Inc. by NewsBank, Inc.

Clover H. Whitham
Managing Editor