Messina

Review some of the Old Pueblo’s rankings in various surveys, and the
picture isn’t pretty.

In February of this year, Tucson was no. 18 in BusinessWeek‘s
“America’s Unhappiest Cities.” This summer, we ranked no. 12 in the Old
Spice “Sweatiest Cities” survey. And in October, the folks at The
Daily Beast rated Tucson a mediocre 17 out of 36 on their “Best
(and Worst) Cities to Meet Men” list.

Yes, our high suicide rate is a serious issue; it’s hard not to
sweat when it’s 110; and perhaps our oven-like weather keeps many of
the decent guys away.

But looking at these surveys, I have to wonder: Do we have any
positive rankings? A little Internet digging yielded some encouraging
results.

AARP gave us top honors in their “Best Places to Live the Simple
Life” roundup in their magazine’s September/October issue. They write,
“Longing to escape the rat race? We’ve found five quiet and casual U.S.
cities with thriving arts scenes, lush landscapes and affordable
housing.”

The folks at Triathlete magazine recently rated Tucson no. 1
on their “20 Best Places to Live” list. They gush: “The variety of
training options on predominately sunny, warm, rainless days is
astounding.”

We’re also the fourth-Best Digital City (populations 250,000 or
more) in the 2009 National Digital Cities Survey. And last year,
Cooking Light magazine gave us top 10 honors in their search for
cities that “best fit our philosophy to eat smart, be fit and live
well.”

With such a contrast of ratings, it’s hard to get a true picture of
Tucson. In the end, it’s what we think of ourselves that matters most.
So it puzzles me when I see Tucson referred to as a small town.

Here’s a quote from tucsonnewhomesguide.com: “If Tucson, Arizona
living sounds appealing to you, you must check out Tucson, Arizona real
estate and your opportunities to be a part of this small town
community.”

The city of Tucson Web site has similar verbiage: “Tucson boasts the
best of both worlds … the progress and innovation of a metropolitan
community and the friendly, caring atmosphere of a small town.”

The 2009 Money magazine list of “America’s Best Small Towns”
includes cities with a population of 8,500 to 50,000. There are more
than 500,000 residents in Tucson and 1 million-plus in Pima County. So
how exactly are we small?

In other rankings, Tubac—our neighbor to the south—was
named one of the top 10 “America’s Coolest Small Towns” in the October
issue of Budget Travel magazine. I’m happy to see Tubac
recognized and put into a proper category. The categorization fits,
since the artistic town has fewer than 2,000 residents.

So saying Tucson is small is like shopping for the “S” jeans when
you know your butt really fits into “M.” You can’t fool your body, and
we as a city shouldn’t be fooling ourselves.

In Erec Toso’s Zero at the Bone: Rewriting Life After a
Snakebite, published by University of Arizona Press, he writes
about the expansion of Tucson. His elegantly stated point addresses a
disturbing reality: We are chewing up the desert very quickly.

“The desert serves as a backdrop for lives run by speed, distraction
and anxiety,” he writes. “And it is getting worse. Winding one-lane
dirt roads become two-lane paved roads that become straightened
four-lane highways. … Tucson is like an expanding donut of
development. Its heart is the hole and the desert the edge. This donut
eats rather than being eaten. … Tucson will more than double the area
it occupies by 2020 if current trends persist.”

According to the Pima Association of Governments, the population in
Pima County is expected to reach 2 million by 2055. Will we still be
“small” then? Still seating ourselves at the kids’ table?

I have to wonder if seeing ourselves as a city with a small-town
feel is hurting us in the end. Sure, it sounds nice in travel
literature, but having the thought that we are this little dusty burg
in the desert isn’t realistic. In truth, Tucson is an ever-growing city
that needs to sensibly address its development. As an expanding entity,
size small doesn’t fit us any longer.

This article appears in Nov 5-11, 2009.