Charlestown gets rated in annual ranking of cities and towns

GoLocalProv.com is releasing its annual rating of Rhode Island cities and towns this week. Each day, they are printing several of their muncipal reviews, starting last and marching to first place.

Charlestown wasn't in the bottom third, but we weren't in the top third, either.

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We came in 14th behind Burrillville, North Smithfield and Smithfield. We score ahead of all of our neighboring towns, for those of you looking for bragging rights.

They had some great things to say about our scenic beauty ' "arguably one of the most beautiful shorelines in Rhode Island" and "unspoiled vistas of the Ninigret Wildlife Refuge."

However, their rating system was based on factors that affect full-time residents, and not just Charlestown's undeniable appeal to visitors.

The editors expressed surprise that despite Charlestown's high scenic value, we placed 18th in affordability (they expected us to be much lower in the rankings). However, their affordability score is based on the ratio of median income (which is high) to the income needed to own a home.

The two factors that boosted our overall rating are education and economic condition. Chariho scores very well and also boosted the rankings for Hopkinton and Richmond and put Charlestown in #6 position in the state. Our frugal fiscal management earned us the #4 ranking statewide.

Two factors dragged us down out of the top third: safety and arts & culture. Statistically, we have a high rate of serious crime per capita and landed us in 21st place statewide. From scanning the police reports in the Sun, it seems to me that we have a lot of domestic violence arrests, but I'm not sure whether that's just an impression.

And we did poorly on arts and culture - with a terrible 28th place showing. I guess our summer events didn't count for much. We could learn to improve from the steps Westerly has taken to become a cultural venue, with lively theatre and live concerts. Hopkinton has acted to help local artists get themselves known in public through their great HopArts annual arts tour and having a cluster of artists along Route 138. In Westerly, there's the Artists Co-op and downtown galleries. Our struggling galleries need and deserve our support.

I think we can do a lot better than 14th place. I think we deserve it.

Author: Will Collette