Source: Fred Brock 785-532-3958, feb2@k-state.edu.
http://www.mediarelations.k-state.edu/WEB/News/MediaGuide/brockbio.html
News release prepared by: Andy Badeker, 785-532-6415, abadeker@k-state.edu
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
K-STATE HELPS MANHATTAN MAKE TOP-10 LIST AMONG RETIREMENT DESTINATIONS; FORMER NEW YORKER ENDORSES LITTLE APPLE'S INCLUSION
MANHATTAN -- Money Magazine just included Manhattan as one of the country's "best places to retire young" -- and being home to Kansas State University helped the city make the list.
Manhattan ranked ninth on the list, which can be accessed at http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/
Specific criteria for determining the rankings included "the presence of one or more major and/or highly competitive college in the vicinity."
K-State's presence means many of the world's top leaders visit Manhattan through the university's prestigious and nationally recognized Landon Lecture Series, including recent speakers President George W. Bush, former President Bill Clinton and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Well-known performers and theatrical productions come to Manhattan regularly through K-State's McCain Performance Series. K-State also is a member of the Big 12, one of the top athletic conferences in the nation, making Manhattan the place to catch top collegiate competition in football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, volleyball, track and more.
That Manhattan is on the list is no surprise to Fred Brock, a New York Times columnist who now teaches at K-State's A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
"I can see how Manhattan ended up on this list," said Brock, who holds the R.M. Seaton Professional Journalism Chair. "I like to bicycle and to hike, and those opportunities are readily available here."
Brock is doubly qualified to judge: He's already retired once, from his business beat at the Times. And he's written several books on financial planning, including 2004's "Retire on Less Than You Think: The New York Times Guide to Planning Your Financial Future." At K-State Brock teaches news and feature writing as well as business and economic reporting.
The list, which included Ames, Iowa, as its only other Midwestern destination (in 10th place), was compiled for Money by Bert Sperling, who operates the Web site BestPlaces.net.
"I know Bert Sperling well; I've used him as a source in my books," Brock said. "He's very careful and conscientious. He's the source for almost all the top-10 lists you see in the financial press."
But Sperling and Money didn't arrive at their decision without a little push from local boosters. John Pagen, director of economic development for the Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce, sent CNNMoney.com an e-mail in September 2006, encouraging its editors to take a look at Manhattan's statistics.
"I can't claim directly" that the e-mail led to Manhattan's inclusion in this year's listings, Pagen said, "but it didn't hurt."
"The community of Manhattan certainly speaks for itself," says Jeff Chapman, who chairs the chamber's "Retire to the Flint Hills" campaign. But "there was certainly an effort to be noticed."
Chapman, who also runs the marketing effort for Meadowlark Hills Retirement Community, said the chamber has pursued this ranking for several years. "We were penalized often for not being within 100 miles of a major airport."
Money fudged that requirement this year, according to the Web site: "In those few cases where a metropolitan area wasn't within 100 miles, we looked for an outdoor lifestyle compelling enough to overcome the relative isolation."
That lack of access is " a small price to pay, in my opinion," Brock said. "The other thing is, if we were closer to the airport, we'd be a suburb of Kansas City. We wouldn't be Manhattan."
Even though he's glad to see his new home make the cut, Brock retains his reporter's skepticism.
"Here's what I don't like about these surveys," he said. "If you'll notice, every year they're different. Towns that rank highly one year disappear from the list entirely the next. What happened to them? So there's a certain artificiality to these rankings."
Sperling uses reliable and recent statistics, Brock said, but his job is to tailor lists to the specifications of his media and corporate clients.
"The only bias in his lists is what you ask him for, i.e., if you ask him for the top 10 places for cultural advantages, as opposed to the top 10 places for old people to get a job."
Brock is happy with the cultural advantages of Manhattan, he said, and the Miller job isn't bad, either.
"I was never a happy camper living in New York," he said, even though he liked his work. "Rarely do your job and the place you're living suit you. And they do for me now."
Another sign he's going native? He's getting close to complaining about the traffic. "Manhattan has gotten a little more congested since we moved here" in 2004, he said.
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