Comparing Cities: Urban Insecurity

Cincinnati’s annual Octoberfest celebration, Zincinnati, ends tomorrow. It’s the largest Octoberfest celebration in the United States, as I’m told by the local newspaper, The Enquirer, which throws out statistics such as this periodically to provide perspective to its readers and boost local pride in this urban area.

Putting aside for the moment the interesting question of why an Oktoberfest celebration would actually be celebrated in September, it’s worth noting that The Enquirer is hardly alone in using sometimes obscure statistics to beat the civic drum. I remember well how media in San Diego often described (and probably still do) “America’s Finest City” as the 7th (now 8th) largest city in the nation, in terms of population. Somehow they rarely mentioned that the city is only the 28th largest media market in the United States, which is a more telling measure of its size, impact and sophistication.

Anyway, such boosterish sentiment is alive and well in Cincinnati, too, as you can see by the following tidbits, among others, that have appeared in The Enquirer in recent months, noting that Cincinnati has:

Ohio’s first publicly owned water system
The nation’s oldest professional tennis tournament played in its city of origin
More canoe and kayak liveries — 10 — than any other metro area
The nation’s largest locally based paddling club, with 1,900 members
The nation’s largest on-water paddling event
The 6th oldest amusement park in the country (with the world’s largest recirculating swimming pool)

As if all that weren’t impressive enough, consider this: The Enquirer informs me that Cincinnati is also the nation’s fourth-largest inland hub where five highways converge.