Quitman, MS: The Best Town In The World To Live
I Love Quitman, Mississippi
The best place in the world to live and work! Click to go shopping now for gifts & apparel
I would like to compliment the Mayor of Quitman, Eddie Fulton, for all the good work he has done to help promote Quitman and make it,
"one of the finest places in the world to live." That's how Eddie described Quitman during a recent interview which was broadcast by ABC news affiliate
WTOK Channel 11, Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010, in a report about the Parents for Public Schools (PPS) Leadership Program.
What better way to promote Quitman than to proclaim outright that it is,
"one of the finest places in the world to live." I knew there was a good reason I was living here! However, when I consulted the oracle, that great 21st Century know-it-all index and repository of knowledge, Google, regarding this matter, no mention of Quitman, MS, came up. Instead I discovered that
Forbes ranked the capital of Austria,
Vienna, as the best place in the world to live, with Switzerland's
Zurich and
Geneva coming in 2nd and 3rd.
Forbes based its report upon careful analysis made by
Mercer to determine the Quality of Life and Eco-City Index of each city. For example, Vienna was given a Quality of Life index of 108.6 and an Eco-City index of 126.2. By comparison, New York City was given a 100 index which gave it a rank of the 49th best place in the world to live. According to Forbes, Mercer "ranked 221 cities around the world on 39 measures, emphasizing political safety and health, but also including factors from restaurant availability to air pollution." Other US cities which were given high rankings were Honolulu at No. 31, San Francisco (tied with Adelaide, Australia) at No. 32 , Boston at No. 37, Chicago and Washington, D.C. at 45th place, and Philadelphia and Dallas at 55 and 61 on the list, respectively. Coming in dead last was Baghdad at 214, scoring 40.5.
Where would Quitman, MS, really rank if measured by the same standard used by Mercer? Would Quitman indeed be "one of the finest places in the world to live," as Eddie Fulton has proclaimed? What would it take to make Quitman the BEST place in the world to live? Having traveled widely throughout the United States I'd certainly say Quitman would rank higher than the nation's capitol which was 45th on the list, but that's only because I like rural communities. Although Quitman is a rural community, it is in close proximity to Meridian which has better hospitals, entertainment, shopping, employment, and higher educational opportunities than Quitman; hence, these factors contribute significantly to the quality of life enjoyed by Quitman residents. Still, Quitman may never equal what I nation's capital has to offer in the way of museums and cultural opportunities. However, what pulls Quitman way down in the ranking is low employment, a factor which effects the entire state of Mississippi.
One could easily conclude that Quitman is not really one of the finest places in the world to live, despite the boasts of Mayor Fulton. It is especially not the best place to live if you happen to be unemployed. But that would hold true of many cities around the nation given an unemployment rate of 9.6 percent. Of course if you factor in the southern hospitality index, which Mercer did not do, Quitman might go up a few notches, given one could hardly find a place where the people are more good hearted, friendly and genuinely caring than those living in Quitman and throughout the region. Of course that's just my opinion, and I'm sure those are factors Mayor Fulton probably took into consideration when he put Quitman at the top of the list as, "one of the finest places in the world to live."
Whether it is true or not from a critical analytical point of view, as a peaceful, rural country community, Quitman is a good place to live and to raise a family. We have clean air and water; plus, Quitman is a very safe community, with a relative low crime rate. Also Quitman is located far enough inland that it is relatively safe from category 4 hurricane force winds, a factor demonstrated by Katrina. Although Quitman did suffer some damage from Katrina, with the downing of power lines and trees, it was nothing like the complete devastation suffered by Gulf coastal communities, which brut the worst of the storm. For that we have God to thank!
How might Quitman really be made not only one of the finest places to live, but
the best place in the world to live for more of its residents? Clearly the answer is to boost employment opportunity, as then the quality of life might increase for everyone. When you have a good job not only are you able to improve your own life, but the money you spend in the community benefits others. Hence, bringing good, high paying jobs to Quitman is the single most important factor to consider and should be at the top of the list of things to do, especially if you are the mayor, on the Board of Alderman, or a member of the Clarke County Chamber of Commerce. Jobs, jobs and more jobs is what Quitman needs to really be the best place in the world not only to live, but to work.
What Quitman needs is an economic development plan, a plan for the future to boost the local economy. Just saying that "Quitman is one of the finest places in the world to live," does not make it true. What would really put Quitman on the map is bringing high tech jobs to Quitman in such numbers that the unemployment rate would fall to near zero and the quality of life for everyone in the community would break through the ceiling. Yet how can that be done when the city, county, state and nation are all struggling to survive the worst economic recession since the Great Depression?
While pondering this dilemma I think I stumbled upon a solution. Let's start an Internet based company like Amazon.com and eBay, integrating social networking like Facebook and Twitter. Such a company would manufactures high quality purchase-on-demand (POD) products which could be shipped all over the world with the buyer paying the shipping costs. We could call the company
Byteland, which has a nice ring and brings to mind computers and the Internet, given a "byte" is eight bits of information required to make every digital character. Such a company could employ hundreds of people, perhaps even a thousand or more people, and reap great rewards, given it would market products nationally and internationally. The potential for growth, profits, and high return on investments is enormous. I would gladly contribute my expertise to establishing such a company if others would come on board and invest in such a worthy project for our community. Anyone who thinks this is a good idea and who would like to help make it a reality is invited to send an email to
Terry@byteland.org.
Why to get the project started I'll even make the first design which says,
"I (Heart) Quitman: The best place in the world to live and work!" This promotion alone could put Quitman on the map and get people looking in our direction, wanting to live and work in Quitman. This would be a great way to get people to invest not only money, but their lives in Quitman. By then building a company in Quitman which markets high quality POD products nationally and internationally, we could bring great wealth and prosperity to the city and raise the standard of living for everyone!
I Love Quitman, Mississippi
The best place in the world to live and work! Click to go shopping now for gifts & apparel
(This article was original published on-line at
I Love Quitman
