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With many other honors coming the city’s way, Batavia has been named as one of the top 100 small towns in America by CNN Money.
Batavia came in at number 56 and was ranked higher than other Illinois communities showing up on the list, which included Buffalo Grove at 65 and Glen Carbon at 91.
| To view the full list, visit http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2009/top100 |
The No. 1 town on the list was Luisville, Colo., which has a population of 18,800 and an unemployment rate of 6 percent.
Batavia Mayor Jeff Schielke said he the distinction is an honor.
“Obviously, we kind of sold ourselves just by acting the way we do and going about our business and doing things,” Schielke said. “I’ve said all along, there’s a spirit of the people ... People make the essence of this town.”
Schielke said he’s been receiving letters of congratulations from residents.
“People take great pleasure and a great degree of appreciation when we have something successful happen in the community,” Schielke said.
Schielke said he remembers when Batavia High School was in the state football championship a few years ago and played Normal Community High School.
“Normal had a few folks in the bleachers, Batavia had a whole side,” Schielke said. “TV people interviewed me and asked ‘Where’d all of this come from?’” I said half the town was probably there. That’s just the way things are.”
According to the list’s entry, Batavia has a population of 27,300, with a median family income of $101,836 per year. Job growth is listed at 22.81 percent for 2000 through 2008. Median home prices are listed at $278,500.
Roger Breisch, the executive director for the Batavia Chamber of Commerce said he didn’t expect the award, but he knows the city deserves it.
“Batavia is a real down-to-earth kind of community that works really hard to be good,” Breisch said. “That defines us. There’s no wealthy family in town (to pay for things), people just roll up their sleeves and get to work.”
The top 100 small town list was developed by using a database of more than 1,800 cities with populations between 8,500 and 50,000. The cities were to have satisfactory education and crime scores, could not be more than 95 percent white and be below 200 percent of the state median income.
Batavia is no stranger to awards. The city was ranked 21st on Business Week’s “50 Best Places to Raise Kids” list in 2007.
It also recently was recognized as a Gold Level Community by Clean Air Counts. The city has been working to reduce air and river pollution and reduce the amount of energy used by residents.
With many other honors coming the city’s way, Batavia has been named as one of the top 100 small towns in America by CNN Money.
Batavia came in at number 56 and was ranked higher than other Illinois communities showing up on the list, which included Buffalo Grove at 65 and Glen Carbon at 91.
| To view the full list, visit http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2009/top100 |
The No. 1 town on the list was Luisville, Colo., which has a population of 18,800 and an unemployment rate of 6 percent.
Batavia Mayor Jeff Schielke said he the distinction is an honor.
“Obviously, we kind of sold ourselves just by acting the way we do and going about our business and doing things,” Schielke said. “I’ve said all along, there’s a spirit of the people ... People make the essence of this town.”
Schielke said he’s been receiving letters of congratulations from residents.
“People take great pleasure and a great degree of appreciation when we have something successful happen in the community,” Schielke said.
Schielke said he remembers when Batavia High School was in the state football championship a few years ago and played Normal Community High School.
“Normal had a few folks in the bleachers, Batavia had a whole side,” Schielke said. “TV people interviewed me and asked ‘Where’d all of this come from?’” I said half the town was probably there. That’s just the way things are.”
According to the list’s entry, Batavia has a population of 27,300, with a median family income of $101,836 per year. Job growth is listed at 22.81 percent for 2000 through 2008. Median home prices are listed at $278,500.
Roger Breisch, the executive director for the Batavia Chamber of Commerce said he didn’t expect the award, but he knows the city deserves it.
“Batavia is a real down-to-earth kind of community that works really hard to be good,” Breisch said. “That defines us. There’s no wealthy family in town (to pay for things), people just roll up their sleeves and get to work.”
The top 100 small town list was developed by using a database of more than 1,800 cities with populations between 8,500 and 50,000. The cities were to have satisfactory education and crime scores, could not be more than 95 percent white and be below 200 percent of the state median income.
Batavia is no stranger to awards. The city was ranked 21st on Business Week’s “50 Best Places to Raise Kids” list in 2007.
It also recently was recognized as a Gold Level Community by Clean Air Counts. The city has been working to reduce air and river pollution and reduce the amount of energy used by residents.
