[Paul in S.A TX]

Originally Posted by ICEVET

During the months-long debate about whether San Antonio is a world-class city, I’ve been puzzled that there has not been a single mention of the numerous organizations that routinely evaluate and classify cities all over the world for that exact reason. The one which I find to have some of the most detailed information is the Globalization and World Class Cities Research Network (lboro.ac.uk/gawc/). The GAWC publishes a list divided into a dozen tiers arranged in descending order according to the rankings for each city tier group. Among the factors used for evaluation are economic strength, financial influence, transportation, educational institutions, presence of multi-national corporations, overall infrastructure and a variety of additional criteria. San Antonio is actually found among the cities contained in the eleventh-ranked tier, which is designated “High Sufficiency Cities”. As one might reluctantly expect, Dallas and Houston are in the fourth tier, while Austin made it to the eighth. Other good sources for reviewing similar rankings include the Global City Competitiveness Index, the Global Metro Monitor Map and the Global Financial Centres Index.
It should come as no surprise that San Antonio is found so low on the list, but at least we’re on the radar, so to speak. What was surprising to me, however, is how many cities in the U.S. are ranked way above us that we may have regarded as somehow inferior or behind us in overall development or growth. Is is true that these lists are the product of the opinions of the researchers, albeit opinions arrived at after considerable research and analysis. One may choose to disregard them as such, although that might be a little more difficult to do in light of likely scrutiny by disinterested entities who have left them largely unchallenged. After all, it has not been that long since we were reminded that opinions are not truth. Data and statistics are always subject to interpretation and that may well involve more subjectivity than objectivity on the researchers’ part. Since a lot of the data are provided by the municipalities, themselves, I am inclined to regard the information as fairly reliable.
I was born and raised in San Antonio but left when I was seventeen and did not return until I retired in '06. It is my home town, warts and all. I was fortunate to have lived and worked in seven states and three foreign countries and can truthfully say (can truth be opinion?) that I found some cities that were much nicer than San Antonio from a variety of perspectives, that being my humble opinion. Be that as it may, those posters who comment on a perceived lack of progress should have seen what it was like here fifty years ago when I was in high school. While it is certainly appropriate to focus on future goals, we must give due credit to those who have contributed so much to being where we are today.
Finally, I would certainly hope to see an eventual diminishing of the rancorous criticism leveled at some of our posters who have done nothing more egregious that offer their opinion on some topic in which they share our interest. To pile on someone for merely making a statement we happen to disagree with is a mark of childish immaturity, as well as a lack of patience, tolerance and simple, good manners. I salute those who persistently state their case while probably knowing that someone will crab endlessly for no particular reason.
Thus endeth my epistle of 7 August, 2018.

GWAC also lists, Cleveland, Orlando, Cincinatti, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, NC, Columbus, Ohio and Kansas City as Gamma cities. I don't see how these smaller cities are more significant than San Antonio on a global scale. They even have Bologna, listed as a Gamma city. I don't think San Antonio is being recognized for its strengths as it should. This is a bunch of Bologna, alright.