Homeless shelter population declined
The annual point-in-time count of homeless people in Columbus and Franklin County emergency shelters showed an 18% decrease over the past year, which an official attributed to the eviction moratorium and enhanced unemployment benefits and stimulus checks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The number of people in shelters the night of Jan. 27 was 1,201, down 265 from the 1,466 the year before, said Michelle Heritage, executive director of the Community Shelter Board.
That includes a decrease in the number of family members too, from 555 to 391. Family members include any adults and children under 18.
“We think this eviction moratorium has had a positive impact,” Heritage said.
That’s because families often take in other families who are facing difficulties finding housing. If the host family gets evicted, then those they take in are also without housing, she said.
Now Columbus has been ranked, along with 190 other U.S. cities, on a list identifying the “Most Relaxing Cities in America.” The cities rounding out the bottom of this list were deemed “where the most stressed Americans live.”
Columbus did not fare as well on this latest list. Ohio's capital city landed firmly in the bottom half of the selected cities, coming in at No. 120.
So we're pretty stressed out. Why? I think that's obvious. Too many hipsters.
But no, the Yelp Hipster Score did not play a role in this new analysis that was conducted somewhat inexplicably by a lawn care company called Lawnstarter.
Based on a list of the company's previous lists, the stressed-out-cities list is an anomaly. Lawnstarter more commonly generates lists of the best weed eaters, hedge trimmers, and chain saws.
What better judge of stress than a reviewer of yard power tools.
The announcement of its stressedcities list landed in my inbox Wednesday morning.
“We all need to relax after a year of COVID restrictions, but how easy it is to drive to the beach, hike in a park, or get a massage depends on where you live,” said the folks at Lawnstarter. “That's why Lawnstarter compiled 2021's Most Relaxed Cities, ranking over 190 of the biggest U.S. cities based on 57 key indicators of a zen atmosphere.”
I clicked the attached link and was greeted by, “404 Page Not Found.”
I tried again.
“404 Page Not Found.”
Again.
“404 Page Not Found.”
I felt my stress level rising and wondered if I were part of Lawnstarter's secret study sample. I gave up in frustration and moved on to other things, until another email popped up from Lawnstarter an hour later.
“The previous email had the wrong url to the study,” this one began. “Please accept our apology and find the study here.”
Against my better judgment, I clicked again. This time it worked. I learned that an obviously imaginary city named Sunnyvale in California is the most-relaxing place to live.
Columbus, though ranked at 120, fared considerably better than other Ohio cities, including Cincinnati (141), Akron (160), Dayton (176), Toledo (178) and Cleveland (185).
Of the top 10 most-relaxing cities, seven are on the West Coast or in Hawaii, suggesting that the potential for catastrophic earthquakes was not included in the study's “what stresses you out” methodology.
Lawnstarter also clearly did not consult with the goth kids from the animated show, “South Park,” who famously declared Scottsdale to be “the most horrible, most miserable place on earth.” Lawnstarter placed the Arizona city at
No. 12.
Scottsdale's slogan, by the way, appears to be “The West's Most Western Town,” which was ranked — by me just now — dead last at No. 191 on my list of “Best City Slogans.” Don't ask me where Columbus falls on this slogan list. Given our own sloganeering challenges, I'm not going there.
So many of these lists are inherently arbitrary and dumb. Maybe the residents of Seattle really are the fifth-most relaxed group of U.S. citizens, as Lawnstarter suggests. Personally, I'd find it rather stressful to live in the city with the fifth-highest cost of living, per another list from two years ago.
Relaxation is largely in the heart rate of the beholder, not in some cherrypicked methodology that includes the number of dance clubs per 100,000 residents or the “legality of marijuana use.”
Don't ask me more about that last one. I'm not going there either. tdecker@dispatch.com @Theodore_decker