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© St. Petersburg Times, published May 20, 2002
Sarasota trumped the rest of the state -- not to mention the rest of the Southeast -- with its selection as one of Money magazine's eight best places to retire.
"This is not your grandparents' Florida," the magazine gushed in its June issue. "Yes, it has golf, tennis and condos galore, but it also has kids, arts and a circus in residence."
Money also noted Sarasota's warm weather, beaches and affordable housing. The circus aside, couldn't the Tampa Bay area brag about those attractions? How did Sarasota rise to the top?
Money's Web site ranked 857 cities, including Tampa and St. Petersburg, on 12 points related to leisure, health, environment, education and crime. St. Petersburg was the clear winner of a three-way battle of the stats, ranking higher than Sarasota on 11 of the 12 points and higher than Tampa on seven. Both Tampa and St. Petersburg beat Sarasota on leisure, education, arts and culture. Sarasota's best point: lack of air pollution.
So what gives?
"We don't rely on numbers alone," said Andrea Bennett, one of the writers for Money's report. In fact, she said the numbers on the Web site were from an independent source she hadn't even consulted.
"The bulk of what we do is a qualitative decision," she said. "We just start calling real estate agents and people who live in the cities. A lot of it is anecdotal. We ask them, 'What do you do on the weekends?' "
In case Sarasota is not your cup of tea, Money's other "best" places to retire are: Providence, R.I.; Roanoke, Va., Sheboygan, Wis.; Boulder, Colo.; Las Cruces, N.M.; Medford, Ore.; and San Miguel De Allende, Mexico.