Boulder City a great place to live

Just ask any Boulder City resident and he or she will tell you, the city is the best place to live.

The weather is beautiful, the citizens are friendly, there’s plenty to see and do, and crime is not a major issue.

As if they needed more proof, a real estate company just named Boulder City as the No. 3 best place to live in the state.

Movoto, an online real estate brokerage based in San Mateo, Calif., selected Boulder City after applying its seven “Best Places” criteria to 35 places in the state with populations greater than 5,000. They looked at total amenities, quality of life (including cost of living, median home price and rent, median household income and student-to-teacher ratio), total crime, sales and income tax rates, unemployment rate, commute time and, of course, weather.

The company used data from the U.S. Census Bureau to create its list.

Boulder City, which scored slightly behind Incline Village and Gardnerville, was ranked No. 1 for its unemployment rate and No. 4 for its crime rate. It fell in the top third of the pack for the other criteria.

But it fared better than its neighbors to the north, Las Vegas, which ranked No. 4 on the best places to live list, and Henderson, which ranked No. 6.

“You could say that Boulder City is a dam fine town, seeing as how this home to 15,166 people is not only our third-best city overall but is right next door to Hoover Dam, one of the world’s true engineering marvels,” they wrote.

Then, just a few days later, I received a NevadaGram from the Nevada Travel Network, which named Boulder City its 2014 City of the Year and the Boulder Dam Hotel as the 2014 Hotel of the Year.

Fortunately, the hotel, which they called a jewel that harks back to its 1933 origins, is on the road to good financial health, thanks to a recent donation of more than $100,000 that was bequeathed to the Boulder City Museum and Historical Association, which owns and operates the downtown landmark.

The travel network touted the city’s lack of casino gambling, rural setting with cosmopolitan overtones (as compared to nearby Las Vegas), and emphasis on dining and art, “which make this little city sparkle.”

I couldn’t agree more. The more time I spend in Boulder City, the more enamoured I become. It could be the weather, the amenities or the residents themselves. It doesn’t really matter which because together they make this city what it is: someplace special.

On a different note … Even though Boulder City is a great place to live, sometimes our eaglettes need to spread their wings and establish their own nests elsewhere. It’s happening here at the Boulder City Review.

Longtime reporter and practically native son Jack Johnson is leaving us to expand his horizons. He will be missed by many.

It will be a challenge to find someone with his vast knowledge and love of the community, but we will try. If you know of someone who might be interested in joining our team, have them send a resume and at least three writing samples to Editor Hali Bernstein Saylor at hsaylor@bouldercityreview.com.