Pdx in the Ascendant? Really?

In response to a posting here claiming that Portland is highly ranked on countless lists and is thus a wonderful place with little need for improvement, I wrote the following:

I recommend you read the classic book "How to Lie with Statistics" before you burst any buttons from chest-swelling pride. Many of the rankings you report are from organizations I have no reason to trust; others are directly contradicted by other established facts; still others are going to be determined by the unstated assumptions of the rankers.

To take a few: the Pearl District is also an example of taxpayer giveaways that subsidize rich yuppies. If the "Project for Public Spaces" is part of the lemming-like New Urbanist Movement, then of course they'll rate the Pearl highly - those are two aspects of the same religion.

And if Portland is the most child-friendly city, why is it also a city with few children, and that number plummeting?

As for the Tax Foundation, my initial look at their ranking system indicates they excludes fees - but Oregon rakes in $2 in fees for ever $1 in personal income tax revenue. I don't think the Tax Foundation's scoring system takes into account how distorted Oregon's fee-heavy revenue system is - and calling us "low tax" by ignoring 2/3rds of the state's take is dishonest to say the least.

But hey, how does Oregon rank on self-delusion among liberal cheerleaders? (Not you specifically, Chris - this is a common theme I've seen.) That's one ranking I'm sure we earned honestly.