Eden Prairie and Woodbury are the only Minnesota cities to make an annual list of top cities in the country.
The two suburbs are among the top 50 "Best Places to Live" in Money magazine's 2016 rankings. Eden Prairie came in No. 2 and Woodbury came in No. 11. The magazine ranks all U.S. cities that have populations of 50,000 to 300,000 residents, looking at factors such as taxes, education and health care. The list was limited to no more than four places per state and one city per county.
The magazine pointed out Eden Prairie's economy, large employers like Supervalu, parks and lakes, and the fact that 95 percent of respondents to a city survey gave the city "good" or "excellent" ratings for quality of life. It also featured a new development called Eden Gardens, a 36-home neighborhood of energy-efficient, high-density homes near Hwy. 212.
It's the fourth time Eden Prairie has made the list — and its top 10 — since 2006. In 2010, the west-metro suburb came in first.
Woodbury, which has also made the list several times, was singled out for its growing community, amenities and sports facilities, as well as a thriving health and wellness industry, including Anytime Fitness' new headquarters. To see the full list, go to time.com/money/collection/best-places-to-live/.
Kelly Smith
Woodbury
County commissioners seek transit funding
Commissioners on the Washington County Board have written to Gov. Mark Dayton to push funding for the Gold Line rapid bus transit project in a possible special session before year's end. They thanked the governor for a recent meeting in Woodbury to discuss a $3 million request "to keep the project moving forward."
The Gold Line, previously known as the Gateway Corridor, would connect cities along Interstate 94 in the east metro with Union Depot in downtown St. Paul. "As you noted in the meeting," commissioners wrote the governor, "functioning, mature transit systems rarely or never have lines that end downtown, they connect the outlying communities to the downtown."
