We may have David Letterman to thank for all of this, but have you ever wondered who, how and why publications keep churning out those “best” and “top” places lists? They must be popular because people keep making them.

Readers may have visited some of the places on the lists or the lists may help them decide where to go next. Real documentation may not be required to make these lists. We might call them well, kinda, maybe news, mostly opinions.

But, they are kind of fun, especially if your town makes the best list once in a while.

Over the past two years, Sarasota has been named to 30 different lists. In case you missed it, in 2015 we were named:

• Best Small Cities in America—Conde Nast Traveler
• #1 Great Place to Retire—Kiplinger
• #6 on Best Small Cities Quality of Life—WalletHub.com
• Nerdiest City—Movoto
• #31 Best Places to Live—Livability.com
• Best Spiced Rum (my personal favorite)—Caribbean Journal

And in 2016:

• Best Food Cities in the USA—Conde Nast Traveler
• Best Places to Start a Small Business—CNBC
• Top Ten Happiest Sea Side Towns—Coastal Living
• The “It” City in the Sunshine State—Houstonia Magazine
• #12 America’s favorite towns—Travel and Leisure Readers Choice            

When these lists come up, locals just kind of smile and shrug their shoulders and say something like “we’ve been discovered”. But lately, since the local daily newspaper announced “the billion dollar building boom” on the front page of its Sunday edition, and listed all the new buildings under construction, people have humorously suggested we stop sharing these lists for a while.

But communities are a living, changing organism. So now, to deal with all of the expectations, challenges and opportunities being a best city region, it has been suggested that we create some new best lists, and that we strive to be on them in the future, for example:

New Future Lists to Create to Be On:

• Best Public, Private Not-for-Profit Collaborators to Solve local challenges
• Best local/regional innovators to manage increased traffic due to being on so many best lists
• Best Adapters to protecting shorelines and adapting to rising Sea Levels
• Best Innovators to bring quality affordable housing to the market place
• Best Parks System in Florida
• Top Arts and Cultural Center in Florida

For those who follow local government, the City Commission's recently adopted 2017-2020 strategic plan is focused on working to get us on the new lists we would like to see the city and region be on. You can find the Mayor and City Commissions recently adopted strategic plan on our website at: www.SarasotaFL.gov.

We look forward to working with all on continuing our community’s long standing tradition of working successfully in a collaborative fashion toward solving the latest big challenges together.

Thanks for taking the time to read this month’s updates. As always, if you have any ideas on this or any subject related to our community please do not hesitate to contact me at thomas.barwin@sarasotafl.gov

Tom Barwin is Sarasota City Manager.