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At least, that's the assessment from the brain trust behind Tina Brown's The Daily Beast, which has posted its list of America's Smartest Cities and put Dallas-Fort Worth at No. 48 ... out of 55. Commenters have taken issue with how the list was assembled (using such things as the percentage of residents with bachelor's and graduate degrees, the number of non-fiction titles sold in book stores and the percentage of eligible voters who actually, ya know, vote). But no one really has a problem with Houston (No. 46), San Antonio (No. 53) and DFW faring so poorly. (Austin comes in at No. 12.) The most popular reaction: Secede already! So, why the low ranking?
Folks in Dallas-Fort Worth, according to the data, are less interested than most in reading and voting and, like Houston, the number of higher academic institutions per capita is paltry. No excuses, given the metro area is the size of Rhode Island and Connecticut combined.
And there's your Tuesday-morning kick in the pants.
Keep the Dallas Observer Free... Since we started the Dallas Observer, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas, and we would like to keep it that way. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering Dallas with no paywalls.
