Life in the Slow Lane

Here in the endless summer of Superlative City, we're basking in the afterglow of making yet another Top Five list.

Of course, it isn't a national No. 1 like our current position as Murder Capital of the USA based on per-capita murder rates. I wonder, if you took out disquieted nations of the Middle East, if we might not be the World Leader in murder rates per capita? Certainly, we must strive for all superlatives.

So, it is with satisfaction that I was informed yesterday--by my minister, no less--that New Orleans has achieved yet another accolade: Among the Top Five Slowest-Growing Economies in the World. Not the U.S., mind you. The World.

This according to Fast Company magazine, which named the five slowest cities--urban centers that are going nowhere, or rated worst in economic growth. We aren't the worst. That would be Budapest, Hungary. We aren't No. 2, which would be St. Louis. We are the third worst, followed by Detroit and Havana, Cuba.

I, frankly, am shocked that St. Louis pulled ahead of us in the slow-growth sweepstakes. I can kind of understand Detroit--after all, Motor City is getting shut down by a combination of imports and lack of imagination. But St. Louis??

Still, our economic outlook is worse than every other urban area in the world except for two, so that's still something to provide bragging rights.

New Orleans: Proud to Call It Slow.