FORT SMITH - The City of Fort Smith took to their official social media channels on Wednesday to denounce a recent article that claimed the community was one of America’s “Fifty Worst Places To Live”.
In touting the city’s perceived detriments, the article noted the following:
“By a number of measures assessing economic opportunity, education, crime, and public health, Fort Smith is one of the worst cities to live in. Just 20.0% of adults in the city have a bachelor’s degree, far less than the national college attainment rate of 31.3% and the smallest share of any major city in Arkansas. Low educational attainment can limit economic growth in an area and curb the earning potential of its residents. The typical Fort Smith household earns just $38,051 a year, far less than the national median income of $57,617.
Fort Smith also has the highest crime rate of any city in Arkansas other than Little Rock and one of the highest in the United States. There were 808 violent crimes reported in 2016 per 100,000 city residents, far more than the state violent crime rate of 551 incidents per 100,000 people and the national rate of 386 per 100,000.”
Posting under their official banner, the city left a note saying that they were looking into how the story from this site actually shaped up against actual numbers. However, their findings suggest that the article which was shared and passed around in some circles earlier this week by a local blogger, looked more like fake news.
“We tried to verify 24/7 Wall St.’s numbers but couldn’t find any matching those cited in the June 10, 2018 index, and exact sourcing wasn’t provided. Its methodology claims the data was pulled from the 2016 “American Community Survey�? (ACS), but that data, publicly available on the Census Bureau’s website, differs from 24/7’s. Neither do the numbers match other recent Census data.”
The city quoted one local business leader as saying that he is sick of the disparaging remarks being passed along about the community.
“I’m tired of people saying things about Fort Smith they can’t back up,�? says Rod Coleman, chairman of ERC Companies, a local business leader and “Chaffee Crossing�? developer, reacting to story. “These guys are selling crap. It’s just bull. Fake news.�?
The city also noted in their findings that the publishers of sites sharing this news with potentially manipulated findings may have a problem with some law enforcement.
“The index claims to analyze Census data indicating crime, demography, economy, education, environment, health, housing, infrastructure, and leisure. The Census Bureau, however, makes clear it “is not the primary source for data on crime. The primary source is the Federal Bureau of Investigation. FBI: Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR)�? and provides a link.” the City noted. “The FBI cautions against misrepresentation of its data. In ‘UCR Statistics: Their Proper Use,’ the FBI says, ‘…UCR data are sometimes used to compile rankings of individual jurisdictions…’ These incomplete analyses have often created misleading perceptions which adversely affect geographic entities and their residents. For this reason, the FBI has a longstanding policy against ranking participating law enforcement agencies on the basis of crime data alone. Despite repeated warnings against these practices, some data users continue to challenge and misunderstand this position.�?
The City noted that when considering the source of the article, you can also consider some of the adjacent stories.
“The latest ‘Worst Cities’ release can be found on 24/7 Wall St.’s website sandwiched between ’20 Italian Dishes Italians Don’t Really Eat’ and ‘Top 10 Pirated Movies from Last Week.'”