Two Iowa cities ranked very high on a new list of American cities considered the best for raising children. Cedar Rapids ranked number-three out of 112 cities on the “Kid Friendly Cities Report Card”.Tim Cline is spokesman for Zero Population Growth, the group which compiled the report card. He says they looked at things that impact kids such as teen pregnancy rates and he says Cedar Rapids did well in all areas. Seattle ranked first, Baltimore was last. Omaha came in at number-16. Other factors that determined the rankings included: infant mortality rates, dropout rates, crime, unemployment and air pollution. Cline says Des Moines also ranked toward the top of the nationwide list — at number 18.Cedar Rapids & Des Moines were the only two Iowa cities that made the report card as their populations exceed 100-thousand. For more information on the survey and a complete list of cities, go to www.zpg.org on the world wide web.
