City officials respond to worst city ranking

CHATHAM CO., GA (WTOC) - A website, roadsnacks.net, has named Savannah one of the worst places to live and while they claim to get their statistics from credible government sources, officials said they question how they came to their conclusions.

It's a pretty sensitive topic since crime is on the rise, and while they may look like they know what they are talking about, city officials say they aren't painting a fair picture of Savannah.

City officials said folks need to take websites like these with a grain of salt, they are calling out road snacks.net for listing Savannah as one of the worst U.S. cities to live in based on factors like crime stats and cost of living.

"You know it's just interesting because earlier this year they put out a list listing the top most dangerous places in Georgia and we didn't make that list, in fact in that list they listed Savannah as the 44th most dangerous city just in Georgia," said Bret Bell, city of Savannah.

The website sources the FBI, where every year, cities must report their statistics but 2014 is still being compiled so the FBI's crime numbers are based on two years ago, ironically, when crime in Savannah was much lower than it is now.

"So year to date, part one crimes are up about 11 percent and about a 20 percent increase on violent crimes," said Bell.

While officials said they continue to work to drive down these numbers, they want to remind folks to stick with credible sources.

"You know if anyone who is basing their feelings about living in Savannah on what they read on a website called road snack, they need to sort of question what they are doing and their whole value set on how they make informed decisions," said Bell.

The FBI has a disclaimer that says to not rank cities based on that information, but you can visit there site or the Savannah-Chatham Metro's website for all your latest numbers.

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