May 2015
| Business World
111
2014 by research website Vocative, the city
was ranked among the top 35 liveable cit-
ies for people 35 and under. It ranks high in
similarly high earlier reports by sites such as
BusinessWeek.com and non-profit groups
such as Partners for Livable Communities.
“That signifies we have a high quality of life,”
said Mayor Joines, himself a long-time resi-
dent of the city and its longest-serving May-
or in history. “We have good job opportu-
nities here, we have good cultural amenities,
we have good recreational amenities, good
access to medical care, low crime rates, and a
good transportation system. All that comes
into play.”
“Attention to the environment and sustain-
ability is also a big part of that,” he added.
Moving forward, Winston-Salem will con-
tinue to promote their environmental excel-
lence – as well as their many other points of
difference, including their rich culture and
long history, as well as their recent reputa-
tion for technology leadership.
“Winston-Salem is a city of the arts and in-
novation,” Mayor Joines concluded. “We’re
a culturally-sophisticated community with
a new economy of innovation and entrepre-
neurship.”
By continuing to foster that innovation,
Winston-Salem aims to be one of the top 50
metropolitan areas in country by the end of
the decade. The city council recently held a
State of the Community event where they
stated that goal.
“We put a stake in the sand,” Mayor Joines
said. “We said that’s where we want to be at
the end of the decade, and we plan on going
back to the citizens once a year to report on
how we’re doing. The only way we’ll be suc-
cessful is if the community buys into that vi-
sion, and we think they have and will.”
