San Luis Obispo: “Where joy seems to be in the tap water”

October 3, 2010

Everyone thought that Disneyland was the happiest place on earth. Guess again. According to a new book–and we’re not making this up, we swear–it’s San Luis Obispo, “where joy seems to be in the tap water.” [Parade]

Yep. Parade, that weekly slick Sunday magazine that boasts a gazillion readers all over the country and has been around forever, appears locally in The Tribune. In today’s issue, Parade ran an article called “You’ll Wish You Were Here.”

Turns out that an author named Dan Buettner has a new book coming out in mid-October called “Thrive.” Buettner focuses on happiness and goes in search of the happiest spots around. He ended up sampling the SLO life and apparently loved what he found.

But Buettner seems to think that the only mayor San Luis Obispo ever had was Ken Schwartz, because the retired Cal Poly professor is the one who rates any ink in the article. Schwartz gets credit for everything.

So why does Buettner love us so much? Take your pick. We support the arts. We promote walking and biking. Prohibit drive through restaurants. Stamped out cigarettes. Shrunk the size of signs. Oh, and San Luis Obispo has also empowered the people.

Must be something to it. In a 2008 Gallup-Healthways poll, the city’s 44,000 residents ranked No. 1 in the U.S. in overall emotional health.

Of course, nobody better tell Buettner or Parade about this week’s cover story in New Times about how SLO is quickly going over a cliff financially.

But, hey, if Buettner wants to come back, maybe he can take a ride on our new $850,000 double decker bus.