CLEVELAND, OH — July 18, 2004 —When it comes to work force, business climate, logistics infrastructure and quality of life at a reasonable cost, the Midwest dominates the list of top finishers in this year’s Mayor’s Challenge™.

“Most metros have at least one area of strength when it comes to attracting business,” said Bill King, chief editor of Expansion Management. “These metros are strong across the board. For employers who are trying to find the best location for a new manufacturing facility, distribution center, or regional headquarters, these cities represent an excellent value.”

Expansion Management is a monthly business magazine for executives of companies that are actively looking for a place to expand or relocate their facilities within the next one to three years. Every year, the magazine’s renowned research department compares communities according to a wide variety of characteristics important to corporate site selectors.

This year’s top finishers in the Mayor’s Cup, headed by Des Moines, Kansas City, Seattle, Austin and Iowa City, are heavily represented by Midwestern cities. In fact, only three of this year’s Top 10 — No. 3 Seattle, No. 8 Washington, D.C., and No. 10 Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle, Pa., — are not located in America’s Heartland.

Although the Midwest as a region still dominates, the results are a lot more spread out when it comes to the metros that finished in the Top 10 percent. In all, 18 states (21 when you consider multi-state MSAs) and the District of Columbia are represented among the top 33 finishers (there are 331 MSAs overall in the study).

“During the course of the year, we try to look at the various metropolitan areas from a wide variety of perspectives,” said King. “Like most of our readers, we have a tendency to emphasize labor and operating costs in our studies.”

Here are the six major studies over the past year that made up the Mayor’s Challenge:

* Education Quotient™ — the EQ evaluated 2,800 school districts (about 20 percent of all high school degree-granting districts) nationwide as a way to provide our readers with a basis for comparing the type of work force they are likely to encounter in various communities throughout the United States. The EQ focuses on results, not on spending, with the main emphasis placed on how much students learned (college board test results) and whether they finished what they started (graduation rates).

* Health Quotient™ — the HQ looks at health care as being a major cost for employers throughout the nation. It is also something that varies from community to community in terms of cost and availability. This year’s HQ compares all 50 states according to a variety of categories that measured both the availability of quality health care services and the cost to employers of those services. In this ranking, cost is just as important as quality, and vice versa.

* Quality of Life Quotient™ — the QLQ looks at quality of life as being access to the American Dream at a price affordable to most people. While nice, access to the theater, opera, and cutting edge poetry readings are not what most Americans consider important to the daily lives. What is important is the ability to afford to own a decent (read: average) home, or to afford to rent a decent 3- or 4-bedroom apartment, to live in a community that is relatively free of violent crime and property crime, to be able to send their children to good public schools, to be able to afford to save money to send their kids to college, to be able to keep the lion’s share of their income (rather than giving it to the government in the form of taxes), and the ability to improve one’s skills through a quality community college or university. That is what most American workers want. The QLQ compares 331 MSAs based upon their ability to provide that access to the American Dream at the lowest cost to the employer.

* Logistics Quotient™ — the LogQ is an attempt to compare the logistics infrastructure and work force among the various metro areas nationwide. This study compares the logistics work force and logistics companies within each of 331 MSAs, as well as the transportation infrastructure (road, air, rail and water) servicing that metro. The study also looks at taxes and fees imposed on logistics activities in those cities. Since most logistics decisions are driven by the need to locate in a particular geographic region, corporate site selectors can use the results of this study to evaluate how cities did on a national, as well as a regional, basis.

* High-Value Labor Market Quotient™ — the HLQ attempts to identify where companies in the knowledge-based industries are most likely to find the workers they need, both in terms of quality and quantity. It compares 331 MSAs according to such criteria as the percentage of scientists and engineers in the overall work force, the number of patents issued per capita, the number of colleges and universities (and community colleges) in the metro area, and the research and development spending per capita. The idea is to identify where companies are most likely to find that critical mass of highly-educated, technical worker so essential to the New Economy.

* Legislative Quotient™ — the LQ attempts to compare the business climate created by the 50 state legislatures in terms of the areas over which they actually have control: taxes and government spending. While all politicians love to take credit for a good economy (but are nowhere to be found when it comes to taking credit for a bad economy), it is in the type (e.g., corporate income tax, sales taxes, franchise taxes, excise taxes, inventory taxes, etc.) and degree (e.g., the tax rate) of taxes levied on local businesses that they have their greatest impact on the local economy. Right behind that in terms of importance to business is how these legislatures choose to spend the money they raise, specifically in the areas of education and infrastructure. For a copy of the 2004 Mayor’s Challenge article, visit Expansion Management’s Web site at www.ExpansionManagement.com.

Expansion Management is a monthly magazine published by Penton Media, Inc., a leading, global business-to-business media company that produces market-focused magazines, trade shows and conferences, and Web sites. Penton's integrated media portfolio serves the following industries: Internet/broadband; information technology; electronics; natural products; food/retail; manufacturing; design/engineering; supply chain; aviation; government/compliance; mechanical systems/construction; and leisure/hospitality. For more information, visit www.penton.com.

TOP 50 METROS in 2004 Mayor’s Cup:

1. Des Moines, Iowa

2. Kansas City, Mo.-Kan.

3. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash.

4. Austin-San Marcos, Texas

5. Iowa City, Iowa

6. Springfield, Mo.

7. Sioux Falls, S.D.

8. Washington, D.C.-Md.-Va.-W.Va.v 9. Fargo-Moorhead, N.D.-Minn.

10. Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle, Pa.

11. Richmond-Petersburg, Va.

12. Cedar Rapids, Iowa

13. Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas

14. Columbia, Mo.

15. West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, Fla.

16. Cincinnati, Ohio-Ky.-Ind.

17. Pittsburgh, Pa.

18. Anchorage, Alaska

19. Tallahassee, Fla.

20. Missoula, Mont.

21. Dallas, Texas

22. Dayton-Springfield, Ohio

23. Amarillo, Texas

24. Lubbock, Texas

25. Champaign-Urbana, Ill.

26. St. Louis, Mo.-Ill.

27. Baltimore, Md.

28. Duluth-Superior, Minn.-Wis.

29. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.-Wis.

30. Columbia, S.C.

31. Madison, Wis.

32. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla.

33. Rochester, Minn.

34. Bloomington-Normal, Ill.

35. Indianapolis, Ind.

36. Charlottesville, Va.

37. Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y.

38. Dubuque, Iowa

39. Spokane, Wash.

40. Roanoke, Va.

41. Hamilton-Middletown, Ohio

42. Grand Forks, N.D.-Minn.

43. Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Iowa

44. Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, Va.-N.C.

45. Houston, Texas

46. Topeka, Kan.

47. Syracuse, N.Y.

48. Bismarck, N.D.

49. Rapid City, S.D.

50. Atlanta, Ga.