Cash-for-Vote Scandal Rocks Top 10 Livable Cities List

Officials in Portland are accusing nearby Vancouver, British Columbia of bribing judges to buy their first place spot in a recent top ten list of the world's most livable cities.

1 minute read

April 1, 2011, 8:00 AM PDT

By Planetizen


Portland officials are calling for a retraction of the list, in which the city placed second behind its Pacific Northwest neighbor Vancouver. Officials allege that the Canadian city sent a package of unmarked Canadian bills to judges of the list to secure a Number One seat.

"It's a blatant violation of the rules of Top Ten lists," said a source in the Portland mayor's office. "They think their downtown density's so great, but we've got density too! And their fake-looking money's worth more than ours now!"

A Vancouver city spokesperson would neither confirm nor deny the truth of the bribery allegations, simply stating that "our neighbors to the South obviously have much to learn from us here in Vancouver about how to make a city more livable."

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