http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/63656817.html?cmpid=15585797

Who you callin’ ugly… again???

By REGINA MEDINA
Philadelphia Daily News

IF YOU’RE LOOKING for attractive people in a city, put down the newspaper or log off your computer, get in your car and drive due south on 95 until you hit Miami.

That city = hot. Philadelphia = not. For the third year in a row, Philly ranked dead last among 30 cities in the most-attractive-people category, part of the annual TravelandLeisure.com survey that rates the nation’s major cities.

We’re not only least attractive, but also minimally friendly (26th) and barely athletic/active (28th) – Welcome, America!

Sunny Miami, with its dense population of bikini-clad women and dudes showing sixpack abs – not to mention a thriving plastic-surgery industry – was No. 1 yet again, for the third straight year. San Diego ranked second for the third time.

Where’s the imagination, people? Miami, San Diego and Philly remain ranked first, second and last in each year the survey has been conducted.

We could make the hurt go away by mocking Miami’s intelligence ranking (29), but then we’d just be drawing attention to Philly’s less-than-stellar placement on the intelligence list (24).

The Mayor’s Office declined to comment.

Jeff Guaracino, spokesman for the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp., was flummoxed by Philly’s last-place rank as most-attractive city.

Then he composed himself. “Clearly they have not seen the Sexy Singles featured in the Daily News,” Guaracino said, chuckling. “We’re very proud to see Philadelphia ranked high in culture.”

Our fair city did do well in the culture department, ranking third in historical sites and monuments, fourth in museums and galleries and sixth in classical music.

The online poll had readers identify themselves as residents of or visitors to a city, then rate them in 55 categories. (Romantic escape, singles/bar scene, etc.)

About 66,000 respondents heeded the call, but there was no limit as to how many times one could vote, said TravelandLeisure.com executive editor Rich Beattie. Translation: Some voters were well within their rights to vote as often as they wanted.

Philly residents seemed to scream “self-deprecation” when they voted themselves 29th in the most-attractive category and absolutely last in the most-athletic/active category.

Locals even voted themselves poorly in the friendly and intelligent categories (27th for both), worse than did visitors.

Surprisingly, staffers at Manhattan-based TravelandLeisure.com had a soft spot for the City of Brotherly Love.

“We were really pulling for Philadelphia this year, and we didn’t want them to finish last for the third year,” Beattie said.

The Web site received many phone calls and e-mails from people complaining about the city’s rank. “They thought we were pulling numbers out of the air or making it up,” he said. Not the case, Beattie said.

“It’s more of a snapshot of what people’s impressions are.”