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MONROE, Mich. (FOX 2) - Monroe's mayor is sounding off.
"It's not factual. It's not accurate," said Mayor Robert Clark.
This comes after a financial news website 24/7 Wall St. named the city of Monroe as the worst city in Michigan to drive in.
"It doesn't take into account that this is the city of Monroe and not the county of Monroe,"
To identify the worst cities to drive in for every state, the website looked at information that included traffic fatalities, commute time to work and the number of stolen vehicles.
The website found the city of Monroe had 15.4 traffic fatalities per 100,000 people and a 25-minute average commute time with 92.4 percent of commuters driving to work.
There were also 124 car thefts per 100,000 people in Monroe during 2017, according to their research.
"The metropolitan statistical area as it’s called, that's what they used they put Monroe down as population of 152,000," Clark said. "Our population is 20,700. The county's population is that."
City of Monroe police also say the information is inaccurate.
"In the last five years we have only had 60 stolen vehicles reported in a population of about 22,000 - 23,000. people," said Capt. Chad Tolstedt. "So the math doesn't fit.
"The drive times don't fit. We are 10 square miles that commute times don't fit."
Police say those aren't the only numbers that don't add up
"Since 2000 we went back and we had 11 fatality accidents, that doesn't fit with the numbers that report is suggesting," Tolstedt.
"They're not doing due diligence to learn what they are talking about," Clark said.
FOX 2 reached out to 24/7 Wall St and were told the area "being covered in this story is the Monroe Metropolitan Statistical Area and the mayor and police captain know exactly what that means. What they're reporting is not a genuine statement. This is a federal definition and they know that. The mayor is pushing smoke into people's eyes."
The city's mayor says the information is not factual and he plans to do this
"I'll ask them to do a retraction," Clark said. "They are taking data and not doing analytical work saying these are the results."
READ the report here: http://bit.ly/2K968Gn