“Manshua” strikes again.

Another organization has looked on Manchester and Nashua as a single metropolitan area for the sake of a ranking, joining Forbes Magazine and the Gallup poll.

This time, the Daily Beast, a news and opinion website, ranked Manchester-Nashua at No. 14 on its list of the top 20 highest-earning U.S. cities. Washington, D.C., ranked first and Boston fifth.

The combined area has a household income of $69,223 and a medium income of $32,254, the Daily Beast noted about Manchester-Nashua.

“Once the center of the mill industry, Manchester-Nashua, NH, had been on the decline for a good portion of the 20th century,” the Beast reported. “But the city has started to move more into the high-tech industry, and the state’s libertarian attitude toward income taxes has also helped.

“Kiplinger ranked the area as the second-best tax-friendly city, since the state and local tax burden only account for 3 percent of income.”

Kiplinger is a Washington-based publication that specializes in business forecasts and personal finance advice.

Note that the Beast wrote “the city” and not “cities.” The photo that accompanies the listing shows only the Manchester mill area.

It seems the Beast would have Nashua swallowed up as Manchester’s largest suburb as opposed to being a city all its own.

That would indeed be beastly.

CAN, GAD OK partnership

Two Nashua organizations have joined forces to promote the city’s culture and its downtown businesses.

Great American Downtown announced a partnership with City Arts Nashua for the 2010 ArtWalk, a multiple-day event that features open artists studios, live music, poetry readings, performance art, children’s activities and art exhibits.

“City Arts Nashua and Great American Downtown share many common goals, and we are thrilled to get involved with this already great event,” said Sue Butler, executive director of Great American Downtown.

During the Artwalk, strollers can visit galleries, watch artists at work, partake in refreshments and support local businesses in the process.

“It is our hope that this collaboration will further unite the downtown business community with the cultural community, and that Great American Downtown’s resources will help City Arts Nashua expand their fantastic event,” Butler said.

ArtWalk 2010 is slated to be the biggest arts event of the year and will have several new features, including:

• Three days of programming, from Oct. 1-3.

• A kickoff cocktail party.

• The first Nashua International Film Festival.

• Additional sidewalk entertainment.

Lessons learned?

It may seem hard to believe, but it’s almost time for a new teachers contract.

Superintendent Mark Conrad said the representatives from the Board of Education and the Nashua Teachers Union met in July and will meet again in August to make progress on coming to terms on a new contract.

The current contract expires at the end of the 2010-11 school year. The first meeting to begin formal negotiations was in March.

Conrad wouldn’t characterize how the negotiations are going, but said they’re progressing with a goal of having a new contract approved before the current one expires. The contract will require the approval of the Board of Aldermen and the mayor.

“We have a goal of meeting twice per month during the school year,” Conrad said. “Both sides are committed to working toward an agreement.”

The current contract was approved 21?2 years after the last one expired.

Proposals were repeatedly shot down by city officials and a deal was finalized on the eve of a threatened teachers strike.

Nashua … From the Inside was compiled by staff writers Michael Brindley and Patrick Meighan.

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