Creative Class: 32 Flavors of Cool

Joe Bernstein is a Michigander with a dilemma. He was born and raised in Flint, the down-on-its-luck company town depicted in Roger and Me. He received both his bachelor and law degrees from the University of Michigan, where he invested himself in Ann Arbor’s rich cultural life and campus politics. He loves Michigan, yet he currently resides in Chicago. Why? Because Joe, an intellectual property attorney, viewed adult life in his home state as unappealing–professionally, intellectually and, culturally. He is not alone: less than fifteen percent of graduates of the University of Michigan Law School go on to practice law in Michigan.

While Michigan has a strong corporate base, including the headquarters of Dow Chemical, Kellogg, the Big Three automakers, and Borders Books, it lacks the vibrant environs needed to retain talented, educated young people like Bernstein as well as the entrepreneurs who would employ them. Recently, the state has realized that in order to keep homegrown talent, it must make Michigan a more appealing place to live. As a result, the state has launched an unorthodox initiative to revitalize the state’s urban centers.

The “Cool” Initiative

Governor Jennifer Granholm unveiled the approach last year at a planning conference in Lansing, which featured urban policy pop-star Richard Florida. Under his approving eye, Granholm, sporting dark sunglasses and asserting that politicians are “often very uncool,” outlined the Michigan Cool Cities Initiative.

Through the Initiative, the state has created a pilot program that will offer catalyst grants to as many as twelve city governments presenting proposals to improve their sense of “cool.” Becoming cool, according to Department of Labor and Economic Growth Director David Hollister, may involve a variety of strategies, including “remodeling store fronts, repaving streets, creating sidewalks and bike paths, and cleaning up riverfronts, just for starters.” He believes that such small projects will jumpstart further investment. Granholm cites “unique downtown developments where loft housing, art galleries, and technology start-ups can all share the same historic brick building.”

The state has only invited certain cities to compete for the grants. They include Michigan’s cultural mecca of Ann Arbor, the notoriously religious, conservative enclave of Grand Rapids, the tourist haven of Traverse City, the sterile but wealthy suburb of Bloomfield Hills, the race-riot-ravaged Bantustan of Benton Harbor, and Jackson, the prison capitol of the nation. In each city, a Cool City Task Force, made up of community members (though sometimes criticized for having too many local government officials), discusses potential local uses for state money. The state does not have rigid requirements on the use of funds; instead, Task Forces make an offer to the state and hope that their idea pleases the Governor.

Initial funding is modest–each city may receive up to a total of $100,000 from a group of state agencies. But Hollister adds that state officials “have access to federal and other dollars to help communities complete the big picture.” Granholm has particularly stressed linkages to educational restructuring and job retention initiatives. 

Does Cool Just Mean Superficial?

Behind all of these initiatives lurks Richard Florida, whose writings inspired their direction. With every step, the state has focused on elements Florida has said are essential to attracting the creative class.

Some in Michigan see the Floridian ideology as flimsy. “Florida had the air of a motivational speaker, claiming that Detroit has more raw potential than any other city in the nation,” Detroit’s Metro Times editorialized. “He gave a brief synopsis of his concept and what makes a city a livable, vibrant place–but other than the obligatory White Stripes and Eminem references, the speech could have been delivered in Anyville, USA.” The Times’ scribe Sarah Klein added, “Florida spoke for an hour, but didn’t offer a single concrete suggestion.”

Some residents of targeted “cool cities” see the Initiative as an excuse to ignore deeper challenges facing Michigan cities. Matt Lassiter, urban historian at the University of Michigan, worries that although Florida claims to break from older strategies of economic development through big downtown sports and music venues, the end result will be similar.

“I think a lot of the Cool Cities Initiative is good in its intentions,” Lassiter said. But “the Rust Belt capital of Detroit has basically adopted the Sunbelt strategy of Atlanta and Los Angeles: ignore social problems of segregation and poverty, and instead try to transform the image rather than the reality of the central city.”

Dan Shoup, a union organizer, says that the Governor’s vision of young people living in loft apartments, socializing in cyber cafés and drinking Starbucks coffee and wearing sunglasses, “doesn’t really do much for the working class.”

Indeed, some worry that if Granholm’s vision succeeds, it will displace working-class families from cities. Rob Goodspeed, a member of the Ann Arbor Cool Cities Task Force, agrees. “Gentrification that makes it more expensive for existing residents … should be avoided by any city seeking to attract the creative class,” he said. If cities gentrify, he argues, residents and businesses will become less diverse. Like Shoup, Goodspeed believes that there are more elementary problems in Michigan than making certain cities cooler.

Something’s Gotta Give

Despite these concerns, Michigan has valid reasons to put stock in this creative approach: simply put, it needs to remake its economy and image. In the 2000 Census, the state ranked 47th in the retention of homebred college graduates. Global trade has crippled the manufacturing economy: the state has lost over a quarter of a million jobs since 2001. And public health issues plague Michigan, recently named the most obese state in the nation. Critics of Florida and those skeptical of the state’s plan have reasonable beefs. But this plan, aligned with the Governor’s other plans to retain jobs and improve the state’s education system, could be a much-needed boost during a tough time.

REFERENCES

The Office of the Governor

http://www.michigan.gov/gov

Klein, Sarah. “Hipster Economics.” Metro Times. Feb. 25, 2004

Klein, Sarah. “Creation Station.” Metro Times. Mar. 10, 2004

The above stories are also available at: http://www.metrotimes.com

Range, Stacy. “’Hipsters’, Granholm discuss cool cities.” Lansing State Journal.

Dec. 12, 2003.