EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

Warming Up To Cool

T

he governor of Michigan likes to talk about creating
cool cities, but she realizes that vibrant urban life must
bubble up from the grassroots to catch on and capture
the soul of young people.
"'When anybody in government says that something is cool,
it's an oxymoron," Gov. Jennifer Granholm told 850 worship-
pers at Kabbala Shabbat services on Dec. 10 at Temple Israel
in West Bloomfield. "So a cool city is not something that I
could create. It must come from below if it's to be effective."
I agree.
Political promises about the benefits of urban living won't
win over career-minded young adults. Only
solid job opportunities will.
At its roots, what makes a city cool? When
the next workforce wants to settle there.
Without an influx from the ranks of
Generation X, a city won't qualify as truly
cool. That influx is the core root.
Detroit lacks this root, which is why south-
east Michigan has lost so many of its young
ROBERT A. professionals to urban hotspots like Chicago,
SKLAR
Boston, New York, Atlanta and Seattle. I'm
Editor
not saying we don't have a terrific group of
young professionals who call Detroit home;
we do. And I'm not saying the core city doesn't offer attractive
amenities, including a lively cultural and entertainment dis-
trict, excellent universities, and a downtown undergoing pro-
fessional and retail growth. Many of the suburbs are prime
places to raise a family.
But the pools of young professionals and attractive ameni-
ties would be much bigger if the central city generated more
good jobs and better neighborhoods — and a sense of excite-
ment that dialed in to college-educated 20- and 30-some-
things.

Power Of Tipping

The day before Granholm spoke, Michigan hosted its second
annual cool cities conference. Last year, 60 cities sent a dele-
gate; this year, twice as many did. Last year, 120 applications
came when the state offered funding support. "But it's not
about the money alone," Granholm
said. Its about synergy, dynamism and
leadership, and creating places where
young people particularly should come
and live — and work."
The brain drain in Michigan is
strongest among 18- to 34-year-olds, a
lost workforce that keeps some Fortune
500 businesses like Hewlett-Packard
from opening facilities here.
Granholm acknowledges a lack of
magnetism in Detroit, a city in which
Gov. Granholm
my family roots go back to the 1890s
and that I care deeply about. Higher-
income folks moving out, not enough Generation X'ers mov-
ing in, and schools and neighborhoods with two setbacks for
every success have combined to hurt Detroit far more than
city leaders admit.
Granholm's husband, Dan Mulhern, a leadership and orga-
nizational development consultant, shared the Temple Israel
bimah with his wife. And I was impressed with how he articu-
lated what tips a city or business toward success.
Citing the book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can
Make a Big Diffirence by Malcolm Gladwell, Mulhern said

three things must align to effect the tip: having a positive, for-
ward influence on others, creating a message that resonates,
and understanding context and impact.
He struck a chord when he said, "We talk about cool cities,
but now we've got to make them hap-
pen here in Michigan."
Jeremy Crane, 27, an Oakland
County real estate investment execu-
tive, grew up in Farmington Hills.
After graduating from the University
of Michigan in Ann Arbor, he got
involved in the Detroit Jewish com-
munity, including with Federation's
Young Adult Division and the Jewish
Apartments & Services board.
Family was a big reason he stayed in Jeremy Crane
Metro Detroit. "The sense of family
and community here is unbelievable," he told me on Monday.
"I don't see many of my friends who have moved away find-
ing a Jewish identity or a sense of Jewish community like
those who have stayed here have."
Some are even moving back in hopes of reinvigorating their
Judaism despite the scarcer career opportunities. An entrepre-
neurial spirit like Crane's helps.
"The attraction of moving to a big city after college can be
quite enticing," Crane said, "but when you really think about
it, the quality of life in Metro Detroit is very good. Besides, a
bowl of matzah ball soup and a home-cooked brisket is only
10 minutes away!"

Making The Tip

Detroit and other older urban centers like Pontiac and Grand
Rapids can look to the rejuvenated downtowns in suburbs like
Royal Oak and Northville to find examples of what appeals to
young, upwardly mobile singles and couples.
"That appeal includes a downtown with cobblestones; with
buildings that have a blend of surfaces like sandstone, curved
brick, glass and metal; and with unusual fixtures," Granholm
said. "You'd have scents like those of tortillas and hummus.
You'd have lots of people in the streets, clustering. You'd have
water in some way: fountains or a shoreline. You'd have music,
with bands outside in the summer. You'd have flowers in lots
of colors. And you'd have people who live right there, amid
the shops."
Nice imagery. But Granholm didn't talk about specific ways
to achieve this or how much funding is available. So her talk
was more dream than reality. But it was a dream worth hear-
ing; so many young professionals are moving to hipper
metropolises that the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit has vowed to try to help reverse this riptide.
"What we really want to do," Granholm said, "is get our
young people to stay here, or if they do go away to school, to
come back — because we've made our urban centers such a
fabulous place to live, work and raise a family."
Somehow we must combine the richness of our big cities
with the appeal of the suburbs, and turn around our econo-
my, to make Michigan competitive in keeping young profes-
sionals who are ready to settle down.
The governor urged us to get involved, not sit on the side-
lines. She's right: There's nothing remarkable about being a
doer. Each of us has the potential to succeed in "tipping.
"Consider civil rights hero Rosa Park," she said. "She had
no authority whatsoever. Yet one defiant act by her changed
the world." I I

"

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12/17
2004

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