Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Cities Compete in Hipness Battle to Attract Young
NY Times ^ | Nov. 26, 2006 | SHAILA DEWAN

Posted on 11/24/2006 10:47:14 PM PST by seacapn

ATLANTA, Nov. 24 — Some cities will do anything they can think of to keep young people from fleeing to a hipper town.

In Lansing, Mich., partiers can ease from bar to bar on the new Entertainment Express trolley, part of the state’s Cool Cities Initiative. In Portland, Ore., employees at an advertising firm can watch indie rock concerts at lunch and play “bump,” an abbreviated form of basketball, every afternoon.

And in Memphis, employers pay for recruits to be matched with hip young professionals in a sort of corporate Big Brothers program. A new biosciences research park is under construction — not in the suburbs, but downtown, just blocks from the nightlife of Beale Street.

These measures reflect a hard demographic reality: Baby boomers are retiring and the number of young adults is declining. By 2012, the work force will be losing more than two workers for every one it gains.

Cities have long competed over job growth, struggling to revive their downtowns and improve their image. But the latest population trends have forced them to fight for college-educated 25- to 34-year-olds, a demographic group increasingly viewed as the key to an economic future.

Mobile but not flighty, fresh but technologically savvy, “the young and restless,” as demographers call them, are at their most desirable age, particularly because their chances of relocating drop precipitously when they turn 35. Cities that do not attract them now will be hurting in a decade.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: atlanta; demographics; genx; youth
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-85 next last
To: Paleo Conservative; KayEyeDoubleDee
But which cities are attracting future parents, and which are attracting DINKS?

Excellent question.

Wonder if the statistics exist that could answer that question?

I suppose you could go to the Census Bureau to get an estimate of the number of women in the 20-40 age range [i.e. the child bearing years], then go to the CDC and/or the state boards of health to get the number of live births for the county which hosts the city [and the surrounding counties which host the associated suburbs, which probably have better hospitals], and then use the first number as the numerator and the second number as the denominator of a fraction that tried to represent the fecundity of the young women of the city [and its suburbs].

Would be some work, but it should be do-able.

41 posted on 11/25/2006 5:22:59 AM PST by BubbaHeel
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: mirkwood
I was a foreman and tried to hire some of these guys to walk the power line. Crack is better. I did hire a gang so that when I ran through their neighborhood I would not get mugged. The Atlanta police were supposed to be with me by contract, but I guess they were chickenshit. The gang mom made me and my crew breakfast every morning. Never believe it when the cops break in and the mom says "duh". They know damn well what their sons are doing and they don't mind cleaning your wallet.

Dude, it sounds like you might have the material there for a novel or a movie script.

You ever tried your hand at writing pulp fiction?

42 posted on 11/25/2006 5:27:18 AM PST by BubbaHeel
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: seacapn

This is a story about the pussies that survive only because there are people who fight and die to protect their sorry asses.


43 posted on 11/25/2006 5:35:21 AM PST by Modok
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: seacapn

Let's see...If I was a recruiter for a big corporation where would I go looking for talent?

To a cool big city where I can find a 27 year old, with tatooes up to his armpits, a ring hanging from his tongue, who just got in at 6am after a headbanger's ball and lives with two dogs and parakeet in a rented former foundry.

Or might I go to exurbia to find a 27 year old who owns a home with mortgage, has two small children, attends church on Sunday and wears a suit and tie.


44 posted on 11/25/2006 5:36:27 AM PST by sergeantdave (Consider that nearly half the people you pass on the street meet Lenin's definition of useful idiot)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sergeantdave

Let's see...If I was a recruiter for a big corporation where would I go looking for talent?






It would depend where your headquarters was located.


45 posted on 11/25/2006 5:38:33 AM PST by durasell (!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: seacapn

Bump. There are some GREAT posts in this thread.


46 posted on 11/25/2006 5:51:19 AM PST by Hardastarboard (Why isn't there an "NRA" for the rest of my rights?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: FreedomPoster
AFAICT, freaknik died some years ago. Admittedly, it was pretty out of control.

Are you still seeing it? Or do you live somewhere other than ATL, and imagine it's still happening yearly?

They must have moved it to Galveston.

47 posted on 11/25/2006 6:40:04 AM PST by Spirochete
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: AlaskaErik
I, for one, can't understand why anyone would want to live in the city. I live in a small town in a neighborhood where the lots are at least an acre.

because some of us don't want to waste our weekends mowing one or even worse five acre lots of grass.

48 posted on 11/25/2006 7:46:27 AM PST by CzarNicky (The problem with bad ideas is that they seemed like good ideas at the time.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: seacapn
Between 1990 and 2000, the cities that gained the largest percentage of 25 to 35-year-olds were Las Vegas, Austin, Charlotte, Portland, and Atlanta, in that order.

Interesting information. Las Vegas should probably be left off this list as a "destination" city in the context of this discussion, though. I read an article recently about LV -- that some astonishing portion (like 50% or more) of the people who move to Las Vegas live there for less than six months.

49 posted on 11/25/2006 8:11:26 AM PST by Alberta's Child (Can money pay for all the days I lived awake but half asleep?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child

LV can be extraordinarily boring.


50 posted on 11/25/2006 8:14:07 AM PST by durasell (!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: seacapn

I can safely say I love sprawl for that reason. Work in the city, live in the outer suburbs.


51 posted on 11/25/2006 8:15:44 AM PST by RockinRight (There's nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: seacapn

The city proper has virtually the same population it did 50 years ago, but the metro population has quadrupled.


52 posted on 11/25/2006 8:16:21 AM PST by RockinRight (There's nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: EDINVA

I like the growing mid-sized cities better than the big ones or the small towns.


53 posted on 11/25/2006 8:17:59 AM PST by RockinRight (There's nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: cowtowney

So is it safe to say that some people like big cities and some people like the small cities or suburbs?

I'm glad they still make chocolate and vanilla and stawberry...


54 posted on 11/25/2006 8:30:41 AM PST by cowtowney
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CzarNicky
because some of us don't want to waste our weekends mowing one or even worse five acre lots of grass.

That's why John Deere makes tractors. Takes a few minutes. Or you can hire someone to do it.

55 posted on 11/25/2006 8:59:19 AM PST by AlaskaErik (Everyone should have a subject they are ignorant about. I choose professional corporate sports.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: AlaskaErik

I'll skip paying for a tractor and stay in the city. No yard to pay someone to take care of regardless of size.


56 posted on 11/25/2006 9:07:29 AM PST by CzarNicky (The problem with bad ideas is that they seemed like good ideas at the time.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: seacapn
Portland is so young and hip is has everything except children. What it does have is a huge public school system servicing only 2/3 as many kids as a generation ago, complete with dozens of unneeded schools, a expensive big-city school salary and benefits structure on an overlarge staff, greedy school executives, and a huge number of retired school teachers and administrators pulling down expensive pesions.

They have already cut the school week down to the shortest in the state. Portland has it's own "temporary" income tax 1-2% on top of the 8.5% State tax.

It may well be a death spiral forming. Worth keeping an eye on.

57 posted on 11/25/2006 10:37:29 AM PST by Jack Black
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Republican Babe

How come multiple generations of adults living together was okay on the Waltons, but not next door?


58 posted on 11/25/2006 10:45:32 AM PST by Richard Kimball (Go Crawford Pirates!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: AlaskaErik
I, for one, can't understand why anyone would want to live in the city.

Living in the city and living in the burbs are two different things. A good city neighborhood is like a small town, except that it's likely to be more walkable and has major urban assets a short hop away. The burbs, however .... I'll just say that I can't imagine spending three hours a day in my car.

59 posted on 11/25/2006 10:48:48 AM PST by sphinx
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: AlaskaErik

I live in South San Jose, but when I was single I thought it would be fun to live in San Francisco. You could live there and walk to restaurants, night clubs, and shopping.

I didn't work in San Francisco, and I never wanted a long commute. I had friends that lived up there and enjoyed it.

However, I would never buy a place in a city, and I would never live in a city like that.

I would actually like to move to a much smaller place and have a large lot.

I like having neighbors, but not as close as they are right now. I like not having lots of traffic. My kids can play in the street, and I don't have to worry about them getting hit by cars. I also live near an undeveloped hill that has deer that are fun to watch. We also live near a bike/walking path that is connnected to lots of parks. It's loads of fun.

One of my 10 year old twin daughters loves San Francisco, and the other one would love to live in a small town where she can walk everywhere.


60 posted on 11/25/2006 10:55:43 AM PST by luckystarmom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-85 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson