"Newsweek, you will not break my focus," was a mantra I chanted as I drove in the middle of a snowstorm on Saturday morning to attend the first in a series of classes on the topic of social justice.
Yes, like a lot of people, I began to boil with frustration about the article, "
America's Dying Cities" after I read that Grand Rapids made their Top Ten list.
I could understand Detroit and my hometown of Flint making the list due to the hits inflicted by the shifting auto manufacturing base -- but industry-diverse Grand Rapids? How could it be?
Unlike many readers of the Newsweek piece who collectively appeared to crap their pants as they rushed to the airwaves and comment boards of the Internet to denounce the data about our population growth (or in this case, lack of it,) I began to slow down my own reactions, take a deep breath and let it settle in.
True, on the surface the numbers were there for all to see. Newsweek used the new census data citing cities with a population base of over 100,000 that are losing the 18 and under crowd, so it would seem we are indeed dying according to the statistics. Can't argue with that fact.
But "dying" is a harsh word for a region that continues to refine itself as it continually attracts new residents on a regular basis.
Even Jeff Speck, the DC resident and best selling author of "Suburban Nation," commented in an email to me that he "was surprised to see Grand Rapids on that list, because it frankly doesn't look or feel like it belongs there."
This region, including our city, has for some time begun the process of listening to the ideas and needs of its younger residents in an attempt to slow or stop the brain drain.
To this point, Speck knows from his many visits to our city that establishing "the criteria of youth retention is an important one, and speaks to the need to focus more on walk-ability and bike-ability, two things that many young adults are clamoring for." Grand Rapids is making huge strides in that direction as planners continue to develop ideas beyond downtown as a place to play.
So what do I think should be talked about in rebuttal? I would cite the one major flaw concerning Grand Rapids in the Newsweek survey.
Like many cities in the country, we are no longer defined by solely by our city limits, but by our entire region. Our region is flush with growth and, of course, a point someone who is not looking at the map would naturally miss when surveying data.
So, let's not toss word bombs at Newsweek telling everybody the magazine is simply wrong because Grand Rapids hosts this big event or that one. Instead, let's really look at the effort to rebrand our region and where we all fall in the mix, an effort I believe is well underway here within and outside our city borders.
For years, G-Sync has shown that Grand Rapids is a place where rapid growth is happening in real time and in innovative ways. It is in our blood and in our name to illustrate these changes, good and bad, as they occur. It makes for an exciting view from where you and I sit in history.
Carol Coletta of CEOs for Cities recognized this as well when she addressed a group of Chicago folks, saying that the people of Grand Rapids "get to Yes" faster than other cities.
We are the innovation people, and as we look around at what it takes to make a city, I am reminded that the leap to the next knowledge-based economy is already underway here as groups of businesses are self-organizing to rebrand and remake our city and region.
Design West Michigan, GRid70, AIGA West Michigan and Local First are all fine examples of groups that have sprung up from the ground floor to do great things in representing the G to outside voices and industry.
Even my area of the arts is seeing people pull together like never before in groups like What's Your Art, ArtPeers and probably the most organic of all areas in the last 10 years, the Avenue for the Arts, which includes The Division Avenue Arts Collective and the future new home for the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts.
So, before you get all up in my grill about me shaming you earlier for defending your city to Newsweek, I just want you to know I understand why you did what you did. And Carol Coletta does, too.
"I think everybody in Grand Rapids has a stake in what the world thinks about Grand Rapids," said Coletta in an exclusive
RG interview, "You may not think you do, but you do. It has a lot to do with 'can you attract talent, can you attract business, and will people invest in Grand Rapids?'"
Newsweek may have painted us in a less than brilliant light, but we as a community can continue to dazzle those who do take the time to look around at the reality of what innovation can create -- not only for our region but also for our world. They are surely looking and now that we have their attention, let's show what we can create, make, produce or do here.
And I did not cancel Newsweek, but instead offered Tina Brown a
free subscription to Rapid Growth. …but you already knew that it is free. (wink)
The Future Needs All of Us (to keep on truckin')
Tommy Allen, Lifestyle Editor
Email:
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TommyGSync
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