posted on May 11, 2010 11:08
Editor's Note: We're very fortunate this week to have as a guest blogger our partner and good friend Brian McGrain from the Community Economic Development Association of Michigan (CEDAM). By day, Brian is CEDAM's Associate Director & Chief Operating Officer and serves as CEDAM's representative on the Michigan Main Street Advisory Committee and Michigan Downtown Conference Planning Partners Committee. By night, Brian is an Ingham County Commissioner and active member of the Grand River Connection, a Lansing-based Young Professionals Network.
By Brian McGrain
Associate Director/Chief Operating Officer
Community Economic Development Association of Michigan
This past weekend, I came across a new report released by the Brookings Institution, entitled The State of Metropolitan America. Through analysis of available demographic data from the past decade, the report seeks to “portray the demographic and social trends shaping the nation’s essential economic and societal units—its large metropolitan areas—and discuss what they imply for public policies to secure prosperity for these places and their populations.” While there are many interesting findings among the data (including several suggesting that America’s suburbs are now more likely to be home to minorities, the poor, and the elderly) , I was particularly struck by one in particular: many younger, educated people are actually choosing to move to cities for jobs and shorter commutes.
Oftentimes when I think about the decades of disinvestment that faced our core communities, I like to think that we were suffering through what historians will in the future refer to as a “blip” – a brief, unexplainable period of time when people rejected thousands of years of congregating in urban settings to choose lifestyles centered around large lots and long commutes. It seems that census data may now be validating this viewpoint for me; people ARE now choosing to return to our core communities where an organic sense of neighborhood and belonging are valued and appreciated.
We as supporters of downtowns in Michigan need to be poised to take advantage of these demographic trends. People are longing for what it is that we are promoting. But they might not necessarily be longing for that in Michigan. The work that we do to promote OUR communities is therefore even more essential. We all know that we have cities, town, and villages in our state with incredible histories and character. We must continue the work we are doing, realizing that we are working to attract a diverse set of people to work, shop, and live.
I think what is key to this is remembering that our communities should be welcoming for all. Businesses should cater to many different sets of consumers. There should be easily accessible links to transportation. There should exist housing choices for a variety of income levels, and for a variety of groups (such as seniors or the disabled). And of course, a sense of place must exist, both through the physical and social fabric that we create.
To read more on the State of Metropolitan America, please visit http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2010/0509_metro_america.aspx