Cities Compete in Hipness to Attract Young - NYT

[Opusnone]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/25/us/25young.html?hp&ex=1164430800&en=00d420343c63f941&ei=5094&partner=homepage

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.

more at link

[Deja Q]

1. Well, that justified offshoring then...

Especially when it's also true more Boomers are not retiring...

[Opusnone]

2. How could we possibly be LOSING workers

when the borders are wide open?

[BlooInBloo]

3. An abbreviated form of bball? Why not just play to 7? Sheesh.

Talk about a solution without a problem.

I didn't realize there WAS a battle for hipness. I assumed that Portland, Boulder, and maybe Madison had that locked up.

[Withywindle]

4. How about luring people with affordable housing prices?

Hard to beat NYC and San Francisco for hipness; just as hard to find a decent place to live there on a recent grad's wages.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.