Well a brilliant young individual had some delightful commentary in today’s Cincinnati Enquirer editorial section, enjoy…
I am by definition a young professional, part of the creative class, and I am enrolled at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning.
As you may know, Cincinnati is not exactly a hotbed for the creative class and has struggled to retain/attract young professionals.
As a creative person, it can be difficult to make it work here over a place like Chicago, New York or Atlanta, but it seems as though people are afraid to even try at times. We need to continue to prioritize the arts and place new emphasis on things like mass transit.
This is a very important issue to many young people and in particular the creative class. If we fail at creating a city with these elements, then we will fail at attracting that ever-important young professional.
Aside from bus service, Cincinnati offers no transit options. The cities that do a great job at attracting this demographic have much more, and we are falling further behind the likes of Seattle, Portland, Austin, Atlanta, Chicago and Baltimore.
Cincinnati is now looking to build a streetcar system. This is a great first step at creating a wide-reaching transit system.
I would argue that Cincinnati has an edge over many of these other cities in terms of arts, geographic features and affordability, but we simply cannot rest on our laurels.
I know I can not speak for every young person out there, but I say this: Please make the effort to keep us around for our sake and the sake of our community.
If you are not a young professional, would you prefer your child to live in Cincinnati or Seattle?
Streetcars are not the only answer, but they are the opportunity we have the chance to capitalize on right now.
Cincinnati Enquirer, Guest Editorial 10/24/07
