Post details: They asked... My Response to the Cool Cities Survey
They asked... My Response to the Cool Cities Survey
I'm not sure Ypsilanti is ready for the truth, but I sent this out anyway. They needed at least one cool person to fill out the survey. (Thanks for the e-mail, Murph!)
What defines a cool city? Uniqueness. Things that are not unique lack character. Cool Cities are also socially progressive. The last 18 years of Republican led state government resulted in conservative social policies and morality laws that disproportionately affect young people, encouraging us to leave for more progressive coastal and foreign cities.
What makes your city particularly special, or “cool”? Ypsi has 3 downtowns: Cross Street, Michigan Avenue, and Washtenaw. There are virtually no chain stores. Ypsi has 3 venues for live music, a strip joint and a 24-hour diner. The Ypsilanti Food Co-op sells health food and vegetarian food. I buy nearly all my produce at the Ypsilanti Farmers Market and Colemans Farm Market. The shops on Michigan Avenue cater to young people. Mother Fletchers sells vintage clothing. Henrietta Fahrenheit sells small run clothes and accessories. Rubber Soul has thousands of discs and will order anything they don’t stock. Puffer Reds sells urban apparel and music. I rarely shop outside the city.
What does a cool city look like? The building materials and designs are diverse. The Water Street Project concerns me for this reason. I can’t overstate the importance of aesthetic variety in large developments. The renderings I’ve seen show buildings of similar design built from only one type of brick. I had planned to purchase a house in Ypsilanti, but am now reconsidering after seeing these depictions as I moved here to escape soulless, homogenous, unimaginative architecture.
How does it use its space? The bars and restaurants near Michigan Avenue are isolated from residential neighborhoods by commercial properties primarily used during the day and rear parking lots. We have a good number of public parks.
What kinds of services are offered? Affordable health care, improving public schools and busing.
What could your city do to attract jobs and people? Ypsilanti could easily attract artists. Artists are drawn to inexpensive studio space, which Ypsi has, and young professionals are attracted to art communities. A program aimed at providing spaces to publicly display artwork by local artists would make our city more desirable to artists and young professionals.
What could your city do to attract young professionals? Ypsilanti needs its own identity, separate from Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor is very un-cool, contrary to what mayor Hieftje may believe. Young professionals resent nursery environments. We are adults and want to be treated as such. Ypsilanti should repeal the moratorium on head shops (Ordinance NO. 87-117) and the ordinance that prohibits sex shops from opening within 1000 feet of each other (Sec. 122-774), among others. These laws send a message that Ypsilanti is a conservative community that doesn’t want young people.
