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Jewish World Review June 22, 2005 / 15 Sivan, 5765 No more goodbye Columbus By Froma Harrop
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
COLUMBUS, OHIO — Quite a scene here. The beat is techno-lounge.
Male hunks swirl around bare-shouldered chicks balancing pink drinks. There
are more revelers outside, spilling into the cafes. It's only 11 p.m.
South Beach, Miami? No, Columbus, Ohio, the product-testing
ground for detergent, potato chips and all things Middle American. Tonight's
celebrants may have driven in from the suburbs or walked a block from new
downtown condos. The point is, no one had to go to New York or Los Angeles
for this kind of Saturday night.
And the same full moon was shining on Omaha's Old Market
district, The Flats in Cleveland and probably 20 or 30 other hot zip codes
in heartland cities. These scenes are about much more than a night on the
town. They're about pumping young life into urban areas far from ocean
beaches or ski slopes — urban places that coastal types think are dull.
"These places are popping up everywhere," says Richard Florida,
author of the book "The Rise of the Creative Class" and an
economic-development consultant. Other ascending stars include Athens, Ga.,
Lawrence, Kan., and Iowa City.
Cities not known for glamour are cultivating this fizz. "That's
why you see such vibrant music scenes popping up apparently in the middle of
nowhere," Florida says. And these places can still sell their traditional
strengths, such as good schools, an easy pace and low cost of living.
Hazel Morrow-Jones, professor of urban planning at Ohio State
University, notes that Columbus is the nation's 15th-biggest city, but seems
smaller. She attributes this coziness, in part, to "the Midwest nice thing."
"You have a pretty big city in terms of the entertainment,
resources, services and goods,'' she says, "but at the same time it's not a
terribly expensive place to live, and it doesn't feel dangerous and scary."
Equally important to creative workers, Columbus has a reputation
for being an open place. It is considered gay-friendly and one of the best
cities for African-Americans.
Such attributes can attract sophisticates weary of their daily
struggle in the coastal mega-cities. It's hard to buy a one-bedroom
apartment in Manhattan for under $400,000 and a house in Columbus for more.
The heartland cities don't subject their residents to sadistic commutes. In
Cleveland, for example, drivers spend only 10 hours a year stuck in traffic,
according to the Texas Transportation Institute. In the San Francisco area,
they lose 72 hours a year — the equivalent of three days!
Speaking of Cleveland, the Flats district is a revelation to
people like Morrow-Jones, who grew up there and left. The Flats is a
formerly industrial area along the fabled Cuyahoga River. The river was so
polluted, it caught on fire in 1969.
"Now it's nightclubs, restaurants, bars and housing," says
Morrow-Jones. "Sitting there and watching pleasure boats was surreal. I
couldn't believe that it was the same river."
"I imagine people from the heartland who know about these places
would just as soon go on believing they have reputations for dullness,"
Florida remarked. "That's probably why there are so many hidden gems still
out there."
Back in Columbus, I'm sitting with friends in the tapas bar at
Spice, a high-style bar and restaurant in the North Market district. The
median age here is well south of 35. And the action is so noisy, you can't
even hear people yelling into their cell phones.
"I don't think Columbus was ready for this five years ago,"
Randy Gani, Spice's "concierge," tells us. "Places people would never go to
have been remaking themselves for the service economy." Gani himself moved
here from Chicago.
It's 11 p.m., and as they say, the party has just begun.
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© 2005 Creators Syndicate |
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