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The city listers strike again. A2 is one of the top 10 “IQ Campuses” listed in Forbes publisher Rich Karlgaard’s new book “Life 2.0,” which suggests purportedly cheap smaller-town alternatives to city living for professionals. “Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan, is small enough to be friendly, but cosmopolitan enough to satisfy most intellectual snobs,” he writes. Not this one. He also suggests Grand Rapids as a “Bohemian Bargain.” So in which “Porch Swing Community,” “Happy Hooterville,” “Steroid City” or “Telecommuting Heaven” does Karlgaard reside in order to escape big-city pressure and high prices? “Karlgaard, 50, lives in San Francisco and says it doesn’t matter that he’s never set foot in Grand Rapids,” the Grand Rapids Press reports.
They do have a point, though… Grand Rapids is ridiculously affordable. And does have some cool
posted by Brandon on October 5th, 2004 at 4:28 pmBohemian” neighborhoods (though most of downtown would fall under “Bobo” or “Yuppie”). And there’s a growing music/art scene. And yes, if you check the stats, a majority of Grand Rapids residents actually voted for Gore last time around, despite the conservative reputation (the suburbs are to blame for this). I’ll continue to defend Grand Rapids as a well-kept urban secret in Michigan in the face of all naysayers. On the other hand… “Life 2.0″? Really.
The comparisan between AA / GR alone must make the Tree Townies bristle and doubt themselves. Maybe that was the intent?
posted by Leighton on October 5th, 2004 at 7:45 pmIn CA we upgraded to Life 6.7 years ago - is MI really that behind the times?
posted by Nick on October 5th, 2004 at 10:58 pmGrand Rapids is a pretty nice town. A little too right wing in some cases for my tastes. But it does have the Griffins (minor league hockey), Arena Football (forget the team) and a Minor League Baseball team. If I remember correctly, 28th Street at least has the major chain type places and some decent malls. And the cost of living is a bit better. Plus, I think they have Grand Valley STate if you want lower tier college sports.
posted by Kozzie on October 5th, 2004 at 11:34 pm6.7 - heh. We don’t need all these newfanlged upgrades here in Tree Town.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on October 6th, 2004 at 1:47 pmKozzie, I never saw minor league sports and commercial sprawl in the suburbs to be much of a plus, but sui quique. And as I said above, the city really isn’t that right-wing. It’s suburban Kent and Ottawa counties that are the real conservative power base, not the City of Grand Rapids.
posted by Brandon on October 6th, 2004 at 5:00 pmBrandon, how come you never agreed with me when I had said this stuff before? GR is not near what it could be either, people are still working on making things even more inviting for new downtown residents.
posted by paul on October 6th, 2004 at 7:16 pmWell, Paul, I’m finding the necessity to differentiate the city from its suburbs. West Michigan on average may be lamer than Washtenaw County, and per capita there is probably less to do in Grand Rapids than in Ann Arbor, but the more often I’m there the more cool neighborhoods and people I seem to find and there are definitely parts of town that would be livable (in a gritty Detroit, Hamtramck, Ypsilanti sorta way) even if the sheer choice of things to do and places to go isn’t there. And it’s super cheap, yes. Admittedly, despite all the talk of “downtown” I’m finding that area to be the bigger snooze than some of the smaller business districts further from the core (Eastown being the obvious example, but little districts are scattered throughout the city) and the Division area just south of downtown. They are trying to turn downtown into an upscale playground (better than these folks moving to the suburbs mind you), but the other areas have more of a small-scale, local, do-it-yourself thing going on. Also, compared to Ann Arbor, it isn’t as concentrated and walkable (i.e. on average fewer of your destinations are nearby), but is probably moreso than the vast bulk of Detroit (even the Midtown/Cass Corridor area where are friend Jon lives, which is a better one, is still pretty dang scattered in regards to shopping/bars… there’s no true Center to the neighborhood).
posted by Brandon on October 6th, 2004 at 9:17 pmI don’t know, AAIO - I think people might be really amazed by some of the additional features that are available in Life since we left v.2.0 behind.
posted by Nick on October 6th, 2004 at 9:42 pmLife 6.7 Nick? You better tell Kerlgaard that if he lives in S.F. Maybe Cali ISN’T as far along as you’d like to think…
posted by Hugh on October 7th, 2004 at 1:32 pmLife 6.7 crashes too often, and most of the “features” are bugs. I mean, did they have to import Clippy? Still, I hear that if you download some patches it ends up being pretty stable.
posted by js on October 8th, 2004 at 5:04 pm