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Andrew Heller also recently stated the following:
“I also think a clean, safe, well-lit downtown with closely clustered shops, restaurants and pubs that stay open past 5 p.m. would be cool.
But that’s about where my creativity ends. If Flint suddenly is going to become a cool place to live, don’t you think we ought to have a better idea of exactly what cool is?
Sure we should. That’s where you come in.
If you have an idea or two about what makes a city cool in general or what would make Flint cool, in specific, e-mail me (assuming you’re cool enough to own a computer) at aheller@flintjournal.com or call (810) 766-6116. You fogeys who still remember how to write in cursive can write to me in care of The Flint Journal, 200 East 1st St., Flint, MI 48502-1925.
I’ll print the best.”
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I responded today with the following:
I read once that defining cool is patently uncool, but I didn’t think I was ever in the running, so here goes:
I’ve lived in and around Flint for eighteen years and Chicago for seven. It’s common for Flint to be unfavorably compared with Chicago, the capital of the midwest, but I’ve been startled to find Chicagoans self-depricating when comparing their fabulous city to both New York and L.A.
I think the worst civic failures and lapses of judgment begin with a desire to be someone else rather than a better version of ourselves. By recognizing our distinctness, complete with limitations, we also acknowledge what we alone are able to offer.
Be realistic: AutoWorld did not make Flint into a midwestern Orlando. By the simplest economic arguments a casino will surely fail; we cannot make Flint a midwestern Vegas. Be honest about what will and will not happen in Flint.
Work what works: The Farmers Market. The Cultural Center. The Motor Cities Heritage Corridor. Flint colleges work. Our religious communities work. The Mott Foundation works. Sink our resources into instituions and projects that are tried and true, and that have supported us consistently in the past, even if these projects aren’t necessarily alluring or exciting.
Acknowledge real assets: Flint is historically an important center for African Americans, for the labor movement, for the auto industry, community education, and political organization. Our city is also incredibly diverse in terms of race, religion, and political orientation. Moreover, Flint has been tested by the tragedy of its decline. Cities such as Seattle and Cleveland have experienced long droughts that have given them a greater maturity and dynamism than their more prosperous, stable neighbors. These are part of our identity we can use to our advantage.
Flint’s “coolness” and overall success is dependent not on its ability to demolish and rebuild itself as a brand new city, new and shiny and entirely different, but to recronstruct itself as a better, happier, and wiser Flint.
Connor Coyne
Flint, MI and Chicago, IL
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But this is actually a very complicated question, regardless of its terseness, and I think that my answer is handicapped by its necessary brevity.
What do you think?
What answer would you provide?