Who’s YOUR City? Blog

I am a new CEO launching a dotcom start-up. People frequently ask if we’re going to put down roots in Palo Alto in Silicon Valley. It makes sense. On our last trip to the Bay Area we had dessert with the CFO of eBay, and lunch the following day with a staff from facebook’s incubator. It’s undeniable to ignore the connections that are happening: lunches, coffee, VCs, CEOs, programmers-they’re all there, strategizing, sharing ideas and building the next greatest products that we’ll all be using. But I choose Long Beach.

To catalyze millions of ideas-to be the force multiplier behind people’s work-requires that we foster an environment that encourages innovative and unconventional thinking. To become a revolutionary company, we need to attract the most talented and creative minds in the industry. When I think of creativity and the ingredients that feed innovation, its not linear or predictable but a chaotic blend disparate views and diverse cultures and attitudes. That’s how I see the city of Long Beach.

Of the 65 largest cities in our nation, Long Beach is the most ethnically diverse. We have the largest Cambodian population in the United States. There are nooks tucked here-and-there where one can view art, review books and engage in conversation about every topic imaginable, and a café to satisfy any armchair travelers’ wanderlust, from baba gannouj to tom kha kai, to chicken and waffles. Our music tastes are equally eclectic. We’re the spot for jazz festivals,! rock n roll, Irish jigs, micro-brews and a different kind of humming, grand prix racing.

To me Long Beach is a microcosm of the larger world, and that world is what feeds the imagination. As for neighborhoods, if deep-rooted history is what captures, there are tree-lined streets of Craftsman bungalows and 1927-era Spanish homes. Nothing says modern like a downtown loft with sprawling views of the 372-acre Pacific waterfront. There’s also a tinge of rebelliousness in the city that I find enticing. We’re urban-eclectic, not the rich-and-polished OC, not hip and wealthy like Santa Monica, or dripping in Hollywood glamor like the valley, and I like that. I like walking my dog down the 2-mile parkway, taking language classes at City College and archery on Saturdays. I can Salsa with girlfriends and some day, when I earn my pilots license, I’ll fly my bitty plane out of the Long Beach Airport to Catalina Island. Yes, Palo Alto is dotcom nirvana, but come on, we get 345 days of sunshine per year! Even Silicon Valley can’t top that.

Sent by Alexandra from Long Beach, CA

Strongly considering leaving lovely Madison, WI to return to my laid back western roots and love of mountains. I welcome anyone’s input on smaller to medium sized, affordable mountain/foothill towns in Colorado, Montana or Oregon. Some I have been exploring include Corvallis, Bend, Missoula, Kalispell, Bozeman, Fort Collins, Loveland. I just graduated with my MSW and am hoping to find a town I can a) find a decent paying job in and b) afford to live in on a Social Work salary. I am realizing this rules out many Colorado mountain towns due to extraordinary housing costs.

Ideally I am looking for a community like Madison but with close access to mountains or foothills to hike & bike in. Somewhere that is more liberal, dog & family friendly, nurtures local business (coops, mom & pops vs. national chains/mass condo development), diversity, the arts, and community (festivals, public schools, local gatherings). Does anyone have any experiences living in these areas or suggestions of other areas to check out. Thanks very much for your two cents…

Sent by Christie from Madison, WI

In Orlando, a mini-controversy over a bridge feature provides an opportunity to answer the question, “Why is public art important?”

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-edpmyword-faux-bridge-art-09200092009sep20,0,2569576.story

Do investments in public art help define who a city is?

Sent by Bob from Orlando

Aside from Okanagan Lake and slightly better shopping than the other BC “K” town Kamloops (or as the locals call it “The Loops”) this place is rather overrated. Due to all the time shares, there really isn’t an onus toward new developments. I still have to go to Vancouver to see a specialist, and what constitutes as “bike paths” are just a lane along HWY 97 next to heavy traffic.

Sent by Crystal from Kelowna, British Columbia

We are considering very seriously to move to Portland, OR and we could not find any information on this site. We appreciate any comments on Portland, OR for 1) school (middle), 2) house affordablility, and 3) manufacturing jobs.

Thank you for your great help!

Sent by Kerry from Pittsburgh, PA

Nestled on the shore of the mighty Ottawa River, Pembroke is the largest regional centre between Ottawa and North Bay. Just an hour and a half from Canada’s capital, it has a unique, rich cultural heritage, as it was settled in the early 1800s by tree prospectors looking for tall pines to use as masts for her Majesty’s fleet of tall ships. That exploration brought people from England, Ireland, Scotland, Poland, France and Germany – and they brought with them their unique music and dance – particularly, the easily portable fiddle. Today, that music rings throughout the city every Labour Day Weekend at the Old Time Fiddling and Step Dancing Competition that attracts musicians and afficionados of traditional music, from all over Canada and the U.S.

Pembroke is unique in Canada, and local people speak with a “Valley” accent, a mix of the first settlers languages. The creative talent is amazing in this area, and with the addition of broadband, it means that many more of our youth are choosing to stay home, while able to work anywhere in the world from their laptops. As a regional centre, there has been huge infrastructure investment recently (for a city with a population of 15,000 and a CMA of 74,000) Algonquin College is getting a new campus starting in 2010; the hospital has almost doubled in size and is now a regional health care centre with telecommunications link to CHEO and the Ottawa Heart Institute; the Superior Court House has undergone major expansion and award winn! ing reno vations; and the French School Board has built a new K-12 school and community centre.It’s a small, friendly city, a national Communities in Bloom winner, and one of the best places in Canada to call home!

Sent by Susan from Pembroke, Ontario

Sent by Jonathan from Greenville, NC

If you appreciate and enjoy a simple, active lifestyle, Sudbury is the place to be. 4 seasons of events, sports and culture make it a vibrant small city on the edge of the boreal forest. Hiking, fishing, boating, canoeing, climbing, skiing, snowmobiling are all accessible fromj your back door. The landscape is stunningly beautiful, contrary to popular belief. The photo shows the view from my backyard, on Long Lake, which is a 10 minute drive to the main shopping district in town. There are hundreds of similar small lakes and rivers in the city limits where clusters of suburban and rural communities develop. Laurentian University is located overlooking gorgeous Ramsay Lake and attracts students from around the world to its small classes and bilingual programmes.

The downtown is not great now, but is being revitalized with a new million school of architecture opening in 2013. Spinoffs from this bold move will be fantastic as young people bring new ideas and energy to these old downtown streets. The city has many significant cultural and government institutions including a major research hospital, Science North and Dynamic Earth science centres, the world-class Neutrino Laboratory, a very important film festival and thriving arts, music and theatre scene. A small food scene is emerging, as well as a strong environmental and ecological approach to innovation, technology and tourism. I relocated here from Toronto to be closer to family and do not miss the big city at all, especia lly when I can go for a swim or a ski on the lake at 6pm after getting home from work, or paddle my canoe to be closer to the loons on the water.

Sent by Pierre from Sudbury, Ontario

There are tremendous transformations happening in Birmingham, and even in the midst of a pending county financial collapse and federal trial against our mayor, most folks around here tend to see these as positives, in that these political collapses represent the last gasp of the deeply entrenched 1950s mentality. So, if you don’t mind, I want to share JUST A FEW of the awesome movements taking place here:

I live in the heart of downtown Birmingham, AL, with my partner of 11 years. Our loft apartment is in a converted 1920s-era department store, in what used to be the retail district.

Two blocks to our north is the financial district, and about four blocks to our south is the new central park- the Rail Road Reservation Park- currently under construction.

A new minor league baseball field has been proposed to be constructed adjacent to this park, and ground broke July 22 on an expansion to the convention complex on the northern edge of the City Center:

While the benefits of these projects will be felt a decade or so from now, more immediate and tangible transformations are underway. At this moment, there are hundreds of apartments and condominiums under construction in the City Center (a.k.a. downtown) adding to the thousands already here, and downtown’s population continues to climb. If 35203 has lost more than 6% of its population since 2000, it would be from HUD housing project declines. Our HOPE VI development called Park Place has proven to be phenomenally successful. Skyscrapers from the 1910s-1930s continue to be converted into housing, too.While Birmingham remains Alabama’s largest (some say only) city, we do continue to have a population drain to the suburbs. With an African-American population of 73%, Birmingham continues to “intimidate” traditional Alabamians as a place to live. However, we are beginning to attract more-and-more college graduates, young professionals and upper-middle class African American families from such places as Atlanta, Chicago, Norfolk, Cleveland and Milwaukee. I know, because I meet them every day. At least within Birmingham, this infusion of new blood is seen as a positive. Here, in the core of the region, there are tremendous forces converging to transmute this place from the inside out. A few of the highlights:

Children’s Hospital has begun a 5 million, LEED-certified expansion project in the Medical District, a sprawling, interconnected complex covering over 80 city blocks, which is only 6 blocks south of the new Railroad Park:

http://www.health.uab.edu/

http://www.hvs.com/StaticContent/Library/NYU2009/Journal/Files/MIR-BirminghamAL.pdf

http://www.uabhealth.org/60918/

http://www.stemcellresearchnews.net/News/UniversityofAlabamaatBirminghamCreatesStemCellInstitute.aspx

http://birmingham.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2009/06/22/story1.html

http://www.solutionsforourfuture.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Alabama&printer_friendly=1

http://nationaljobs.washingtonpost.com/a/all-jobs/list/q-University+of+Alabama+AT+Birmingham+(uab)

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/bhmdw-courtyard-birmingham-downtown-at-uab/

http://www.birminghamal.org/ttd-attractions-detail.asp?ID=0231578

These are only a handful of the projects taking place in Birmingham’s City Center. While 35203 remains the corporate capitol of Alabama, more and more “urbanistas” like my partner & myself are settling in, to make this OUR HOME- OUR NEIGHBORHOOD.

Also, there are groups that I belong to, that are coordinating efforts to rebrand the eastern neighborhoods into centers of creative production. The major groups are:

http://cfc.abc3340.com/videoondemand.cfm?id=45243

http://www.facebook.com/people/Keep-East-Lake-Weird/1229561155

http://www.mainstreetbham.org/pages/opportunities/revitalizing-neighborhoods/east-end-arts.php

http://www.ruffnermountain.org/

http://www.bhamweekly.com/2009/07/09/at-ruffner-mountain-a-poet-reveals-links-between-literature-the-environment/

…AND, within the Greater Birmingham Area:

http://www.imaginebirmingham.org/

http://www.redmountainpark.org/wp/

http://www.foundationbirmingham.org/http://www.cultural-alliance.com/

I thought you might be intrigued with the exciting new directions this “Rust Belt” city is taking!!

Sent by Todd from Birmingham, AL

I moved to Tucson upon the passing of my beloved mother and also to to take care of an aging father who was in the dispassionate clutches of the medical and care-taking industry because of his dementia in Surprise, AZ. I had spent almost a decade in the East valley of the Sun in the greater Phoenix area but due to a job change found myself weathering many more difficulties in the Hudson Valley of upper NY state. With the tragic family issues falling upon me, the only child, I also found the saving grace to escape an eastern environment that was literally doing me in. So with the struggle of my own life-threatening illness, I returned to the Southwest region I had come to know and love but stressing between saving myself and saving my father from his own issues.

Although I had never before become familiar with Tucson, I found that the fast growing city had simple roots going back 10,000 years on the banks of the Santa Cruz river. With a million people it still seems like a quaint western town in many ways with a definite Spanish decor. The foothills region has no fences, sideways or lawns using the natural desert as landscaping. Nestled at an elevation of about 2500 ft between three main mountains, the Catalinas, Rincon and Tucson mountains the climate In Tucson seems to be slightly cooler and less stagnant than the greater Phoenix area with consistent winds to keep any noticeable air pollution in check. Not typical of most Arizona cities, there are few big dust storms in Tucson but the heat can stick at triple digits for days at a time. Usually this pattern will break with a quick refreshing rain storm. The monsoon times in July and August transform the area into an almost desert tropical paradise that rivals any other rainier region. The smell of rain from the Sonoran desert is like no scent more uplifting or more tantalizing. The flowering of the different varieties of cactus will memorize your eye balls on nature’s diversity of bright colors and shapes. Yes, it has its sticker and thorns but the delight is to see not touch to enjoy.

For myself, I started with the desert going to school many years back in New Mexico and although my life has taken me from California to Hawaii to Arizona to New York and back, my better memories are with my time in the Southwest. Alas, like the twists and turns of life I will have to pack away all my experiences of Arizona into memories as I laid my father to rest next to my mother last year. I look now to resettle in the colder regions of central Oregon and begin another hopefully fulfilling legacy of the last of the golden years.

Sent by David from Tucson, Arizona