Mid-size cities want you

If there's any chance you'll ever graduate, pay close attention: mid-size cities want you to know that, contrary to popular belief, they're super-cool and you should do them a teeny-tiny favor and move your entire life into one of them after college.\nReally. It's all part of this new multi-million dollar campaign profiled in the Oct. 10 USA Today. It was launched by second-tier American cities like Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Memphis, Baton Rouge, St. Louis and Tampa to become "more hip."\nI'm elated, because now I can anticipate an Oct. 10, 2007, USA Today with this headline: "After four years, mid-size cities trash 'get hip' plan. Says one mayor: 'Setting fire to our money might have been a better investment.'" \nThe notion of cities getting hip begins with academic author Richard Florida and his recent book, "The Rise of the Creative Class." In the interest of fairness, I should disclose I haven't technically read this book, but I can report with 100 percent journalistic accuracy that a reviewer on Amazon.com called it "massive."\nAnd here are some of the "massive numbers" USA Today points out: 78 million baby boomers, aged 40 to 60, are out there. Forty million people aged 25 to 34 (23 million of which are college educated) will take those retired baby boomer jobs (that is, more jobs vacated than people to fill them). According to the most recent Census, two-thirds of the 50 largest American cities reported fewer young adults in 2000 than 1990.\nIt's noteworthy that populations fell in two-thirds of the cities and presumably stayed the same or rose in the other third. Florida (the writer, not the state) says this is mostly because the "creative class" is a new breed of workers: very picky ones. \nThey're choosing their homes cautiously. They want fun neighborhoods, diversity and tolerance. They love art galleries, coffeehouses and active nightlives. They like companies that give same-sex partner benefits, even if they're not gay themselves.\nWell, it seems we young people are finding those perks in the cities that are actually cool -- places like New York City, Boston, D.C., Seattle and San Francisco.\nThe rest of boring America wants to cash in on the young professional phenomenon, and they'll do absolutely anything to make themselves look cool. They have Web sites, glitzy advertising, arts and music festivals, aquariums, museums, sports stadiums, etc.\nThat's the crux of the "We're not boring!" campaign of which I'm skeptical. You might be, too. You might be asking yourself, "Can a city actually become cool overnight, or in a year, or even a decade?" \nThe simple answer is: no. Just look at Cincinnati, a city that has been trying to be cool for years. I visited for the vast majority of one day last summer, and saw the new "hip" Contemporary Arts Center building. \nThe museum was nice and undeniably part of the "Get hip!" campaign, but I didn't feel like I'd want to live there.\nThe point is, second-tier cities can do all they want to try to persuade us to live in them. But I'm predicting the whole thing will be a flop, based on two simple flaws in their campaign.\nFirst, they can try to add all the appeal they want, but they can't transplant another city's aura; that's something it acquires on its own. A city like New York has been influenced over many decades. These cities have incorrectly judged that appeal is something immediately attainable. \nAnd secondly, cities that have to use the word "hip?" Well, they usually aren't. Come on, young people. You know that. And if you don't, just ask your parents.