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Changes in the city of trees.
In a response to Mrissa from an earlier thread I go on a bit about ways that Ann Arbor has changed that makes it less fun these days for me to show people around town. I grew up here, and find it much less the comfortable, casual, ideosynchratic and hippy college town it was when I was a kid. Borders has changed from a deep and interestingly unique store to a chain clone. I didn't even go into how the Art Fair has gotten less artsy and fun and more commercial. Even Zingerman's sandwiches are not as good as they once were, since they shrunk them a few years back to keep competitive in the face of Amers and other sandwich cafes.
Would you agree that Ann Arbor is changing for the worse?
What changes do you like? (having Trader Joe's and Whole Foods come in could be counted as positives, for instance).
What do you miss?
Would you agree that Ann Arbor is changing for the worse?
What changes do you like? (having Trader Joe's and Whole Foods come in could be counted as positives, for instance).
What do you miss?
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:)I didn't grow up in Ann Arbor, but i first came here over 15 years ago and have been living here for almost that long. My perspective comes largely from the world of the arts -- i've been an independent musician here (in a variety of forms) for over 10 years and even worked in the local industry for awhile.
For me, coming as an outsider, the biggest tragedy about Ann Arbor is the horrifically wide chasm between what it is and what it could be. As it turns out, "what it could be" also seems to correlate a lot with both "what it once was", and "what it's reputed to be"... and, at least in my case, "what it's believed to be by newcomers".
I've gone out about this in many forms (to which
:)In sum, i feel as if i've found a lot of evidence that Ann Arbor basically choked to death on its own affluence. From what i gather from longer-term residence, the "city" (i use quotes because i'm from New York, and i frankly find Ann Arbor's calling itself a city a characteristically-arrogant claim in and of itself -- but there i go ranting again) was really an amazing place to be in the 60s, 70s and 80s. It became known as an arts center and progressive locale, and therefore became a very desirable place to live, even beyond the community established by the University. However, as with many places (i use Greenwich Village in NYC as a common example), this desirability had an ironic effect: it created an economic demand impact that made it prohibitively expensive for the survival of many of the aspects that made it desirable in the first place!In the Greenwich Village example, the large area of urban density gave the local movement survival options -- for example, much of the "scene" of classic artsy GV simply moved a neighborhood or two over to the East Village, which (at least as of the late 90s, when last i was in touch) became a new up-and-coming scene. In Ann Arbor's small downtown, there was really nowhere equivalent to go -- downtown Ypsi absorbed some of the movement, but it's nowhere near the same equivalency of accessibility as in the GV/EV example in NYC -- it's too far away (and maybe too different?) to "replace" or "house" A²'s lost scene.
I could go on about this a lot...
:)I also invite the truly interested/bored to check out a very rejected Op Ed piece about it that i submitted to the News several years back. At some point, i may also make available a recording of "Goodbye Ann Arbor", a sarcastic pseudo-folk rant tune i wrote awhile back in a fit of frustration.Yes, i've definitely thought about this too much.
:)I also assume you've heard of http://www.annarborisoverrated.com/ yes? They have also observed some of these things, albeit in a more limited form, as i believe their perspective is much more political and/or that of the transient/student population. Their tongue-in-cheek mission is something i can appreciate, though i feel as if there's a lot more ammo they could dig up if they were more heavily involved (i think it's run by one or more grad students).
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Anyways, if easy money is part of the reason, then Ann Arbor may regain some of its charm and coolness as the Michigan (and whole US) economy swirls down the toilet.
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This is a thought i've had more than once, and part of me wants to establish some kind of LLC and fund in case the opportunity to scoop up some awesome piece of downtown/campus real-estate ever presents itself. It's a pipe-dream, though, it seems -- the core area of town will be the most economically resilient, because i think people believe they will always be able to count on the U to prop up the immediate economy and therefore the safety of the real-estate market. It would seem the only possibility might be if the economy busts so hard that downtown businesses start to fail and aren't replaced by new ventures quickly enough -- in which case, some landlord whose bleeding capital might get desperate enough to sell a commercial property. ...which i'd be all about, if it were at all affordable.
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I like your Op Ed piece. I guess I haven't been very familiar with what sort of venues we have. A study that compares Ann Arbor with similar cities could be interesting, but who has the time? It would be a perfect thing to have in the paper, but of course we don't have a decent enwspaper either, and attempts I've seen to start up something alternative have failed. I wish the digital paper guys would give us something we can use for that. *crosses fingers*.
It is sad. I moved to ontario and thought the city we were in shut down too early at night and then moved here and found the same was true, though not as bad. Remember when there was a Denny's downtown? I mean, not the best food, but open late! I never understood why a restaurant never lasted long there (where the CEW is now).
There's a lot of energy here. Ron Suarez, who is now a city councilman, still runs occasional network downtown (http://www.networkdowntown.com/) events, and the IT zone or launchpad or whatever also brings entrepreneurs together, though more of the tech type than music. I'm sometimes amazed by the bands we get coming here, but the local music scene, like the detroit film and music scenes next door, is largely unsupported.
I'm not sure what to do about that. You might as Ron if he has ideas, though. He could be an ally.
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Wow... i never knew there was a Denny's where CEW is now. Hilarious! That may have been before my time. I do miss places like the Ann Arbor Theatre very much, tho, speaking of spots near there. I also bemoan the dirth of late-night eats, which you'd think would be a major thing in a town like this -- thankfully, there are still some decent options out there much of the time.
...the local music scene, like the detroit film and music scenes next door, is largely unsupported.
Absolutely. I know that, in general, indy music isn't widely supported, but there are many things about Ann Arbor that make one thing that the scene would be "above-average" here... not average or below-average.
More than once i've considered getting involved in initiatives and/or politics about this (and/or starting my own). I'll definitely keep Ron in mind. Sadly, my own life has changed a lot since my days of greater involvement in the music scene, and i don't have much time to devote to such ideas anymore.
Thanks for posting this, and for the discussion! More people need to know and talk about this...
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