This post originally ran on August 15, 2010. Some anachronisms have been left in the piece, so keep the original date in mine.
It’s no secret I’m a fan of Columbus, Ohio, one of those under the radar cities that’s a whole lot better than its external brand image would suggest.
That frustrates local civic leaders, who’ve undertaken a major re-branding effort, as discussed in a recent NYT piece, “There May Be ‘No Better Place,’ but There Is a Better Slogan:”
Quick, what do you think about when you hear the words “Columbus, Ohio”? Still waiting…. And that’s the problem that civic leaders here hope to solve. This capital city in the middle of a state better known, fairly or not, for cornfields and rusting factories has a low cost of living, easy traffic and a comparatively robust economy….What Columbus does not have, to the despair of its leaders, is an image. As home to major research centers, it has long outgrown its 1960s self-concept as a cow town, and its distinction as the birthplace of the Wendy’s hamburger chain does not quite do the trick these days. The city lacks a shorthand way to sell itself – a signature like the Big Apple or an intriguing tagline like Austin’s “Live Music Capital of the World.” As a result, those working to attract new companies, top professors, conventions and tourists have a hard time explaining how Columbus differs from dozens of other cities that likewise claim to be livable, progressive and fun.
As I’ve said many times, branding isn’t marketing. It isn’t about tag lines, messaging, or talking points. Yes, there’s an element of that and getting your message out. But branding starts with what’s on the inside not messages to the outside. It’s about who you are, what your values are, what you stand for, what you aspire to be when you grow up. The marketing part just helps communicate that.
I won’t reprise my general prescription on branding, but here are a few pieces you can review if interested:
Despite what the title of the NYT piece might suggest, I think Columbus gets it on this:
How do you stoke the imagination of outsiders and the enthusiasm of residents? Columbus, starting from relative obscurity, has found that you cannot just hire an advertising agency, like New York and Las Vegas did, and come up with a slogan. It needs to find something real and heartfelt to trumpet, a task force of business, educational, political and arts leaders here concluded.
Your brand has to be something that is authentic, that’s true to the place. It has to resonate with the people who are there. That’s not to say it can’t be aspirational. That’s how we grow. But to simply chuck your past and trying to be something completely different is overwhelmingly difficult and often fails. So kudos to Columbus for trying to find something true to the character of their city.
Apparently they’ve been at this a while, and one of the techniques has been involving residents in helping to define the new brand: “But this time, three years into their inner journey, city leaders expect to succeed by drawing the whole population into the process and teasing out shared points of pride.”
When I read something like “drawing the whole population into the process”, alarm bells go off. It’s not PC to say this, but too much public involvement at the wrong stage is a bad idea. Clearly, it’s important that the public buy in and that the results be shared and genuine input solicited without delivering a fait accompli. But design by focus group almost never works. I’ve seen a lot of civic visioning efforts that tried to be maximally inclusive – I even served on the steering committee for one – but I’ve yet to see one that produced compelling results or moved the needle. Think about it. Did Steve Jobs design the iPod by asking people what they thought about music players? No he did not. Apple, and all the best product companies, succeed by giving us the thing we didn’t even know we wanted until they gave it to us.
That’s not to say you ignore market research. There’s certainly an element of archeology and anthropology here. And it certainly has to go beyond simply hiring a fancy pants advertising firm, something Columbus wisely avoided. But community involvement isn’t probably going to get it either. Partially that’s because people who are too close, who are on the inside, probably have difficulty articulating the uniqueness of a place. I don’t have enough personal experience with Columbus to go into depth there. I’d have to get more deeply embedded in the community to really understand the place at a deeper level. But I’m confident that the qualities they are looking for are there to be discovered in Columbus. The city is doing well in a tough region. There have to be reasons why. It’s going to require digging deep though.
The Fallacy of Awareness
I gather from the NYT piece that the people in Columbus think they’ve got a pretty great city, and that if they could only get other people to see how great it is, their standing in the league tables of public estimation would go way up. I believe the first part is true, but not the second.
Wanting to have your city taken seriously is likely wanting to be a member of the cool kids club. How do you get in? Well, it goes without saying that you need to have the qualifications – to be good looking, rich, to suck up to the right people, etc – but is that enough? Sometimes yes, but more often not, particularly for people who don’t score overwhelmingly high.
Think about it, the defining characteristic of a clique is exclusivity. If it was too easy to get in, membership would lose its value. So if you think about cities, the urbanists, media types, academics, activists, etc. who are the arbiters to the public at large about what cities are the coolest and best generally all pick the same ones – cliques also enforce conformity of mindset – and it just so happen that those are the places that contain most of the said taste arbiters. Why would any of them choose to champion Columbus, unless they had some personal connection there?
People who are members of an elite clique generally spend most of the time talking with and about each other, and little time about anyone else, even to put them down. To be ignored is the ultimate penalty of being an outsider. This is true of almost any field.
Here’s a classic example from the blogosphere. There was a minor kerfuffle a while back about Andrew Sullivan using “ghost bloggers.” Fellow Tier One blogger Ann Althouse took extreme umbrage at this in a way I find very revealing about the mindset of members of an exclusive clique:
I seriously believed I was interacting with Sullivan, a writer I have respected for maybe 20 years. I wouldn’t have bothered with Patrick (or Chris). I really don’t care what they think. If they insult me, they are to me like any number of bloggers who insult me and whose bait I don’t take. I would always take Sullivan’s bait, because Sullivan is important. Not to know whether it’s Sullivan or one of them makes a mush out of the whole blog.
Of course when she says Andrew Sullivan is important, what’s she’s really implying that she’s important, and can’t be bothered wasting her time on anyone who isn’t also on the VIP list. To have fooled her into debating mere peons – whose writing she admits she can’t tell from Sullivan’s himself – is treachery of the highest order.
In fairness to Althouse, she does link to lesser known bloggers (including, once, me). The point is not that she’s evil, which I don’t think, but that this is how the world really works.
If you are the Columbus, Ohio of bloggers, how do you get Ann Althouse, Andrew Sullivan, etc. to care about you? I can actually share a personal story in that regard. The first two and a half years of this blog was almost exclusively about Indianapolis, and I had very wide readership there. But I received very little recognition or acknowledgment in that city. Quite the opposite in fact. As an example, one journalist I assisted with a story told me flat out I wasn’t authoritative enough to quote in the piece. While I hope I’m getting better over time, I don’t think my content was that much less compelling then than it is today. And it was obviously being read. So why the difference? It’s the same dynamic I’m talking about. They might not have known who I was, but they knew who I wasn’t – and that was one of the boys. Quality product and awareness had nothing to do with it. Having experienced that end of the spectrum is one reason I try to be a champion for new voices.
There’s an industry out there that creates the myth or fantasy of the instant or overnight success who achieves fame and glory when their talent is finally seen by the public or the right people. Susan Boyle for example. I’m sure that does happen from time to time. But is that the way it ordinarily happens? And how much staying power does fame and recognition have in those circumstances?
I’d suggest that this sort of thing happens far less than we are generally led to believe. I read a lot of magazine profiles of people and when I hear them talk about how they got their big break, I’m always amazed at how often there are one of two basic tales. The first is, “I was sitting in my office one day wondering how we were going to pay the rent when my phone rang and it was Frank Gehry asking if I could design some lighting fixtures for his new Guggenheim Museum”. The second is, “I just showed up at Vogue and lied that I was sent there by Steven Meisel and they interviewed me and I got the job.” How likely is it that most of these stories are true? Or at least that they are the whole truth?
One of my guilty pleasures is the New York Observer. One of the things I love about it is, that due to the gossipy nature of the publication, they always give you the back story on who the people they are talking about are. That 27 year old chief curator at the top tier museum? Yeah, his mom was an heiress. He wouldn’t advertise that fact in most of those other magazine profiles. I’d bet most of these stories would fare similarly under scrutiny, though perhaps in different ways.
Clearly, awareness, and awareness by the right people, is critical. You really do have to get out there and knock on Vogue’s door – probably getting it slammed in your face the first few times you do it. Everybody needs lucky breaks. I have no doubt that if my personal promotional skills were better, I’d be further along in achieving my own ambitions.
But there’s a lot more too it than that. You want to be a member of the club? You’ve got to break the door down yourself. You’ve got to make it so that they can’t ignore you. If Columbus wants to be taken seriously, it’s going to have to force itself into the conversation. That takes relentless hard work and creating a product so compelling that the urbanist elite has to respond to it and take it seriously. Simply being a great place to raise a family, having a relatively good economy, high quality of life and low costs – a value proposition virtually identical to lots of other cities regardless of what locals might think – is not going to get the job done.
One Columbus official said, “Candidly, we believe we are one of the brightest stars in Ohio’s future.” One of the brightest stars in Ohio? I’m sorry, that’s not going to cut it. It’s like I tell the people in Indy when they get excited about being the “Diamond of the Rust Belt”: that sounds an awful lot like bragging that you won the loser’s bracket in the JV playoffs again this year. There’s nothing wrong with being in Ohio – and Columbus would be ill-advised to try to pretend they are something different from the state. Columbusites can be proud of Ohio and their role in it. But if they want America to pay attention to them, they need a message and reality to match that ambition.
That’s what Portland did. Portland didn’t get to be Portland through superior marketing and talking points about having the lowest costs and quality of life on the west coast with all those natural amenities to boot. They went out and did nothing less than define a new vision of what a small city in America could be. And they delivered on it through relentless hard work and actual execution over the course of decades.
Staking Your Claim
If Columbus wants to raise its profile, then it has to start setting the agenda. That’s not to say they have to try to be the next Portland or anything. But they’ve got to find areas where they can stake their claim and create something that compels the world to pay attention.
I’ll be the first to admit that this section will be unfair to Columbus. I’m going to compare it to its “twin city” of Indianapolis, a place I know far better. So keeping in mind that I just probably know more about what’s going on in Indy, and that I’m clearly a partisan of that city, I’d like to note a few things.
First, Columbus just seems more with it than Indy on a host of matters. In fact, when it comes to things like urban design, density, public transit, and many other matters, Indy is almost worst in class. It’s hard for me to even name one urban infill project that exhibits proper urban design, for example, while in others cities I tend to note that the majority of new developments do. Columbus, by contrast, just seems to get it on most issues, from urbanism, to pedestrian investments, etc. Yet why is Indy much better known?
One reason is that while Columbus does a very good job of ticking all the boxes, I can’t name many areas where it has gone above and beyond the checklist. And therein lies its problem. Columbus is a quality follower and implementer of the right things, but isn’t an urban innovator or a place that has carved out a distinct and compelling offering versus broadly similar peers.
A lot of people from bigger cities don’t care for Indy much. If you want walkable neighborhoods, tons of independent restaurants, etc. it is not your place. But time and again Indy has gone out and pulled things off that many other cities can only dream about, and put themselves in the spotlight.
The NYT notes of Columbus leaders, “One model they have studied is Indianapolis, which raised its profile by describing itself as the amateur athletic capital of America.” The NYT gets it completely wrong. Indy didn’t raise its profile by describing itself as anything. Back in the 1970’s a group of glum city leaders sat around a table wondering what they were going to do about a city best known, if as anything, as “India-no-place.” They hit on the idea of amateur sports. But rather than a marketing program, they instead committed themselves to going out and making it a reality, a process that continues to this day, though not limited to only amateur sports.
Indy built a downtown arena in the 1970’s. They built a domed stadium at the bargain price of only $80 million in 1983 without a team to play in it in an era before widespread pro sports franchise relocations. This let them pick the Colts up in 1984 on the cheap. Yes, that was a lucky break, but one they were ready to exploit. They put the domed stadium next to the convention center, not just to help conventions, but anticipating that major sports events would have ancillary activities that would use the co-located space. They created the first of its kind Indiana Sports Corp. to oversee all aspects of luring and hosting events. They saw the benefits of industry clustering, and recruited sporting sanctioning bodies to town, culminating with the NCAA headquarters. They started off with unglamorous events like the trials for the 1984 Olympics. They took risky bets when opportunity presented itself such as jumping in to host the 1986 Pan Am Games when the original host city backed out. They built state of the art facilities for sports few people gave much though to like swimming and bicycling.
In effect, Indianapolis created the entire industry of using sports events hosting as an economic development platform, and they did it in a holistic, extremely intelligent way that involved putting some major chips on the table for projects with an uncertain outcome. And they are still at it today, 35 years later after, as all successes do, everybody and their brother has tried to get a piece of this pie. The competition is brutal, and Indy has spent big – some say too big – to stay at the front, such as by going full out to host a Super Bowl in 2012. Indianapolis is arguably still the best place in America to host a sporting event.
I’m a believer in all the research that suggests sports investment is a bad idea with a dubious payoff for cities. But Indianapolis is an exception. There’s no doubt this was a major force in transforming the city – and getting its name out there. How much would the city have had to pay for all the de facto advertising impressions they’ve gotten from all this sports investment?
Is Columbus willing to stake a similar claim in another speculative area and put big money behind it, staying with it over the course of decades? Is Columbus ready to pile $3 billion in chips on Red 14 the way Indy did?
Indy also conceived many other similar types of programs that not only add to local quality of life, but also get the city’s name out. Consider the quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, one of the most prestigious such competitions in the world. Why would anyone take seriously a fine arts competition in Indianapolis? Well, they wouldn’t, all things being equal. So when the city did it, they had to come up with an unbeatable package. First, they partnered with the world-renowned Indiana University School of Music to give them musical credibility. And they set up for the winner a year’s loan of a Stradivarius violin, a recital at Carnegie Hall and other places, intense coaching from some of the world’s best violinists, and more. That certainly got people’s attention.
Or consider the Indianapolis Prize for animal conservation. Again, why would anyone think of Indianapolis in this field? They wouldn’t – except that they city anted up and made it the single biggest cash prize in this field in the world and recruited a top international nominating committee and jury.
Or look at the currently in progress Indianapolis Cultural Trail, which is taking over 8 miles of downtown street lanes away from cars and giving them to people. It is a unique project, that includes the highest quality bicycle boulevard I’ve seen, along with an often separate pedestrian walkway, significant green features, and major public art installations. While honestly this has not received the publicity it deserves, it has been covered in Surface, Dwell, Streetsblog, and elsewhere. It’s a totally unique project. From now on anyone who wants to undertake a major downtown urban trail project is going to go to Indianapolis to see what it did. Why? Not because they want to, but because they have to. Because at some point somebody is going to ask the question, did you look at the Indy Cultural Trail? – and if they development team says No, they are going to look pretty stupid.
I’ve also noted how suburban Carmel, Indiana is staking out a claim to be a nationally premier suburb, with 5% of all the modern roundabouts in the United States, the largest deployment of roundabout interchanges in the United States, an ambitious agenda of New Urbanist retrofit, a $150M concert hall, and much more.
You might not know any or all of these, but in their fields, they are known. They are all projects of major ambitions, that attempt to innovate and set the agenda, and which serve a branding function for the city. They were also conceived with a recognition that nobody is going to pay attention to Indianapolis unless the city forces them to. And it has. And it’s not just in the traditional civic sphere. Here’s a point to ponder: with Columbus’ vaunted gay community, why is it Indianapolis that is home to the Bilerico Project, the Huffington Post of the LGBT community?
I could go on and on – best airport in the United States, anyone? – but I think you get the point. Indy isn’t in the club yet, and may never get there – but it has come a long way.
Again, if I knew Columbus better, I’d probably be able to give examples there too. I’m sure Columbus isn’t totally without these types of programs. But my blog has been traditionally Midwest focused. And I’ve tried to keep a finger on the pulse of what’s going on in all these cities, including Columbus. I read the Dispatch online for over two years and still read Columbus Underground regularly. But I haven’t come across that many truly compelling stories of national relevance – and certainly nowhere near as many as I’d expect for a city that’s rocking and rolling as much as Columbus is.
Maybe the painful truth is that Columbus today just isn’t very different from the other places with which it competes – and that’s what this re-branding should really address.
Columbus has most of the blocking and tackling nailed. It’s a city that gets it. But to break through at the national level, Columbus is going to have to do a lot more than get it. Columbus is going to have to start playing offense, start dictating an ambitious – and let’s face it, risky – agenda around items that are so compelling the world won’t have any choice but to sit up and pay attention. Because it’s unlikely anybody is going to start giving Columbus the props it craves otherwise. It’s just like they told me at my old firm about the secret to making partner – you’ve got to already more than be there.
Does Columbus need a sexy brand? It’s still growing at a nice clip, and I think any reasonably intelligent person would quickly perceive its obvious strengths if the prospect of moving there ever arose.
A more provocative brand might make bloggers gush about it more, but what will that achieve for Columbus in the long run? Most people I know in the Midwest now consider it a Minneapolis/Indianapolis level city, which is about accurate. The high profile of Ohio State has helped elevate the city’s status in the public eye (way more than what some violin event could ever accomplish) – it might not have the legacy of Cleveland or Cincinnati, but I find it now gets a better reaction from the average person than those two towns.
Ultimately, Columbus is positioned well as a really good Midwestern city. A bunch of hype branding it as some new hip, urban LA equivalent would just be flinging out a bunch of false promises that few would believe anyway. And really, it’s just appealing to culture snobs, an exceedingly small market segment.
Columbus did a great job bringing in an NHL team, has an AWESOME farmer’s market and local produce scene, and has really upped its urban amenities, with some of the nicest urban parks in the Midwest. I honestly don’t see what Indy has done in recent decades that’s significantly better. I think if the city stays the course it will continue to reap awards. Cheap sloganeering is for the desperate.
Austin, Nashville, Denver, and Charlotte, to name a few, have distinctive narratives because they have distinctive offerings as places. They genuinely offer a combination of work, life, housing, etc. that is not universally available. Nashville combines the music scene surrounded by a growing manufacturing economy with cheap housing. Austin has music and tech. Denver has energy and high quality urban areas in its center. Charlotte has banking and cheap housing in a mild climate. Columbus does not have a distinctive COMBINATION of these things. THAT is why it does not have a narrative. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts in the most successful metros. Columbus is exactly equal to the sum of its parts. It has some impressive parts, such as OSU, but they don’t build on each other to create a greater whole. It’s a refuge for people looking for work. That’s a good thing, but it alone does not create the mutually reinforcing dynamics that feed on each other to make a place appealing. It’s the difference between ‘having’ to go to a place and ‘wanting’ to go. More people feel that they ‘have’ to go to Columbus than those who genuinely ‘want’ to.
But how did Nashville develop its distinctive edge? Yes, its town with a lot of history, but the edge comes from reaching out and embracing the country music culture of a broad region.
Columbus is a state Capital with a huge school that draws students from all over the state. Its well positioned to become a cultural & business center for a wider region. Since, IMHO Chicago has sort of dropped the ball on this, and Pittsburgh, Cleveland & Cincinnati seem culturally insular. Columbus could take on this role.
The trick is to find a sweet spot between hyperlocalism & totally ignoring the region.
I think Matthew has it exactly right. Columbus does not have “that unique combination”. It has some of what everyone else has, none of it particularly outstanding, and it has the disadvantage of (for a long time) being the “third city” in its state.
Sports, art, zoo, museums, urban parks, historic neighborhoods…in many cases there’s better stuff in Cleveland or Cincinnati.
Among Midwest neighbors, Chicago, Detroit/Ann Arbor, MSP and Indy are unquestionably the “first city” (first metro) in their respective states.
John, when you analyze Columbus’ position, it is the same thing again: Pittsburgh is unquestionably the capital of Northern Appalachia even though some of the Columbus and Cincinnati suburb/exurb counties are also in the Appalachian Region. Cleveland is a Great Lakes city. Cincinnati is a River City.
Columbus is left with “Heartland Metro in the middle of farmland” as its sweet spot. But that’s not exactly a unique space; it competes with MSP, Indy, KC, Des Moines, Omaha, Lansing and OKC. Several of those others are state capitals with large universities too.
Columbus may have missed its moment in the 1990s when it was the job and education refuge for metros such as Pittsburgh and Buffalo. I think the more recent success of Pittsburgh really took the wind out of its sails. Austin may have been a similar beneficiary of the mid to late 1980s energy bust afflcting Houston and other Texas metros, but also took that step to package and emphasize its unique assets.
I agree that Pittsburgh is the capital of northern Appalachia, but has not really embraced that role. Pittsburgh open call art & music events usually are limited to people within 150 miles or less.
I also agree that several cities like Indy are positioned to fill this role (perhaps Indy does with sports) but they don’t really try so the field is open to whoever wants it.
The bottom line is Nashville embraced its regional culture as something important and special.
Its absurd to say Columbus doesn’t have a niche. Its the capital and home to the state’s largest university. Its niche should clearly be about embracing its role as a hub, making connections.
If there was no niche for a major central city in Ohio, what explains the city’s growth in the first place? The growth of government & education explains part of it, but I doubt it explains all.
I was surprised to find out how many people live in Columbus! I grew up in Philadelphia, and our state capital of Harrisburg was a pretty small town. I always assumed that Columbus was too. So Columbus probably does need some branding.
By the way, I think the default branding for Columbus is Jack Hannah and a series of strange animals. . .
@James, not only is the city of Columbus far bigger than the city of Providence, even on a metro area basis Columbus is bigger.
John, the point is, Columbus doesn’t have a UNIQUE niche. Indy, Madison, Des Moines, MSP, Lansing, and OKC are all mid-continent capital cities. Indy, Madison, MSP, Lansing and OKC metros all have large state universities.
Columbus, like Indianapolis, was established specifically to be the state capital; Columbus in 1812, and Indianapolis in 1821. When Ohio and Indiana were the “western wilderness” of the US in the early 19th Century, Columbus sat astride the National Road and the Ohio-Erie Canal, later on key east-west rail lines. Indianapolis, the same minus canals.
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Re Pittsburgh and Northern Appalachia: The western half of PA, SW corner of NY, southeastern slice of Ohio (Youngstown to Portsmouth), and the northern half of West Virginia make up “Northern Appalachia”, and that region is almost all within 150-175 miles of Pittsburgh. (Southern Appalachia is more centered on the Cumberland Gap/Smoky Mts of western VA/NC and eastern KY/TN.) The only places Pittsburgh’s old-media ADI really rubs up against that of another major metro is at Youngstown (Cleveland) and somewhere around Zanesville or Cambridge, OH (Columbus).
My point is that it could have a unique niche– because few if any Midwest cities do a good job or even try to interact with their region.
BTW, Pittsburgh’s level of cultural interaction with Youngstown is pretty limited. Cleveland is even worse, barely interacting beyond a few surrounding counties.
This is much more about culture than logistics.
Could Columbus create a major Midwest craft, food or music festival that went beyond the boring hyperlocal events? Did Nashville become the music city by embracing just a few neighboring counties?
Thanks for replaying this article Aaron. I think your take is spot on and I hope that it has or will make it to the desk of city leadership in Columbus. The city has done a good job to check off all of the boxes (except most notably fixed guideway transit) and have been very successful but at the same time have still not dialed in on a true brand or pushed the envelope. The nature of the city government and business community is very risk adverse therefore its not very innovative.
Recent attempts to bolster the CBD with new parks and residents have, I think, succeeded in selling the city to itself and the region but now a more determined focus needs to be made to dial in on creating a brand (not marketing but building and creating assets which can be marketed).
IMO the focuses should be fashion and food. Columbus has already show to be a fashion hub (due to the location on several national retailers) but a distinct focus could be made to encourage a startup industry which exists, but could be bolstered. There are also numerous examples of Columbus foods brands which have gone natural. Obviously education will continue to be an economic driver as well and OSU working on their own scheme to commercialize their research in ways that others around the county have.
It also seems to me (maybe because of a personal slant) that the city really needs to pay attention to addressing transit and livability. I’ve been working on a report recently that shows Columbus ranks well on the number of people that live in walkable areas but low in transit accessibility compared to similar walkable cities. The city should try to lead on these issues rather than lagging behind then attempting to follow.
The issue is pretty simple. You get dates by asking people out. Columbus needs to fill the crying need for engagement and interaction so much of “fly over” country lacks.
If you want folks in Pittsburgh, Indy, Louisville, Detroit, Cleveland etc to notice you, create events and venues that build that engagement. Austin’s South By Southwest Festival is a great example of that.
When Grand Rapids had a huge success with Art Prize, very few cities took the hint.
John, Nashville has been the “home” of Grand Ole Opry and country music for almost 100 years. It’s far from recent.
I agree that SXSW has lately put Austin on the map (it’s only been around 25-30 years). But how many different “music” cities can the US have?
Likewise, food. Columbus is at the very eastern edge of the farm belt. OSU’s ag school is lower-ranked than Big10 neighbors Purdue, Wisconsin, and Penn State. It is closer to the Amish farms of Holmes and Coshocton Counties than to the “feed the world” farms of the Midwest and corn belt, but Lancaster, PA already has the Amish franchise.
Indy already did the sports thing. Cleveland has Ohio’s best symphony. Cincinnati has the historic German culture (and it pains me to say this as the descendant of immigrant residents of Columbus’ German Village).
Probably Josh Lapp #14 is right: what’s left is fashion, and The Limited and L Brands is a good platform from which to launch. Why isn’t the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show live from Nationwide Arena in Columbus every year?
It is absurd to set limits on what is possible and who one can and should interact with. Art Prize is great example of that.
Pittsburgh’s 150 mile or less limit for most art, craft, music events etc, isn’t a case of just not having people interested. People outside that boundary usually can’t apply. Almost every event in Cleveland is only open to “NEO” defined as few counties around Cleveland. Not surprisingly few people outside that zone care about these events.
CMU is hosting a drawing symposium comprised of a few nationally known artists plus a bunch of CMU profs & local artists. Nobody in the wider region had anything to add, even though Kent State, WVU & Ohio State have important art departments.
I might take Chris’s comments seriously if cities were making honest attempts to create interaction. In most cases, that is not the case.
How many state capital/college towns are there in the U.S.? The ‘we have that, too’ approach doesn’t allow any entity, city or otherwise, to differentiate itself and therefore be able to generate demand for its good and services that can’t be exactly replicated elsewhere. Until you do that you are just part of a band of entities chasing the same buck, the same idea, the same people. You are just an interchangeable part in someone else’s system instead of creating your own system.
Minneapolis is far larger and has far more offerings of every kind than Indy. They aren’t remotely on the same level. I couldn’t survive Minneapolis’ winters, but I must admit it laps Indy in more than one way.
If the policies of Pittsburgh & Cleveland in terms of making almost all events local are as common as I think they are, Columbus has a huge niche to fill just by inviting interaction with all the excluded people.
Look at “Team NEO’s” map of Northeast Ohio, which pretty much sets the limits of inclusion in a host of events and programs.
http://www.clevelandplusbusiness.com/
Clearly, Cleveland isn’t trying a competitor much beyond that region.
Columbus’s advantage isn’t just Ohio State, but the strong relative proximity to Ohio University, Antioch, Xavier, Dayton, Kenyon College etc…
What does it do to create synergies and interactions with the massive number of high quality regional assets?
How many Midwest cities advertise they are with 400 miles of everything and then do almost nothing to engage and interact beyond 50 or 60 miles?
Here is a good example of what I am talking about.
It seems that Columbus has an Indie Craft Fair
http://craftinoutlaws.com/about/4550332913
Since its only open to crafters in “Central Ohio”- why would I know about it?
Pittsburgh has an Indy Craft Fair twice a year called the Handmade Arcade. Its pretty awesome but because of its hyperlocal bent, if you see one fair, you pretty much have seen them all.
Cleveland also has a hyperlocal oriented fair.
The end result is that local crafters drive to Brooklyn or Chicago to participate in mega craft fairs like Renegade.
Artists from places like Toledo are out of luck.
One could repeat this situation endlessly. A very well known CMU robotics artist tried to create biggest fire & light art show “on the East coast” but local foundations would only fund an event for local artists. The result was a who cares event of widely shown local artists.
The advantage of Columbus:
1. Cheap land
2. Transportation and proximity to markets
3. Access to government
4. Access to lots of young grads (cheap labor)
The branding for business: low cost growth
The branding for people: low cost of living, jobs
At the end of the day, Columbus is just one more 2M+ metro in a sea of 2M+ metros all within 150 miles: Cinci, Cle, Indy, Detroit, Pittsburgh. Its a little hard to stand out when you’re the same size as everybody else and late to the game. The other cities all have huge endowments and philanthropy to boost their culture, parks, etc. The other cities all have major league sports (MLB, NBA, NFL), major cultural institutions, etc.
Maybe, rustbelt without the rust? That’ll work.
Dayton is clearly being pulled into Cincinnati’s orbit, so I’m not sure why the University of Dayton would be an asset for Columbus. I think Cincinnati’s success in music festivals with national appeal such as the Midpoint Music Festival offers an example of a regional city hosting musicians and fans from beyond its region. http://mpmf.com/. Are there not similiar such efforts in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, or Columbus?
So, take advantage of that proximity and create engagements and interactions with that region. Embrace the region and find and develop its unique qualities.
Last year, The Columbus Museum had two amazing shows- The Radical Camera & (Bellows is from Columbus) George Bellows. But, both of those shows were also in NYC and I decided to see them there.
What if they played a bigger role showing less known artists from the broader Midwest?
“Access to government,” Maybe that is Columbus’ trump card.
Columbus is a “2M+” metro?
@Matthew Hall
Not really, Pittsburgh’s typical festival like The Three Rivers Arts Festival, combines a few national music acts with a bunch of local Yinzer favorits like The Clarks, Rusted Root & Joe Grushecky.
Cleveland has an exciting event called The Ingenuity Festival on a deck of a bridge, but the event is overwhelmingly tilted towards local creatives.
The typical breakdown in most cities seems to be a few major institutions who show locals what “important real” International art looks like mixed with hyper local shows of just local artists.
Events open to a wider region seem very rare. IMHO, there is sweet spot there.
My view from the outside: Columbus is very literally Anytown, USA. It’s where companies of all types test products to see if they’re compatible nationwide. It’s where both political parties spend more time than anywhere else in the country every 4 years because Ohio, and specifically the area around Columbus, are the biggest swing area every Presidential election.
One could look at this as “bland” and quintessential Middle America, but there’s huge opportunity in a key area that can actually bring in a critical mass of jobs for creatives and professionals (not just fun events for hipsters, which are fun but only provide short infusions): Columbus can position itself as a legit center for marketing. I’m not just talking about advertising and test kitchens. Think of all of the quantitative positions out there to analyze the reams of marketing data produced every second by the Internet. Instead of having top political marketing firms set up in DC and Northern Virginia, lure them to where the action actually is at least when it comes to the campaign ground game.
With the resources of a massive Big Ten university churning out top tier grads in every discipline and a population that reflects the tastes and preferences of America, Columbus has the unique ability to combine both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of marketing (whether it’s commercial or political) that provide value beyond what you can get in NYC, Chicago and LA.
I really have no idea if Columbus is even trying to go down that route, but that’s one area beyond the college town and state government spheres that can draw in young professionals in exciting and cutting edge professions (and when they come, then the nightlife, craft breweries and music venues will follow).
Quantity and quality are not the same. “Big Ten” refers to enrollment, not academic standing.
The question is what puts you on the national stage. Being first or second or third in a region doesn’t matter.
The question is distinctive bragging rights. Yes, Salzburg is pretty, but it’s also the birthplace of Mozart
Boston has the Freedom Trail, SF the Golden Gate, New York Times Square, Chicago the lake, Nashville country and Denver the Rockies. Vegas is vice, New Orleans is The Big Easy, and Asheville is craft. Camden is schooners and Taos is art. LA is Hollywood and Seattle is the Sound. People go to all these places to see or experience something special. In some cases, like Seattle, the places have actually become blander over time, but they still have something strong and distinctive to offer the visitor. The old Michelin guides to Europe used to connote a three or four star place as “worth a detour.” Is that true for Columbus?
I lived in Columbus for 5 years. It’s a youthful, very livable, up-and-coming city, and I would gladly live there again if presented with the opportunity to do so. But the sense I get about it is that most people on the street still view it by its infamous and pejorative nickname, “Cowtown” owing to its origins and long history as a farm town/region. Even for the steady population growth and the recent construction boom downtown, there’s little concept of Columbus as a burgeoning new metropolis beyond the Mayor’s office, the Chamber of Commerce, urbanist circles like Aaron’s here, and Columbus native Walker Evans’ ColumbusUnderground website.
I honestly think a big part of the problem is that so much of the city-metro still has a distinct low density, suburban-style layout about it because of the massive annexation binge they went on dating back to the 1950s. Whereas in older landlocked cities like Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati, and their older suburban rings, its not at all unusual to see blocks upon dense blocks of old multilevel warehouses, mixed-use buildings, grid pattern streets, and houses built on tiny lots, the usual development patterns and structures associated with established cities, in Columbus you don’t have to go far beyond the central city at all to find strip mall plazas, 45 or 50 MPH multi-lane highways, cul-de-sacs, and housing set on very generous lots. Columbus may “be” a burgeoning metropolis, but it certainly doesn’t “feel” much like one yet. In many respects, it maintains the appearance of being a massive post-WWII suburb, which may be where its image problem truly stems from.
Also, I think another aspect of Columbus’ image problem stems from the reality that the bulk of its population growth has come at the expense of the rest of Ohio, and to a lesser extent, Detroit/SE Michigan, West Virgina in general, and Pittsburgh/Western PA. In other words, internal regional migration has benefited Columbus, but people beyond the region aren’t moving to Columbus at anywhere near the same rate they have been moving to Austin, Nashville, Portland, etc. Columbus has topped 800k now, while Cleveland, Youngstown, Dayton and Detroit all have fallen well below half their all-time peak populations and are still bleeding out people left and right. Even Pittsburgh, much praised as of late, barely broke even in the most recent census and might not even hold the marginal gains it posted the next time around. On a regional scale overall, this can’t be a good thing. A healthier region, with multiple cities experiencing influxes of residents both within and from outside, would benefit Columbus far better in many ways, including image/identity and culture.
@ Rod “Boston has the Freedom Trail, SF the Golden Gate, New York Times Square, Chicago the lake, Nashville country and Denver the Rockies.”
OK, sure. But that’s for tourists. People who move to a city predominately because its associated with country music or a lake are few and far between. Assets like that might determine where you might move to within the metropolitan area, but that’s it. At the end of the day, I believe the average person evaluates a region based on a) the jobs available, and b) the quality of the neighborhoods.
Columbus has some decent urban neighborhoods (with room for growth) and some great suburban neighborhoods. So unless you absolutely demand an NYC or San Fran environment, Columbus is competitive with just about any American city so long as it can provide jobs in your specific field. And say what you want, but Columbus is doing a lot better in the job department than most Midwestern cities. I think your average person realizes this, and the census data bears this assumption out.
Given current growth and developmental patterns in this country, it’s honestly impossible for Columbus to compete with a city like NYC. No one is going to build a Manhattan in this country right now. So you have to look at the real competition, cities like Pittsburgh, Louisville, Austin, Charlotte, and etc. When you break it down that way, it’s hard to see how Columbus could do much better given its location.
Remember, Columbus is in Ohio. If Columbus was on a coast or in Texas, it would be Portland or Austin. Portland is just one city in a long string of MAJOR creative class cities, while Austin benefits from being in a state that ranks as one of America’s top economic powerhouses – the resulting hipsters in Texas had to go somewhere, and Austin benefited by being relatively untainted by the oil industry. If Columbus had similar intrinsic advantages, it would attract the critical mass of creatives necessary to perform the magic we’ve seen in Portland and Austin.
John, again…Pittsburgh’s region is about a 150-175 mile box, and they understand that. It’s a unique selling point and distinguishes the metro from all the other ~2M metros in flyover country. Where you see insularity, I see an honest recognition of their place and asset base.
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EJ, all the Midwest cities are “gateways” for talent from smaller cities and towns in their states. I think Aaron has pointed out that the primary “migration” routes are then to higher-level cities. This pattern is not unique to Columbus, and may even be enhanced by the presence of THE OSU.
Thought exercise, Aaron: how would Columbus vs. Indianapolis look if IU and/or Purdue’s main campus were actually in Indy? With that as the backdrop, Columbus should not be doing just marginally better.
While Columbus’ leaders were busy extending infrastructure for annexation, Indy’s leaders were busy building up downtown and a “major league” self-image for the city.
Numerous posters have pointed out, there just isn’t anything you can put your finger on that shouts “COLUMBUS”. (Batelle isn’t exactly a household name.) It isn’t whitespace as much as beige space, a builder-grade house with neutrals throughout. A few nice touches, fundamentally solid, a good place to raise a family.
@ Chris Barnett
I sort of agree that much of Pittsburgh’s defining character comes from its insularity. Cleveland seems to be much the same.
Even so, if the other big cities nearby act that way, it leaves a big niche for Columbus to be the the central meeting point and connector.
The newness, central location and relative lack of embedded interest groups could be an advantage.
A couple things to note:
(1) Even if the migration to Columbus is mostly from other Ohio cities and adjacent metros, that’s still a large population base. The population of Ohio is larger than countries such as Belgium and Sweden and over twice as large as Ireland, yet we wouldn’t “subtract points” from the ledgers of Brussels, Stockholm and Dublin for largely drawing from the populations of their respective countries.
(2) Up to this point, Ohio hasn’t had a singular alpha city for the state. Cleveland and Cincinnati have been geographic counterweights to each other and the state’s population is much more dispersed among mid-sized metros (i.e. Youngstown, Dayton, etc.) compared to most other states. We might be seeing a trend of Ohio’s professional and creative classes migrating to and consolidating in Columbus in a way that other states’ alpha cities had done decades ago. This would seem to be the first step in becoming an upper tier metro area. Getting people from other parts of Ohio to move there is a realistic proposition for the short-term. Thinking that people from NYC and Chicago are going to move there en masse is much more difficult unless it starts booming in job growth a la Charlotte, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, etc., which is much different than the Austin/Portland-type growth. I don’t think that Columbus is going to be like Charlotte, but to the extent it grows, it’s probably going to loom more like the jobs-oriented growth of Charlotte as opposed to the lifestyle-oriented growth of Portland. The latter might be sexier, but the former is still important and Midwestern locales have a steeper curve to deal with for any type of growth compared to the coasts and Sun Belt.
George:
You write, “but Columbus is doing a lot better in the job department than most Midwestern cities.” That’s not enough, if you want to play on a national stage for talent.
A UC Davis professor, one of the world experts in his field, told me that his university has about three years to get its act together in terms of the next generation of attracting the next generation of food researchers, and after that the great but older professors start retiring, and the best young graduate students will go elsewhere for interesting problems and mentoring. The top talent isn’t interested cheap housing and decent schools–it wants to use its skills.
You don’t have to be a hip city to do this. Asheville draws the best crafts people. Ann Arbor is tops in mechanical engineering. Pittsburgh is a powerhouse in computation. The little town of Napa, the city people used to drive by on their way to wine tasting, is emerging as a center for new food ventures. It’s about distinction, not just about being a nice place to live, but a place where the best in a given field gather.
I agree, Cleveland is very much a legacy city built on heavy Industry and bulk cargo trade; Cincinnati is oriented towards the South. Neither is willing to be the central Alpha trading city Ohio needs. The growth so far reflects a big need.
Both Cleveland & Cincinnati also have legacy racial & corruption issues. Columbus is the place to start fresh.
George & Rod, I think your point of distinction is lost. Sure George, some people will settle in a nice city with good jobs and decent housing and schools.
I think Rod’s point is that the people you WANT, the thought leaders and innovators in their fields, DO want trails and parks and music festivals and other quality of life enhancements that distinguish one city from another…because they can choose any place.
“Thinking that people from NYC and Chicago are going to move there en masse is much more difficult unless it starts booming in job growth a la Charlotte, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, etc.”
But what about getting people from Rural Michigan, Moline, Grand Rapids, Des Moines & other small Midwestern towns?
What’s wrong with being one of the Alpha cities of the upper Midwest?
John,
You are probably already pulling those people, but you may also be losing them already to the other places. If you want a place that can hold its position for the next ten, 20 and 50 years, then you need to be able to compete nationally and even internationally, growing up your own companies from the execs and tech talent that first moves there to work for a big company or institution and then goes out on its own. You can’t count on the Limited and similar organizations not being absorbed in a merger or spun off in a leveraged buy-out. Just look at what happened to Hartford, Raleigh and Bank One.
Sorry, that should have been Charlotte, not Raleigh.
I don’t think Columbus is pulling large numbers from the small town/ small city Midwest. So far, its done well at pulling from Ohio.
First target is Indianapolis since the cities are so close and similar in many ways. Can Columbus pose itself as a more interesting and urban city than Indy? IMHO, should be pretty easy.
Wow, I’m surprised there are so few pro-Columbus comments. I really like the city and think they are coming along. I would argue from an urbanism perspective, Columbus is already much better than Indy.
My comment was sort of a pro-Columbus comment.
Aaron,
That may be the point. I’ve long heard about an architectural grant in the Midwest, I think in Columbus, that would have made me interested to see the city where the buildings were, but from afar I’ve never known enough about the city to remember the name. I’d be interested in going to Pittsburgh to see the topography, the river setting, and whatever the Millennials are brewing up in business, the point being that “worth a detour” requires some notability. Lawrence, Kansas is a nice place I spent two days on at a planning charrette, but I wouldn’t buy a ticket there on my own. Remember, too, that when it comes to jobs, often times you need to satisfy the requirements of two people, not one. That’s why places like Boise have had problems getting lift-off.
Aaron:
I was away travelling and so wasn’t able to post. Since I tend to be a big Columbus supporter on the blog, maybe that was part of the lack of support. 🙂
I actually appreciate all of the thoughts, both positive and negative, about Columbus. If you want to get better, you need to be open to criticism.
What I’m hearing is that Columbus is generally successful but doesn’t yet have that “it” factor that gets it noticed. I actually think this is a fair assessment.
While some people think Columbus is quite bland (yes Rob and Matt, I’m referring to you…haha) I think it’s more of a hidden city. Its positives are not obvious, and they are really easy to miss until you live here. I actually disliked Columbus for the first few years I lived here-being from the East Coast, I felt like it was very suburban and small-town in style-culture.
It’s been 15 years, and Columbus has changed a lot, but it has also grown on me quite a bit. There’s not one thing that you point to and say “Look THIS is Columbus.” That’s a marketing problem. It’s hard to say “Trust me, move here and in a couple of years, odds are you’ll love it here.”
The local economic development gurus have identified smart, open and welcoming as our brand. This is totally true-it also is hard to sell. Many other places have this too (although I have rarely seen a city as open as Columbus), and it’s not sexy.
It’s much easier to bring folks here and show them the town. When I do have people visit from other areas of the country, they end up being very impressed. But if I had to explain to them what Columbus was like, it would be hard. I think the leaders need to-and have been-focusing on bringing folks here, because there’s no slogan that rolls off the tongue like “The Big Easy” does.
In the meantime, I think we just need to keep doing what we’re doing-getting the word out, growing and trying to make Columbus a better place. It will take time, but I think it will be successful.
Many useful critiques/observations re Columbus. The one I think may have the most current value is the proposition that C’bus could and should become a marketing epicenter for new ideas and products. Given its generally agreed upon middle America culture, I think this has legs.
2nd comment: As I read many comments in this article/blog it occurs to me that a super regional collaborative approach would best serve these solid Midwestern cities. Given that there is strength in numbers and also city/region specialties, combining both realities into a new attitude of super regional cooperation should be employed more than it is. That way local uniquenesses, including “insular cultures” can remain and be appreciated. Just as there are within cities themselves local cultures and enclaves. This perspective on a super regional scale will make it easier to retain them and also innovate and cooperate with here-to-fore competing cities.
Example: Dayton and Cincinnati have/share an aerospace cluster. Considering all the strong universities as well as commerce, industry and engineering in the Midwest, not to mention cultural assets both legacy and current, there is untapped opportunity to enhance these, and the reputation of the Midwest, through collaboration in areas of special strengths. God created man to be highly intelligent in an abundant world. None of us will ever have a monopoly on knowledge and innovation. I think the best competition is not focusing on the competition but on excellence. This kind of humane humility will serve us well in social/municipal problem solving as well. Collaboration will lead to growth and development.
George,
I don’t think Columbus is “bland”, for I’ve never been there and don’t have the basis for a comparison. What I do know is that I’ve worked as an urban consultant in a lot of cities, and know more about many cities than most people, and I have no image of Columbus, I don’t know what promise it holds out to the rest of the world. And that’s a problem if you want to be known by and attract talent from the rest of the world.
By the way, I don’t think “smart, open and welcoming” is a brand promise. Friends of mine found Manhattan to be more that way than Portland. It’s what most places that attract good talent need to be, or they wouldn’t have a chance of competing.
A friend of mine who worked on brain drain issues thought Columbus of all cities was the “sleeper” in the Midwest, the place with the single best prospects. I respect his opinion, so I remain curious about Columbus. Being the embodiment of a region doesn’t interest me. (That’s like saying you are squarely in the middle of your class.) I want to know what sets it apart, what makes it special, at what it excels.
“Smart, open and welcoming” is absolutely a brand advantage in the that region.
Pittsburgh, Cleveland & Youngstown have a sometimes charming but absolutely insular character. From what I have heard, Cincinnati also has that quality. Not surprisingly, Columbus’s relative opennness has helped drive growth.
I’m setting the bar low here- one can get pretty far being relatively good.
One perception I have about Columbus is that its sort of a company town that revolves around Ohio State. It needs to move beyond that.
I read a few good points above on relationship to regional location above. Austin really stands out to me in this regard. It’s the capital city of Texas, which has been quite strong economically for some time, even while much of the rest of the US has struggled and stumbled about.
Look at Texas’ other major city-metros, Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas, all of which are still growing at a steady clip. How could Austin NOT benefit from being the capital of this state? Austin is what it is because of its location and the fact that it can feed off of AND contribute to the energy of its state and three of the largest and strongest metros in the country. There’s interchange and synergy in Texas between its largest cities. Swap it with Columbus, and this discussion would be about how Austin, Ohio is struggling to find its identity while Columbus, Texas and Portland, Oregon are both thriving and should be looked to as models.
Ohio as a state by comparison to Texas is in very weak shape economically, so Columbus’ position as the capital of that state is going to reflect this on some level, despite the very good happenings taking place within the city. Think about Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, and then look at Cleveland and Cincinnati, Ohio’s two largest metros. Both are either in decline (Cleveland) or are stagnant (Cincinnati).
Columbus is attracting some top talent from both metros, but because Cleveland and Cincinnati aren’t drawing in much in the way of new talent and business themselves, Columbus doesn’t support the synergy of the state and surrounding region in the same way that Austin supports Texas. It doesn’t contribute to an exchange of ideas, talent, and culture within the state and region. Instead, it is siphoning away additional people who might have remained to take part in and contribute to the growth of Cincinnati and Cleveland if gaining a toehold was an easier thing to do in these places. There’s no real net gain here, and in fact Columbus’ growth is functioning as a detriment to the state and region as a whole. That’s ultimately as bad for Columbus as it is for Cleveland and Cincinnati because Columbus itself isn’t strong enough to carry a state and region with multiple flailing metros, and probably will never be strong enough to do so. To do better and thrive, Columbus needs Cincinnati to gain momentum and for Cleveland to finally find its footing. It also would probably help on a regional scale if Pittsburgh continues to prosper and Detroit manages to turn itself around as well.
New York is amazingly underrated in the welcoming department. I find many people there quite helpful, if they know you need assistance. But there is still a difference (see below).
I agree, the “Smart, open, welcoming” isn’t the strongest brand. But it is what we are-and I think pretending to be something else is disingenuous. I have NEVER experienced a place where I have met a more diverse set of people, except maybe a brief vacation to Orlando.
When I say diverse, I don’t just mean immigrants-Columbus registers middlingly in international immigration. What I mean is that there are many different mind sets here. Political, cultural, geographic, there are all types here. And they are all comfortable and happy. So many people are NOT from Columbus that it’s hard to turn your nose up to anyone. Economically we are also a hodge-podge-no one industry dominates the city-there are several prosperous ones.
New York, Portland, Austin, they all draw a certain type of person. New York draws people looking for the high-powered experience. Portland draws the hipsters and green crowd. Austin draws techies, musicians and bohemia.
I am a firm believer in the mantra that your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness. Columbus’ greatest strength is that it’s a place almost anyone from any background with any belief system can come and find a niche, and not feel like they are marginalized. That’s also its weakness-there’s no one group that defines Columbus as “its city”. Hence, no strong brand.
New York is the opposite-great if you are a financier, artist or media type, or love the big-city rush and can make some money. Horrible if you’re a family from Appalachia or the south or upper plains trying to make do on jobs that are disappearing. Thus it has a strong brand. Hooray for world-domineering types, and welcoming to hinterlanders-IF you can stand the heat. Otherwise the place will weed you out by default. I suspect Portland and Austin to be similar-I doubt many folks from Appalachia are moving there.
Two more thoughts-first, “Smart, open, welcoming” plays better in the business circles than it does in general public consciousness.
Second, I travelled to Knoxville last week. Didn’t know much about it, even though I had been in the general area several times. Very nice city-I was pleasantly surprised. I imagine folks coming to Columbus saying the same thing.
I also do think to some degree, the identity issues that Columbus has are a state policy issue. It was originally created to be the state capital of Ohio, but later was granted free reign to grow by leaps and bounds and compete with Ohio’s then-leading industrial metros.
Given that Ohio developed more mid-sized cities than other states in the region, the legislature probably should have moved to cap-off Columbus’ growth and expansion before it took off in earnest, keeping it focused on serving as the seat of state government and related business. Why didn’t Columbus remain a size similar to Springfield, Illinois, or Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, very modestly-sized capital cities in states with one or more mid-sized and/or metropolitan cities? Why was it permitted to grow like Indianapolis, or even Phoenix, capitals in states with no other similarly-sized cities to genuinely compete with for attention?
Now Columbus has overtaken nearly all of the other cities within the state and region, excepting Indianapolis and Chicago, even now surpassing Detroit proper in population. It has emerged an unanticipated “winner” of sorts within a region that has been on a losing streak since the 1970s. This certainly has to pose some questions regarding its role and identity going forward. I’m not suggesting the city be taken back to farmland, or anything impractical like that, but there has to be an evaluation on some level regarding its relationship with the rest of the state and its role, if any, within the larger multi-state region.
As a native Ohioan, I think state government officials here often do forget to look beyond the prosperous, sprawling city that they are seated in to really see and understand the issues and goings-on in other cities around the state, not completely unlike the “beltway effect” and its influence over federal government officials in Washington DC.
EJ, How do you know that “Cleveland and Cincinnati aren’t drawing in much in the way of new talent and business themselves”? Where’s your evidence? Remember, a third of metro Cincinnati isn’t in Ohio.
Shouln’t this really be a “branding”? Columbus, OH has never really had a “brand”.
Why this assumption that people want “to start fresh”? Openness can just be another word for disconnected and alienating. There ARE reasons why NYC has succeeded for four hundred years and Detroit didn’t last half that long. Reinventing the wheel isn’t a development strategy. Not being somewhere else isn’t enough.
@EJ – Why should the legislature be artificially capping the growth of Columbus or any other municipality? As a lifelong Illinois resident, Springfield hasn’t grown because private investors simply haven’t been willing to invest there for various reasons (i.e. location, access to talent, lack of drawing power for outsiders, etc.). It certainly hasn’t been because legislators have been consciously trying to curb growth there – believe me, they could only wish for Springfield to experience Columbus-level growth. Why should Columbus be held back when it has one of the most desirable combos (state capital plus flagship university) to leverage for private investment in this type of economy? It’s not as if though Columbus can send part of Ohio State to Dayton or Youngstown. While that might not give comfort to the medium-sized metros that are experiencing tough times, holding Columbus back would have never somehow moved such metros forward. That’s a false choice.
Memo to EJ: I always find it quite amusing when traveling to Columbus, that locals such as yourself refer to Columbus as “Ohio’s largest city” which is of course, the ultimate half truth (he’s right on the actual city pop., but sadly mistaken on the metro pop.). Cincy and Cleveland are 2-3 times the size of Columbus on a metro basis. It isn’t even close. If that is the “branding” of Columbus, it leaves much to be desired. It is more like Nedemeyer in Animal House running around yelling “all is well”. Quite frankly, it is desperate sounding.
Rod, I hope you know that “the architectural thing” you have some vague knowledge of is Columbus, Indiana, not the one in Ohio. (Columbus, IN is actually part of the Indianapolis CMSA, and one of its architectural gems is The Miller House, now owned by Indianapolis Museum of Art.)
@ Chris Barnett “George & Rod, I think your point of distinction is lost. Sure George, some people will settle in a nice city with good jobs and decent housing and schools.
I think Rod’s point is that the people you WANT, the thought leaders and innovators in their fields, DO want trails and parks and music festivals and other quality of life enhancements that distinguish one city from another…because they can choose any place.”
See, where I differ from you is that I think all those cool festivals and whatnot emerge from a strong economy. As a city, your job is to lay the groundwork for growth by providing jobs, a mix of safe urban and suburban neighborhoods, solid schools, and good parks (seriously, check out the city’s parks – you wouldn’t have made that comment about “trails and parks” if you had).
Columbus has done that. Now it needs the state of Ohio to experience an economic turnaround, or the city needs to continue growing until it can thrown around enough energy of its own.
Could the government of Columbus and the city’s various corporate organizations get together and try and throw some festivals and other happenings? Sure, but creative types usually aren’t interested in that kind of fakery. Richard Florida’s vaunted creative class seeks organic events that are a natural manifestation of the area’s diversity. They won’t attend a Nationwide’s “Rockin’ on the Scioto” rock concert.
The role of government and local business is to promote organic festivals behind the scenes, after the fact. It’s the same with branding. A Youtube video by a local nonprofit telling us “Columbus is Now” or some lame nonsense isn’t going to accomplish anything, either. Nothing repels the fickle creative class away faster then desperate pandering.
Columbus will hit it its full stride if and when the right economic and popular sentiments collude. The Rust Belt has to become hot again for some reason.
I find a lot of truth in EJ’s comment. To a certain extent, I am bullish on Columbus because my low opinion of many competing regional cities- including Chicago.
Columbus has grown by attracting many of the more ambitious young from around Ohio. My guess is that Austin draws kids from Lubbock & Waco & Charlotte draws them from Greensboro & Thomasville. (Large parts of North Carolina are very depressed)
Isn’t it better they at least stayed in the state, to possibly return or build connections to their home towns?
Is Cleveland’s culture of corruption Columbus’s fault?
A town like a Cleveland was built around the logistics of bulk freight & heavy industry. If one planned the location of Ohio’s major city based on modern transport- one would likely have picked where Columbus now sits.
I do think Columbus has grown on large infusions of wasteful road infrastructure.
Michael Schwartz, according to the Census Bureau, the metro areas ranked 28-33 in population are: (28) Cincinnati, 2.128M; (29) Cleveland, 2.063M; (30) KC, 2.038M; (31) Las Vegas, 2.001M; (32) Columbus, 1.944M; (33) Indianapolis, 1.928M. All three big Ohio metros are in the same very narrow size band with Indianapolis and KC. (Detroit metro is double the size of any of them; Pittsburgh is 10-15% bigger.)
Columbus and Indy metros are growing at more than 1% per year (faster than NY or LA); Cleveland metro is shrinking, and Cincinnati is growing less than half a percent per year. San Jose-Sunnyvale and Austin are the next two metros smaller than Indy, but growing faster. Portland has jumped past, but is still smaller than Pittsburgh.
@ Matthew Hall
“Why this assumption that people want “to start fresh”?”
Not everybody does, or should. We are talking about branding and unique relative advantages. Columbus is the type of place a person from this region might go to start fresh.
Chris, with all due respect, I suggest you go to about.com/geography website. There you will find 2012 metro populations. To wit, the Cleveland/Akron CMSA is 15 in the country at 2.9 million, Cincy is 23, and Columbus is a distant 31 at around 1.5 million.Cheers! But you are missing the point anyway, for locals to run around screaming “Ohio’s largest city” is pathetic and is no way to brand a city. Columbus is minor league when compared to the East Coast cities, It must find something unique and something that can be backed up.
Columbus doesn’t have racial and corruption issues?
EJ, you are using municipal population numbers. When most people here write “Columbus,” they mean the whole metro area. The mean metro Columbus.
There’s one last comment I want to make. Someone wrote that the “smart, open, welcoming” approach for Columbus isn’t cutting it. But isn’t that exactly what has fueled the continued, fast-paced growth of Columbus? So it is working. It just doesn’t fit the preconceived notions urbanists have for what a niche should be. But from my vantage, it looks like they’re chasing their own tail a bit here in criticizing Columbus. For example, in terms of growth, beloved Pittsburgh was thoroughly beaten by Columbus from 2000-2010. Not that the urbanists would interpret the brands that way….
Exactly, the perception that Columbus is smarter, more open and more welcoming than the old Rust Belt is what has driven growth. Its a good brand.
One is reminded of the Old South vs New South brand. New Southern cities like Atlanta grew partly because the old South sucked. Like it or not, older rust belt cities carry the stigma of militant unionism, class and racial conflict, pollution & political corruption.
There is nothing in the current brand that couldn’t be enhanced by better urbanism.
George V., I’ve had the same experience showing out-of-towners Indy: easier to sell it once I show it.
Re parks and trails: many of the “Columbus Metro Parks” are not actually in Franklin County and almost all are outside the beltway. Indianapolis’ parks are all in the city-county, including two state parks. The Columbus Zoo is in the far suburbs; Indy’s is right downtown.
Indy has three separate (but linked) 10-plus mile urban-suburban multi-use trails (Fall Creek, Monon, and Canal/White River Trails). I don’t think Columbus has even one that long.
Columbus does not offer anything like Indianapolis’ Cultural Trail or 100 Acres (art/nature park). The redone Columbus riverfront is similar to Indy’s White River State Park and downtown Canal…but those features have been in Indy almost 20 years now.
—
I’m a native of Columbus. (My parents used to take me to Central Market on Saturdays, which will tell you I’m a Boomer.) This is personal for me, but not in a mean way; I don’t hate Columbus.
Of my siblings and cousins (16 of us) born in Columbus, only one or two still live in the metro area. Almost all are college educated (more degrees than people). A bunch live in the mountain west, several in East Coast metros, one or two elsewhere in the Midwest, a couple in the sunbelt. Almost all of us have kids, families, homes. Almost none moved back after college despite strong family connections. If Central Ohio can’t keep or bring back its natives, then it will have to be or become more than just “a good solid place”.
Michael, I use Wikipedia’s list of Metropolitan Statistical Areas, sourced from Census data. An MSA is what most consider a “metro”; to the extent that anything online is edited and verified, Wikipedia is. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas
Yes, the Cleveland CSA is #15 at 3.5M. But Cincinnati (#28, 2.19M) is smaller than both Columbus (#25, 2.35M) and Indianapolis (#26, 2.31M). Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Combined_Statistical_Areas
From George V:
“See, where I differ from you is that I think all those cool festivals and whatnot emerge from a strong economy. As a city, your job is to lay the groundwork for growth by providing jobs, a mix of safe urban and suburban neighborhoods, solid schools, and good parks (seriously, check out the city’s parks — you wouldn’t have made that comment about “trails and parks” if you had)”
Right, Columbus has those amenities, it has the festivals, the music venues, parks, ect. All the right ingredients are in place. There are many walkable urban neighborhoods (some more active than others) with populations that top most ‘comparable’ cities (perhaps the Walkscore data is off but Indy ranks last on the list of comparable cities in terms of walkable population: http://www.transitcolumbus.org/the-score-part-one).
It seems like there are two different discussions going on here. One about success in terms of traditional success (population growth, economic development, jobs, ect) and the other is more brand/story success (national image). Obviously Cbus continues to do well in terms of traditional success. I’d argue in terms of urbanism Cbus is also excelling when compared to its newer mid-american competitors such as Indy, Charlotte, Nashville ect. but isn’t quite there when compared to Minneapolis, Portland ect. The brand is obviously lacking.
Will Cbus continue to be successful without a popular brand? I think it probably will, but attention has to be paid and obviously competition is fierce. No matter what brand or image Cbus puts out there will always be detractors. Like I said previously, fashion and apparel is somewhere that should be focused on and there is some, but not enough. My guess is the only people that can come up with the answer are the people actually doing the work on the ground.
I would argue that Columbus already has a brand in the general region as the Un-Rust Belt city in the “Rust Belt”.
Chris:
Columbus has 2 trails that are 10 + miles long and working on more. Not that that’s stellar compared to Portland or anything.
However, I think George V. might have nailed it on the head. We can all whip out the resumes of our respective cities, and say why we like them, and that’s all valid. I could argue 10 reasons why Columbus is better than Indy, or Cincy, or Cleveland, and I’m sure each booster could in their own right respond.
However, at some point each person has to make a personal choice of where to live. Cities don’t have to be “cool” or “Branded” to do well, although it probably helps. There are “cool” branded cities-Las Vegas, New Orleans-where I would never want to live, for my own personal reasons.
There are forces that are bigger than anyone person or group of people can control that constantly shape and re-shape our urban landscape. Cities are lucky to catch a period of time where they are favored. REALLY lucky cities happen to capture something that is ever-blooming like New York.
Having said that, it’s somewhat useful to benchmark yourself to other cities-I think Indy’s downtown is nicer than Columbus’ for example, and they did a better job 25 years ago of developing a truly comprehensive economic development plan.
One of Columbus’ major problems is that until very recently it had a major lack of confidence-everyone felt like outsiders just saw us as a Cowtown. IF they do, then that’s what it is. I think the branding that has been done recently has been for the benefit of locals as much as outsiders.
If cities do their best, and really look at their assets and try to leverage them-that’s the best any of them can do. The rest-outsiders’ views, branding, etc. -is just the rest.
I should mention- one of the things I think that is holding the city back, preventing innovation, and civic discourse is a lack of a competitive civic environment. I’m not sure that any council member has voted no on any ordinance of any kind since I moved to the city. One must influence the bureaucracy should one wish to make changes.
Josh Lapp, I looked at that Walkscore spreadsheet, and every city other than Indy was far more granular, analyzed on neighborhoods as small as 1-2,000 people. I assume the same was done for Cbus, but they didn’t show their work.
Indy was analyzed by zip codes, areas with about 5-15 times the residents of actual neighborhoods. There are a lot of areas that would score much, much higher than their zip code average, and I’m sure far more people live in highly or moderately walkable neighborhoods than the table suggests.
George Mattei, could Columbus conceive of hosting the Super Bowl? Even a modern Final Four? A US Grand Prix? These are the kinds of things that Austin and Portland and Nashville take on.
That civic confidence, Indy has. Columbus needs it for sure.
Chris,
Actually, Portland hasn’t done those things. It has only one major league sports team, which it got early when the prices were still low, and for which the arena was largely paid for by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. (also the owner of the SeaHawks.)
The fact that there are green spaces relatively close to the city means that the place hasn’t gone gaga for professional sports. Among other things, this means that the city hasn’t put billions of dollars into sports venues that it then hopes to make a difference day to day. Instead, it’s been kind of a “revenge of the ordinary” focus on building a strong downtown and providing transit to it. That outdoor recreation is part of the city’s “brand”, the promise it offers to newcomers. That promise is, “move here and you can do lots of things in the out of doors that you don’t have to pay a lot of money for.” That, in turn, gave rise to Nike, Columbia Sportswear, Adidas North American management and a host of other outdoor brands.
Columbus can take advantage as Cleveland bleeds its nationally known restaurant & bar culture with “sin taxes” to support bankrupt stadiums.
I lived in greater Columbus for 2 years while I struggled to make the transition from college to career during the recession. I moved there from greater Grand Rapids and left for greater Pittsburgh because that is where the job offer was. I would love to come back to Columbus should the opportunity ever arise. I feel, across the board, it has a lot to offer in terms of culture, recreation, entertainment, and shopping. It is probably one of the most livable places in the country.
However, as others have mentioned, livability (and jobs) isn’t going to cut it on the national stage in terms of tourism/branding and Columbus really doesn’t do any one thing particularly better than its Midwestern counterparts. There are no significant geographic features to pull people in and history/fortune have not provided it an event, person, achievement, or figure it can sell.
Outside of business, governmental affairs, or Ohio State, there is very little reason for anyone living in Cincinnati or Cleveland, let alone outside Ohio or the Midwest, to venture there.
What Columbus needs to do is first inventory all of its assets from parks to festivals, industry to entertainment. Get a complete picture of what Columbus is. The next step is group those assets into themes (i.e. music, racing, fashion, comics, flight, etc.), try to connect assets of similar theme together, and determine if any themes begin to stand out.
Once that has been done, examine your strongest assets/themes and determine if they would be viable candidates for marketing, promoting, and branding at a national level. The key here is honesty….brutal honesty and the willingness to seek and seriously consider the opinions of outsiders. Qualifying questions need to be…is this something that a major TV network would be willing to air in prime time? Is this something that someone from the coast would be willing to spend significant amount of money and time traveling to?
If the answer is an honest, truthful, and confident, yes, forge ahead with guns blazing. If the answer is no or even maybe move on to plan B which is, just like any successful business, identify a niche on the national level that is under-served and capitalize on the void, even if it means making some radical or drastic changes.
The question is what is the point of the branding? What are the leaders who are forking out this money trying to get with it? I assume it’s raising the bar economically, not just getting another insurance company but something that will give the place real bragging rights.
There is an interesting citation in “The New Geography of Jobs”, a book by UC Berkeley economist Enrico Moretti, about Berlin, and how, even though it has made itself a cultural capital of Europe, it is not a thriving economic center, that it is simply not generating wealth and income. You might say the same for Portland. Nice place to live, but it is not really on a par with Austin for economic growth. Last week I was down there talking with the CFO of a major developer, who had previously worked with a big and powerful firm in San Francisco, and he said that he had definitely put his career on the side track when he decided to move north. That’s a standard move in Portland: people start and feed their career in New York or California, build up their position, and then make a conscious lifestyle trade off when they move north. That’s fine for people 35 or 40, once they’ve established themselves, but not so good for people trying to get a payoff on a good graduate school degree.
Frank the Tank
Re: 2:28 pm
I still see capital size and growth as primarily being matters of state policy. One or more acts of the Illinois legislature could have very well at one point set Springfield on a similar growth-oriented trajectory as Indianapolis and Columbus if this was truly a desired outcome, which it does not appear to have been. Consider what might have been had they decided to establish Springfield as the home of UI’s flagship campus rather than Urbana-Champaign.
Also, to what degree does Springfield host key government operations over other locations in state, like Chicago? What is Illinois’ policy on home rule powers and annexation?
Aggressive annexation is what fueled a great deal of Columbus’ growth post mid-1950s. Ohio state government permitted it and did nothing to get in its way, though they easily could have done so, as it often does these days with regulation of home rule powers. Indianapolis for its part took the more formal city-county consolidation route, supported and endorsed by the Indiana state legislature.
Matthew Hall
Re: 2:01 pm
I was considering metro growth, covered by Chris Barnett below your post at 2:56 pm. The fact stands that Cincinnati is stagnant, while Cleveland is in decline. If current trends hold, and if Columbus’ growth continues even at its modest present rate, it will eventually surpass them both by 2030 and may even clip Pittsburgh.
@ EJ
Are you serious? Isolating major state universities in small college towns limits the ability to cross pollinate & connect to the wider economy.
What significant business has Penn State created in over 80 years beyond Accuweather in 1960?
Luckily for Illinois, Chicago has a nice mixture of urban schools.
Southern Illinois seems like an economic zero.
@ Joe
“There is very little reason for anyone living in Cincinnati or Cleveland, let alone outside Ohio or the Midwest, to venture there.”
For a city of its size Columbus actually sports a lot of high end assets like The Columbus Museum Of Art, Wexner Center & Columbus Zoo.
Matthew Hall, what gives you the impression that Cincy is “stagnant”? The Metro is expanding many facilities; govt., healthcare, university, businesses, urban core downtown, OT Rhine, streetcar with light rail track, many new urban dwellers, hotels and more. Restoration projects at Music Hall and next door Memorial Hall, where performance schedules are increasing. Neighborhood improvements. I don’t understand your comment.
I thought the metro population is getting close to 2.2m and growing new homes N.S.E.W.
@ Chris Barnett “George V., I’ve had the same experience showing out-of-towners Indy: easier to sell it once I show it.”
I’m actually a citizen of Detroit and a Metro Detroit native, and Columbus definitely sold itself to me when I visited for a convention. My impression of Columbus before visiting was that it was a nice city comparable to Indy, and I left with the impression that it was even better than Indy. Keep in mind, I’m a big fan of Indy – Columbus’ layout and design just felt like it fit my particular preferences better.
“As a native Ohioan, I think state government officials here often do forget to look beyond the prosperous, sprawling city that they are seated in to really see and understand the issues and goings-on in other cities around the state, not completely unlike the “beltway effect” and its influence over federal government officials in Washington DC.”
This same kind of attitude is rampant among state legislators in Lansing which is nowhere near the size of Columbus and has none of the growth that Columbus is experiencing.
I know cincinnati is doing quite well. I think you are confusing my comments with someone else’s. Many central areas of cincinnati are seeing investment and levels of activity not seen since the 60s. I know cincinnati isn’t alone in this, but it is very much in the game. Suggestions that Columbus somehow becons with opportunities not available in other cities in the region are simply untrue.
EJ, you’re wrong. Cincinnati job and property markets and overall economy have equalled Columbus’ since 2007.
Chris Barrett, combined metro areas are not widely used, MSAs are.
@MichaelSchwartz… About the metro populations… Less than 200,000 people separate the 3-C metros. Barring boundary changes or significant growth rate changes, the Columbus metro will pass up Cleveland before 2020, and Cincinnati sometime after. Cleveland and Cincinnati are simply NOT 2x-3x larger.
population is not the only, or necessarily the best measure, of a metro’s appeal. Houston’s percentage population growth has been much larger than NYC’s. which one do you think would win a statistically valid poll as ‘more appealing city’?
Matthew Hall, I was arguing your same point with Mr. Schwartz, who was mixing the two stats, and from an unreliable database.
I agree with you: MSA is the standard basis for comparing city/metro area populations in the US, and today there is maybe a 5-7% difference in population from median in the group of Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indy, and KC, all mid-pack, mid-continent.
And this is Aaron’s point: how does each distinguish itself? The one without a distinction that is obvious or unique is…Columbus.
Chris,
Why get caught up in questions of size? It’s a question of quality, not quantity. Yes, critical mass matters in terms of job opportunities, but in some ways it is easier to get things done and to stake out a distinctive positioning when you are smaller. Think Boulder or Madison, both of which have distinctive national identities, and industry specialties. Looking from afar, I don’t know what Columbus’ expertise or personality is, and I’m far more interested in those things than in how large the place is relative to Cleveland. In fact, size is something of a handicap image-wise, for it can connote lumbering bureaucracies and carrying the weight of large numbers of displaced workers.
There is a discussion over on Columbus Underground about the lack of small business throughout the metro area. Someone else brought up the idea of a Fashion Incubator and here is what I had to say:
Aaron Renn just replayed an old post of his from 2010 about branding Columbus. Four years later most of what he touched on in his post remains true. It seems to me like the one ‘niche’ we have a leg up on and go after is fashion. We showed 3rd place behind LA & NYC in a list of fashion job concentrations.
With all that talent floating around from the big apparel chains along with CCAD and Kent State up north to me it makes sense to really concentrate on building that industry and making it onto the national radar. That could help spawn lots of local businesses, including some that would likely grown to be national retailers.
What would concentrating on the the fashion industry entail? I’m not in it but my guess would be these thing would draw more of it in:
1.) An Incubator that is large, cheap, provides support and retail spaces. Place it downtown to grab onto that energy and make it central and viable. Preferably somewhere viable and close to the convention area. If we want our profile to grown nationally we have to tap into the visitors. Think of it as the North Market of clothing.
2.) A large prize (talking $100,000 or more, something really big that people will be talking about nationally) for the winner of a local fashion show. Maybe even that the winner gets free rent at a retail space for a year.
3.) Ensure that all the different shows: Alternative Fashion Week, Columbus Fashion Week, Highball all happen on or around the same time. October seems like a good time, they could all happen as part of Design Week[s].
Thoughts?
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On the population front I think obviously there is a lot of Ohio infighting going on and there are many folks in Cincy and Cleveland who are none to happy about the rise of Columbus and the perceived or real fall of Cleveland and the stagnation of the once mighty Cincinnati. Much of their losses have been Cbus’ gains. It doesn’t help that the most stable industry (the state government) is located in Columbus.
If the state could move beyond the infighting between the cities and draw population in from the outside rather than from each other Ohio could truly come out on top. There are few states (save for perhaps California, Texas, and maybe Florida)that have the breath of culture, diversity of cities, and assets as Ohio. Cbus needs to find its national footing, Ohio needs to play hard for international in-migration, and the state needs to make a concerted effort to try and better connect the 3Cs and D.
If Cbus lands the R or D national convention (a very strong play is being made) that may give a time to shine in the national media, but we have to have our act together by then.
Also, Aaron, wow- one of the most discussed pieces in recent memory. Perhaps its time for a visit/new article on Columbus.
Josh and EJ; where d you get the idea that Cincinnati is in anyway stagnant?
I do agree with you on your second point ( see #48 in the earlier group. Thanks
@Dan-
I think my view on the stagnation is based on the rate of population growth which is for obvious reasons less than the Cbus Metro, the disconnect between the city and the suburbs, and the conservative culture.
Having said that I am a frequent visitor and I think Cincy (the city itself) is a truly amazing city with fantastic architecture, and is making a lot of great changes. The streetcar victory was a shining moment. I think if Cincy could pick up a lot of outside growth it would be beneficial to Columbus and the rest of the state.
Stagnation could be viewed in multiple ways, but relative to metro areas it’s generally stagnation in terms of growth. Cincinnati has lagged both the country and metros like Columbus in terms of both population and job growth for an extended period of time. Cincinnati actually lost jobs during the 2000-2012 period while Columbus gained them. At one point Cincinnati really was 2x or so the population of Columbus and Indy. The gap has narrowed considerably because Cincinnati has been slow growth while Columbus and Indy have grown at a rate exceeding the national average. That takes nothing away from Cincinnati’s legitimate assets or accomplishments, but it’s true nevertheless.
I think a kid who moves from Cincinnati to nearby Columbus has a bigger chance of heading back home than a kid who heads for DC, LA, Austin or Charlotte.
Also, I think the real “losers” to Columbus are the 3rd, 4th & 5th league towns in Ohio like Toledo, Lima, Findlay, Bucyrus etc, but the chances are these towns are victims of a broad trend towards larger urban areas & may ultimately benefit from the creation of major trading, finance & corporate hq city in state.
I’m not really saying Columbus is a major finance, trading & corporate headquarters town yet, but it is heading in that direction and is the most likely city in Ohio to get there.
Setting Ohio as the benchmark and sole context is limiting. Yes, there needs to be economic synergy, but some of the most successful cities in the world are effectively small city states, like Vancouver and Singapore.
@John
Cincinnati has an art museum, a contemporary art center, and a historic zoo its pretty proud of (as does Cleveland). I’m not saying what Cincinnati has is definitely better, I’m just not convinced what Columbus offers in those respects is distinct and special enough for someone in Cincinnati (or Cleveland) to not go to the Cincinnati attraction and drive the approx. 2 hours to Columbus instead.
To me, someone from Cincinnati or Cleveland would go to those attractions if they were already in Columbus on visiting family or something along those lines and would certainly be impressed but to make a special trip, I just don’t know.
Even most small city states exist by developing trade contacts and synergies with their neighbors although technology now allows one to transcend to a large degree.
Singapore came into existence by attracting traders from existing ports to a totally new place.
I agree that Columbus needs to move past just Ohio, but I honestly think it can get pretty far by being one of the smarter, safer, more affordable and more open cities in the Midwest.
One can’t talk about Columbus’s potential without bringing up the relative weaknesses- real and imagined of cities like Detroit, Cleveland & Chicago.
Chicago, of course should be the monster sucking in youth, corporate headquarters, technology jobs, startups, conventions, media..etc. Its relative failure to do that & the failure of its suburbs leaves a huge opportunity for other regional cities.
To that degree- Columbus has a brand built on what it isn’t- not massively unsafe, not massively corrupt, not massively polluted & not massively militant.
John, Indianapolis and KC are also in that space, and to a lesser extent Cincinnati.
Columbus doesn’t really distinguish itself well from its close competition, and they don’t seem to have an honest civic effort underway to define themselves through a clear strength.
John,
It’s always been ironic that Chicago markets itself as the city that works. Maybe the private sector, with its historic stock yards, but the public sector seems to need a lot of grease. In the Bay Area recently I worked with a city neighboring Oakland, which is decidedly dysfunctional when it comes to urban management. There is a role out there for these smaller, more functional, “un cola cities”. Fortunately, or unfortunately, though, this isn’t enough. If you aren’t a cola, what flavor is your city, lemon-lime, root beer, or some other combination? One city in the world, Perrier, sold flash in a bottle.
@John Morris – It would seem that Chicago actually has been that monster that you’ve been speaking of with respect to the rest of the Midwest (whereas you may have a point when looking at its ability to be a monster *outside* of the Midwest). Most of the gentrified neighborhoods on the North Side and around the Loop are powered by the constant and increasing influx of Big Ten and other college grads pouring in from neighboring states every year. Chicago’s potential issue (which I don’t necessarily agree with but I can see it as a valid concern) is sort of a larger scale of what we’re discussing about Columbus – Chicago hoovering up the talent from the Midwest but not as much from other regions makes it into a regional power yet potentially curbs its ability to break through into the very top tier of world cities, just as Columbus drawing from only Ohio and its immediate environs can make it stronger relative to many of its other Midwest neighbors yet not be enough to really distinguish it on a national scale.
KC is far away, so after Chicago that leaves, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and a mass of much more minor cities, Ann Arbor, Urbana-Champaign, Peoria, Toledo, Davenport/Moline, Muncie etc as competition. (Detroit is in the special adventure category)
I do think the perception that Columbus is really only open to and cares about Ohio is a problem. The big ten mentality can be pretty limiting.
If the Chicago region as a whole- including the suburbs were rocking- I would doubt that Columbus could be more than a niche regional capital.
There seems to me to be an obvious point a lot of people are missing. According to the Census, there are only a handful of reasons that people move from city to city or region to region: Jobs and other economic factors, family matters, and education. People almost never move for cultural changes, weather, architecture, geography or other peripheral characteristics. Columbus, for the most part, has had the economy on its side for a long time, and it’s not too bad at education, either, with several major schools. Family matters will depend on individuals. Regardless, so long as Columbus can maintain its relatively strong economy, it is poised to keep doing well. Meaning that it will continue to attract people. Some have said here that Columbus only attracts people from around Ohio, but its international migration is actually much larger than its domestic migration. The more people that come into the city from outside, regardless of a regional city or from across national borders, the city is bound to change. People coming from elsewhere always have an influence as to the direction things are going. The point is, Columbus is changing dramatically, and early indications are that the 2010s may end up being Columbus’ best growth decade since the 1950s. All these new people will bring their ideas and their desires and start demanding their own changes. I have noticed that more national publications are writing stories about the city. It’s starting to get noticed. Columbus may not need fancy branding or to pull off crazy stunts to get more people and to become recognized. It seems to be happening pretty organically on its own.
Oh, and if we’re talking about Indy, Columbus has long been growing much faster, and the metro rate is very similar. For not spending hundreds of millions on a single concept (amateur sports in Indy’s case), it seems to be holding its own just fine in comparison.
So where does all this back and forth leave Columbus in terms of major decisions? If you were advising the mayor and other civic leaders about what “investments” to make in branding or capital improvements (effectively, for development, they trade off against one another), what would you do? It’s easy to argue stats, but what actions do you advise that do not involve more study? This chain of emails started in reaction to a branding effort and a video that obviously didn’t cut it. Who is your customer, what do they need, and how would you provide this? These are essentially questions for people who believe in the place and want to see it succeed.
I have a wild idea that could push both Indy & Columbus to the next level. Build a major International Airport midway between the 2 cities.
I generally think Columbus has a lot to offer – decent economy and overall balanced… so balanced, yet not a leader in most any area that I can think of.
It does get I think harshly criticized as some suburban mess when it does have nice amount of older neighborhoods and housing, along with some nicer inner ring burbs.
An area economically that would help to some degree in branding is fashion. Columbus is home to a significant fashion industry for not being NY, SF or LA.
Yes those 3 cities have much bigger industries I’m sure and of course are much bigger in every way, but that said, most American cities don’t have what Columbus has in that it’s a sizable, viable industry in an affordable, young city etc.
Overall, I don’t see where Columbus’ vision is? Where is the grand thinking? Is it complacent because it’s a strong regional economy etc?
@Jon – That’s a fair point as lifestyle factors might be the tipping point if all other economic/education/safety factors are equal (i.e. if you have similar job offers in Columbus and, say, Pittsburgh and prefer a more urban environment). However, for the vast majority of people, lifestyle factors can rarely compensate for deficiencies on economic/education/safety factors, which explains why a place like Houston is adding legions of transplants despite being an urban planning nightmare. Having a job comes first and, if you have a family, good schools and safety are right next to it. Singles and DINKs have more flexibility to emphasize lifestyle factors more, but they still ultimately need jobs, as well.
I would argue that general affordability is a lifestyle factor that can tip decisions. The Midwest needs a city that can scale & offer a generally decent lifestyle to a broad range of people.
Sadly, I doubt Pittsburgh can do that.
John Morris:
If you like to hunt, West Virginia is a fantastic place. Pittsburgh is an absolute bargain by Seattle standards, just as Livermore is relative to Palo Alto. It’s about jobs and challenge and opportunity for growth.
@John Morris – Affordability is a factor, but the issue is that a lot of Sun Belt cities with better job prospects and weather (at least for the general population that generally dislikes cold winters more than hot summers), such as Charlotte, Dallas, Atlanta and Houston, are all very affordable in terms of housing costs. Columbus might be taking advantage of this at the state level – why buy a place in Cleveland where housing prices are stagnant or going lower due to the slow or no growth population when you can get a house for the same price in Columbus today and the metro has better growth prospects? Even if you’re averse to those types of cities, urbanist-friendly Austin and Raleigh-Durham are lower cost than a place like Chicago if that’s considered to be too expensive.
There’s also a matter of perspective – Chicago housing is extremely affordable compared to NYC and San Francisco, while Minneapolis and Madison seem inexpensive to me as a Chicagoan. There’s only so much that affordability can pushed as an attribute for economically stagnant Midwestern and Rust Belt metros because so many Sun Belt cities (or even nearby Columbus and Indianapolis) that are growing faster offer the same while the “cool” cities of the Midwest like Chicago and Madison are still relative bargains compared to their counterparts on the coasts.
I didn’t say affordability and no jobs. Columbus needs to reach that scalable sweet spot Charlotte has- Jobs + affordability + general safety.
Family connections are also on the list. A decent number of people want to stay somewhat close to their roots & Columbus needs to be the best alternative to leaving the entire region.
My feeling is Chicago is now a niche kids market, not able to offer the massive amount of affordable decent lifestyle choices & job opportunities needed. Great place to be for a few years after school, but not a great lifelong choice- able to support top level execs, but not research or back office functions.
In terms of urban lifestyle, Columbus probably can’t compete with Chicago’s top neighborhoods, but how is it compared to an average Chicago, New Jersey, Connecticut or Long Island suburb?
John Morris (#12): It’s called Dayton International Airport.
If, god forbid I lived in NJ and worked in an office park, I would leap at a move to Columbus. Remember that only 4 or 5 million NYC metro residents tops can really enjoy urban amenities an a daily basis.
The country needs a reasonably urban city for the average Joe, Jane & Juan. With some tweaking and infill, Columbus could be that kind of place.
Jon & Frank: I think people LOOK for jobs in places they want to live, places where their personal “utility bundle” will be maximized.
Sure, they’ll say “job” was the reason for relocation, but that’s only because they wouldn’t make the leap without finding the job first.
Teasing apart the “utility bundle” is trickier. For young families, cheap suburban housing and good schools probably are the biggest piece of the bundle. For aging boomers like me, walkability and proximity to shopping, dining, entertainment, and healthcare probably make up a bigger piece. For outdoorsy people, woods of their own (or nearby parkland) might matter. For country-loving people, not being able to see the neighbors might be it. These factors determine where in any metro these folks might live, as well as the suitability of that metro at all if it lacks important pieces.
(Portland is apparently a specific exception to this general rule, and so too are the entertainment cities of New York, LA, and Nashville.)
any discussion of cincinnati should acknowledge that a third if its metro is in kentucky. It’s success or failure implicates Louisville almost as much as Columbus, Ohio.
My views on Columbus’s potential are based on these general assumptions.
1) US economic growth will be low, making many Americans more sensitive to cost of living. Businesses more sensitive to operating costs.
2) Fuel prices will be relatively high- (making it critical that Columbus become more dense & pedestrian friendly)
3) Rural & small town to urban migration will remain strong & possibly accelerate- creating lots of growth in many cities.
4) The Chicago metro will not adapt fast enough to repair from corruption, damaged neighborhoods, pension costs & social problems to meet demand for livable urban neighborhoods.
5) Illinois will continue to bleed both manufacturing & office jobs.
6) Pittsburgh will become a very nice but increasingly expensive city.
7) Cincinnati will grow at a moderate pace, but also face gentrification issues
8) Cleveland will urbanize and revive to some degree
9) Detroit may revive as a smaller city
10) St Louis will revive as a smaller city
I also assume that many Southern cities like Atlanta & Houston will rediscover urbanism but not to a huge degree.
The total, leaves a rather large opportunity for a city like Columbus to become a big regional growth magnet. Possibly, people will talk of an Indy, Cincy, Columbus growth triangle.
@John Morris –
“My feeling is Chicago is now a niche kids market, not able to offer the massive amount of affordable decent lifestyle choices & job opportunities needed. Great place to be for a few years after school, but not a great lifelong choice- able to support top level execs, but not research or back office functions.”
I think there’s some truth to this, but that’s not necessarily a Chicago-centric issue. Pretty much every top tier city in North America – NYC, LA, Chicago, San Francisco, DC – is at the point where there is a large class of top income earners and a large low wage class, but not very much in between (the vanishing middle class that many people point to). Part of it is how we’ve shifted as a society to a spiky distribution of income. Another part of it is that it’s an inefficient use of resources to place lower cost back office operations that could be performed anywhere in regions with high real estate costs. And, of course, you can’t even assume that those back office jobs are even going to be performed in the United States as opposed to being offshored to India or Eastern Europe (much like manufacturing was sent to China, South Korea and other lower cost regions a generation ago that largely put many Rust Belt locales in the predicament that they’re in now).
To that latter point, focusing on the back office operations that you speak of could leave a metro area just as vulnerable to those jobs shifting overseas in the exact same way as focusing on manufacturing did in the past. Those top level executives and professionals are much harder to move at least as of now (although in this increasingly flat world from an economic perspective, everyone is eventually at risk of being outsourced if your job doesn’t require you to be in a particular place).
@Chris Barnett – I believe that’s true and of course there are personal reasons for each individual that always come into play. Macro-level changes in a city or metro area are made up of a lot of individual micro-level decisions. If you have family that lives in Cleveland, then it might have a draw for you that NYC or Chicago can’t match no matter how much they offer in terms of neighborhoods or recreation.
That being said, there’s a “first mover” advantage for those metro areas that are able to attract people in their 20s when they’re more willing to be transient and less concerned about hometown attachments. When you are able to retain those people when they get into their 30s and start having children, then it takes significantly more to uproot those people. So, it does make some sense that there’s such a large focus on grabbing as many of those recent college grads as you can. Even if some of them ultimately move onto other locales, enough of them will end up staying to keep the area alive for another generation.
These latest comments have pointed Columbus in the way of being a regional leader, but if it wants to exceed the speed limit set by regional growth, it needs to become a national and international leader at something, Michael Porter’s concept of “distinctive competence”. What is that?
It’s undoubtedly there, but it takes work and self-confidence to identify that, first to ask the question and not give up too easily, and then to accept the answer, no matter how “boring” that may be. Boring answers are usually boring because people haven’t gotten past the stereotypes to understand what skill really sets them apart, what makes them good at business. Sometimes that’s because people want to be successful at something more hip–bio tech or software or “green energy” or movies or hedge funds. If you’re a great plumber, though, take pride in that. What is Columbus really, really good at?
I agree with the Fashion concept but how about being the first major city in the Midwest that embraces the Midwest? Chicago does everything it can to turn its back on the region.
I bring up Nashville again which embraced its regional culture and provided a launching pad.
@Rod Stevens – Well, that seems to be the question that we’re trying to find an answer to, and maybe the response if you’re a Columbus partisan (and to be clear, I have no real strong feelings about the place one way or another – I don’t have a connection to it other than dealing with Ohio State as a Big Ten rival to my Illini) is that its strength might be in its economic diversity where it’s a very good generalist in a lot of areas (as opposed to being an elite specialist in one or two of them). That in an of itself might be a strength when looking through the prism of metro areas all around them that have been dying because they were too specialized (whether it was in auto manufacturing, rubber, steel, etc.).
The largest pillars of the Columbus economy – the state government, Ohio State and, less frequently mentioned up to this point, Nationwide Insurance – are exactly the types of employers that have a very large cross-section of professionals in many different areas. Ohio State doesn’t just have one or two strong academic departments – it’s a research powerhouse in virtually every subject matter (ranging from the STEM areas to the liberal arts). The state government is going to have both high-level policymakers and lower-level support staff from areas ranging from tax to parks and recreation services to managing massive pension funds (which require elite financial management personnel). Large insurance companies like Nationwide hire people that go beyond actuaries and financial services providers – they have among the largest legal needs (requiring legions of attorneys), are among the largest buyers of TV advertising (requiring experienced marketing and media professionals) and have huge sales forces.
So, maybe the selling point for Columbus is that it’s NOT a specialist. If you’re an educated professional, you can theoretically find any type of job that is sophisticated and high-level enough to fit your needs (and you’ll get paid relatively well in a moderate cost environment that’s family-friendly with a stable economy). That’s actually something that not many (if any) metro areas that are the size of Columbus can claim.
Exactly, in that region, that scale and relative diversity (Also home to The Limited and its offspring like Victoria’s Secret) is pretty unique- although I would argue that the city is still pretty dependent on government, Ohio State & back office operations. ( I think Chase is a huge regional employer)
But, Ohio isn’t Arizona with just 2 giant state universities, it has lots of respected, interesting private colleges. IMHO, Columbus needs to embrace through conferences & perhaps by getting some to open annexes in the city. (Ohio University might be a good choice)
Columbus needs to reach out and encourage synergies
By the way, it won’t be upended overnight, but the whole field of higher ed is ripe for change. With student debt reaching epic levels, the middle class going away, and state subsidies for higher ed ever sinking, the big universities are in for change. Western Governor’s University, now accredited in 17 states, offers an on-line program that delivers a degree for 15% of the cost of the University of Washington. Marginal? No, it’s now at about 45,000 students with growth capped to allow its systems to catch up. MOOC’s aren’t there yet, but alternative providers like this one have the capacity to disrupt the business model of the traditional university. Is someone in Columbus reinventing government or higher ed? If those are truly strengths there, are there entrepreneurs and innovators in those sectors?
Commodification of education isn’t the answer. You always get what you pay for. Developing a specialized educational focus and set of experiences is the answer, not assembly line MOOCs that don’t allow anyone to distinguish themselves from others. Technology allows students to do these things, but not by participating in mass experiences that hid, rather than reveal, the differences between students.
Matthew:
Not so. Read this article:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/septemberoctober_2011/features/the_college_forprofits_should031640.php?page=all
I live in Cincy, I frequent Cbus quite a bit. I am a big fan of Cbus. (and Cleveland for that matter)
I posed the branding question at hand to my Cbus friend…she was pretty much stumped too. Decided you just have to be there a while to ‘get it’, which of course is a tough sell as a brand. But the word ‘open’ struck a chord.
One interesting thing we discussed, student populations. She thought Cbus was a college/university city, with far more students in Cbus Metro than Cincinnati or Cleveland. With Ohio State, that is a very powerful perception. I thought perhaps Cincinnati had about the same amount if not more. So we named off 4yr school off the top of our heads and looked up the enrollment numbers.
(note:this is by no means a scientific investigation, rounded numbers, tech & art schools not included, and just schools we rattled off)
Columbus: Cincinnati:
Ohio State 57000 UC 42000
Ohio Weslyan 1800 Xavier 6600
Capital 3600 Miami 20100
Otterbein 3400 Mt St Joes 1800
Dennison 2300 NKU 15400
Ohio Dominican 2900 T.More Univ 1900
Franklin 6000
——————————————————
77000 87800
Again, not scientific, just perceptions. We did not even attempt Cleveland. No large enrollment schools to start with. The numbers surprised me. Northern Kentucky Univ is the secret. It was an interesting exercise.
@bemclau – I’ve definitely always considered Columbus to be a college town while I never really thought of Cincinnati as such. I know that Miami is technically part of the Cincinnati area, but it’s about 40 miles outside of the city (so it’s really separate for college town purposes). UC has also been more of a commuter school (although I know that’s been changing). In contrast, Ohio State is a quintessential residential university, it’s completely concentrated within the Columbus city limits, and its influence on Columbus overall is simply much larger in terms of proportion of the population and economy, the number of people employed by the university even beyond the students with it being such a massive research school, and the fact that the Buckeyes dominate the sports scene. Much of Columbus revolves around Ohio State in a way that doesn’t occur in Cincinnati or Cleveland with their respective universities, so that contributes to the perception (and, IMHO, the reality) that it’s a college town (albeit one with more employment opportunities beyond the university compared to nearly all other US college towns besides maybe the Research Triangle and Austin).
I’m kind of wondering why so many are approaching this from the viewpoint that something is inherently wrong with Columbus, especially for not standing out above and beyond everyone else on a single category. Wouldn’t doing so merely attract people that fit into that niche? Let’s say Columbus becomes a major draw in fashion and becomes known for that. That’s great and all, but how does that draw in people other than those interested in it? It wouldn’t draw in young families or necessarily higher-educated people that weren’t already in the industry. As everyone has already said, Columbus is good at many things, but not necessarily great at anything. Perhaps this is not the negative people are making it into. Being pretty good at a multitude of things at the same time opens the door to attracting all kinds of people, not just a certain minority or industry-specific group. Perhaps that is where Columbus truly stands out above its peer cities, by not being defined by anything, but being pretty inclusive to just about everything and everyone. Granted, that’s a hard thing to quantify, and even harder to market as a strength, but I don’t think it’s a negative at all. A city that becomes known for something runs the danger of that one thing meeting decline. Detroit was the Motor City, and I guess it still kind of is, but the moniker now almost to be mocking its own failures.
@Bemclau… You forgot a few.
Here are the actual 2013-2014 enrollments.
Columbus
Ohio State: 57,466
Columbus State: 7,025
Dennison: 2,336
Otterbein: 3,000
Capital: 3,628
Ohio Weslyan: 1,850
Franklin: 7,942
Ohio Dominican: 3,052
CCAD: 1,300
Total: 87,599 +/- a few hundred.
Cincinnati
UC: 42,656
Xavier: 6,650
Miami: 23,420
NKU: 15,000
Thomas More: 1,600
Mt. St. Joseph: 1,840
Total: 91,166 +/- a few hundred.
Ohio State, Franklin, CCAD, Columbus State, Capital and Ohio Dominican are located within the city of Columbus or within its urban center.
Otterbein is in Westerville, in Franklin County.
Dennison is located in Granville, about 18 miles from Columbus and the furthest away.
Ohio Wesleyan is the only other school not located in Columbus or Franklin County, and it’s about 13 miles from the city.
For Cincinnati, only UC, Mt. St. Joseph and Xavier are in the city or county. Miami is about 30 miles outside of Cincinnati and 2 other schools are in Kentucky. I would think location would make a big difference on how much influence the student populations have. There are simply a lot more students in Columbus and its home county than in Cincinnati.
Ron, there isn’t an objective answer to the issue of educational organization. It will get figured out on its own through a market in education. You and your link are seeing one side of the coin at best.
John, I question several of your assumptions. I doubt St. louis will shrink, that U.S. economic growth will be uniformly low, and that Detroit will revive.
I already has shrunk, if it stays the same or grows slowly, it will be a smaller city than it once was. Same with Detroit.
I doubt either will take on the role of Midwestern growth magnet.
Of course if Detroit as a whole does not revive, that leaves a larger population of possible migrants from the Detroit area.
I also assume, a decent number of people don’t want to leave the entire region & head South for the weather, which is for most places other than Buffalo & Erie an excuse.
@John Morris – “Chicago does everything it can to turn it’s back on the region.”
I see comments like that from time to time, but what is the basis of that claim? The fact that Chicago is taking a disproportionate amount of Midwestern college grads compared to everyone else? That it’s competing vigorously against other cities for corporate headquarters? What exactly is different about how Chicago approaches other Midwestern cities compared to NYC vs. other East Coast cities or LA vs. other West Coast cities? It’s not as if though LA helped out San Francisco and Seattle in developing or NYC did much for Boston or DC (or is willing to help out Philly, Hartford and Baltimore). It’s not Chicago’s fault about where Detroit or Cleveland. Also, the concept of regional cooperation is a two-way street – the states of Indiana and Wisconsin are openly buying up billboards and advertising spots and sending development teams specifically to poach Illinois businesses, so if they want to play hardball, then Chicago isn’t just going to sit there and take it (which, for all of the city’s faults and corruption, the one thing that neither Daley the 2nd ever did nor Rahm ever does it take the foot off the gas – they may not be successful in luring or retaining every business, but they definitely fight for every single one of them, which other Midwestern locales might *think* they’re doing, but they honestly don’t do it very well).
“5) Illinois will continue to bleed both manufacturing & office jobs.”
John, not sure if you are intentionally lying or you don’t know how to look up statistics. The whole country is “bleeding” manufacturing jobs, why would IL be any different?
And as for office jobs, Illinois is doing fine.
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/SMS17000006000000001?data_tool=XGtable
Ohio is in much worse shape than Illinois in terms of jobs. OHs job growth was 0.5% in 2013 vs. 1% in IL. Illinois is down 100K jobs from peak, OH is down 200K.
“What exactly is different about how Chicago approaches other Midwestern cities compared to NYC vs. other East Coast cities?”
You are probably right, but the bottom line is that Chicago is not a global international city LA in LA or NY’s league and the Midwest desperately needs a city that helps connect the region. If Chicago doesn’t want to do it, the job is open to others.
John Morris, another of your assumptions should be that people are writing about MSAs here, not municipalities. St. Louis has NOT already shrunk. It had 2.58 M people in 1990, 2.70M in 2000, and 2.81 M in 2010.
Jon. This is about MSAs, not municipalities or counties. Downtown Cincinnati is a five minute walk from another state and a third of Cincinnati’s MSA is in Kentucky. Arbitrary political border are NOT what matters here.
I was wrong about St Louis, the metro population does not seem to have shrunk significantly. It also hasn’t grown much.
This seems to reflect the overall strong rural to urban migration nationwide.
My assumptions are based on a strong need for dynamic affordable cities in this mega region. Failure to grow means higher potential demand for other cities.
If St Louis became a high growth area, it would change the dynamics.
Let’s return to the “Middle America Fashion center” niche. Isn’t this something Chicago, with a huge airport, metro, convention center and larger media footprint have locked up? The fact that it doesn’t – says something.
St. Louis’ numbers are why I don’t put it in the same category as Detroit. It’s economy is far more diverse and its combination of eds./meds., biotech, engineering, finance, and cultural institutions put it well ahead of Detroit. They aren’t in the same league at all. There are parts of south Chicago that are hard to distinguish from Detroit, but that is distinct from their overall metro’s prospects.
@Jon and Frank
Again, it was not a scientific approach, it was not a criticism of Cbus, not a contest of best ‘college town’. Cbus is way more of a ‘college town’. That aspect has to be part of the brand for Cbus I would think. We omitted both Cincinnati State and Columbus State, Tech and Art schools. Our list was 4 yr schools in the METRO area that were easily identified by each of us a residents. I just thought it was interesting to look at enrollment numbers. It was not a contest with a winner/loser, just a test of numbers.
Other points. UC is not a commuter school, very localized, yes, by design. But I hear UC tagged as ‘just a commuter school’ by people outside the region as if that makes it a 2 year community college. Not so, DAAP and CCM are considered top tier programs in the world. Yes, we consider Miami U local, Miami grads seem to be everywhere. Driving to Oxford is a pain, but we do it for concerts, sports etc. I almost consider UK local via sports news and fanbase. So this whole Kentucky thing is interesting, I think perhaps people in Cbus and Cleveland do not grok. Nothern Kentucky is wholly part of the region. NKU is about as close to downtown as Xavier…probably a quicker drive. Students from NKY counties pay in-state tuition levels at UC. I use the Newport Kroger. I frequent NKY bars and restaurants about as much as Cincy. I consider Bellevue, Newport, & Covington part of the urban core of Cincinnati. This notion that the river is like the old Berlin Wall is quite false.
The mass of colleges of all sizes is actually a big undervalued Ohio characteristic & something that sets it apart from many Big 10 neighbors like Michigan.
Columbus needs to harness that somehow.
Something important is missing here in these discussions of regions, regional ties, and what binds cities to one another. These connections don’t just “happen”; they grow stronger or weaker because of the way people and business move between regions.
Take New York and Boston, for example. Yes, there are tech companies in Boston that New York bankers need to serve. But there are also a lot of excellent colleges and universities there that draw people from throughout the U.S., especially the Northeast, and many of those people choose to stay after graduation. Consider, too, the fact that Boston is now a wealth management center that effectively put Hartford out of business (Fidelity, with it’s 401k work, left the defined benefit plans of Aetna behind.) THere are now a lot of financial jobs in Boston, and New York people can find good work there, to say nothing of smart young graduates staying on after college.
On the West Coast, there is a definite tech tie between Northern California and Portland. Intel opened its first major chip fabrication plant there in the 1980s, now has at least three, and is the state’s largest employer. That plant brought in thousands of not only well-educated Californians but also Chinese and ethnic Indians from all over the world. For a long time, Portland was a tech outpost of California and Japan, although it had its own, homegrown Tektronics, before that company gradually melted down. In video, Tek bought the California company Grass Valley Group, and the engineers moved back and forth. As these big companies have grown or shrunk over the years, the employees have gone out on their own and either started companies or joined their friends at start-ups, getting stock options that can make them wealthy and more independent. There is an “angel” network in both Portland and Seattle because of the cumulative money made in tech, and now that money is getting recycled locally. The coastal ties were critical, however, in supplying the talent. In Seattle, far more engineers move there to work than are produced in local universities.
So these regional connections are important, and it is important what the region is good at, what strong talent it produces, and its ability to channel this talent into innovative companies that build wealth. The eds and meds are important employers, but they do not themselves create wealth. Human capital, yes, not not wealth directly. Economically, the main measures of how a place is doing do not concern quality of life so much as talent growth and investment, which are different kinds of capital assets.
@John Morris – “You are probably right, but the bottom line is that Chicago is not a global international city LA in LA or NY’s league and the Midwest desperately needs a city that helps connect the region. If Chicago doesn’t want to do it, the job is open to others.”
Well, there are only a handful of cities worldwide in NYC’s league (London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, etc.). Chicago is certainly in that next tier at least in terms of economic importance (even if LA’s overall cultural resonance worldwide is greater as a result of it being a center for the entertainment industry), so it *should* have global aspirations far beyond the Midwest.
Regardless of the thoughts about Chicago specifically, what does it really mean for a city to “connect the region”? That sounds great on paper, but how does a city do that on objective measures? You mentioned Nashville previously, but how well does that city actually connect with the more down-trodden urban areas within its own home state (such as Memphis and Chattanooga), much less other Southern cities? From my vantage point, Nashville isn’t doing anything differently than Chicago (or San Francisco or NYC or DC) – they’re consolidating the talent from their own home state (and many times to the detriment of neighboring cities) along with drawing other people from neighboring states and regions to give it more of a national focus.
The competition between cities, states and regions may simply be more of a zero sum game than what we want it to be (and it’s taken further by the fact that cities from outside of the United States are trying to compete on the same turf). Now, that might be unsustainable in the long-term (just as fighting within a single metro between the principal city and its suburbs is generally detrimental), but the reality is that (a) politicians aren’t conceding any ground on that front and (b) to be fair to those politicians (as much as you can be fair to them), voters reward them for acting that way (i.e. if you’re a politician, you’ll gets tons of credit for bringing adding jobs your city or state, but saying that you helped “bring jobs to the Midwest” when businesses are going across state lines will get you nowhere).
I would argue that Nashville provides a way for Southern musicians to promote their talents and culture without leaving the South. Its an alternative to moving to LA or New York.
The way things work now in many fields like music, fashion, art etc.. the choice for a midwestern resident is to accept being a small town/ small city legend at best- or move to NY or LA. (Or perhaps Nashville or Austin)
John Morris,
Maybe, but I would argue that Nashville is the country music capital, and that if you are that kind of performer, you have to go to Nashville to get noticed, to find the venues and agents that recognize and promote new talent. For a country performer, it’s much harder to get noticed in LA or NYC. Both of those cities have club scenes for other kinds of music, just as Seattle once had that for grunge.
I don’t know Chicago’s relationship with other Midwest cities, but to “connect to a region” might mean the following:
– to draw the best students to its colleges and universities.
– to offer the best job opportunities for regional employees.
– to be the financial center, the place where the loan or investment committee sits on loan and equity investments in regional companies.
– to be the regional service center, not only for finance, but for law, advertising, and offices of the federal government.
– to be the place to shop, where you go to buy the best clothes, the most up to date styles of furniture, the most interesting food, the new kinds of food.
– to be the medical center where you go for special kinds of treatment, because that is where the top researchers and practitioners are.
Is Chicago really not serving this function for the rest of the region? Are with-it people from the hinterlands really not making a trip there once or twice a year?
Suppose Columbus sponsored the “Fly over Festival” highlighting the best emerging talent from the greater Midwest?
Instead, the cities Museums show rehashes of shows one could see in New York which- surprise – attract no wide attention.
South By Southwest is a good example of a festival that built on a regional brand and offered a venue for emerging talent.
But Nashville became the Country Music Capital by embracing its region. The wider media in turn saw music made in Nashville as somehow more authentic.
@Rod Stevens – “Something important is missing here in these discussions of regions, regional ties, and what binds cities to one another. These connections don’t just “happen”; they grow stronger or weaker because of the way people and business move between regions.”
This is a good point – to the extent that connections are made, they’re done organically as opposed to being a matter of political policy. Urbanophile has enlightened me on the concepts of churn and gross migration between different cities as opposed to looking at just straight inflow/outflow numbers.
Building on how you’ve mentioned Boston retaining students that attend colleges there post-graduation, I’m curious as to how well Columbus captures Ohio State alums after they graduate. Furthermore, I wonder what the success rate is for Columbus retaining in-state Ohio State grads versus ones that came from out-of-state. On those measures, I imagine that the most-often cited top tier college towns like Austin, Boulder and Madison score well, whereas the location of my alma mater (Urbana-Champaign) scores low (and it’s not that it’s a bad place, but it simply doesn’t have the job opportunities available to make staying there post-grad into a viable option for most alums).
Of course, Ann Arbor is renowned as a great college town, but it doesn’t seem to have had any impact on retaining its grads within Southeast Michigan. Chicago isn’t really a college town (it has many college students just due to its sheer size, but it’s not like Boston or even Pittsburgh in terms of proportion), yet it’s very much a post-collegiate town in terms of grabbing people from the rest of Illinois and surrounding states immediately after they graduate form college. The issue for the rest of the Midwest is that those grads generally either stay in Chicago or head off to a place outside of the Midwest entirely as opposed to going to a different Midwest locale.
Indianapolis is sort of in-between – the city itself isn’t really a college town, but it’s in close proximity to the massive college town of Bloomington and another huge college town (West Lafayette) isn’t much farther away. I know that I’ve seen the stats on this blog that Indy has a strong migratory churn with Chicago and I’d imagine that it’s similar with Ohio and Michigan. So, Indy might be closest to being the “Midwest connector” that John Morris is looking for.
Frank the Tank: one unknown fact is that Boston has a relatively low retention rate, but it has a high number of students to begin with, and some of those at Harvard, MIT, Tufts and the like. Ann Arbor seems to have an incredible future ahead of it. Seems like the no-brainer place to establish a company in that part of the region, particularly in advanced manufacturing and process controls.
John Morris: the interesting question about Austin is how it managed to establish its music scene given the competition from Nashville. There’s probably something to learn there about competing in other clusters.
Ann Arbor is what it is but I don’t think it really wants to grow beyond that.
@John Morris – “But Nashville became the Country Music Capital by embracing its region. The wider media in turn saw music made in Nashville as somehow more authentic.”
It seems that your argument is that Chicago is turning its back on the Midwest (so to speak) because it doesn’t embrace its Midwestern location from a cultural perspective. I guess I don’t really see that (although that’s admittedly from my perspective as a lifelong Chicagoan). The city has certainly deemphasized its industrial past (if only as a matter of survival), but, if we’re looking at specific examples, the financial trading industry here that provides a whole lot more jobs than the country music industry in Nashville (and in turn provides the capital for a lot of investment beyond trading) was built upon (and continues to rely upon) commodities trading that could have only occurred in the Midwest.
Now, is there a certain braggadocio that Chicago has toward other Midwestern cities? Yes, I can see where people get that perception. Part of the issue might be that Chicagoans (whether rightly or wrongly) don’t really see other Midwestern cities as tourist destinations in the way that even New Yorkers might see places like Boston and DC that are relatively short distances away. Chicagoans enjoy traveling to parts of Wisconsin or Michigan to get *away* from urban life (i.e. woods, lakes, beaches, resort towns), but road trips to other Midwestern cities themselves are generally limited to going to Bears, Cubs and other sports teams’ road games. So, without that direct exposure even at a superficial tourist level, it may be fair to say that many Chicagoans simply don’t know what other Midwestern cities are like. It may also be a function of Chicago’s unparalleled access to air connections – it’s so easy to travel to either coast for culture, Florida or Arizona for warm winter weather, Colorado for skiing or Las Vegas for gambling that you have to look at the entire country as competition for Chicagoan tourist dollars as opposed to driving distances. It’s not that Chicagoans are insular (quite to the contrary, they are amongst the heaviest travelers both domestically and internationally), but rather that they have so much relatively easy access to locales outside of the Midwest.
Great post Frank. Why would I travel to Indianapolis? What exactly would I do there that I can’t do at home? Watch Nascar? No thanks.
I’d rather fly to Europe, which is what we do for vacations.
Thanks Tone, I sort of rest my case.
Frank, re UofM/Ann Arbor: Michigan’s engineering school is a top 10 institution, tops in the Big 10 also. (I pointed this out way earlier in the comments on this post.) Given the concentration of auto, truck, and parts makers in SE Michigan, I have to imagine that a pretty fair number of those grads are in fact retained in the region. That’s a really big regional economy, highly specialized in STEM fields today.
Re OSU, since it is like Columbus (better than average across the board but not tops in anything except football and marching band) I suspect its main draw is to in-state students, and a fair number probably do stay after graduation because they are attracted by city life.
On the other hand, why would a kid from Indiana pay out of state tuition for Ag or Engineering school at OSU when Purdue is both better and cheaper for him/her? Would a Michigan kid go to OSU, or to Ann Arbor? This is why I think OSU doesn’t draw a lot from the region…it isn’t competitive on cost or program with the state schools in neighboring states.
Once upon a time Aaron posted migration/churn numbers, and IIRC, Columbus was unlike Indy in that it mostly churns within Ohio and points east, where Indy churns with Chicago.
Frankly, I think Ohio is much more of an “eastern” than “midwestern” state, mainly because of its high level of urbanization and its liberal-arts college tradition (Dennison, Kenyon, Oberlin, Ohio U., Miami, Capital, Wittenberg, Xavier, Dayton, Antioch, Case Western, and more). Nobody ever seems to call Ohio a “farm state” any more.
Tone, if you cared about live-action, top-level motorsports or sports in general, you might come to Indy for the 500 (which is not NASCAR but is arguably one of the world’s most famous auto races) or for MotoGP, or even for the NASCAR/sports car race weekend. You might also come for NCAA tournament basketball (regionals and Final Four are frequently held here), or for Big10 basketball or football championship games. You might visit for any number of other NCAA events held here. You might have visited for the Super Bowl two years ago or in the future.
This is what we’ve been describing as NOT Columbus on this thread…at least Indy has something distinctive and native-grown to offer people.
Not everyone cares about SXSW, mountain-climbing, or coastal rain forest surrounding coffee shops. It’s all about finding a niche.
Chris,
Two years ago I was engaged by the chancellor’s office of UC DAvis to see what it would take to parlay that university’s strength in ag, food and nutrition into strategic, revenue-producing partnerships with industry. One of my first tasks was to validate UC Davis as one of the world leaders in that field, which, according to various research-based measures and publications, it was. The next question was to find out what industry needed in such partnerships, and who competed with UC Davis. My work included getting to the research directors at some of the world’s largest food and energy companies. The latter are important because the feed stocks and bi-products are energy dependent or energy-producing. (Think fertilizer and bio mass stocks).
The leaders in food and nutrition and ag? (This includes genomics, robotics, applied remote sensing, infomatics, packaging, and, most importantly, consumer behavior.) Internationally, the leaders, besides UC Davis, the leaders are Cornell, Wageningen (in the Netherlands), and Massey University in New Zealand. The Danforth Center in St. Louis came out top tier in genetics, thanks in part to Monsanto’s funding. The second tier, by definition much larger in number, included AgroParisTech, VTT in Scandinavia, North Carolina State, Penn State, Rutgers, UNH, Iowa, UT Austin, Madison, Illinois and Purdue. It is easy to argue with rankings, but these were the places that industry and top researchers alike told me about when I asked them where they went for both research and great talent, where they hope to catch the brightest PhD candidates before they hit the job market.
The point being… that it’s not enough to just have large numbers of people, but to stand forth in a field if you want to draw in the world’s leading talent and industry leaders.
@John Morris – Heh, Tone was kind of blunt there. Of course, that’s kind of gets back to the original premise of this post: What can you do in Columbus (or Pittsburgh or Detroit or Chicago or anywhere else) that you can’t do in your own hometown (or another place that might be closer, cheaper, more hip, more walkable, etc.)? On the flipside, how much do those sexier components really matter if your base-level needs (job, safety, quality schools for families) are met in a “boring” place but won’t be met in an “exciting” place? Those are questions that individuals ask themselves everyday and then all of those micro-level decisions add up to macro-level trends for a city/region.
Chicago’s attitude/ relationship with its region wouldn’t bother me if the city was really a big regional growth engine.
Is it generating the millions of jobs or housing all these kids from the Midwest need? Is it spinning off lots of amazing startups? Is it a big source of venture capital in the wider Midwest? Is it a major media platform?
Frank, as you said, we do go to WI and MI for long weekends to get away from city life, but our long vacations are almost always abroad.
@Chris Barnett – Actually, that’s kind of my concern with Ann Arbor and its relative lack of infusion of talent to the Detroit metro area at large. UofM is absolutely a top institution in virtually every discipline and, furthermore, attracts a very large number of out-of-state students compared to most of its Big Ten peers. Over 40% of Michigan students are now either from out-of-state or are international students. A disproportionate number of those out-of-state students are from the NYC area specifically. This isn’t a recent trend – Michigan has long been a top matriculator of out-of-state students compared to most other public universities. Yet, that hasn’t really translated into much retention at all – UofM grads are now more likely to end up in Chicago than anywhere in the state of Michigan (much less the Detroit area) and Michigan State grads are experiencing the same thing.
What’s different is that Ohio State’s demographics are much more in flux now. What you have stated about Ohio State in terms of academic reputation and student population might have been true 10 or 15 years ago, but it’s shifting very quickly. While I wholeheartedly agree that Ohio State isn’t as (and almost certainly will never be as) highly-ranked as Michigan across-the-board, it has been rising fairly quickly (it’s about to break into the top 50 of the US News rankings and was ahead of generally acknowledged public university powerhouses UT-Austin and the University of Washington this year) and it now consists of “only” 75% in-state students compared to over 90% a decade ago. A 15% change in out-of-state/international student population that is almost 60,000 is actually very significant in terms of new blood and has a much greater impact on a metro that’s the size of Columbus than UofM can have on Detroit (and note that UofM hasn’t had the same dramatic change in student demographics, so we’ve already seen that they’re not really retaining the Chicago/NYC out-of-state students).
Now, who knows if Columbus is or will be successful on retaining any significant percentage of those out-of-state people, but the main things are (1) those numbers are growing and (2) we haven’t seen the story of their impact in Columbus play out in the way that we generally have already seen in Ann Arbor.
Ann Arbor has the Chicago mentality- too good for Michigan.
I’ve never been there, but I think there is a lot of reluctance to become a bigger city. Since, big city in Michigan = Detroit, I can sort of understand.
If I thought Ann Arbor was open to scaling up, it would also change the regional dynamics.
John, your inferiority complex is getting tiresome.
“Tone, if you cared about live-action, top-level motorsports or sports in general, you might come to Indy for the 500 (which is not NASCAR but is arguably one of the world’s most famous auto races) or for MotoGP, or even for the NASCAR/sports car race weekend. You might also come for NCAA tournament basketball (regionals and Final Four are frequently held here), or for Big10 basketball or football championship games. You might visit for any number of other NCAA events held here. You might have visited for the Super Bowl two years ago or in the future.”
None of those things interest me or my family.
Has Chicago really earned its superiority complex?
IMO, yes.
“5) Illinois will continue to bleed both manufacturing & office jobs.”
John, not sure if you are intentionally lying or you don’t know how to look up statistics. The whole country is “bleeding” manufacturing jobs, why would IL be any different?
And as for office jobs, Illinois is doing fine.
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/SMS17000006000000001?data_tool=XGtable
Ohio is in much worse shape than Illinois in terms of jobs. OHs job growth was 0.5% in 2013 vs. 1% in IL. Illinois is down 100K jobs from peak, OH is down 200K.
@John Morris – “Chicago’s attitude/ relationship with its region wouldn’t bother me if the city was really a big regional growth engine.
Is it generating the millions of jobs or housing all these kids from the Midwest need? Is it spinning off lots of amazing startups? Is it a big source of venture capital in the wider Midwest? Is it a major media platform?”
How much more of a regional growth engine would be satisfactory? Could you imagine how many more Midwestern university graduates would be walking around unemployed if it weren’t for the existence of Chicago?
Plus, look at the two Midwestern metros where Chicago has fairly balanced migratory patterns (there is a lot of interchange without one taking huge numbers more than the other): Minneapolis and Indianapolis. Those happen to be the two strongest large Midwestern metro areas in terms of growth, so that seems to be the positive “Midwestern connection” that you’re seeking. Detroit, Milwaukee and St. Louis are generally only sending people to Chicago without Chicago sending many people back, so I could understand if there’s consternation there, but for many of those people, it was a choice of either moving to Chicago or leaving the Midwest completely. It wasn’t as if though Chicago was preventing those people from moving to Ohio.
Also, New York is closer to Pittsburgh than Chicago (and isn’t much farther from Cleveland than Chicago), so does that mean that NYC somehow isn’t powerful enough of an economic engine to spur regional investment? Cleveland, Columbus and Pittsburgh all have larger migratory churns with NYC compared to Chicago, as well. Proximity to NYC hasn’t done much for Hartford, proximity to Boston hasn’t done much for Providence, proximity to Atlanta hasn’t done much for Birmingham and we can go on and on with other examples.
So, it’s fair to critique the attitudes of Chicagoans, but I believe you’re placing an impossible economic standard on Chicago in terms of being a regional catalyst for a wide swath of the country that not even a place like New York would be able to do.
@Tone… Illinois has gained 247,400 jobs since its recession bottom, which occurred in January 2010. Chicago has gained 340,200 jobs since its recession bottom, which also occurred in January 2010. What this means is that, without Chicago’s job growth, the state would’ve been down another 93,000 jobs. You can say Illinois is doing better than Ohio, but what we’re really talking about is a city vs. a state, not state vs. state.
You set a pretty low bar, IMHO all I am taking about is Chicago returning to something closer to the symbiotic relationship it once had based on rail oriented urban growth.
BTW, New York’s relationship to its region is at least as bad and I doubt the area can generate the millions of jobs or housing needed. IMHO, a city like Columbus will also grow at the expense of many of high cost, high tax, NY suburbs- much the way places like Charlotte do.
JP Morgan Chase is actually the largest private employer in the Columbus area with about 20,000 staff.
Google & one can see that several major Columbus area employers are based in the Chicago region.
Cardinal Health moved 700 jobs from Waukegan, to Dublin, Ohio and now seems to have the entire old hq complex for sale.
http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2008/06/16/story6.html?page=all
I also see that Springfield Illinois based State Farm has quite a few staff in Columbus.
Cardinal has moved an additional 650 positions away from Waukegan in January 2013. This more recent move precipated the sale of 7 of the 9 McGaw Park buildings.
http://www.suntimes.com/business/17923758-420/cardinal-health-cutting-650-waukegan-jobs-moving-work-to-sc-mexico.html
Yes, that why I said the complex was for sale.
Perhaps a place like Columbus can’t compete with Chicago’s loop but compared to a lot of its suburbs it looks OK.
“Jon says:
February 6, 2014 at 2:52 pm
@Tone… Illinois has gained 247,400 jobs since its recession bottom, which occurred in January 2010. Chicago has gained 340,200 jobs since its recession bottom, which also occurred in January 2010. What this means is that, without Chicago’s job growth, the state would’ve been down another 93,000 jobs. You can say Illinois is doing better than Ohio, but what we’re really talking about is a city vs. a state, not state vs. state.”
Jon, I’m not necessarily following, Chicago is part of IL so why would one not include it?
St. Louis IS growing. It’s competition is both inside and outside the midwest. As the center of economic gravity moves southward and westward, It’s location is an asset.
To Tone’s point, I think the same can be said for folks living in more mid-sized cities as well. Living in Central Ohio my whole life I can say I’ve visited and am more familiar with Paris than I am with Cleveland. I’ve recently become more familiar with Cincinnati due to some close friends that have moved or have significant others down there. My point being I think there are a lot of people unfamiliar with the metro’s nearest to them because most don’t see a reason to visit. If I’m going on vacation I want to go to the coast or to Europe to have a cultural experience. Not to the city next door. I’m personally working on changing that by getting to know the region better.
Another couple observations:
A) I think Columbus in particular is more closely connected with NYC than Chicago. Part of this has to do with the fashion community I think. A lot of folks from Abercrombie and the other firms frequent NYC and their seem to be other corporate ties such as with Chase as was said earlier. It seems odd that it would be true but I suspect other Midwest and even Ohio metros are more connect with Chicago than Columbus. I’d like to look at some research to see if this is true. If the rail line between Cbus-Ft.Wayne-Chi (aka 2C) comes to fruition that could help to change things.
B)I’m sure its fairly obvious but anecdotally I see a lot of young people from Cleveland and NE Ohio coming down to Columbus, and not just for OSU. Whether they are moving here or just coming in town to visit IMO Columbus is a magnet for the types of people that feel unwelcome in the more socially conservative parts of the state. I think that has a lot to do with the fairly visible gay community as well as impact of having hords of OSU student and academics who are also visible.
C) I think where Columbus and similar metros can and will win out in the long run is accessibility. I feel safe in saying that Columbus (and its peers) are likely have similar (if not as prestigious)amenities as Chicago at less than half the price.
D) Whoever mentioned the Flyover Festival, I think that’s a fantastic idea. In terms of fashion, as I mentioned before I think the city is moving in the right direction (organically rather than top down) and I think what it will take to make the leap is getting the major brands to invest in up-and-coming designers and a retail incubator. After bringing this up on Columbus Underground I was told that there are two in the works but these efforts need bolstered. I think the fashion can also be coupled with other forms of design.
Of the top three metro areas in terms of population, Chicago had the fastest economic growth the from 2010-2012 (latest published figures).
NYC 2.0%
LA 1.1%
Chicago 2.2%
I mentioned the “Fly Over Festival”. Basically it would be a festival of culture, music, fashion, Design, Film from the areas of America ignored by the East & West coast axis.
I think the bent should tilt towards the emerging & lesser known. Columbus last year had two major museum shows I could also see in NYC- so I saw them there.
High cost NYC is no longer a place to take chances.
I love Pittsburgh but I know we would never do that. We are all Yinz, all the time.
The key message to send is that Columbus embraces its region & all its people & by coming here, you won’t drop off the face of the earth.
The “Flyover Film Festival” is actually called the Heartland Film Festival. They promote positive, life-affirming (not “pro-life”) values in film.
It embodies the heartland “good place to raise a family” values.
It has been held in Indianapolis for a long time now.
More than 190 posts! If only Columbus could harness this energy to connect Columbus people to each other in new ways. The comments here suggest that those connections just aren’t there. Few are willing to even defend Columbus as a place. They offer vague slogans rather than to champion concrete achievements or well-honed ideas. Columbusers need to connect to each other, not through institutions like OSU or state government, but directly through new endeavors that couldn’t be created elsewhere.
I think that MSP presents the most interesting example for analyzing Columbus’s brand problems or civic insecurities. MSP also has a non-compelling external brand. It gets respect, but does have not a brand or reputation that would attract people in the same way as Portland, Seattle, or Austin. It barely even gets a mention in a discussion such as this focused on the relative merits of cities in the rustbelt/Midwest.
In spite of this weak brand, consider how MSP performs relative to Austin — the fastest growing major city in the US, and the city with the strongest national brand in the fasting growing major state. In terms of virtually every quality of life measure (art galleries, museums, parks, recreational trails, sports teams, great restaurants, etc.) my guess is that MPS has 2 to 3 times the number of these amenities as does Austin. In terms of economic vitality, consider that MPS has 17 Fortune 500 headquarters versus 2 for Austin. Comparing MSP to Portland, Minneapolis was ranked as the top biking city in the US by Bicycling Magazine edging out Portland. Matching up with San Francisco, Minneapolis was recently ranked as the #1 gay friendly city in the US.
So..… MSP outperforms Austin economically, Portland in terms of a bike friendly environment, and San Francisco in appeal to the gay community. MSP did this in spite of:
– Having the coldest climate for any major city in the US (five decades or so into the mega-trend favoring US cities in warmer climates)
– Being in a relatively slow growth state (ranked 27th for growth during 2010-13)
– Being in a state with the 7th highest tax burden (2012)
– Being in a state that is not particularly pro-business (no right-to-work law, etc.)
– Being geographically isolated (virtually no one outside of Minnesota drives through MSP on their way to some other major city).
I think the lesson for Columbus is that even if you outperform cities such as Austin, Portland, and San Francisco by various quality of life and economic measures, and furthermore you did this in spite of enormous disadvantages in terms of climate, tax rate, geographic isolation, etc., no one in the Midwest would necessarily take notice, let alone people elsewhere in the US. The public sector in Columbus needs to follow MSP’s lead and just focus on making good public investments and good planning decisions decade after decade and being satisfied that you are living in one of the highest quality metro areas in the US regardless of whether or not anyone outside your state or region takes notice.
One thing that Columbus and Indianapolis seem to share (and something referenced in this commentary) is pride in their population growth as a measure of their success relative to other Midwest cities. I have never heard anyone in Minneapolis (47th largest US city in 2012) or St. Paul (#66) worry about their ranking relative to #11 Austin, #13 Indianapolis, or #15 Columbus. In fact, if MSP has one major flaw as a metro area, it is that it suffered from some of the same low quality suburban sprawl as other “successful” cities that experienced significant metro area growth during the 1960s-1990s (the dark age of urban planning in the US).
David,
I am so glad to see you mention Minneapolis/ St. Paul. It is the one city in the Midwest I would consider moving to. Great system of recreational lakes, phenomenal manufacturing base, good schools, strong civic sense. As a matter of fact, I think it is one of the best cities in America, certainly positioned for future success alongside the likes of Austin and Madison. Yes, it is sprawling, and that is a problem, but for me the lakes and the very, very strong civic sense (embodied in the fact that local companies are so philanthropic) would make up for this, if only, because in the long run, places with strong economies and a future will become more urban, if only in response to Millennial tastes. To me there is an enormous difference between a metro region like this, where Cargill and 3M and a host of other companies are charging ahead in tech-led manufacturing, and the Rust Belt, where the legacy of old industries, corrupt or inefficient governments, and bad school systems burdens them. I’m sure the inner cities there have a problem, but from a distance, Minnesota seems to have a culture of education that supports much of its economic growth.
Tone, I have gone to auto races in Indy with vistors from Europe and Asia. It’s a bit narrow to be dimissive of a niche attraction with a parochial “if it doesn’t attract me or my friends, it’s worthless” approach. “Why would I visit” is a personal question. “Why would anyone visit” gets at the unique attraction(s).
I hate cold winters; I spent two too many in the MSP metro. I don’t hunt, fish, canoe, or camp. So I have never been back to MSP except to change planes on NW/DL. But I do not dismiss the value of the quality of life bundle there to others just because it doesn’t suit me. Winter and wilderness are two of MSP’s key attributes, and they embrace ’em the same way Nashville embraces country music. Neither attracts me, but I don’t imply that no one would like it.
What are people’s guesses on Madison’s growth trajectory?
I pretty much discount Ann Arbor as a major factor because it doesn’t seem to want to grow significantly- and is resisting boosts in density.
Madison seems to sort of lean being a little brother to Chicago/Milwaukee & MSP. Columbus has growth as a goal, which is good if its done well.
@John Morris – I think Madison will kind of settle in between Austin and Asheville in terms of sheer size. My impression is that Madison wants to continue grow, but not at the scale that Austin is encouraging. Madison seems to have a strategy of being more of a change of pace alternative to Chicago and Minneapolis as opposed to attempting to compete head-to-head with them.
That fits with my view, which along with its location, is why I don’t think its a major Competitor for Columbus.
People see, Columbus’s slightly more open, affordable, scalable, smart, growth magnet niche as being not unique enough. IMHO, in this region, its actually a pretty killer market.
What are people’s views on Ann Arbor’s growth prospects- and attitude towards growth. Can Columbus attract a lot of these kids or is the childish Big Ten rivalry too big a barrier.
People say Columbus is more open but it mostly reaches its arms out to Ohio residents. It needs to send a message that its welcoming to all.
To be honest, my eagerness to interact with the rural & small town Midwest is partly a strategy to attract people from these places.
The key is to present itself as sort of an urban area with training wheels- not dangerous, not overwhelming, not vastly competitive- but also not boring, closed minded or lacking in opportunity. A great starter city, for people who perhaps have never lived in one.
This is sort of what places like Charlotte seem to have done well.
John Morris, you’ve read my mind. I’ve always thought of Columbus as a ‘starter city’ rather than a full-service one. Living in Columbus was like living in a hotel rather than an apartment building. I don’t think that is necessarily a good thing. People are less interested in investing in a place if they have no expectation of staying, which was true for virtually every person I knew in my four years in Columbus. It makes people hesitant to contribute to the life of a place, to start a business or build a professional network. You rent instead of buying, date instead of marrying, work for someone else instead of starting your own business. I think that this sort of transience DOES make Columbus dull, but even if others like the ‘openness’ of such a place, they must admit that it colors the relations they have with others there and the trust and mutual interest that are essential in getting important things done.
Well, it is bad to be a starter city if that all you are, but it might be good to be a city with on ramps that people feel like they could start in or adopt to easily.
That is all Columbus was for me and the people I knew there. Easy come, easy go. Of the six people I came to know in my time in Columbus to remain in touch with, ALL live elsewhere now. Columbus was a job or a degree, it wasn’t a destination.
Wow, lots of comments in the last 2 days, like 150 of them.
Aaron, I think Josh Lapp was right-might be time for another visit and post.
I had so many thoughts, but one thing stuck out. This quote:
“Is someone in Columbus reinventing government or higher ed? If those are truly strengths there, are there entrepreneurs and innovators in those sectors?”
Believe it or not, McGraw Hill’s education division is based here and they are a leader in using technology to drive education into the future. Their new business plan is essentially to be the education version of the I-Pad in the future. Not sure if they will be THE one to do it, but it’s an interesting possibility. Columbus has lots of these under-the-radar organizations that could transform the city.
That brought me to a thought-I think Columbus is so controversial because it’s such an open question. It’s not an established heavyweight. It’s a young star with lots of talent, but maybe it hasn’t quite played up to that talent. There is so much going on that has potential here, and if a spark hits, this town could hit the accelerator and really be a star.
The question is-will it? And when it does, what kind of a player will it be? What will its trademark be? I think this is what the debate is really about here.
For my biased two cents, being a (transplanted) local, I think Columbus is just starting to realize how good it can be and starting to reach for that. I don’t think Columbus had a cohesive economic development strategy until the early 2000’s. Before that the theory was keep annexing to Toledo and we’ll be a big city someday (yes, a local leader actually said that a while back).
In the past several years the business community and local governments have coalesced and started two organizations-Columbus Foundation and Columbus 2020- which have studied the local economy, image and community and have started executing a well-researched and thought-out development strategy based on Columbus’ strengths. It is somewhat reminiscent to me of what Indianapolis did in the 70’s, although it’s a bit more multi-pronged.
I don’t see anything from them quite as succinct in branding as Indy’s push in sports, but frankly much of the good that happened in Columbus up to the 2000’s seems to me to have just happened. With a concentrated effort, and time (at least 5 more years), I think real benefits will emerge from these efforts.
One other thought-what if Columbus was branded as the “New Midwest”, kind of like Atlanta is the “New south”.
I was just reading the Planning magazine issue on Atlanta, and it seems to have some interesting things happening. Their Beltway initiative is really interesting-integrated transit and park necklace around the inner city is innovative and forward-thinking.
But let’s face it. Atlanta wasn’t always that way. It grew up as the New South-the City that’s too busy to hate. Well, that seems almost as generic as Columbus’ “Smart, Open, friendly” moniker. Just packaged better.
So what if Columbus was the “New Midwest, the City too Busy to Rust?” It’s generic enough to capture Columbus’ wide-open economy and culture, but brings a specific already-entrenched image of a progressive city in a regressive environment.
In effect, like it or not, that is the Columbus brand.
People really forget that the new South brand really was about rejecting the old South, or at least admitting that it wasn’t working- (wasn’t selling to outside investors). Indianapolis also sells that position.
In this case, I think there is room for both. Cleveland, Pittsburgh & I think Cincinnati have cultural uniqueness and charm- but the flip side is insularity. The South today has both New Orleans, Savannah & Charleston selling history & charm & Atlanta, Charlotte & Raleigh-Durham selling openness & dynamism.
You know, someone also mentioned plunking down a big airport between Columbus and Indianapolis. I think that’s a bit too far.
However, you might be able to plunk one down where I-71 and US 35 meet. This would cover Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton. There’s a dedicated highway into each city and lots of farmland.
Now, each city would have to give up its own airports. That would be tough, they are all mid-sized and are 10 miles or less outside of downtown. But if you did, you would have one big airport that could compete with O’Hare as a major Midwest hub. Right now hubs in all these cities have left.
A new airport would be 40 miles from downtown Columbus, 30 miles from downtown Dayton and 50 miles from downtown Cincinnati. Maybe you move it a bit south to balance it out. Plus, if you linked it with high-speed rail from each city directly to the airport, you could make the trip in 1/2 hour or less from each city’s downtown.
The result would be less convenient air travel for each city, but much better air service for the whole region of about 5 million people. I think it would drive jobs.
Nothing else would state that the 3 cities want to be global players- and are willing to break down the childish zero sum competition.
Right now there is basically one serious global Airport in the entire mega region in Chicago. One or two subsidized flights to Toronto or Paris are not gonna impress anyone.
Columbus didn’t “just happen.” It is a truly planned city. It was government that led its development at every step of the way. That is what makes it fundamentally different from most of the other cities discussed here.
I would put Detroit in there as a large international airport, although clearly not the size of O’Hare.
Matt, you’re right historically. But recently, there have not been efforts like those in Indianapolis to really drive growth. Raleigh-Durham is another example, with Research Triangle Park. Nearly 40,000 tech jobs because of the collaboration between business, local government and academia.
George, your airport plan does not have a hope- too many vested interests and unbelievably expensive. Cincinnati, for one, is increasingly looking southward as the center of economic gravity moves that direction in North America. Cincinnati’s southern suburbs are increasingly important within metro Cincinnati.
Denver kind of did the same thing with their airport. They plunked a new huge one out in the sticks. It’s definitely driving their growth, although they didn’t have to convince 3 cities to give up their own airports.
It’s also logistically different- oriented around roads & rail rather than river & lake transport.
As I said before, if one were planning a major, scalable Midwestern city today, you might locate it there.
Its just a logical reality that the dynamic axis of the region shifts away from the lakes & other locations best suited to heavy industry as that plays a smaller economic role. Especially in a place where lake = snow.
“George, your airport plan does not have a hope.”
Doesn’t Indiana have a say in that? Suppose they wanted to drop a huge airport near the Ohio border?
To what extent does institutional employment there hinder change?
Major institutions are likely to favor the status quo, and won’t want their employees pushing for changes that threaten this. That, in turn, undermines the kind of civic activism in many cities.
The second issue is that the labor pool there may not be attractive to very technical companies which rely on stock options and other incentives to motivate long days at work. The pay may not be great at the university, med center or hospital, but you can go home at 5.
Pittsburgh seems to have mix of both. Not sure how Google gears compensation but the low relative cost of living helps.
Pittsburgh has created a stickiness- love for the area. Many highly bankable CMU grads resist leaving.
I have seen the fashion thing bandied about a bit for Cbus to perhaps use as a uniqueness factor. Also read interesting takes on student retention and Ohio’s wide range of colleges and universities etc. So I hit Google, turns out Ohio has 3 highly respected fashion institutions: Kent State(who knew?), Univ Cincinnati, and Columbus College of Art and Design. I wonder if there is any interaction among them. Can 3 different institutions, in 3 different cities within Ohio over come the zero-sum complex and work together? Dunno. Maybe they do, not a field I know much about.
@Rod Stevens – “To what extent does institutional employment there hinder change?”
It’s an interesting question and I don’t know if there’s a specific answer one way or the other. There are several places, such as DC, Austin, Raleigh-Durham and Minneapolis, where institutional employment doesn’t hinder change and, in fact, may act as a catalyst for private development. That concentration of highly educated people can be leveraged for further growth beyond the core institutions.
Now, I wonder if there’s something fundamentally different about places that have the same types of institutional assets on paper, such as Lansing, but can’t seem to spur development beyond that. Is it really a reluctance to change? Is it that they had much more heavy industry in previous generations and are still feeling the negative effects of its downfall like many Rust Belt cities? A combo of the factors above?
@Frank:
It may come down to management styles and decision making. Some institutions, especially K-12, are command and control, with very central decision making a concentration of formal power (i.e. flexibility in how to spend time and money.) Other large organizations, say Google, give employees considerable leeway on how to achieve a given goal. That translates into “scrappiness”, innovation and the ability to make change. Right now, Amazon is a place that is growing so fast and in so many directions that it is not only rapidly hiring but giving the people who work there considerable satisfaction in using their abilities to figure out for themselves how to do something. That’s less true at organizations that have become “institutions”, where there is a relatively set way of doing things.
George, Denver sits isolated from the rest of America like a virtual island far from any competing airports. Very different situation.
Rod, Columbus is most definitely an organizational town, but some hospital and academic work is awfully time consuming and involves a lot of individual initiative.
Love the Airport idea George, however I think it could be just as effective to utilize the Dayton airport as a hub and effectively scrap (or dramatically reduce CMH and CVG). Google Maps tells me its exactly 1.6 hours from both Columbus and Cincinnati.
At the very least a rail link between all three cities and their airports would drastically increase the ability for the region to more closely interconnect and build about our existing assets. I’m sure i’m not the only person who has traveled from JFK to LaGuardia for a connecting flight (Google Maps also tells me the trip from JFK to LGA is around 1.2hrs).
Talk about regional potential… with a fast rail line folks could conceivably commute from Cincy-Day and Cbus-Day and build up some synergies for the region. I know plenty already do but I doubt its pleasant. The same could be said for NE Ohio.
“Denver sits isolated from the rest of America like a virtual island”
Right, Columbus sits in major 3 city mega region & has a much larger market for a major international airport.
I grew up Indy and have been in Chicago for the past 3 years. My view of Columbus has always been that it seems like a nice place, but there is nothing discerning it from anyplace.
I’ve always thought of Cbus as Indy’s little brother. Very similar cities, but one who hasn’t yet established itself. You know how the younger sibling always gets compared to the older sibling when they are growing up and have the same teachers when the get older. I kind of feel like Indy went off to college while Cbus is still coming up through Middle and High School. Indy went of and branded themselves as a Sports Capital and Cbus hasn’t yet branded themselves at all. They are kind of just being a wall flower.
There is nothing wrong with being a wall flower. You can be a perfectly capable and great city, but you just won’t be well known or popular with any given group. If Cbus wants to brand itself, I have heard some decent ideas in this thread on what they could do. You have to have someone in a leadership capacity who is willing to make that leap and then have the generations that follow continue make that branding. That is what made Indy successful as a Sports city, was that leap to brand itself as such by Mayor Hudnut and ISC and has continued through subsequent administrations.
There really isn’t much difference between Indy and Cbus other than Indy branded themselves first and established a name for itself before Cbus has.
If you ask people from the coasts about cities like Columbus or Des Moines what would the say about the cities? Probably not much. Ask them about Indy and they will mention sports. Ask about St. Louis and it’s the Arch (Gateway to the West). Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincy all have a brand that I think is recognized to at least some extent across the country. Columbus doesn’t have that in my opinion.
Columbus has a larger aviation market than Denver and the front range of Colorado? I doubt that very much.
Gosh, Aaron used to have to post about Detroit to get this kind of response.
And I don’t recall a post of Aaron’s where pretty much no one disagreed with the central premise.
Ryan,
I don’t think Cleveland and Detroit really have much of a brand now beyond “failed cities”. The brand opportunity for a Midwest city is setting itself up as the city that got on beyond its past, that overcame all of the legacy issues and remade itself as a modern,well-run city with a modern economy and a modern mix of people. We’ve all come through the recession and are worried about the long term and how it will be different, whether we can truly survive. That insecurity pervades everything, stated or not. If a city could truly show that it had a more effective government, that it had reformed education, that it had its pension funds under control, that it knew how to pay for roads, that it was successfully transferring ideas from universities to business, that it was in touch with and had tolerance for a variety of cultures, and that business there could compete with the Chinese, then it would get way more than its share of growth. Granted, most of these things are huge problems, but if a place could master even a few, it would look so different from its “peers” that talent and investment would flock there. Portland is not all that successful at most of these things, but it looks just different enough that it stays on people’s radar screens, both as a place to live and to invest.
Columbus has a larger aviation market than Denver
Add the aviation market of Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton & Indianapolis together- that is the target market for an international airport. Since the Midwest has so few, the broader market is astronomical.
I didn’t say the airport idea had a great chance. Not many ides that significantly disrupt the status quo do. But the ones that do get legs-they can make big change.
If it were to happen, actually, our current Gov. Kasich could be the one to make it happen. He’s the kind of guy that if he likes an idea, he’ll latch onto it and ride it until it’s done or he falls flat. Most politicians wont’ take the kind of risks he has, for better or worse.
It might disrupt the status quo – relationship between Columbus & Cincinnati. For Indiana it would be a total win.
A lot of wildcards. Isn’t Dayton also a big military airport? If that function starts fading there could be a big political push to adopt it.
Don’t know that much about the specifics.
Southern Illinois would love to stick a knife in Chicago.
Matt, Columbus doesn’t have a larger market. Columbus + Cincinnati + Dayton is at least the size of Denver’s market. There’s 5 million people in that combined market, if you place the airport right.
I agree that Denver has the advantage of being essentially the only major city between the west coast and the Midwest. It’s perfectly placed for a big airport. But the “CCD Triangle” as I will call it has more population and is also fairly centrally located to be a great hub location.
It has more competition, but that’s the point-all three cities are all competing against each other now, and they all have relatively small airports. Cincinnati is closing down half of their airport because Delta just pulled its hub. That’s a huge blow to Cinci. Columbus lost its mini-hub of America West 10 years ago, and Dayton is a very small airport that never had a hub.
In addition, Cleveland might lose its United hub, and Pittsburgh lost its US Air hub years ago too. The Midwest in general is getting slaughtered in the airline consolidation wave. Except for Chicago, Detroit and maybe St. Louis, every city has lost significant service lately. Being able to join forces and create one of the two or three major hubs in a heavily populated region would be a great boost to the area.
Again, many entrenched interests, I agree. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth thinking about.
John-I don’t know what Indiana would have to say. I don’t think it would affect them a lot, as they are just far enough away from this location, and from Chicago, that it probably wouldn’t have an much of an effect on them. Indianapolis sits 100 miles from Dayton & Cincinnati, a bit too far to bridge?
I thought of a Northeast Ohio hub airport too, but that’s essentially what Cleveland Hopkins is now. If you put it in Youngstown, you would be about 60 miles from Cleveland and Pittsburgh, which WOULD be a bigger market, but to me it seems just a bit too far to be viable? Maybe not?
The total benefit for Indiana would depend on just how many International flights it could support. If the airport resulted in a huge increase in long distance flights it would be a game changer all around. Same goes for all of these cities.
John:
Wright -Patterson is a separate airport. Dayton “International” has about 8 gates along a hallway. IT’s really small.
It would be a win for Indy because it would be farther from it?
Cleveland has lost its United hub.
“It would be a win for Indy because it would be farther from it?”
Yes, if the alternative is no serious international airport remotely close and remaining in Chicago’s orbit.
Is it better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven?
I thought it might have, but wasn’t sure. It’s a shame, really. Used to be most mid-sized cities had good airservice. Now the big guys do and that’s it. I really think that’s one of the biggest short-term threats to mid-sized cities nation-wide, with a few exceptions like Orlando and Las Vegas.
Anyway, if there are big cuts at Wright Patterson, there would be increased pressure to do something for Dayton- and this idea might gain support.
“one of the biggest short-term threats to mid-sized cities nation-wide”
I agree but in many or not most cases the situation is a result of fragmenting markets like this with each down trying to support a sub-par airport. Does Pittsburgh really believe it has an “international airport”?
The world needs more taglines and slogans. I can’t think of anything more worthwhile than letting smart people define you.
Columbus should just stop spinning on its axis until a hipster can “nail it, bro” with “the image we need”.
In fact, are we a city now? No, of course not.
In fact, we should probably just pay someone with our taxes to “brand us”. That way we will know who we are which is vital to knowing who you are or something vital.
Join the Peace Corps, donate an organ, read a book to a ghetto kid. That will be enough to get you into Harvard. No need to “brand” Columbus or Indianapolis or anything like that. I like that Jay-Z isn’t the “King of” my city.
I like that we don’t cater to George Clooney and his CP-esque tendencies (see: age of girlfriends and lets be honest, Clooney would never date a non-white).
Those are the people who have it all figured out. Columbus should get Heath Ledger …. oh wait no Phillip Seamour …. oh wait no yeah James Franco to make a movie about it on youtube and then say he had a great time here and then people from Brooklyn will want to be here for 3 seconds and then leave like the Yankees (see: Columbus AAA team).
Also, this article and the mindset behind it is wildly indicative of the “value” of liberal arts degrees. Why actually learn something valuable when you can make money pontificating on the way others should “brand” themselves.
I repeat, nothing (be it blood, oxygen, stem cells, lava etc.) gets me out of bed like a good slogan.
Thank you chefs.
p.s. All of you can now charge me $15.99 for literally a bite of cheesecake. I take great pride in over-paying for nourishment that will be processed as waste within a matter of hours. Even more in knowing it was organic and from the Netherlands. If you guys have that rare thing that somebody is selling in Europe and if I could have that bite-sized and then tip on 15.99 for “delivery” and “state taxes” that would be great. And yes, I mean James Franco (earlier). He is “the one”. You see, I have an eye for these things. I know what everyone else needs.
Is there actually any real evidence that Columbus is more transient than cities in its peer category? I’ve seen this claim thrown about, but I’m not sure how true that really is. And how do we even define “transience”? How long do you have to live in a city before you are no longer a transient resident? If you live there 20 years and then move, is that an example of transience, or are we merely referring to the university student population, which, by definition, is going to be transient no matter where we’re talking about. As a Columbus native and someone who has spent most of my life there, my social circle actually includes very few other natives. Almost all came from elsewhere, and only about half from other parts of Ohio. The rest are from out of state or even outside of the US. Maybe I had a bit more diverse group of friends than average, but none of them were only planning to live there temporarily. Like with any other city, the economics and job prospects determined their future there.
I also fully disagree with the idea that there aren’t enough people invested in the future of the city. There are LOTS of them, both native and transplants, and there seem to be more of them all the time. There is just no comparison to the Columbus of say, 1990, and the one in 2014 in this regard. I think the people who still make this claim do so because THEY were not invested in the city and apply that to the general population.
If its average population is more transient compared to its Ohio peers its likely because many of those cities rarely attract outsiders.
Pittsburgh, in spite of the “Border Guard Bob” perception, retains a higher number of residents than most cities.
Mostly that seems like a positive, or at least a unique trait in that region.
@Ryan… The problem with the idea of Columbus as “Indy’s little brother” is that Columbus is growing faster, and will very likely pass it up (even with Indy including almost its whole county) sometime around 2020. The metro is already bigger and that probably won’t change anytime soon, if ever. How can a city that is supposedly on no one’s radar be growing faster than a city that everyone says is well-known, well-branded, and doing more right than Columbus is? There is something logically flawed with that position. Again, I think doing a lot of things pretty well is a LOT better than doing one thing better than most but having a lot of things that don’t do particularly well.
Jon, Columbus is only growing faster than Indy if you consider the municipal population, which is probably the worst way to look at it. Indianapolis metro has been adding people and jobs faster than Columbus for some time. I’ve argued myself that Columbus is poised to pass Indy, but it isn’t there yet. (Indy has serious problems IMO, while Columbus is just coming into its own).
This is another one of those things like calling Columbus “Ohio’s biggest city” that shows an almost willful spin mongering by Columbus locals that raises yellow flags in my book.
@John Morris… I can see how transience and also be a positive. If you have a large influx of new ideas constantly flowing through a place, I would imagine that produces a better result than a city full of natives stuck in the status quo. Cincinnati, in some ways, is the latter. It has a very provincial reputation, and in some ways, it’s earned. That may be changing a bit more now, but I still find it to be the most insular city in Ohio.
I’m pretty sure Indy also lags most major cities now in downtown development and core residential growth. Not sure this is “branding” has done all that much.
My guess is more people know Columbus is home to Ohio State than know a lot about Indy’s position in amateur sports.
The regional airport thing is fascinating. Why not put the airport between Columbus, Cleveland and Pittsburgh? The latter two cities have both lost hubs due to consolidation plus the population would be greater. As a resident of Columbus, some of the comments are a little off base. Columbus is a “new ” city in that it’s growth has occurred over the last 50 years. It has the geographic misfortune of being centered around Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Cincinnati, cities that owe their existence to navigable waterways and the industrial age at the start of the last century. Columbus is an inland city and didn’t begin to thrive until the service sector economy began to take hold and they have done well since. Going back to my point on location. If Columbus were located out by itself like Atlanta, Charlotte, Denver and Dallas, then it would be more of a national player in almost every area.
@Jon
A big point that I’m making- is that Columbus’s position as somewhat more transient education & business center is actually a pretty unique advantage in an area of more insular industrial cities & company towns.
Aaron, the metro growth rates have been very similar, at least as far as total people added. (223,842 vs. 231,137 2000-2010). It would not take much for Columbus to pull ahead, and does so already in some years. The city rate is not even close. In fact, only about 17% of the metro growth in Indy was in the city, which is essentially Marion County. Almost half of the Columbus metro growth was in Franklin County. That’s a huge difference and indicates that Columbus the city is a far stronger pull than Indy is. We keep praising Indy for having a brand, but why are so few people actually moving there?
Chris, it would make more sense to put a regional airport between growing metros. Cincinnati and Columbus are growing. Cleveland is not and Pittsburgh is somewhat stagnant.
Right- Columbus already has a pretty big league in terms of urbanism over Indy and should be able to sell itself as more urban than Indy.
A lot depends on getting the core right.
But Aaron, Columbus is bigger than Boston, and San Francisco! And Detroit and St. Louis and Cincinnati and Cleveland and Pittsburgh and… 😉
Plus, I think distance matters. I think it’s a stretch to put an airport at the I-71 & Route 35 interchange and get folks from Columbus & Cincinnati to drive there. It’s about 1/2 way, and it’s 45 minutes from downtown Columbus and probably an hour from downtown Cinci. That’s why I thought high-speed rail to the downtowns would be beneficial-110 MPH direct would get you there in half the time and make it more agreeable for business travelers.
OK, I have another thought. Wilmington has an old, large military airport hat was a major DHL hub until it pulled out a few years ago, laying off 6,000 employees.
Wilmington is fairly close to the I-71 SR 35 interchange, about 16 miles to the south. You would have to build a highway spur to get there, and it would be a bit farther from both Columbus and Dayton (about 10-15 miles), but would be closer to Cincinnati by about 10 miles. That’s another possibility.
Sounds OK. I do think relative proximity to Indy is very important since Columbus & Indy seem to be bigger growth drivers. The goal here is to get a lot more national & international flights.
the aviation markets of Cincinnati, Dayton & Indianapolis are the aviation markets of Cincinnati, Dayton & Indianapolis, not columbus. what a bizarre post.
George, Most people in Columbus are transplants. I tried in vain to meet a native columbuser in Columbus.
I have read all the comments just want to through in my two cents.
As someone who has never been to Columbus but does has ties there, (brother born there but never goes back) i cant help but think how i would brand the city/region.
I cant think of a single landmark in Columbus. Its flat and not near a large body of water. It seems as just another middle america state capitol with a state university. I herd it has a dead downtown (possibly starting to revive) and some good neighborhoods and thats about it. Interestingly its one of the largest cities without amtrak service and has no local rail transit despite being a former rail hub. Something tells me that when it tore down its beaux arts train station the city lost part of its self.
Maybe Columbus should get some rail service back? Connecting city/region to the rest of Ohio and the Midwest/Northeast would be a very good thing. I know Virginia is very pro rail and are really seeing the upside being better connected to the Northeast Corridor.
With concern to branding, I think the city should build something or have something that the outside world would take notice of. Maybe a monument? Like the arch in St Louis, simple and low maintenance. Despite all of St Louis’s problems people still want to visit that arch, even from Chicago. I know that wont solve many of the cities problems but its a start.
The Midwest is not the nation’s most dynamic region. The Northeast survives by pulling itself closer to the Northeast Corridor. The west survives on tech and immigration. The south has created the New South, and the mountain states thrive on their mountains and having so few cities competing within each state.
Columbus competes with Cincinnati, Cleveland, and a bunch of smaller cities. Cant be a good thing. Its no California, Texas, or Florida.
“The aviation markets of Cincinnati, Dayton & Indianapolis are the aviation markets of Cincinnati, Dayton & Indianapolis, not Columbus. what a bizarre post.”
Please explain that position.
Obviously, I was not the only one here who sees this as one potential market- at least for international flights.
Is it really saving one a lot of time to fly to O’Hare, Newark or Kennedy for most international flights? Or do you think these cities alone could support lots of service? They can’t. One could make the case that even together they can’t, but IMHO this would be enough of a market to get the ball rolling.
This is the only realistic shot at getting lots of international connections into the region which would be a potential game changer.
Northern Kentucky is increasingly invested in the international air freight business at the cincinnati airport. The cincinnati airport has THREE full-length runways and substantially rehabilitated terminals. it was the only airport geographically between Chicago, d.c., Atlanta, and Detroit to have a growth in origin and destination passengers last year. A new airport would not be a net gain for metro cincinnati as a whole.
So basically, the current “International Airports in the greater region- Cincinnati, Columbus, Indianapolis support flights to Toronto & some seasonal flights to Cancun, Nassau or Freeport in the Bahamas- almost all on little regional jets.
There is no regular or even seasonal service from any regional airport to London- even if one throws in Cleveland & Pittsburgh. Cleveland had service to London but couldn’t support it.
Pittsburgh also has “seasonal” service to Paris, which the region has had to heavily subsidize. Even service to Tampa is just seasonal.
One also can’t get a direct flight from Indy to basic national destinations like Seattle. Columbus seems to have no direct flights to San Francisco.
A really large regional airport shared by these cities could support a much higher level of national service as well as a good number of international ones.
Most likely what would happen is that each city would keep one or more airports for more regional service, charters & private jets.
As has been pointed out, regional rail is the best long term solution for many regional routes.
For what it’s worth, Cincinnati has daily (unsubsidized) service to Paris and easily the most non-stops of any airport in ohio, indiana, or kentucky. If history is any guide, places will seek their comparative advantage and some will rise and some will fall. Your suggestion involves too many interests to work. I think that the cities we are discussing will specialize in the future. cincinnati will be headquarters city, Columbus will be eds and meds city, etc.
Wow, OK my look at Wikipedia didn’t catch that Paris service.
However, this 2012 story says that it lost its Frankfurt & London direct flights and was not included in plans for expanded service. Things seem a bit shaky for a city pretending to be a big hq town.
http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2012/10/delta-expanding-service-to-paris-from.html?page=all
The bottom line is that nobody in the region has much in the way of good international service and little realistic chance of getting it anytime soon.
Dayton actually used to be a hub for Piedmont, and once or twice I drove there from Indy to fly east or southeast when the old Allegheny/USAir was the dominant carrier here.
The idea of a 100-mile drive instead of a commuter flight to get to a nonstop coastal or international flight isn’t all crazy. Consider that in the modern aviation world it takes pretty much all day (6-8 hours) to fly anywhere in the US if it is not a direct flight. This is true in Indy because IND is located in the least-populated quarter of the metro (like CVG in Cincinnati), so it’s longer than a normal commute for almost everyone. A Dayton location theoretically would serve 7-8 million metro residents in Indy, Dayton, Cinti, Cbus.
Bake in transfer times, and the truth that almost everyone who’d fly also owns a car, and the time/convenience element starts to shift in favor of the big, truly regional, international/coastal direct-only airport to compete with O’Hare or DTW. Consider how many Japanese owned auto assembly plants an suppliers are in the region.
the kentucky suburbs near CVG are the fastest growing part of metro Cincinnati.
These airport discussions are silly. The problem isn’t supply (facilities), it’s lack of demand. Eugene, Or has a beautiful airport that gets about five flights a day. Fort McMurray, in northern Alberta, gets about 50. The latter has business.
Talking about new airports is really no different than talking about new arenas and major league sports. It’s a surrogate for trying to be more prestigious.
But in the context of a super region of 7-8 million does that count for much? Obviously, your concern is only with Cincinnati and you are fine with Columbus, Dayton & Indy residents driving or transferring for flights @ CVG.
If history as a whole is a guide, CVG will see the Paris service cut back.
Is it better to rule in hell or do what it takes to get lots of direct national & international flights into the region?
“Talking about new airports is really no different than talking about new arenas and major league sports. It’s a surrogate for trying to be more prestigious.”
Its quite the opposite- sharing a major Airport like that cuts against quest for prestige among the 3 cities for the larger goal of sustaining more flights.
Interestingly according to Wikipedia, the number one destination for most of the regional airports was Atlanta & not Chicago (usually by a wide margin)- many of these people are transferring flights, but it supports my point that Chicago is no longer the region’s connector city.
It also may indicate that the growth axis in the Midwest has shifted towards the Indy-Cincinnati-Columbus-Pittsburgh axis and away from the lakes. It also fits with the growth of mid south states like Tennessee.
New Midwest meets new South.
I’m fine with people figuring these things out for themselves. Your example of Chicago versus Atlanta connections makes my point. There are too many moving parts here to know when, how, where, and in what way to build a new airport in a time of declining flying. Cincinnati is certainly more connected to Atlanta than to Chicago, for example. Cincinnati’s most important economic connects are north and south. Cincinnati stands between the eastern Great Lakes and the Southeast. Those are its most important connections. Cincinnati would be hurt much more by weakening its connections to Atlanta, Nashville, or Charlotte than to Chicago.
OK, folks seemed to drop this thread-the weekend probably helped-but I will make one more comment. Maybe it’s not a new big airport. I agree this is actually quite unlikely. However, I still think there is merit to the fact that you have 5 million people within one hour’s drive of a location, and if you look at the closest market with 5 million people, Detroit, it has 28 million annual trips (as of Oct 2012 to Oct 2013). Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton combined have just under 14 million. Plus Detroit has many international flights to Europe, south America and even Asia.
I guarantee there are a good percentage of the population that has to drive close to an hour to get to the airport-maybe 20%.
So maybe the answer is that the three airports find a good existing airport-Wilmington Air Park- that can accommodate large jets, and pool together to try to draw international flights there. Folks want to fly to Chicago or New York in their back yard, and I get that. But if it takes a market of 5 million within an hour’s drive to get international flights, then maybe Wilmington can be the “International terminal” for each of the three cities.
I think this can be reasonably done if the three airport authorities and the business community and the State all team up.
Maybe there isn’t demand for more. Are the existing terminals bad? Is transit poor? Are the airlines unable to get landing slots? LaGuardia has all these challenges, but it seems to run busy.
There is not enough demand in Columbus to support a flight to London. But count the demand of Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton up and maybe there is. I would be interested to see if there is and might dig to see if I can find numbers on demand for certain destinations.
I think businesses look at airline service as a big item on their checklist when deciding where to locate jobs. I think this is a big economic development issue.
Also count Indianapolis which doesn’t have a flight either.
Louisville might be another market that would be satisficed by such an airport – that is if Atlanta is much too hard a drive.
And then there’s the Pittsburgh region which could also be part of that market for long haul flights.