The Ugly City Beautiful: A Policy Analysis
17th June 2014
“Michigan’s cities must retain and attract more people, including young knowledge workers, to its cities by making them attractive, vibrant, and diverse places,” reads a 2003 memo from the National Governor’s Association about Michigan’s “Cool Cities” campaign.
But the campaign struggled. “Government can’t mandate cool,” reflected Karen Gagnon, the former Cool Cities director. “As soon as government says something is cool, it’s not.”
And that, in a nutshell, is the failure of every attempt to have the government solve a problem that the government has no business being involved with.