Milwaukee trying to attract more college graduates

[SXSW]

Sounds very similar to our situation here in Tulsa.  They look at nearby cities like Minneapolis/St. Paul, Chicago, Indianapolis, even Pittsburgh and see all of this new growth and wonder what they're doing wrong.  We look to nearby cities like Austin, Dallas, Houston, Denver, and Nashville and wonder the same thing.  Interesting article.

http://www.jsonline.com/business/96226434.html

[dbacks fan]

They're probably trying to attract better people to be on the county board of supervisors. 

[TheArtist]

Some interesting excerpts.... http://www.jsonline.com/business/96226434.html


...The smartest cities are getting smarter.... Better-educated places enjoy higher income, less crime and enhanced levels of civic participation, economic research has found...

...Not only that, but cities that had the best-educated populations 20 years ago have increased their stock much more than have less-educated places. The result: a self-reinforcing loop that is widening the gap between the leaders and less-favored cities...

...Recent economic research has found that the greatest "spillover" benefits of having lots of college-educated workers occur in relatively small, densely populated areas. After a few miles, economic blessings - such as the attraction of new businesses and higher wages for workers across the board - erode significantly, the research concludes. By and large, that means those benefits are more likely to accrue within cities,...



..."The use of cities or counties is highly appropriate," Becker said by e-mail, "and your results on the growing dispersion among cities in the relative number of educated persons are interesting and important."
"You don't see robust metro economies that are built around deficient city economies," he said.  Counties in the same metropolitan area share strong economic links, but the integration isn't total, and the ties to the central county here have been loosening.
..

...is to play to the area's strengths and nurture existing clusters of knowledge-based industries such as medical devices. Indeed, concentrations of particular types of business tend to beget more of the same, Rosenthal said. "Companies are heavily attracted to locations in which there is a bunch of employment in their own industry within one mile,",,,


,,,,Also critical, said Wisconsin Technology Council president Tom Still, is to strengthen the research capacity at Milwaukee's universities and the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Such research has helped Pittsburgh. From 1996 through 2008, its two largest universities, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh, generated 138 start-up companies,...

...Beyond trying to foster the growth of businesses that need college-educated workers, cities also must offer an attractive quality of life, many researchers say. Author Florida argues that the "creative" people who drive economic growth often choose where to live regardless of employment and that "the companies follow the people - or, in many cases, are started by them." Such people, Florida has written, tend to value amenities such as a lively cultural scene and an array of good restaurants. Other researchers have stressed the basics - strong schools and public safety. Both are issues here....


Some comments after the article..

I think a big reason is the poor school system. When my wife and I were looking at buying a home, we specifically looked in the suburbs due to the fact that we knew we would have kids some day and did not want them to go to MPS. Most of my friends and family, college educated or not, have the same thinking


Who wants to live in Milwaukee it is either over priced or run down. My parents left milwaukee for Brookfield in the 60's why because of the education and they saw that is was not a place to raise children.

In addition to all of the problems mentioned above, Milwaukee is also lacking in an arts culture, which I believe every truly major city should possess. This problem is a little bit of a "chicken and the egg" syndrome. Because college grads are leaving, we don't have the arts culture, but one reason they are leaving is because we don't have it. This is one aspect of Milwaukee that really bothers me.

I also like Minneapolis, wouldn't want to live (again) there but it is certainly a nice place to visit. But the thing that they do well (the citizens) is that they frequently talk their city up, so the perception is it's this great place to live and work. They don't trump up the fact that there have been 24 murders so far in their city, that they lead the nation in instances of STD's in teens, that they are 2nd behind Detroit, when it comes to relative disparity in employment based on race and their public school system is (and has been) almost as troubled as MPS. They instead talk about their skyline, their light rail, the great restaurants, and the fact they're home to some of America's largest corporate headquarters.   So while the discussion about Milwaukee needing to do something *now* to at least be "average"; I think Milwaukeean's and it's suburbanites need to stop always looking to what's wrong with the city (crime *is* a problem in a very small part of the city) and start focusing on what's right and what's working. That's what most great cities do.





Does sound a lot like Tulsa.

Improve k-12 and graduation rates
Work on improving college graduate numbers
Expand universities and graduate/research programs
Nurture "research to business", start-ups, and university/business collaborations
Nurture "clusters" of important business types/industries
Expand amenities and quality of life concerns like arts and recreation.
Strengthen the city core.
Accentuate your positives and promote yourself.

[SXSW]

Improve k-12 and graduation rates
Work on improving college graduate numbers
Expand universities and graduate/research programs
Nurture "research to business", start-ups, and university/business collaborations
Nurture "clusters" of important business types/industries
Expand amenities and quality of life concerns like arts and recreation.
Strengthen the city core.
Accentuate your positives and promote yourself.

I fully agree.  That is why expanding the presence of TU, OSU, and OU in Tulsa is so important.  Especially TU because it is a really good university that attracts students and faculty from around the world and also OSU because its campus is downtown.  Universities attract and retain educated people.  If George Kaiser could do anymore good for this city on top of what he has already done I would suggest a large donation to the local universities.  Look no further than Austin to see what a successful university can do for a city.