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February 11, 2007
Chattanooga Is Failing To Attract And Retain Young Professionals
After more than 10 years of downtown revitalization Chattanooga is still hemorrhaging young professionals. Most young, talented people I know have either already moved away from Chattanooga, or are thinking about leaving. So why, after countless millions of dollars have been spent to rejuvenate and revitalize this city, are Chattanooga’s bright and talented young people still lining up to leave?
Several studies have shown that this new generation of young, creative professionals don’t really care so much about power, prestige, or money, but care mostly about quality of life. At first glance it would seem that Chattanooga has tremendous quality of life and a lot to offer to young professionals – the cost of living is very low, housing is widely available and relatively cheap, we have a good climate (except for the summers), we have many beautiful natural areas surrounding us, etc. Those things are true, but quality of life for young professionals encompasses so much more than these things, and Chattanooga doesn’t offer a lot of them.
Mark McKnight in a blog post similar to this one a few weeks ago cited Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class, who says that to attract young, creative professionals a city must have the three T’s: Technology, Talent, and Tolerance. I would also add a fourth T: Things to do. There isn’t much to do in Chattanooga (big surprise, I’m sure). Young professionals want to be able to go to great shows and concerts on a regular basis; they want great restaurants and healthy food; they want a thriving artistic community with great art galleries - not just one museum wholly focused on American art that occasionally gets a touring exhibition; and they want fun neighborhoods – neighborhoods in the urban sense that provide all of these things within a short walk or drive.
Chattanooga’s biggest obstacle in attracting and retaining young professionals, it seems, is its lack of tolerance. Chattanooga is a white, Christian bubble and it does little or nothing to make non-white, non-Christians feel at home. Young professionals, for the most part, want diversity, even if they are white and Christian, but especially if they are not. They want to live in areas that will not only tolerate their race, religion, or sexual orientation, but also welcome it. This is, for obvious reasons, easier for large cities to manage. Because there are more people in these areas, there are more people of various races, religions, and sexual orientations in these areas also, thus providing more of a sense of belonging to a community. Chattanooga however is extremely racist, completely unwelcoming to people with religious beliefs other than Christianity, and not especially welcoming to gays, lesbians, or people with other “alternative lifestyles.” In short, young professionals tend to gravitate toward more liberal cities and away from the conservative likes of Chattanooga. They go to New York, or D.C., or San Francisco, or Seattle, or Portland, or Chicago – cities that are more tolerant, have thriving artistic communities, greater diversity, and jobs. When was the last time you heard a young graphic designer or software engineer say, “I really want to move to Salt Lake City”?
Chattanooga has other obstacles other than its lack of tolerance and things to do. Chattanooga’s cost of living is relatively low, but so is its rate of pay and its employment opportunities in general. Unfortunately our revitalized downtown was designed more around visitors to our city rather than residents, and the available jobs reflect that. You can easily find a job at a downtown restaurant, hotel, bar, or tourist attraction, but your chances of finding a job at a great design firm, high tech company, or start up company are relatively low. Since the majority of new economic development in this city has been geared around reinforcing Chattanooga’s place as a tourist destination it’s left our residents in a bit of a bind. And I can say with great confidence that Chattanooga’s bright, creative young people have little interest in working at a Toyota plant. We simply have put most of our eggs into the tourist basket, and most artists, designers, consultants, and high tech people feel the need to go to another city simply to do the job they want to do. Even if they do find a job in their field here, and even though Chattanooga has a low cost of living, salaries are far too low. So even if they move to a city with a higher cost of living, the chances that their salary will be in line with that higher cost of living will be better – so in the end they will have more expendable income in an urban center with a higher cost of living. Also, studies have shown that close to two thirds of young professionals will choose where they want to live before they find a job in that location. Even if people did want to move to Chattanooga, if we don't have good jobs to offer them they will look elsewhere.
Even for people without advanced degrees who are content working at a restaurant or hotel, other cities are more attractive because the same jobs in those cities are often accompanied by better benefits – namely health insurance. Right now there are close to 50,000 people in the Chattanooga area without any form of health insurance and that number is growing, not shrinking. And in Tennessee benefits for same-sex partners is practically unheard of.
Also, as I stated earlier, this new creative class of young professionals don’t care much about power or prestige. Chattanooga (and I hate to sound like Robert T. Nash) is a city with a very few power brokers that largely control the direction our city takes. Most young professionals from outside our area would be, and are, put off with the rigid power structure of this town. Some people are addressing the problem of our town losing its brightest and best. The Arts Move Program that offers incentives for artists to relocate to Chattanooga is a program that shows some promise. But even the Chattanooga Young Professionals Association, whose mission is to attract and retain Chattanooga’s young professionals, doesn’t even have a website (as far as I can tell), and recently had its luncheon at The Walden Club. My grandmother used to be a member of The Walden Club, but left because it was too stodgy and old. This is not enough.
I too will be leaving Chattanooga very soon and relocating to San Francisco. This is primarily because my girlfriend and future wife is in the first year of a doctoral program at UC Berkeley and will be there for several more years. But I’m also really excited about this move because of what the bay area has to offer. I look forward to living in a city with a thriving creative class; where I can go to a different museum or gallery every day; where I can see wonderful concerts whenever I want to; where there are tremendous job opportunities; where food is healthier, cheaper, and more diverse; where the communities and neighborhoods are more welcoming and tolerant of people of all races, religions, and lifestyles.
I’m not writing this because I hate Chattanooga. I am originally from here and have lived here the majority of my life. I’m writing this because I like Chattanooga. I see the potential that Chattanooga has, but to date has yet to realize. Chattanooga is a beautiful place with a lot of wonderful and talented people, but until our elected officials and civic leaders begin to address some of the very real problems outlined here Chattanooga will continue to simply be a nice place to visit and a good place to retire, if you are white, Christian, and straight.
| By Joshua Daniels | 02:18 PM
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