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Ann Arbor City Council Receives Update on Economic Health

College educated millennials have changed the key to economic development by choosing the location they want to live and then finding a job rather than going where they find a job.  That's the message the President of Michigan Future shared with Ann Arbor City Council Monday night at a work session on the community's economic health. 

Lou Glazer says to attract a larger number of these talented young workers that will then attract businesses the city needs to focus on several issues.  He says this includes high density downtown neighborhoods that are active 24 hours a day and are connected to more public transit options.

Glazer says the number of college educated 25 to 34 year olds has grown by 17 percent across the country since 2005, but has remained constant in Ann Arbor at 16-thousand.   He says Ann Arbor's economic development efforts should match Chicago in being focused on attracting every graduate of all the Big Ten Universities.

He says state policies that have lowered taxes and focused on businesses have hurt efforts to improve the quality of place and fund education which are the keys to attracting young talented people.

— Andrew Cluley is the Ann Arbor beat reporter, and anchor for 89.1 WEMU News. Contact him at 734.487.3363 or email him acluley@emich.edu.

Like many, I first came to this area when I started school at the University of Michigan, then fell in love with the community and haven’t left. After graduating from U of M in the mid 1990’s I interned at WDET for several years, while also working a variety of jobs in Ann Arbor. Then in 1999 I joined the WEMU news team.
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