By David Kennard
davidbkennard.com
PROVO – Mayor John Curtis said he is
welcoming millennials – the population representing the ages of
18-33 – because of the “influence the millennials are having on
Provo.”
 |
| Provo mayor John Curtis is a friend to the millennial. Source: provomayor.com/ |
He points to a recent Bloomberg
Business report ranking Provo in second place where for cities where
millennials are taking over the housing market.
The other top five cities include Des
Moines, Iowa; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and
Lafayette, Indiana.
Millennials, characterized by many as
the hip generation, also are making more money than their
predecessors, delaying starting families and seeking places with
cheaper home prices, according the Bloomberg report.
Provo, which happens to have the
highest median home prices where millennials are moving, has another
draw, a growing technology sector. According to Bloomberg, jobs in
science and technology are luring the 20-somethings away from the big
cities they prefer.
“It helps that it costs a lot less to
buy in Des Moines, where the median listing price in August was
$218,000. (In San Francisco, it was $738,000.) But it's also easy to
forget that there are attractive jobs in all kinds of places —
about half of jobs in science, tech, engineering, and math are
located in the 20 biggest U.S. metros. The rest are in places like
Huntsville, Ala., and Lincoln, Neb., cities that offer the appeal of
lower costs of living,” the Bloomberg report stated.
So what makes hipsters so attractive to
Provo?
Here's Curtis's list:
- Non-Judgmental: What you wear is not
as important as who you are.
- Linear: Executives and staff are
fluid in exchange of conversation and ideas. Everything is
transparent. The new intern’s ideas are as welcome as the boss with
40 years in the business. In fact,millennial’s may be more
important because he or she doesn’t have 40 years of paradigms.
- Media for outreach and to get
informed: They get their news when they want it and where they want
it. There are no unanswered questions for them.
- Embrace work/life balance: Gone are
the strident working hours. Instead, the focus is more on getting
quality work done. Art, design, and culture are as integral in the
work space as they are at home. It’s about the journey for them.
- Fearless: Social mores don’t scare
them.
- Socially conscious: Diversity is
important to them and they give their environment more than just idle
talk.
- Office setting: They’re not their
most productive in a traditional office lay out.
Here's how the Pew Research Center
describes millennials
- Digital Natives: They are the only
generation for which these new technologies are not something they’ve
had to adapt to
- Racial Diversity: Millennials diverse
is driven by the large wave of Hispanic and Asian immigrants who have
been coming to the U.S. for the past half century.
- Low levels of social trust.
Sociologists say this might come from a feeling of vulnerability
stemming from racial diversity an lower income levels.
- Economic Hardship: They have higher
levels of student loan debt, poverty and unemployment, and lower
levels of wealth and personal income.
- Vote for Democrats: Although they
claim to be independent politically, they are far more likely than
older generations to vote for Democratic candidates.
- Self identification: They are less patriotic than older generations. Fewer are environmentalists than
older generations. They are more likely that older generations to
support gay rights.
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