Friday, May 25, 2012

The good life east of 23

Intrepid local foodie blogger, A2GastroBoy, has just completed a new visitor's guide to Ypsi. The suggestions for drinking and dining seem pretty solid. The GastroBoy's descriptions are packed full of great bits of history too. By far my favorite part of the guide is GastroBoy's soap box speech where he identifies and proposes solutions for what he sees as the biggest 3 issues facing Ypsi: one fiscal, one geographic and one superficial.
SUPERFICIAL: Proximity, AKA the inherent comparison syndrome of Twin Cities. Here’s my final stand dedicated to all of the elitist fucks in Ann Arbor who refuse to acknowledge life east of US23…Consider Minneapolis and St. Paul, Manhattan and Brooklyn, San Francisco and Oakland, Royal Oak and Ferndale, Eli and Payton. In each situation you have an underdog little-brother, forever over-shadowed by their larger, more affluent neighbor. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying Ypsi would be Pleasantville if it stood alone. Not at all. The paradox of twin cities is that they need each other. Ypsi is the low rent district. That doesn’t make it bad. It makes it affordable. Affordable fosters development and creativity. Would Beezy’s be in Ypsilanti if Beezy could’ve afforded an Ann Arbor lease? Would the Dreamland Theater exist if it weren’t for folks from Ann Arbor driving in? Maybe. Likely Not. Stop making comparisons. We don’t need another Ann Arbor. We need to appreciate the value of diversity.

SOLVE: Rebrand the City. I know it sounds ridiculous – but who really likes the name Ypsilanti? Leave it for the township. Just don’t choose a bullshit name like say, Xfinity.

Also, did you know the Ypsi Water Tower has a twitter account? I didn't.

No comments:

Post a Comment