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Kyle Ezell's Bio:
Kyle Ezell is the founder of Get Urban America, a Columbus, Ohio-based urban planning and marketing firm dedicated to teaching the urban lifestyle to Americans, a predominantly suburban culture. Kyle is a trained cultural geographer a nationally known certified city planner, and an instructor of downtown housing for the Ohio State University's City and Regional Planning Program. As an urban living stylist and Pied-Piper, he teaches "Downtown Living Seminars" for developers across the country who currently rely on suburban prospects and leads to convert to an urban lifestyle. He believes that turning American cities and towns into the best in the world can be done by teaching city living courses, one class at a time, which will change an exotic, foreign idea into a normal lifestyle choice. Kyle has keynoted national conferences such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation and for a variety of downtown-related organizations. Numerous newspaper and television media have interviewed Kyle as an expert on revitalizing cities, and he is the author of Retire Downtown: The Lifestyle Destination for Active Retirees and Empty Nesters and Get Urban! The Complete Guide to City Living. He lives in Columbus, Ohio. For more information, go to www.retiredowntown.com.
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Kyle
Ezell, AICP, Founder of Get Urban America, Ltd.
After
12 years of being a public sector city planner, I founded my own firm
called Get Urban America to teach Americans how to live in cities.
Most people never have. And because even more millions were born and
raised somewhere else, they wouldn't begin to know how.
City
planners and urban developers: stop spinning your wheels with
fluffy visioning, tired downtown planning processes, and cross-your-fingers
market studies. Big changes will only occur when millions of
people want to to live in authentic urban neighborhoods. Millions don't. They don't know how, and likely, they don't know what
they're missing!
Question:
How
many people in your city's region or metro area
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Are
scared of going downtown after dark (or any time of day)?
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Think
that city living is either for yuppies or for those stuck in poverty?
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Think
that riding a city bus is for the trendy or for those who can't
afford a car?
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Would
know how to buy a train or subway pass?
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Expect
a parking space directly in front of the door (or at least a huge
parking lot)?
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Walk
a mile around an indoor mall in the 'burbs and think nothing of
it?
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Consider
it out of the question to walk five blocks to the store?
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Would
rather see a big parking lot in downtown rather than an old historic
building?
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Want
to live close enough to the city to enjoy its amenities?
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Want
to live far enough away from the city to avoid urban problems?
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Think
that a one-hour, one-way commute to work is acceptable behavior?
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Think
that city living is not normal?
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Have
never experienced Manhattan or San Francisco?
Answer:
Most people.
How
can we expect the kind of growth needed to make downtown and
central city neighborhoods BUSTLE when
most people don't understand the
benefits of city living? (Or even like cities at all?)
We
can't! That "build it and they will come" theory
doesn't work well in the real world.
To me, there's nothing more special and fulfilling than living in an authentic urban environment, but not enough people agree. For those who do, unfortunately, authentic urban living in too many American cities is more of an unrealistic idea than an real option. This is simply not acceptable!
In the decade of the exurbs, I have decided to dedicate my life to teaching people about city living.
Americans are long overdue for a basic lesson in "city."
Won't you join me in getting America urban?
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Left photo : Kyle demonstrates one of the most important lessons-- schlepping to and from a city market.
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