Dear Louisville, A few ideas for the 21st Century.

Since I was a kid growing up in Louisville, I remember talk about what the city needed to do to become… relevant? world-class? sustainable? I was never sure of the aims of the ideation because Louisville was perfectly fine to me. But then I left, like so many Louisvillians my age, for better opportunities. They call it the brain drain.

And now in my mid-thirties, I flirt with moving back. When I encounter others from the ville, we talk about what it would take to motivate us to return. Family is a big reason. Affordability another. But then we talk about the work that’s there and the conversation stumbles. Louisville is a town with 20th Century jobs. And we’re millennials working in fields that didn’t even exist 5 to 10 years ago.

As a self-appointed ambassador for all-things-Kentucky, Louisville and its eccentricities are dear to me. And when I hear talk about what Louisville needs to do to change, I pause to wonder why it needs to change. But then selfishly I think what it needs to do to lure me back. Occasionally I read an article like this that speaks about the state revenue needs and how a short-term savior-de-jour like gambling is going to fix things when there are bonafide studies that show gambling is simply an additional tax on the poor. Or how luring an NBA team will attact professionals and businesses to the city. I love basketball but I promise the NBA product isn’t keeping anyone in NYC.

So I decided I’d write my own plan about how Louisville and Kentucky should plan for the long term if it’s really serious about building a 21st Century economy and luring more business and professionals to the city and state. Here it goes:

Revenue.

1. Training and incentives for farmers to grow marijuana. And I guess you need to legalize it too.
2. Double-down on spirits.

Education.

1. Advance degrees focused on creative technology.
2. Post-graduate training for specific technology fields.
3. Public school programming requirement.

UPS.

1. 3D Printing and UPS.
2. Subsidized warehouse and office space for start-ups utilizing UPS with at least 3 employees living in Kentucky.

Visitors.

1. Food.
2. Bourbon.
3. 21C
4. Conference that introduces young professionals to the charms of the city.

Recruiting.

1. Offer the best income and business tax rates among Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky.
2. Subsidized housing and studio space for artists and technologists.
3. Fiber.
4. Get more edgy. You want hipsters, gays, musicians, artists and the other culture-makers. Culture is what makes a city worth living in. And that’s the best recruiting strategy there is.
5. Double-down on affordable and accessible healthcare.

Getting Ahead.

1. Healthcare innovation capital of the world.
2. Self-driving cars. Traffic.
3. Independent digital content.