YP Survey Results Are In!

Recently, the Traverse City Young Professionals hosted a survey about living, working and the future of Traverse City. After tallying the results from the 94 respondents, we've created a nice little infograph that makes it easy for everyone to read and understand the results. I'll summarize a few of the notable points below too.

A few facts that were interesting to me was that more of the respondents were NOT Traverse City natives and the largest age segment of respondents was between the age of 25-30. I think that this is a reflection of how many local organizations and companies are putting a larger emphasis on recruiting and retaining young talent to Traverse City, and I hope that the trend continues.

With no surprise, natural beauty and local food/wine/beer took the top two spots on unique assets to TC, which i completely agree. Especially Georgina's. If you haven't been there. Stop what you're doing and go. No questions. Go.

Also, tied for first place in the things TC should focus on in the next 5/10 years was the ability to turn the East Front Street alley into a river walk and increase the amount of outdoor seating. This past summer, the City completed a renovation of Clinch Park, which did offer a brand spanking new public space and some outdoor seating, but I personally would have hoped for a little more seating :)

Keeping waterfront/bay views open as well as recruiting young talent with affordable housing came in 1 & 2 as ways to preserves TC's competitive advantage, followed by retrofitting existing buildings for reuse, such as the TC Commons and encouraging local/unique businesses, not chains.

So what do you think? Accurate? Not so much?

We'd love to hear from you, so leave us a comment and be sure to share!

Thanks,

John Stocki

Business After Hours: Opa! Uptown

Hello, everyone! I wanted to check in and share the most recent Business After Hours (BAH) that I went to this week, working the registration table on behalf of TCYP. It was my second BAH event since joining the YPs this past January, and I had a lot more fun this time around because I saw many familiar faces!

This month's BAH took place at Opa! Uptown, which was already great because their food is FANTASTIC. I was really glad that we were able to sneak some nibbles while working, and that everything tasted so good. I've never had a blueberry pierogi before, but I'll be surprised if I deprive myself of having another one over the next few weeks...

The place was packed. It was great to see so many people walking about and enjoying the new digs at the restaurant (they opened up a few months ago) and people were all over the place. No doubt Opa! got some good exposure, because people were raving about the food and service. 

One of my favorite things about Opa! Uptown is the artwork they have around the restaurant. Yes, perhaps it's a bit of a curveball in terms of what most people notice when they go out to eat, but I think their restaurant has some of the coolest, most unique, and intriguing artwork in this town. As a History of Art major in college, I can't help but notice stuff like that! It does so much for the ambience, and it has made a strong impression on my the times I've visited. I love the "wow" factor of each large-scale piece they have...it's refreshing to see a place unafraid to fill their walls with big, bold works of art!

But, of course, my favorite thing about BAH is spending time with my fellow YPs. We had a really fun group working this week, and it's always nice to talk with YPs in a more casual setting where we can really spend time getting to learn more about each other. We spent two hours working the registration table and chatting with various Chamber members, but my favorite conversations were the ones I had with the YPs I was working with that night.

Well, that's all from me. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! Winter is beginning to settle in Traverse, and while we've had a few snowflakes fall there isn't anything sticking on the ground yet...I hope it stays that way until December, but I know how Michigan weather has a mind of it's own. We'll see!