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o�sou TH <br /> F dx <br /> :J b <br /> W eFacE � � <br /> y� a 1, a2 <br /> 1865 <br /> Office of the Mayor <br /> NEWS RELEASE <br /> ApH130, 2007 <br /> 3 p.m. <br /> Stop being trendy, author tells downtown advocates <br /> Contact: Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications&Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876- <br /> 1564, or Marco Mariani, 282-1110 <br /> SOUTH BEND—Downtown advocates must teach retiring baby boomers how to world play, live <br /> and shop downtown to reverse cultural perceptions of"normal"American life, according to "a <br /> passionate crusader for downtowns across America." <br /> Speaking Saturday(April 28, 2007) at the first annual Pride of Place Design Awards sponsored <br /> by Downtown South Bend and the City of South Bend, Kyle Ezell, founder of Get Urban <br /> America Ltd., challenged more than 50 downtown advocates to"stop cheerleading and start <br /> teaching." <br /> An estimated 78 million baby boomers will retire in the next 10 years, according to Ezell, an <br /> author and urban planner. He told those gathered at the South Bend Regional Museum of Art that <br /> he believes these"guppies"(Retired Urban People) are the key to changing the future of the <br /> nation's downtowns. <br /> "People who are retiring today are very active and ready to do things,"said Ezell, lecturer in city <br /> and regional planning at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. "This demographic has the <br /> most money of any demographic in the entire history of the United States. ... If they're not <br /> downtown, their grandchildren can't be initiated to city living. That generation is going to be <br /> gone, and 15 years from now cities will become less and less relevant." <br /> Downtown advocates need to reverse cultural perceptions of what is "normal"that began 60 years <br /> ago with the founding of the first American suburb in Levittown, N.Y. According to Ezell, what's <br /> defined as "normal"today includes: <br /> • Homeowners desiring a house at the end of the last cul-de-sac in a suburban development <br /> because it's the farthest away from people. <br /> • Workers getting lunch at a drive-through and eating alone in a car in the fast-food parking lot. <br /> • Drivers sitting in a traffic jam doing their makeup or eating breakfast while reading the <br /> newspaper. <br /> By contrast, he said, walking, bicycling or dining in a sidewalk cafe are considered trendy. "It's <br />