When a poor college student gets a birthday card from grandma with a $20 bill in it, the instructions accompanying the money usually consist of, "Now don't spend that on your electric bill. Use it to buy something you wouldn't normally buy for yourself."

Without the graying temples and Keds shoes, that's basically what Gov. Jennifer Granholm's Cool Cities Initiative has done for East Lansing.

For the last two years, East Lansing has petitioned to bear the label "cool" - and receive the $100,000 in grant funding that comes along with the title. The city didn't receive the grant in 2004, but at a ceremony in Grand Rapids on Monday, East Lansing was named one of 13 Cool Cities - along with Ann Arbor, Detroit and Lansing - in the state. It now will use the extra dough to install three wireless Internet networks in the downtown area.

This is a feature the city wouldn't otherwise purchase with its shrinking budget, much like the CDs you couldn't afford without grandma's gift. It's hard to keep the city growing when it's faced with budget cuts, and although the $100,000 seems like a few dollars compared to the cuts it faces, it's money that'll help the city grow technologically.

And that's the goal of the initiative, isn't it? More young professionals will be enticed by even the smallest technological growth.

So, yes, of course the city is not going to turn its nose up at a chance to get a $100,000 cash. What's a little strange, however, is how it seems that simply holding the status of being a "cool" city is what the city is most interested in.

It's attention-getting and a good political name for the grant program, but we can't help thinking it's a little too patronizing to the generation of "young professionals." It's almost like that same grandmother trying to be "down" with her grandchildren by playing Halo 2 with them. It's just embarrassing for everyone.

But hey, a name's just a name, and as long as we're getting wireless Internet and updating the city in ways we weren't able to before, there aren't any complaints here.

Just don't start saying "shizzle" and "crunk," grandma.