Sunday, April 05, 2009
Boosting the region's prosperity, profile
A workshop run by the Creative Class Group focused on ways to move Roanoke toward a more creative, innovative and sustainable economy.
The latest from The Ticker blog
Local skeptics could choose to feast on this freshly stocked buffet of hope.
They could say that at least a few of these newly hatched strategies to boost the region's prosperity and national profile have been tossed about before -- stretching back more than a decade to the work of the New Century Council and even further -- but never achieved.
Yet many of the initiatives described Tuesday were new. For example, the ultimate goal of one would be having a carbon neutral region by 2030. Another, designed to build tolerance among disparate groups, would encourage frank discussion about thorny topics such as race, sexual preference and other hot potato issues.
In fact, optimism seemed to reign during a public presentation in downtown Roanoke that followed a two-day workshop run by the Creative Class Group, an outfit spawned by economic development guru Richard Florida.
Software entrepreneur Jay Foster was among about two dozen volunteers whose brainstorming efforts consumed Monday and Tuesday. The diverse group, called Creative Connectors, winnowed hundreds of ideas to four overarching initiatives intended to move the region toward a more creative, innovative and sustainable economy.
Foster, long involved in regional economic development efforts, admitted he joined the process feeling somewhat "jaded and skeptical."
"You're talking to somebody who's been down this road many times before," Foster said.
But, like other volunteers who spoke Tuesday afternoon at the Kirk Avenue Music Hall, Foster sounded both exhausted and inspired.
He said he was especially encouraged by the emphasis on the region's private sector taking the lead to both shepherd the strategies and recruit residents of the region to participate -- a point he said has been made for years by Roanoke-based high-tech businessman Bonz Hart and others.
"It has to be the private sector pushing politicians to make this happen," Foster said.
In addition, the Creative Class Group will continue to work with the volunteers for about a year to draft a business plan for each strategy, to refine related goals and keep the process rolling.
A community fund established by developer Ed Walker and his wife, Katherine, of Roanoke contributed $25,000 to bring the Creative Class Group's Creative Communities Leadership Program to Roanoke. Walker also allowed the workshop and presentation to occur in his office and music hall on Kirk Avenue.
Walker spoke Tuesday as the presentation began and said the opportunity to work with the Creative Class Group offered a great and unusual opportunity and confirmed that "Roanoke is one of the great small cities in the country."
He said he was "astounded at the quality of people" who were selected to participate in the workshop.
The city paid $25,000 out of general fund contingency money to support the Florida-inspired process. It also solicited applications regionally to attract 30 people to serve as creative connectors. City officials reviewed more than 90 applications before selecting 30.
From Angela Bennett to Gordie Ziegler, the list includes: restaurateurs, an outdoors-focused economic developer, a lawyer and a chef. Also participating are journalists, a musician, a public relations professional, a university recruiter, a quality control manager and other regional business and community leaders.
For the workshop, organized by Stuart Mease and Lisa Soltis of the city's economic development department, 26 of the 30 were able to attend.
Steven Pedigo, director of communities and research for the Creative Class Group, said the prospect of the group's work in Roanoke originated in part during a conversation with Mease at an International Development Conference in Atlanta. It was motivated also, Pedigo said, by Roanoke's demonstrated commitment to innovative approaches for economic development.
Many in the region, and nationwide, enthusiastically embrace Florida's "creative class" theories of economic development and his ideas have influenced regional economic development organizations. For example, his work has helped guide the ongoing reorganization of the Roanoke Regional Partnership.
Florida is an internationally acclaimed researcher and professor at the University of Toronto. His 2002 book, "The Rise of the Creative Class" has profoundly influenced the arena of economic development.
In essence, Florida and followers suggest cities must attract and accept artists and other bohemian types, ethnic minorities and gays because evidence of such tolerance and diversity attracts smart young people who will launch fast-growing companies or work for companies seeking a good quality of life.
But not everyone worships at Florida's feet.
Skeptics want empirical evidence that his approach actually helps cities grow in sustainable ways.
A 2007 article in Fast Company magazine contends "there's scant evidence that Florida-esque creativity strategies have moved the needle on traditional economic development gauges such as job and income growth."
Steven Malanga, a senior editor for City Journal, has frequently criticized Florida's theories. In an e-mail Thursday, Malanga referenced research conducted by Enrico Moretti, an economist at the University of California Berkeley. Malanga wrote, "This research suggests that educated types don't go to certain cities because of the amenities but because that's where the jobs are."
Job markets evolve first and they then lure college graduates, he observed
"The research suggests, as many have said in criticizing Florida, that he's offering a superficial explanation for why some cities thrive -- that's probably why he's so popular with politicians -- which ignores the deeper reality that is harder to pinpoint."
Meanwhile, in Roanoke on Tuesday, City Manager Darlene Burcham thanked the group of volunteers who participated in the two-day workshop and commended their commitment to a yearlong, marathon process.
"Yesterday and today were the easy parts," she said.
