Did anyone check out this month's Planning Magazine entitled "The Coming of the Creative Class"?
Rather disappointed not to see good ol' NO in the list of the top 10 creative places?
What gives - I thought we were hip, cool and creative before anyone else had a clue...
Check out Chris Rose's "Boho Baloney" article at www.nola.com for a response to Mr. Florida.
Oh shudder! If we went if Florida's recommendations, we'd have CUPA making all the planning decisions for the City!!!!!!
Not only is New Orleans not considered a top "creative city." It's like 41 on the "Bohemian Index." Spend a couple of hours on Frenchmen Street and tell me that this city is lacking in both creativity and bohemians! I'd say you're a liar and your mother dresses you funny!
Don't worry. His 15 minutes of fame will be over soon.
Well, New Orleans certainly has the creative class, but what percentage of the population are they? Is there a critical mass that would attract others to the city?
Buffalo has a very well entrenched community of artists, writers, musicians, and other bohemian types. There's gay bars o'plenty, if you're into that, as well as quite a few coffeehouses, small bookstores, and so on. Buffalo is packed with institutions of higher learning, such as UB, Buff State, Canisius, D'Youville, Daemen, Medaille, Villa Maria, Houghton, Hilbert, Niagara ... the list goes on.
It's not booming, though. In fact, it's experiencing a brain drain of young professionals, marching to the mantra of "Charlotte ... Charlotte ... Charlotte." Why? The post-Buffalonian Buffalonains are offset, if not overwhelmed, by the huge number of "anti-creatives," the beer-swillin', factory workin', super-ethnic Bills fanatics that truly dominate the population. You can't find an Ethiopian or That restaurant in Buffalo to save your life, but you'll have no shortage of options if you're looking to a good Catholic-style fish fry. Progressive dinners for singles ... nope. Bowling leagues ... hell yeah! Dog parks ... nope. Volunteer fireman competition grounds ... uh huh.
If a typical Buffalonian was like a typical Rochester resident, a middle class professional, I think there would be more creative class-types fgiving the city a closer look. Any potential creative class recruits in Buffalo, though, must be turned off by its in-your-face old school blue collar character.
Yes, New Orleans knows how to party, and it has its eccentrics. How about the normal N.O. resident, though? Are mouth-breathing Cajun bubbas and an alarmingly high crime rate scaring away the potential entrepreneurs, Andrei Codrescus and Ann Rices who might want to call New Orleans home?
Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell. -- Edward Abbey
This is incredible: Madison, Des Moines, Lansing are meccas for bohemians. And I've been wasting all my time in New Orleans looking for creative people.
Go figure!!!
I don't think there is a predominant class in New Orleans, at least one that is as pervasive as the beer swiggin anti-creative Buffalonians as Dan implied. One of this city's many attractive traits is that the class distinctions are somewhat blurred.
I hate the fact that some kook schemed up yet another label with "immeasurable" standards in which some people feel pressured or compelled to live up to.
Bump. Moved from APA Louisiana Forum.
Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell. -- Edward Abbey
Where did you get that list of most Bohemian cities?Originally posted by planfaster
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