The "Creative Class" theory takes it on the chin: Joel Kotkin comes not to praise Richard Florida's notions of the economic dynamism of the Creative Class in urban environments, but rather to bury those ideas under cold hard facts and scrutiny, even while some critics say the theory was always too elitist and patronizing to begin with; "the creative class doesn’t have much in the way of coattails”

bigthink·YouTube Channel: Big Think Interview with Richard Florida, the director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. What are the factors in creating a successful economic recovery and what are the public policy. He brings up the South Florida housing market at the 10:28 mark. Uploaded April 23, 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqesiFaXg7s

The Daily Beast

Richard Florida Concedes the Limits of the Creative Class

by Joel Kotkin 

March 20, 2013 4:45 AM EDT

The so-called creative class of intellects and artists was supposed to remake America’s cities and revive urban wastelands. Now the evidence is in—and the experiment appears to have failed, writes Joel Kotkin.

Among the most pervasive, and arguably pernicious, notions of the past decade has been that the “creative class” of the skilled, educated and hip would remake and revive American cities. The idea, packaged and peddled by consultant Richard Florida, had been that unlike spending public money to court Wall Street fat cats, corporate executives or other traditional elites, paying to appeal to the creative would truly trickle down, generating a widespread urban revival.

Read the rest of the essay at:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/20/richard-florida-concedes-the-limits-of-the-creative-class.html

I last wrote about Richard Florida when his book Who's Your City: How the Creative Economy is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life 
came out.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj1OpiBRNsg

I not only purchased a copy for myself, but after a few days of reading it, also purchased a copy at the then-Borders in Aventura and mailed it to my my niece in Maryland who was then weeks from leaving for her freshman year at Washington & Lee in Virginia, where her younger sister is now still at UVA in Charlottesville, one of the country's really great cities to live in and visit.

His May 27, 2008 appearance at Google HQ at Mountain Vista was one I taped for a number of friends. You can also watch it online at:

http://www.booktv.org/Watch/9274/Whos+Your+City+How+the+Creative+Economy+is+Making+Where+to+Live+the+Most+Important+Decision+of+Your+Life.aspx

Transit Miami blog

Miami’s Suburbs in the Sky 

by Craig Chester

May 17, 2012 

Are the mega-condos of Brickell the key to urban vitality and innovation or are they just cul-de-sacs in the sky? In a keynote speech during the 20th Congress for New Urbanism in West Palm Beach, author Richard Florida challenged the idea that the “rush to density” will unlock and release the potential of our cities.

Read the rest of the post at

http://www.transitmiami.com/urban-planning/miamis-suburbs-in-the-sky

I was originally going to write a comment there the day the post above came out but I never actually sent it after writing it, though I did share it with some friends around the country who are also interested in urban planning and design/
Transit Miami 

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http://www.creativeclass.com/richard_florida

His essays at The Atlantic on urban theory:
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/authors/richard-florida/

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/11/3228539/urbanist-richard-florida-on-miami.html

Deconstructing Richard Florida

By Ian David Moss

April 27, 2009

http://createquity.com/2009/04/deconstructing-richard-florida.html

Try to Remember - The Obama-Orbach Corollary: President Obama's self-evident flip-flopping on sequestration makes me want to sing, "Try to remember the kind of November when..." the Beltway media was praising Obama...; Jerry Orbach singing 'Try to Remember' as the original El Gallo in The Fantasticks

CharlieSpiering YouTube Channel: Remember when President Obama supported the sequester cuts? Uploaded February 19, 2013. http://youtu.be/kj1y3q92sog

Try to Remember- The Obama-Orbach Corollary: President Obama's self-evident flip-flopping on sequestration makes me want to sing, "Try to remember the kind of November when..." the Beltway media was praising Obama...; Jerry Orbach singing 'Try to Remember' as the original El Gallo in The Fantasticks

Try to remember... yes, I was alive when President Obama said what he really thought the first time around about sequestration.
He thought it was great and even threatened to veto, which really meant threatening to let loose his zealous followers on anyone who got in its way.

The vast majority of American families have been forced to do their own version of sequestration for many years and the country won't fall apart now.
I support it.

Besides, Obama was the author of this one, and Leon Panetta wrote the Pentagon's chapter, so let them take a bow.
They aren't cuts, they're cuts to rates of growth. 

http://www.politico.com/p/pages/sequestration/

What we need locally is a sequester in Hallandale Beach to stop the tax dollars flowing out in a torrent with little tangible to show for it.
Well, that is, except for highly-paid city employees who aren't very concerned with the best interests of the taxpayers, residents and small business owners of this city.

Speaking of trying to remember... here's the versatile super-talent who starred as the first El Gallo in The Fantasticks, Jerry Orbach, with this clip of him singing the first song of the show, which premiered in May of 1960.

john170252 YouTube Channel video: Jerry Orbach - Try to Remember [From the Fantasticks] (1962). Uploaded July 27, 2009. http://youtu.be/ycPoxZ1NPBY

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Try_to_Remember

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Washington Examiner reporter Charlie Spiering's YouTube Channel is located at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/charliespiering