Jackson Free Press

A Clarion-Ledger story today about a Leland Speed speech talks about the "Creative Class" concept that we started talking about way back in our preview issue: "Other successes are discussed in The Rise of the Creative Class, by Richard Florida, he said. The book says successful locations sold themselves because people sought them first as places to live in, then they searched for a job. That goes against tradition, Speed said."

We agree wholeheartedly with Speed that a community has to have good quality of life to be strong economically (witness Fondren), but we're not sure we always define it the same way. We do find it interesting that when Speed talks about Richard Florida's theory, he seldom mentions a cornerstone of the idea: tolerance (including race, age, alternative lifestyles).

Previous Comments

ID

137578

Comment

I liked his quote that "we" are "hardwired" to think that jobs = manufacturing. Hunh? Maybe for him and his crowd, but not for me. I do give him credit for trying to get past his own 'wiring' by at least talking about these things.

Author

kate

Date

2004-05-26T07:27:17-06:00

ID

137579

Comment

I give him credit, too, but I do get a little tired of grey-haired conservative Republican men speaking for all of Mississippians.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2004-05-26T11:53:30-06:00