The Creative Economy Council Experience
Submitted by scharton on Mon, 01/09/2006 - 21:47.
Here's my summary of the Creative Economy Council Report: 1) Improve Fresno's Quality of Life, 2) People with skills and resources will choose to live here, 3) The skilled people will attract businesses and/or start businesses.
The CEC report isn't the end of a process. It's not the end all. The CEC report is simply a gathering of a dozen folks who considered ways that this information could be communicated to the City in a way that hopefully brings positive change.
The problem with writing anthing like the CEC report is that it is not a living document. There were jillions of other possible recommendations. My hope is that the report will stimulate dialogue and more creative thought. And that you fine folks continue to use your collective noodle to think, dream and create our way into the best Fresno possible.
I don't have great faith that city leaders will read Rise of the Creative Class by Richard Florida. I wish that they would. But I do think that many of them will read the CEC report and will get the gist of the concept.
Economic Development is an outdated idea. Creating a fantastic city is a timeless idea. Who wins in this new approach? All of us. Every person who lives here benefits. Creating a fantastic city is a creative process. The more that we do this for ourselves, the more authentic the results.
Forget the consultants. Forget the out of town saviours. We can do this and we can do this better than they can. We have the ability and we have the motive.
The goal of citizens should be: to create the best city that we can.
The goal of cities should be: to create an environment where each person has the best opportunity to be their best self, to reach their highest potential.
collective consciousness
Last year I had the opportunity to ask a roomful of our areas top planners a question, " how are we going to continue to grow as we are, while solving our air quality and water quality/quantity issues?" The room was silent. No one answered. As far as I can tell, there is no answer.
If a car pollutes only half as much, but we double our population, we're right back to where we started.
Is this anti-growth, or pro-reality?
A planner from a neighboring city told a small group of us today, if they build less than 1500 homes a year, they'll have to go back and tax existing residents for services that they didn't need (without the cost of infrastructure for projected develoment). We're finanically hooked on growth.
I'm just about finished with a book titled Collapse. I'll write a review when I'm finished. Take a look at it to see if you'd be interested, if you haven't read it already.
Craig
What is an authentic community?
...our own bootstraps
I agree with what both of you are saying. That's why I've been saying we need to dump the mentality that altruism plays any role in improving quality of life in Fresno. I hear all the time from people how business should do this and people should do that. People should patronize mall businesses. Developers should put housing downtown. People and businesses will do what they feel is in their best interests given the resources available to them and rules restricting them, and that's that. To do otherwise would jeapordize their survival.
That being said, we need to create an environment in which the actions of organizations and individuals can be channeled to benefit all of us, and not just the few. What does this mean in action oriented terms? There should be incentives in place to encourage things such as more efficient land utilization and improved education, as well as disincentives for sprawl and other forms of unsustainable development. With the right priorities and proper incentives in place, we'll see improvements for the better, instead of the same 'ol.
I think that we should create a stream of agreement
Blake,
You're one of my local heroes, great to hear from you. Your presentation at the One by One board meeting was dead on!
Several of us were talking about this very topic after yesterday's press conference. If we were to consider being an authentic person, wouldn't it require us to do "the work" ourselves. We might read self-improvement books, visit a counselor, attend a house of worship on a regular basis...but ultimately our development is in our own hands. No advisor can do the work for us.
I think that cities are the same. We can learn lessons from other cities. We can read about the latest planning concepts and economic strategies, we can consult with the brightest minds. but, if they end up doing the work, they have created a solution for us, it's cheating or at least short-cutting the growth/development process.
Could we form a business entity to renovate and operate the Hotel Fresno? Could we create a non-profit corporation to renovate and operate an old downtown theater? Could we, could we, could we? Yes. But, will we?
Craig
What is an authentic community?
"Forget the out of town saviours.."
Craig,
You hit the nail on the head where you said "forget the out of town saviors."
I hope we start to focus on what we can do with what we've already got. If you saw the movie Apollo 13 with Tom Hanks a few years back you may recall a scene where a group of engineers at Johnson Space Center are locked in a room. There task is to construct a new air filter out of a mish-mosh of items that are placed on a table. When one of the engineers laments that it is not possible to construct an air filter out of the materials provided, the chief engineer retorts "that's all they've got in the capsule so it's all we can use."
I think we should adopt an Apollo 13 mindset and look to how we can craft solutions to our problems with "what we've got on the table." Rather than every year wishing for a Boeing or a Toyota to move to Fresno, and secretly knowing it's not going to happen, why not focus on the businesses we've already got — help them grow, or help Fresnans start new businesses. Rather than expecting somebody else, somebody from the outside, to ride down into the valley like the archetypal "knight on a white horse" to save us, why don't we just roll up our sleeves and save ourselves.
Blake
Loyolalaw98
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