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[Michael Winslow Czeiszperger <michael AT czeiszperger.org>]

On Thursday, October 10, 2002, at 12:41 AM, Thomas Beckett wrote:

>         I hear ya, Michael.  But on the other hand, there is the  
> typical pattern of gentrification in cities that this Creativity Index  
> seems to springboard from.  That is, older and/or "iffy" neighborhoods  
> attract the artists and musicians and "hip" types because of the cheap  
> rents.  You get your artist lofts, funky restaurants and boutiques.   
> The hipness quotient increases, which attracts the post-hip  
> professionals who start renovating and upgrading the older structures.  
>  With them come more mainline businesses such as Starbucks.  The rents  
> go up and the artists move elsewhere.

You're right there. I like older gentrified neighborhoods-- they often  
are the cultural center of a community and offer a counterpoint to the  
cookie cutter strip malls. My point wasn't wether having a high  
"creativity index" was good, but that simply creating an index without  
relating it to anything else is pointless. The author compiled a bunch  
of numbers, creating city rankings, which is fun for the local  
reporting perspective since we're mentioned, but didn't relate that  
back to any hard figures regarding growth, jobs, quality of life, etc.  
From my perspective its the linking of an index to measurable qualities  
of a community like you find in the book Places Rated that is the  
interesting story.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0028634470/ 
qid=1034257439/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/103-5773391-9719811?v=glance&n=507846

Another angle on the story was that there was a trend of people  
choosing to stay in one place rather than move from city to city  
following the best jobs. At least in my experience people picking an  
area and staying there is again an age issue, not a trend. When you're  
young and single its much easier to pick up and move than when you have  
kids.

I don't want to give them impression I think the actual story idea is  
bad--  interviewing people who chose to stay in the Triangle would be  
an interesting read.

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michael at czeiszperger dot org
Chapel Hill, NC