Brewed Fresh Daily

I think Jim is missing the point as he "roominates" about the creative class over at Hotel Bruce:

A century ago, Cleveland�s leaders didn�t think much about being cool. They thought about becoming rich and powerful. They single-mindedly built business empires, and they created thousands upon thousands of jobs. After they became rich and powerful, they bought themselves art and culture, and spent huge chunks of disposable income repackaging themselves as civic philanthropists and art patrons.

I doubt that Cleveland's leaders of yesteryear set out to become rich and powerful. They started out as creative, innovative thinkers that took a new idea and made wealth from it. To his credit, Jim lists some good ideas (after 15 paragraphs of rumination, talk about creative writing):

Let�s start with reviewing and then restricting tax abatement, producing living-wage opportunities for the working poor, and offering free job training and affordable higher education to all qualified residents. On the ownership side, we must help small manufacturers modernize, actively support urban-based retailers, and grow clusters. In all this, we need to act regionally.

It's my contention that we'll need the same creative, innovative thinking that characterizes the region (not just the "creative class, that term is so five minutes ago). Can we start thinking about Northeast Ohio as a creative region that includes people like James (who refers to himself as a "non-creative", don't let him fool you) who moved here for the decent paying, middle class jobs that still require creative, innovative thinking in an age of globalization?