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Some of the summer's best reading isn't just about Muggles, magic wands and Quidditch games. It's about tattooed young professionals, statistical charts and the three T's: technology, talent and tolerance.
The Rise of a Creative Class made a splash in April when author Richard Florida fired up a crowd of 500 in downtown Tampa about ways to make the city a hub for artistic and entrepreneurial creativity.
Four months later, the book continues to make the rounds as a must-read for anyone pondering Tampa's future.
MARKETING GURU Deanne Roberts gave it a big plug Tuesday as guest speaker at a luncheon of the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce. Our creative pulse beats in Ybor, she said. It's just a matter of putting a finger on it.
The book ranks metropolitan areas on a creativity chart based on a bunch of factors, from the number of gays to the number of people in creative and high-tech jobs. Not surprisingly, San Francisco, Austin and San Diego lead the list.
Tampa-St. Petersburg ranks 26th among the major regions. Not bad considering Miami came in 29th, but not great, either. Rochester, N.Y., my hometown, placed 21st, even in the dead of winter.
The book says cities must strive to attract and retain the "creative class," which includes artists and writers as well as engineers and lawyers. Forget about luring the call centers, big-box retailers and sterile shopping centers. Work with what you've got.
Similarly, the author shows little love for major league sports. Sorry, Bucs fans. Spend money on the arts, he says, not on sports stadiums.
ROBERTS CITED recent stats from the Tampa Bay Business Committee for the Arts that said 5.5-million people a year visited area arts organizations, compared with 3.3-million for sporting events.
"Support the arts," she told the group of Ybor business people. "It's not about philanthropy."
Roberts defined creative communities as ones that have nightlife, outdoor recreation, historical significance and unique places to eat and shop. More food for thought: Areas need a thick job market where people have plenty of options in their fields. Cities also must welcome international brethren who want to establish roots here and start businesses.
The most attractive cities cater to 24- to 35-year-olds, the "workhorses" and "show horses," who log long hours and have the latest skills. And don't ignore the bachelors, gays and single working parents, warns Florida, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. The Leave it to Beaver days are over. Not everyone is married with kids.
Here's fodder for employers. Florida says the creative class worries less about money and instead prefers a challenging work place where they can make a difference and won't get bored. He advises supervisors to tell their often-tattooed employees: Go play in a rock band at night, and if you're a little hung over the next day come in at 10 a.m.
Wow.
Roberts and a handful of other Dr. Florida fans recently started the group, Creative Tampa Bay Inc., to help make the area more appealing to people who think for a living. Their Web site, www.creativetampabay.com was scheduled to go up by today.
Roberts, chairwoman of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, is organizing a meeting next month at the University of Tampa as a follow to the April "revival" and springboard for action.
Better finish up your Harry Potter and start reading now.
THE LAST DROP: An insightful graffiti artist spray-painted "Operation Pipedream" on a long pipe along Channel Drive on Davis Islands. The pipe is part of the city's STAR (South Tampa Area Reclaimed) water project, which eventually is supposed to bring treated sewer water to people's yards. It's been delayed so long, maybe the pipe will become public art.
- Susan Thurston can be reached at 226-3394 or thurston@sptimes.com