Rise of the Creative Class and the Issues Facing Times Square

In Florida’s article “The Rise of the Creative Class” she takes great strides to galvanize her argument that the increased necessity for creative minds is beginning to take over corporate attitudes. Now is the time for companies to utilize the “creative class” as she calls it to come up with new and innovative solutions to problems, create new products and generally contribute much more than just intelligence or technical skills. She even links this new trend to the gradual stagnation of once great cities such as Pittsburgh that, in her opinion, can trace economic downturn to it’s refusal to change with the times and create an atmosphere that makes new companies and college graduates with a unique perspective want to stay in the city. She makes examples of cities such as Boston and Austin that have drawn in a large amount of people belonging to the creative class and credits their revitalization and economic growth to the new abundance of individuals brimming with fresh ideas. Florida then continues on to describe the various qualities a city must possess in order to attract this kind of individual, namely placing value on diversity and outdoor amenities.

On the whole I agree with the points Florida has made in this article, there really cant be any innovation if people who could provide such innovation have no creative outlet or are lacking an environment that allows them to express themselves in new and unique ways. People like places that remind them of values they themselves hold. My generation (or perhaps the one preceding mine, this article was written in 2002 and I’m not sure where the line in drawn) places great emphasis on diversity, tolerance of others, a connection to the outdoors, and the ability to express oneself. It seems only natural that the places that exhibit these qualities will be better able to attract members of the creative class.

Moving right along to Grynbaum and Flegenheimer’s article “Mayor de Blasio Raises Prospect of Removing Times Square Pedestrian Plazas”. With the stated aim of doing away with the topless women parading around Times Square and alleviating congestion in the infamously clogged urban arteries of midtown Manhattan de Blasio is grappling with the idea of removing the picnic tables and islands specifically meant for pedestrian traffic. This idea is being met with resistance from various urban leaders such as Tim Tompkins, who stated that tearing up public spaces because they are difficult to control is tantamount to surrender.

Truthfully, I don’t really have a stance on this issue. I’ve actually only been to Times Square a handful of times and I’m not particularly eager to go back. There is one thing that I can give credit Times Square credit for, the fact that it keeps a sizable chunk of tourists away from the rest of Manhattan. I’m not sure why de Blasio is so keen to remove all that pedestrian space and turn Times Square into the rest of Midtown, which is to say horribly clogged with cars and not fun to inhabit in the least. Yeah, Times Square is hard to control and there might be topless women parading about. If you don’t want to deal with Times Square (if you actually spend any appreciable amount of time in Manhattan you already know that you don’t) then just don’t go there. As for the car traffic, perhaps de Blasio should be more concerned about how to reduce automobile congestion in a way that doesn’t directly come at the detriment of pedestrians.