The Revitalist

Richard Florida posts about a recent WSJ article detailing Pennsylvania's inability to retain its college grads. He then follows it up with an article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about two biotech firms decamping for Boston. He says, "This is why I wrote Rise." Pennsylvania is pulling out all the economic development stakes trying to encourage people to keep/start small businesses there. The Pittsburgh article demonstrates why it isn't working: the companies are moving to where the people are (in this case, Boston). Florida's point in The Rise of the Creative Class was exactly that—companies will go to where the workers are—and, therefore, cities need to focus on creating places where these workers want to live and not financial incentives to retain corporations.