Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. He created this perception that to be part of the "creative class", you must live in SF, DC, Austin, Seattle, etc. We should get away from that idea. I am all for denser housing, public transit, walkable communities, etc. But I think other cities should also get a share of the prosperity. Good talented people can't afford SF, so they go another, less hip city. I think that is a good thing.

Isn't this him doing just that? The creative class came back to the cities, changing what the problems are?

We needed better transit and affordable housing ten years ago too. Florida just didn't care at the time. That's what I think is missing -- a mea culpa for ignoring crucial urban issues and promoting the kind of growth that would muscle out the non-"creative" people a city needs to function. Big scare quotes for "creative", by the way. My other pet peeve with Florida is that he thinks creativity is the exclusive province of the affluent.

> (Florida needs to issue) a mea culpa for ignoring crucial urban issues and promoting the kind of growth that would muscle out the non-"creative" people a city needs to function

To his credit, he did sort of do that, about a year ago.

"I got wrong that the creative class could magically restore our cities, become a new middle class like my father's, and we were going to live happily forever after," Florida said. "I could not have anticipated among all this urban growth and revival that there was a dark side to the urban creative revolution, a very deep dark side."

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/texanomics/article/...

I was unaware of this statement, and I agree that it's to his credit to have said it. Personally I think he needs to keep saying it until he's righted the balance, but it's a start.

Isn't this an ad homin argument? What is wrong with his actual policy proposals?

They're pretty thin. Build housing. Build transit. Raise the minimum wage. There's nothing wrong with those, but he's pretty late to the party.

So I'd say this isn't an ad hominem. I'm not trying to attack the argument by attacking the man. I'm just attacking the man. Florida in particular isn't credible because a decade ago he was boosting municipal gold-digging -- chasing after high-flying tech companies and ignoring bread and butter issues like the ones he's lately rediscovered.