Fixing the Falls: Niagara Falls needs to tap into its ‘creative class’

Local News

June 4, 2011

By Mark Scheer Niagara Gazette The Niagara Gazette Sat Jun 04, 2011, 11:25 PM EDT

NIAGARA FALLS — Andrea Galey’s right.

Niagara Falls needs to continue to tap into what author and economist Richard Florida calls the “Creative Class.”

For those who don’t know (I didn’t myself until now), Florida, head of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, has written several books advancing the theory that creative people working in fields that often require innovative thinking can, by their very nature, have a significant impact on growth in the communities in which they live.

Florida’s “class” generally consists of scientists and techies and architects, people who work in fields related to music, design, entertainment or the arts. They don’t work 9-to-5. They prefer to dress casual. They tend to run their own small businesses, call their own shots, hire their own kind. They are usually found living in clusters, with high concentrations in hip places like Seattle, Wash., and Austin, Texas. In an era of economic uncertainty, Florida argues it is the creative minds who figure out ways to not just survive but often thrive. If he were here, Florida would no doubt tell us that these are exactly the type of people Niagara Falls needs if it ever hopes to crawl out from under the darkness that has covered the community for so many decades now.

Galey, a local “creative” who lives on Pierce Avenue, takes an active role in helping her neighborhood and city in its ongoing struggle to regain respectability. She encouraged city lawmakers to read Florida’s books and consider the kind of impact new and younger residents and a vibrant arts community could have on a downtrodden industrial town like the Falls. She pointed to the Main Street Business Association’s upcoming Music and Arts Festival as the kind of thing the city needs to support if it wants to change its attitude and fortunes.

Like I said, she’s right.

Rick Crogan’s a good example. I don’t know him well, only spoke with him a couple of times, but I can tell he’s at least passionate about what he’s trying to accomplish as director of the Main Street Business Association.

Under Crogan’s watch, the business group has managed to line up more than 65 artists, food vendors and musical acts for a two-day Music and Arts festival that didn’t even exist until a few months ago.

Under Crogan’s leadership, the association is also working to spruce up all those abandoned storefronts that have, unfortunately, become synonymous with the city’s Main Street. If the stores can’t be filled, they can at least be made more appealing to passers-by. If the root of the problems can’t be fixed, temporary solutions are better than nothing. Change the attitude and the change in perception will follow.

Sometimes a touch of creativity can make all the difference.

Niagara Falls has pockets of it here and there — people working with Niagara Rises, the folks at the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center, the organizers of the annual Blues Festival and so many of the other events and festivals and concerts that have enjoyed success in recent years.

It needs more, much more.

Visitors come to Niagara Falls by the millions each year.

Think of all those young college-bound or college-aged young adults among them whose parents have dragged them to Niagara Falls for one last family vacation.

How many of those bright minds will one day see the Falls as a place where they can carve out their own future?

Not many, if any, I’m guessing, not with the way things have been around here for decades now.

It’s just not a place that exudes hip or fresh or cool. There’s not much buzz, not a whole lot of creative spirit. Not yet, anyway.

Which is really hard to believe when you think about it because the city is home to one of the most recognizable and awe-inspiring natural attractions on the planet.

You’d think we’d be overrun with creative thinkers, flocking here to do their thing, whatever it is.

The fact that we’re not says a lot about our focus and our decision-making in the past.

Maybe with the culinary arts center on its way and a few other things in the work, the downtown area will finally start to get there.

Young. Hungry. Energetic. Creative.

Sounds good to me.

Contact reporter Mark Scheer at 282-2311, ext. 2250.

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