On his recent visit to Mobile, urban planner Andres Duany made it clear (see Robbie McClendon?s article) that for Downtown Mobile to prosper it needs to attract the Creative Class ? artists and musicians. ?These ?colonists? begin the development that eventually leads to professionals ? ?dentists from New Jersey? ? patronizing and investing in the neighborhood.
Economist Richard Florida?of the University of Toronto described the Creative Class as ?people in design, education, arts, music and entertainment, whose economic function is to create new ideas, new technology and/or creative content.? ?The Creative Class is critical for the prosperity of post-industrial cities. ?The class not only creates new art, ideas and content themselves that contribute to the economy, but their efforts create the arts and entertainment that are essentially for attracting other professionals and entrepreneurs to make Mobile a ?real city.?
Florida stresses that to succeed a city?must possess ?the three ?T?s?: Talent (educated/skilled population), Tolerance (for diversity), and Technology (infrastructure and knowledge). Leaders in this regard are Chapel Hill, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Austin, Seattle, Toronto, Portland, Oregon, Lexington and Milwaukee. ?Think Apple CEO Tim Cook (who is from Robertsdale) and hundreds of other young, educated Mobilians who have fled to these cities. ?Within Alabama, Huntsville (and to a lesser degree Birmingham) have been successful in developing these as well.
?Florida and others have found a strong correlation between those cities and states that provide a more tolerant atmosphere toward culturally unconventional people, such as gays, artists, and musicians (exemplified by Florida?s ?Gay Index? and ?Bohemian Index? developed in?The Rise of the Creative Class), and the numbers of Creative Class workers that live and move there (2002).?
Most of Mobile ? both the citizens and ?leadership? ? have practically no concept of the importance of the knowledge-based economy and Creative Class. ?They remain solidly in the early 1900s paradigm of low-wage industry and natural resource exploitation ? while affluent areas of the country moved on long ago. Mobile will not succeed with this approach in the modern economy as those resources are both non-renewable and much more cheaply produced by emerging markets. ?Without a diversified economy ? a ?Plan B? ? Mobile will suffer from the ?Dutch disease? and be at risk for local depressions at the whims of commodity prices and the decisions of the Boards of major employers (remember Brookley?). ? With a reliance on cheap labor and resource exploitation (i.e. a Third World economy) it is not a coincidence that Mobile has per-capita income significantly below the national average.
Although some debate Florida?s ideas ? it is clear that in this day and age where corporations will pick up and move where ever labor is cheapest and incentives highest, it is very risky for Mobile to put all its eggs in the industrial recruitment basket. ?Certainly, Airbus is a blessing for Mobile, but if we don?t build a solid, cosmopolitan downtown around it we could easily slip into decline again. ?Unless the populace and leadership change their mindset Mobile will waste this opportunity. ?We need to use Airbus to attract intelligent and educated people to build a diversified set of businesses based in Mobile.
What has traditionally been seen as Mobile?s class of ?young leaders? is too often engaged in unproductive or even counter-productive behavior. ?Watching college football, hunting and fishing are the accepted pastimes of most young Mobilians and?are enjoyable for sure (we enjoy them ourselves occasionally), but the fact is those pursuits do nothing to advance the community vis a vis the cities mentioned above. ? Even worse, we have encountered racism and other forms of intolerance and bigotry in some of our ?young leaders,? and we have seen them run off young, talented people. ?Mobile?s??Country Club White Trash? are killing us in this respect. ?This does not apply to everyone, but if we are dependent upon these ?leaders? Mobile is sure to remain mired in poverty and ignorance.
So we feel it is critical to recognize the young, creative people who are putting their efforts into actively bettering Mobile with their talents. ?You will find them spending their weekends building businesses Downtown and creating works of art. ? If Mobile is ever to catch up with Birmingham or Huntsville or New Orleans or Atlanta or Chapel Hill or even Austin, to any degree, we are dependent on these young men and women.
Unfortunately these people are still far and few between in Mobile ? diamonds in the rough.
We hope to name 10 or so people (plus or minus)?to the Mod Mobile 40 under 40 for the first four years and then we hope to build to a ?rolling? 40 members after that. ?They will receive recognition during Arts Alive/SouthSounds weekend (April 12-14).
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We are proud to announce the following people as members of the 2012 class of Mod Mobile 11 Under 40:
Dan Anderson: ?Photographer and videographer for Lagniappe and Mod Mobilian
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Courtney Dreher-Matthews: Artist; makeup artist; owner of Lunatix & Co.
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Elizabet Elliot: Artist; founder of the Rumor Union.
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April Hopkins: ?Artist; co-proprietor of PortAl Studio.
Zach Depolo: Artist; co-proprietor of PortAl Studio. ?Founder of the Downtown Creative and Wellness Foundation.
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Carson Kennedy: Filmmaker and Program Director for the South Alabama Film Festival. 
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Brent ?Pluto? Parker: ?Musician/rapper and entrepreneur (owner of Club Infinity)
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Thomas Smith:?Director for Mobile?s Fighting Owl Films.
Erin Lilley: Actress for Mobile?s Fighting Owl Films.
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Heath Underwood: Singer and songwriter for El Cantador; contributor to Tributaries 2012 anthology.
Jesmyn Ward: Author, winner of the National Book Award for Salvage the Bones;?Assistant Professor of English at the?University?of?South Alabama.
Source: http://modmobilian.com/2012/12/mod-mobile-40-under-40-class-of-2012/
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