“Place” has two districts: “Oak” district and “Maple” district. Each district has exactly six people, five voters and one “Politician.” Of the five voters in each district, three are the “Green” race and two are the “Purple” race. There are no genders, no ages and no socioeconomic classes of voters. Race and issues are the only distinguishing factors. Politician is neither Green nor Purple.

Oak is an issue based district, issues are the number one issue for voters in Oak, while race is second. Maple is a race based district, race is the number one issue for voters in Maple, while issues are second.

Politician runs for office in Oak, and promises to divide up the budget of $120 equally to each of the five issues Oak district faces; school, transportation, environment, health and music. Politician wins election by a 5-0 vote, and each of the five issues receive $24.

Politician runs for office in Maple, and promises to divide up the budget of $120 by race, the Green race receives $72 and the Purple race receives $48. Then, it’s up to the people to split the money between the issues; school, transportation, environment, health and music. Politician wins election by a 3-2 vote, and Green race receives $72 and Purple race receives $48.

Now, place yourself. What district would you rather live in, Oak or Maple? What district adheres more to the creative class theory? If you think about it, this is why the creative class theory is met with some resistance. The creative class is sophisticated enough to acknowledge differences between people, but is generous enough to provide more than enough tolerance to accept those differences. In some cases, that is a lot to ask. But let me pose this: Do you think Steve Jobs was worried about being a San Francisco hippie, or Bill Gates was worried about being a Harvard drop-out?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/27/navarette.may.27/index.html

Here’s the study
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_53.htm

Interesting article. I certainly see the suburban move around Portland, there are still ethnic enclaves but they’re around the fringes rather than the center city. Indians in Beaverton & Hillsboro, Chinese in outer Southeast, a Somali community near Tigard, Russians in Gresham, etc. You see more of the mixing the article talks about, but many of the immigrants still stick to their own ethnic groups.

When I say functioning, I mean:
1- Many small and medium size businesses (technology companies that hire creative people) have been thriving out here
2- Population is mostly young (young families, skilled educated immigrants)
3- Public Transit and community services have improved greatly over the past 5 years

Even though fuel prices are still a problem, as Public Transit grows here and families move closer to their workplace, a nice balance should be achieved in the next 5 years. (that will also solve the traffic jams)

Small and mid-size companies that cannot afford the rent in the big city have found their niche in the immediate suburbs in Ontario.

However, I admit that City still has its allure for the young, single dynamic demographic, these “functioning suburbs” have proved to be suitable for the young families that need just a little more room to grow.