The New Economy and the Trump Economic Rump

A billboard in West Des Moines, Iowa, in January 2016.

Time and time over the years I have argued that rural areas that reject modernity, cling to right wing Christianity and remain outwardly racist are cutting their own throats economically and thriving businesses increasingly locate in urban and/ suburban areas that offer better educated work forces and are more hostile to racial bigotry and religious extremism.  Here in Virginia, both the McAuliffe and now the Northam gubernatorial administrations have pushed a "welcoming to all" effort to attract new businesses to the state.  Sadly, it's a hard sell to parts of Virginia like Southwest Virginia or the area along the southern border from Emporia westward where racism and right wing religion predominate.   Yet, as a column in the New York Times lays out, right wing Republican areas are slowly dying - in no small part because of their hostility to diversity and political liberalism.  The recent announcement by Amazon of its new headquarters locations and the results of the 2018 midterm elections underscore the argument of the column.  Here are column highlights:   

A little over a year ago, Amazon invited cities and states to offer bids for a proposed second headquarters. This set off a mad scramble over who would gain the dubious privilege of paying large subsidies in return for worsened traffic congestion and higher housing prices. (Answer: New York and greater D.C.)

But not everyone was in the running. From the beginning, Amazon specified that it would put the new facility only in a Democratic congressional district.

O.K., that’s not literally what Amazon said. It only limited the competition to “metropolitan areas with more than one million people” and “urban or suburban locations with the potential to attract and retain strong technical talent.” But in the next Congress the great majority of locations meeting those criteria will, in fact, be represented by Democrats.

Over the past generation, America’s regions have experienced a profound economic divergence. Rich metropolitan areas have gotten even richer, attracting ever more of the nation’s fastest growing industries. Meanwhile, small towns and rural areas have been bypassed, forming a sort of economic rump left behind by the knowledge economy.

Amazon’s headquarters criteria perfectly illustrate the forces behind that divergence. Businesses in the new economy want access to large pools of highly educated workers, which can be found only in big, rich metropolitan areas. And the location decisions of companies like Amazon draw even more high-skill workers to those areas.

In other words, there’s a cumulative, self-reinforcing process at work that is, in effect, dividing America into two economies. And this economic division is reflected in political division.

In 2016, of course, the parts of America that are being left behind voted heavily for Donald Trump. . . . . But this was, it turns out, fighting the last war. Trumpism turned America’s lagging regions solid red, but the backlash against Trumpism has turned its growing regions solid blue.

Why have lagging regions turned right while successful regions turned left? It doesn’t seem to be about economic self-interest. True, Trump promised to bring back traditional jobs in manufacturing and coal mining — but that promise was never credible. And the orthodox Republican policy agenda of cutting taxes and shrinking social programs, which is basically what Trump is following in practice, actually hurts lagging regions, which depend a lot on things like food stamps and disability payments, much more than it hurts successful areas.

As documented in “Identity Crisis,” an important new book analyzing the 2016 election, what distinguished Trump voters wasn’t financial hardship but “attitudes related to race and ethnicity.”

Yet these attitudes aren’t divorced from economic change. Even if they’re personally doing well, many voters in lagging regions have a sense of grievance, a feeling that they’re being disrespected by the glittering elites of superstar cities; this sense of grievance all too easily turns into racial antagonism. Conversely, however, the transformation of the G.O.P. into a white nationalist party alienates voters — even white voters — in those big, successful metropolitan areas. So the regional economic divide becomes a political chasm.

We can and should do a lot to improve the lives of Americans in lagging regions. . . . . . But restoring these regions’ dynamism is much harder, because it means swimming against a powerful economic tide.

And the sense of being left behind can make people angry even if their material needs are taken care of. That is what we see, for example, in the former East Germany . . .

So the bitter division we see in America — the ugliness infecting our politics — may have deep economic roots, and there may be no practical way to make it go away.

But the ugliness doesn’t have to win. Most rural white voters still support Trumpism, but they aren’t a majority, and in the midterms a significant number of those voters also broke with the white nationalist agenda. . . . the better angels of our nature can still prevail.

Richard Florida who coined the term the "creative class" also noted that the more accepting a city of region was of gays, the stronger its technology based economy (Florida called this the "gay index").  If one looks at the economically lagging red states - or regions of Virginia - the common thread is that they are anti-gay and racist.   These aren't traits forced on them by outsiders.  Rather, it is the inbred bigotry and right wing religious extremism of the local populace which is the root of the problem.  True, Republicans play to these prejudices to win votes, but in doing so, they and those who vote for them are merely making the downward economic spiral accelerate.  Blacks and Hispanic immigrants are not the source of these regions' economic problems.  If they want to see the real cause, the locals need only look in the mirror.

Virginia GOP Wrong on Tax Cuts and Attracting Entrepreneurs

Republicans in the Virginia General Assembly constantly blather that cutting taxes is the way to attract new businesses and entrepreneurs to Virginia.  Meanwhile, they seek to slash education spending, allow the Commonwealths infrastructure to crumble and maintain a societal atmosphere that enshrines Christofascist religious values into the civil laws, making Virginia look like it is governed by the Christian Taliban.  Based on a new study, the Virginia GOP has things ass backwards to put it mildly.  Quality of life, good schools and other factors are much more important in attracting entrepreneurs than low taxes.  But then again, today's Virginia GOP has most things ass backwards.  Here are highlights of a review of the study findings:

Cutting state taxes to attract entrepreneurs is likely futile at best and self-defeating at worst, a new survey of founders of some of the country’s fastest-growing companies suggests.  The study, which is consistent with other research, should be required reading for state policymakers — especially those in [Virginia,] Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wisconsin who are pushing for large income tax cuts.

The 150 executives surveyed by Endeavor Insight, a research firm that examines how entrepreneurs contribute to job creation and long-term economic growth, said a skilled workforce and high quality of life were the main reasons why they founded their companies where they did; taxes weren’t a significant factor.  This suggests that states that cut taxes and then address the revenue loss by letting their schools, parks, roads, and public safety deteriorate will become less attractive to the kinds of people who found high-growth companies.

• “31% of founders cited access to talent as a factor in their decision on where to launch their company. . . .  A number of founders also highlighted the link between the ability to attract talented employees and a city’s quality of life.”
• “Only 5% of entrepreneurs cited low tax rates as a factor in deciding where to launch their company” and only 2% mentioned “business-friendly regulations” and other government policies.

Kansas, North Carolina, and Ohio have cut personal income taxes significantly in the last two years, and in each case the governor argued that it would give a big boost to creating or attracting new firms.  This new study provides more compelling evidence that that’s the wrong approach.  Let’s hope other states don’t start down the same dead-end path.

Richard Florida who coined the term the "creative class" has further observations in The Atlantic:

But what really attracts innovative entrepreneurs who create these economy-boosting companies?

The answers: talented workers, and the quality of life that the educated and ambitious have come to expect – not the low-tax, favorable-regulation approach that many state and local governments tout.

Endeavor identified two fundamental patterns.

For one, size matters. These top business-creators gravitated towards cities with at least a million residents in the metro area. This offered the scale and diverse array of offerings needed to attract talent.   

A city also needs to be able to appeal to the young and the restless. The entrepreneurs surveyed were a highly mobile bunch when they first started out. 


The top rated factor by far was access to talent. Nearly a third of those surveyed mentioned it as a key factor in their decisions for where to live and work (many specifically prized access to technically trained workers). Entrepreneurs explained that they proactively sought out the places that educated and ambitious workers want to be.

The study found that two other key factors in the location choices of entrepreneurs are major transportation networks (like airports and highways that can connect them to other cities) and proximity to customers and suppliers. This echoes MIT’s Eric von Hippel's claim that end-users and customers are key innovators.

Perhaps even more interesting from the perspective of urban policy are the location factors that did not make the cut – those that high-growth entrepreneurs found to be of little consequence in their location decisions. At the very bottom of the list were taxes and business-friendly policies, which are, unfortunately, exactly the sorts of things so many states and cities continue to promote as silver bullets. Just 5 percent of the respondents mentioned low taxes as being important, and a measly 2 percent named other business-friendly policies as a factor in their location decisions.

Here in Hampton Roads we meet the 1 million plus population factor, but thanks to years of neglect and GOP refusal to raise taxes our transportation system is inadequate.  Adding to the problem is the poor air service available at the regions two airports.  If Virginia wants areas like Hampton Roads to prosper, they need to (i) drastically improve the transportation infrastructure and quality of air travel service and (ii) cease trying to drag Virginia back into the 1950's.  For now, Washington, DC, and Northern Virginia alone meet this requirements and, as a result, they are booming while areas like Southwest Virginia atrophy and become increasingly unattractive to anyone other than religious fanactics and rednecks.

Hampton Roads Cities Score Poorly on HRC's Municipal Equality Index

Low scoring Norfolk

With all the talk by local city leaders wanting to diversify the Hampton Roads economy and to attract innovators and entrepreneurs, they are missing one of the easiest methods to send a message of being "open for business" and "all are welcome": adopt LGBT friendly policies and programs.  Richard Florida has time and time again found that a vibrant and welcomed gay community is the "canary in the coal mine" for signalling open and welcoming communities and that gays even provide a "gay index" in determining which cities are leaders in technological innovation.   The Human Rights Campaign describes it's Municipal Equality Index report:

HRC's Municipal Equality Index (MEI) demonstrates the ways that many cities can—and do— support the LGBT people who live and work there, even where states and the federal government have failed to do so.

This year's report rates a total of 291 cities from every state in the nation, representing a total population total of 77,851,822. Search below to find your city's 2013 MEI scorecard. You can also download the full 2013 MEI report here or flip through a digital version below. Click here to see how your city scored on the 2012 MEI report.

So how did the three Hampton Roads cities considered fair?  Not well at all.  Inside Business describes the scores of Newport News, Norfolk and Virginia Beach this way:

Virginia Beach scored the highest in Hampton Roads with a score of 32 out of a possible 100. The city has a non-discrimination employment clause and a human rights commission. The city also reported its 2011 hate crime statistics to the FBI, has a positive public position on LGBT equality and has made positive efforts regarding LGBT equality, the report said.

Newport News came in second, with a score of 20. The report cited the city's human rights commission, the school system's anti-bullying policies and the police department's policy of reporting hate crime statistics to the FBI.

Chesapeake came in third with a score of 15. The report cited the city's non-discrimination employment policy and the police department's reporting of hate crime statistics.

Norfolk came in last, with a score of 12. The report cited the police department's practice of reporting hate crimes and the city's domestic partner registry, which the city was "forced to stop providing as a result of a restrictive state law."

Not a stellar showing by any means.  Norfolk in particular ought to be deeply embarrassed.  How did other parts of Virginia score? Here are some localities and their scores:

Alexandria --- 70

Arlington ---- 76

Fairfax County --- 40

Richmond ---- 36

What's really scary is that compared to Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads is progressive and down right liberal.  It's small wonder that with the closure of the textile mills and furniture factories that few businesses have wanted to relocate to Danville or Martinsville.  Anti-gay bigotry carries a high economic price.  

Indianapolis Chamber Of Commerce Opposes Same-Sex Marriage Ban

This blog has long argued that state sponsored homophobia and bans on gay equality are bad for business.  And, as more states allow gay marriage, those that do not will find themselves in an increasingly uncompetitive position when it comes to recruiting new businesses and attracting entrepreneurs and the so-called "creative class."  Homophobia likewise makes regions of states less competitive than more gay friendly cities and counties - e.g., backward and homophobic Martinsville, Virginia, has once again been awarded the distinction of having the highest level of unemployment in Virginia.  Apparently, the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerces recognizes this reality and has come out against a move by Christofascists and Republicans to enact a constitutional amendment to Indiana's constitution to ban same sex marriage.  Think Progress reports the chamber's action.  Here are excerpts:

The Indy Chamber, Indianapolis’ business coalition, has come out in opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in Indiana. According to John Thompson, chairman of the Chamber’s board, the amendment would deter talent from moving to the state:

THOMPSON: The Indy Chamber is in the business of strengthening our economy and attracting top talent to our region. The proposed marriage amendment does nothing to help show the nation that Indiana is a place that welcomes all, not just some, and we must be mindful of how actions such as this will impact our competitiveness on a national and global level.

In its press release, the Indy Chamber also noted that the amendment would be redundant because Indiana already bans same-sex marriage through state laws:

Indy Chamber leadership recognizes that the amendment would duplicate existing Indiana law, which already defines marriage between one man and one woman. The amendment is a distraction from building momentum in the state legislature to address economic and workforce development challenges in the Indianapolis region and across the state.

Read the full statement of opposition (via Chris Geidner at BuzzFeed).

Indiana’s legislature already voted once to approve the anti-gay amendment back in 2011. A second vote is required during the 2013–2014 legislative session before it can advance to a referendum, and the Republicans decided to delay that consideration until 2014. Gov. Mike Pence (R) also supports the amendment, and was even caught censoring pro-gay comments from his Facebook page back in June.

As seems to be the norm, religious extremism and hatred of others are the main hallmarks of today's Republican Party.

Pro-Gay States Luring Discriminated Couples to Relocate

Numerous posts on this blog have tracked research that underscores that a thriving gay community is one of the hallmarks of cities and localities that attract the so-called creative class.  Similar research has led to the formulation of a "gay index" which shows that a large population of gays correlates with high tech businesses.  States like Virginia and North Carolina go out of their way to make life intolerable for gays and have written anti-gay discrimination into their laws.  Now, as Bloomberg reports, gay friendly states are seeking to lure gays to relocate from their hostile home states and to bring their talents and assets to those gay friendly states.  Here are articles from Bloomberg:

Hans Bernhard and Mitch Null say they may leave North Carolina -- taking their daughter, their jobs as a veterinarian and an information technology business operations manager at Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) and the tax revenue from their properties.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act, the couple is considering moving to Maryland, where they could have a recognized marriage and guaranteed access to the related federal benefits. Bernhard could also become a lawful father to the couple’s 1-year-old daughter, Eva, since North Carolina law prevents residents from adopting a child if they aren’t married to the legal parent.

Thirteen states and the District of Columbia, making up 34 percent of gross domestic product, have legalized same-sex marriage, including Minnesota and Rhode Island, where laws took effect Aug. 1.

Bernhard and Null’s dilemma illustrates the economic benefits and consequences of a state’s same-sex marriage policy. Following the Supreme Court’s June 26 ruling, gay rights proponents and some economic development officials say states with gay-friendly laws can leverage them for financial gain, while those with prohibitive policies will miss out. 

The Supreme Court ruling will force some states to examine whether it’s worth losing out on talent and businesses that are attracted to areas that allow same-sex marriages, said Richard Florida, a professor at the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management. Acceptance of gay communities signals cultural openness and attracts highly educated people and innovators, Florida wrote in his 2002 book “The Rise of the Creative Class.” 

Welcoming all people is necessary for states that want to “flourish economically and be an engine for innovation,” Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook Inc. and a native of Hickory, North Carolina, said in an e-mail. Hughes, now the editor-in-chief and publisher of the New Republic magazine, wrote an open letter to the North Carolina General Assembly in 2011 opposing the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. 

“Entrepreneurs are very careful when deciding where to start a company,” said Hughes, who now lives in Shokan, New York, with his husband Sean Eldridge. “Building a business in a state that denies basic rights to LGBT couples is difficult to justify to potential employees -- straight or gay.”

It all is actually common sense.  Not that common sense means much to lunatics like Cuccinelli and the hate merchants at The Family Foundation.

Gay Flight: Should Anti-gay States Begin to Worry?

In its quest to prostitute itself the the Christofascists - e.g., here in Virginia the hate merchants at The Family Foundation - the Republican Party has time and time again shown itself only too willing to indulge in horrific gay bashing and a willingness to work to keep gays as a modern day equivalent of blacks under the Jim Crow laws.  However, as additional states and countries embrace LGBT rights and full gay marriage, LGBT citizens who are treated as lepers in their home states and countries have a growing number of options in terms of places where they can emigrate to where they will be granted equal rights with all other citizens.  If these LGBT individuals do choose to leave, their states will find that they will reap a negative consequence.  As I have noted many times before, if circumstances were different, I'd leave Virginia in a heartbeat and shake the dust off of my shoes as I crossed the border.  The Huffington Post looks at the phenomenon including at least one high profile LGBT individual who may be ready to move in order to be treated as an equal citizen.   Here are highlights:

If the Supreme Court decides to leave marriage equality up to the states to decide, will gay couples be concentrated in a few select states while the rest of the U.S. languishes behind in civil rights?   Suze Orman, the financial planning guru, TV host, and HuffPost blogger who lives with her lesbian partner in Fort Lauderdale, recently threatened to take her riches to another state where her relationship is recognized.

"Currently I am a resident of Florida … and I have substantial wealth and I pay substantial taxes," Orman said on MSNBC's "Now With Alex Wagner."  "I would be more than happy to move to New York or California if I could get married and be recognized on a federal level," she continued. "Because I want to live in a state that validates me, and I would validate them with my money."

"I am hoping, wishing and praying that DOMA is overturned," Orman said on her own show. "Obviously I have a lot at stake here. I have been gay my whole entire life. I've been in a relationship with KT for 12 years. And I want enjoy the same benefits as everybody else. I want to feel valid 100 percent of the time."

Florida might be a tad closer to making couples like Suze and KT feel at home.  The state's 2013 legislation session includes a bill finally granting civil rights protections against discrimination for reasons of sexual orientation and gender identity, and another that will create a statewide domestic partnership registry.

Gays are the harbinger of cities and states that will be attractive to the so-called "creative class."  If gays pack up and leave states like Florida (and Virginia) the message is clear:  Anyone deemed "other" is unwelcomed.  And other states and cities that accept diversity will be  only too happy to put down the welcome mat for refugees seeking to escape hate and bigotry.

CEO Refuses to Do Business in Antigay Jacksonville

I noted yesterday how Hampton, Virginia mayor Molly Ward has signed the Mayors for Marriage Equality Statement.  Besides the fact that it's the right thing to do and is a step towards ending marriage discrimination, there's a practical side to signing onto marriage equality: more and more businesses do not want to locate to cities and states that discriminate.  Thus, if a city wants to attract progressive and innovative business, supporting gay equality and non-discrimination protections makes sound economic sense.  A story out of Jacksonville, Florida highlights this reality.  A member of the board of directors of a sizable business looking to relocate to Jacksonville changed its mind when that city voted down non-discrimination protections for LGBT citizens.  Bigotry carries a cost even if the bigots sometimes do not grasp that they are killing their own economic future.  Here are highlights fro The Advocate:

It was in August when the Jacksonville City Council shot down an antidiscrimination ordinance protecting LGBT residents. Repercussions of that decision are now reverberating, as a local attorney says a major corporation refused to move to Jacksonville because of the measure's failure.

Marianna Smith is a lawyer and board member at an unidentified company. She writes in the The Florida Times-Union that the CEO of the company she serves on the board of refused to relocate to Jacksonville after the council rejected the ordinance (click here for a closer look at the measure's failure). The CEO was also affected by antigay letters and op-eds that appeared in local newspapers. Here's what Smith wrote:

"To build a business, you need more than just land; you need a favorable environment for employees.

I am a member of the board of directors of a rapidly growing, multi-million dollar international company. We employ chemists and engineers, marketers/sales staff plus a full manufacturing and distribution facility.

The company is located in a landlocked city and wishes to move to a city with a port, rail and truck service.
I have strongly advocated Jacksonville as our future business home. Unfortunately, the CEO came to evaluate Jacksonville when the letters and comments of hate were in our paper opposing the proposed changes to the Jacksonville anti-discrimination ordinance.

The CEO was shocked and said any determination about Jacksonville would not occur until after the bill was voted on by the City Council.
 
Jacksonville lost this company because of the results of the anti-discrimination bill vote.

I have served as a director on other international boards, and I can promise you that those companies would also decline Jacksonville as a headquarters home in view of the way our council and some citizens responded to a call for equal rights.

Hampton Mayor Ward Signs Mayors for the Freedom to Marry Pledge

Mayor Molly Ward

Studies have shown that an openness to diversity and a welcoming atmosphere for LGBT citizens enhances a city or state's economic vibrancy and is in the final analysis good for business and economic well being.  Indeed, such an atmosphere makes a city more attractive to the so-called creative class and there is a strong correlation between how a city or region scores on Richard Florida's "gay index" and how it does with attracting high tech companies.  Sadly, this reality is largely lost on most political leaders in Virginia, especially those in the Republican Party who grovel to the reactionary and theocratic dictates of The Family Foundation based in Richmond.  But things are changing - even in Virginia.  This week Hampton Mayor Molly Ward (pictured) joined mayors across America who have signed the freedom to marry pledge originated by the organization Freedom to Marry.  In doing so, she joins Alexandria, Virginia mayor, William Euille, and Charlottesville mayor, Satyendra Singh Huja, the only other Virginia mayors who to my knowledge have likewise signed the pledge.  Here are key excerpts from the Mayors for Freedom to Marry Pledge:

As mayors of great American cities, we proudly stand together in support of the freedom of same-sex couples to marry. We personally know many gay and lesbian people living in our cities who are in committed, loving relationships, who are active participants in the civic life of our communities, and who deserve to be able to marry the person with whom they share their life.
  
We are proud that at its 2009 annual meeting, the U.S. Conference of Mayors unanimously approved a resolution stating that: “The U.S. Conference of Mayors supports marriage equality for same-sex couples, and the recognition and extension of full equal rights to such unions, including family and medical leave, tax equity, and insurance and retirement benefits, and opposes the enshrinement of discrimination in the federal or state constitutions.”

Our cities derive great strength from their diversity, and gay and lesbian families are a crucial part. Studies have shown what we know through our hands-on experience—that cities that celebrate and cultivate diversity are the places where creativity and ideas thrive. They are the places where today’s entrepreneurs are most likely to choose to build the businesses of tomorrow. Allowing same-sex couples the right to marry enhances our ability to build this kind of environment, which is good for all of us.  

We stand for the freedom to marry because it enhances the economic competitiveness of our communities, improves the lives of families that call our cities home, and is simply the right thing to do.  We look forward to working to build an America where all people can share in the love and commitment of marriage with the person with whom they share their life.

Mayor Ward is a good friend and I am honored to know her.  She realizes that the City of Hampton's future is best served by supporting diversity and full equality of citizens under the civil laws in all their aspects.  Hopefully more mayors in Virginia will see this reality and have the courage to to refuse to continue looking backwards in time. 

 

Austin Poised to Adopt Resolution in Support of Gay Marriage

This should be fun to watch!  What?  The city of Austin, Texas (i.e., the capital of Texas) is likely to pass a resolution supporting gay marriage.  Can't you see the spittle flying and the convulsions over taking Texas Christofacists?  Frankly, the city's action make sense.  The creative class has been documented to be attracted to cities with high "gay indexes."  Thus, what better way to make the city stand out as gay friendly and gay welcoming than to adopt a resolution that will send the Neanderthals in the Texas legislature and the closet case in the governor's mansion crazy.   Gay Star News has details.  Here are excerpts:

Austin, already known as the most progressive city in Texas, could become the first city in the state to officially support gay marriage.

The City Council on Thursday (27 September) will vote on a formal resolution which comes after a petition in support of the resolution posted by Equality Texas was signed by 1,700 people.

Equality Texas says in a statement that the council resolution 'recognizes that marriage is a powerful and important affirmation of love and commitment and a source of social support and recognition.'

'Passage of this resolution will send the message to state and national leaders that Austin is a community that values equality for all its citizens,' the group states. 'The resolution will also send the message that the City of Austin believes all couples in loving and committed relationships should be given the opportunity to create stronger and more successful families through civil marriage.'

Also supporting the resolution are the Human Rights Campaign, the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

I hope the resolution passes and I find it interesting that both the NAACP and Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund - which represent citizens despised by today's GOP - are backing the measure.  Don't expect any city in Virginia other than perhaps Charlottesville to even consider such a resolution anytime soon. 

The Geography of Tolerance - Virginia Doesn't Place

Click map to enlarge

I've written before about Richard Florida's studies on the rise of the creative class, the so-called gay index and how states that are more liberal socially are in general pulling ahead of states that are "conservative."  Florida has a new piece in The Atlantic that looks again at this issue and tracts metropolitan areas across America.  He also lays out the top 20 metropolitan areas in therms of how they score on the "Tolerance Index" which is based on "The share of immigrants or foreign-born residents, the Gay Index (the concentration of gays and lesbians), and the Integration Index, which tracks the level of segregation between ethnic and racial groups."  Not surprisingly, no where in Virginia makes the top 20 list.  The map above shows the USA based on the tolerance index.  Here are highlights from the article:

The map above shows how metros across the U.S. score on the Tolerance Index, as updated for The Rise of the Creative Class, Revisited. The chart below shows the top 20 metros. Developed by my Martin Prosperity Institute colleague Kevin Stolarick, it ranks U.S. metros according to three key variables—the share of immigrants or foreign-born residents, the Gay Index (the concentration of gays and lesbians), and the Integration Index, which tracks the level of segregation between ethnic and racial groups.

The top 20 is a mix of big diverse metros like San Diego and Miami and smaller ones. Many of these smaller metros are college towns that are home to large concentrations of professional, technical and knowledge workers from diverse backgrounds, which lead to higher levels of ethnic and racial integration than larger metros, where economic differences are often greater.



Even more than its natural resources and native ingenuity, what has stood at the heart and soul of U.S. prosperity historically has been its openness to hard working, ambitious, and talented immigrants of all stripes—doctors, engineers, and uneducated laborers alike. Roughly half of Silicon Valley start-ups have a foreign-born person among their founding team, according to several recent studies. Careful studies by the economist Giovanni Peri of the University of California at Davis have found that immigrants add rather than detract from American prosperity, for the simple reason that "the skill composition of immigrants is complementary to that of natives."  .  .  .  .   A "more multicultural urban environment," Peri concludes, "makes U.S.-born citizens more productive."


Openness to gays and lesbians similarly reflects an ecosystem that is open to new people and new ideas. It’s amazing how consistently people have misconstrued what my colleagues and I have had to say about the connection between gays and economic growth. They miss the point. A strong and vibrant gay community is a solid leading indicator of a place that is open to many different kinds of people. Ronald Inglehart, who has studied the relationship between culture and economic growth for some four decades, has noted that the lack of societal acceptance of gays is the most significant remaining bastion of intolerance and discrimination around the world. Accordingly, communities that have long been more accepting and open to gay people have an underlying ecosystem which is also more likely to be accepting of new ideas and different types of people, including the eggheads and eccentrics who invent new things and start new enterprises. As Bill Bishop put it, "where gay households abound, geeks follow."

Economists frequently note the importance of industries having low entry barriers, so that new firms can easily enter and keep the industry vital. Similarly, a place can benefit from low entry barriers for people—where newcomers from different backgrounds are accepted quickly into all sorts of social and economic arrangements. All else being equal, such communities have an advantage in attracting and retaining the diverse and different types of people who power innovation and growth.


Tolerance - and openness to diversity and inclusiveness - is not an afterthought or something that happens when communities get rich. It is a key element of the new economic development equation.

These basics of good economics and ways to stimulate an improved economy are utterly lost on the Republican Party of Virginia as it prostitutes itself to hate merchants such as those at The Family Foundation and other allied organizations that seek to marginalize and stigmatize gays, immigrants and non-whites.  Of course, most of the states in the Bible Belt act the same way and, not surprisingly, their economies suffer as a consequence.

Marcus Calabrese Announces Candidacy for Norfolk City Council

It has been ironic that even though Norfolk has perhaps the largest LGBT population of any of the cities of Hampton Roads and is the home to the artsy, trendy and LGBT-friendly Ghent neighborhood - which is the envy of many neighboring cities - other than allowing HR Pride to utilize Town Point Park for the 2011 Out in the Park celebration, the city government has in many ways been less than fully accepting of progressive ideas and a willingness to openly embrace the LGBT community. Even though according to researcher Richard Florida the LGBT community is the "canary in the coal mine" for determining whether or not a city or region is welcoming to the so-called "creative class." As reported by Bearing Drift, Marcus Calabrese, who I have come to know and value through our common membership on the board of directors of HRBOR, believes that continuing to do the same old thing and expecting different results needs to end. Hence the announcement that Marcus has thrown his hat in the ring to run for Norfolk City Council. Here are some highlights on what Marcus would like to accomplish if elected:

Economic development will be a top concern of mine. As a board member of Hampton Roads Business Outreach, a small business owner, and 2010’s youngest honoree of Inside Business’ Top 40 Under 40 I know what it takes to get people back to work. There’s a tremendous amount of talent here in Norfolk but the unemployment for young professionals is double the national average, I know their fears and I know they would rather have a future at home than having to leave Norfolk to pursue their career. I will work to bring new high paying jobs to Norfolk.

Each morning it seems like another embarrassing story about Norfolk’s government appears on the pages of the Virginian Pilot. Whether it is the dismissing of the Superintendent of public schools barely into his term, the paying of an employee for a decade without her showing up for work, Light Rail cost overruns without notice to the taxpayers, or one of the many other front page stories about Norfolk it is time for it to stop. I want to team with the new members of City Council who are making waves fighting for a more responsible and open government.

This race is about choices. The future of our great city is promising; we have much to be proud of and much to build on. But, the past choices that have impeded the future of Norfolk are real and deserve to be brought to light. The people of Norfolk deserve a choice for the future, do we want to continue down this path of missed opportunities or do we want a Norfolk that is prosperous, proud, and prime for a comeback?

Here's some more on Marcus' background:

Marcus Calabrese serves on the Board of Directors of Foodbank Southeastern Virginia, is Chairman of the Child Nutrition Council and Capital Campaign for Community Gifts. He is a member of the Board of Directors for Hampton Roads Business OutReach and is chairman of its Business & Government Relations department. He is also a public relations sponsor with Entrepreneurs Organization of SEVA. He has been awarded the “Safe Harbor” Award 2011 from Children’s Harbor and is a “Top 40 Under 40″ Honoree for 2010 from Inside Business Journal.

Do Gays Really Boost Property Values?

Friends and I frequently joke that if you want to raise property values and spur gentrification, then get the gays and lesbians to move into the neighborhood. We also have been documented as being a good measure of the attractiveness a city to the so-called "creative class." These stereotypes hold true in many areas even in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, particularly in Norfolk's Ghent area which has transformed itself form borderline slum a number of years ago to one of the most sought after areas replete with shops, restaurants and arts venues. The stereotype even extends to our neighborhood in Hampton which for the most part - sadly, we do have a few reactionary, bigoted residents - is gay friendly and has seen LGBT homeowners make major upgrades to properties. The same phenomenon has even been seen in Cape Charles on Virginia's Eastern Shore. Now a study has conformed the positive influence that gays have on property values. At least in liberal, open minded neighborhoods. In areas favored by conservative bigots, we don't work the same magic. Here are highlights from the Vancouver Sun on some of the new study findings:

A controversial new study suggests that in neighbourhoods where extreme conservatism prevails, the presence of one more same-sex couple for every 1,000 households is linked to a one per cent drop in housing prices. In liberal neighbourhoods, by contrast, researchers find the associated effect of gays and lesbians on housing prices to be positive.

The study, which appears in the Journal of Urban Economics, draws data from more than 20,000 home sales, and controls for such mitigating factors as access to amenities, racial homogeneity, education, income, housing characteristics and quality of nearby schools.

"Gays and lesbians feel that they're not welcome in certain areas," says Susane Leguizamon, a professor of economics at Tulane University. "This study suggests it's not just a feeling; people are responding to the presence of gays and lesbians in the ways we'd expect."

Leguizamon suggests cohabitating same-sex couples are actually quite visible to their neighbours, and thus can have an effect on what people will pay to come or go — much the same way ethnicity has been shown to do in other studies.

She and co-author David Christafore used voting outcomes of the U.S. Defense of Marriage Act to classify neighbourhood values (the Act stated that marriage could only be entered into by a man and a woman), and called on census data to determine the number of same-sex couples in the area.

Affirming previous research, their analysis showed that sexual diversity was positively correlated with housing prices in most neighbourhoods — and most significantly in very liberal areas, dubbed "gaybourhoods."

In communities with high levels of conservatism, however, greater concentrations of same-sex couples was linked with lower housing prices.

Importantly, however, research led by Richard Florida at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management has consistently shown that higher concentrations of gay people are linked with economic prosperity, innovation and creativity within a region.

The Correlation Between Conservativism and Ignorance and Economic Backwardness

Richard Florida - who has done studies on the so-called "creative class" and entrepreneurship and economic vitality has done another study that seems to demonstrate a direct correlation between the economic well being of states and the level of conservatism of the states' residents. Also directly tracking the level of conservatism in states is the level of education of residents. The more poorly educate a state's population, the more conservative the state. Yes, ignorance and bigotry does seem to have a high and direct price. Unfortunately, states that are politically lurching to the right are the antithesis to long term economic success and vibrancy. The chart above from The Atlantic also shows a direct correlation with between religiosity and lack of education to the Bible Belt. As for the "average" ranking for Virginia, the study obviously failed to fully factor in the maleficent influence of The Family Foundation and the Virginia Republican Party. Here are some highlights from Richard Florida's article in The Atlantic:
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[S]tates with more conservatives are considerably more religious than liberal-leaning states. The correlation between conservative political affiliation and religion (the share of state population for which religion is an important part of daily life) is considerable (.63).
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Conservative states are also less well-educated than liberal ones. The correlation between conservative affiliation and human capital (that is, the percent of adults who have graduated college) is substantially negative (-.53).
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States with more conservatives are less diverse. Conservative political affiliation is highly negatively correlated with the percent of the population that are immigrants (-.59) or gay and lesbian (-.66).
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Conservative states are more blue-collar. Conservative political affiliation is strongly positively correlated with the percentage of the workforce in blue-collar occupations (.73) and highly negatively correlated with the proportion of the workforce engaged in knowledge-based professional and creative work (-.61).
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Conservatism, more and more, is the ideology of the economically left behind. The current economic crisis only appears to have deepened conservatism's hold on America's states. This trend stands in sharp contrast to the Great Depression, when America embraced FDR and the New Deal.
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[L]ong-term danger is economic rather than political. This ideological state of affairs advantages the policy preferences of poorer, less innovative states over wealthier, more innovative, and productive ones. American politics is increasingly disconnected from its economic engine. And this deepening political divide has become perhaps the biggest bottleneck on the road to long-run prosperity.
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I have noted before that the biggest threat to the USA's future is not liberalism, gay marriage or diversity. Instead, it is individuals and states that embrace ignorance and backwardness by choice. Yes, its those like Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann and the Tea Party crowd and similar know nothings that are the real threat to America. As the USA slides towards regression, the rest of the world marches forward.

America's Great Passport Divide

I guess it should come as little surprise that the lowest per capita number of individuals who hold passports would directly parallel the regions of the country that comprise the Bible belt. You know, the same region where ignorance and intolerance tend to be enthusiastically embraced as a virtue. The map above shows that Mississippi wins the prize for the lowest number of citizens with passports. Perhaps if these folks got out and saw more of the world they might be forced to open their eyes to the fact that their made up reality is flawed and out of touch with objective reality. The Atlantic looks at the results of a new study - here are some highlights:
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It's a fun map. With the exception of Sarah Palin's home state, it reinforces the "differences" we expect to find between the states where more worldly, well-traveled people live versus those where the folks Palin likes to call "real Americans" preponderate. Mostly to entertain myself, I decided to look at how this passport metric correlates with a variety of other political, cultural, economic, and demographic measures. What surprised me is how closely it lines up with the other great cleavages in America today.
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It's also reasonable to assume that more highly educated people would be more likely to hold a passport. And that too is what we find across the states. There is a considerable correlation (.80) between passports and human capital levels (measured as the percentage of a population with a bachelor's degree or higher). What's really striking is that this correlation holds even when we control for income,
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There is a substantial correlation (.70) between the percentage of passport holders and the percentage of the workforce in knowledge-based and creative jobs. Conversely, there is significant negative correlation between passport holders and the share of the workforce in blue-collar working class jobs (-.82). Working class states have considerably less passport holders than creative class states.
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What about politics? How does passport holding line up against America's Red state-Blue state divide? Pretty darn well, actually. There is a considerable positive correlation between passports and Obama voters (.59) and a significant negative one (-.61) for McCain voters. It appears that more liberally-oriented states are more globally oriented as well, or at least their citizens like to travel abroad.
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There are stark cultural differences between places where international travel is common and those where it's not, and we can see them playing out in the cultural and political strife that has been riving the country over the past decades.
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The trends in passport use reflect America's starkly bifurcated system of infrastructure. One set of places has great universities and easy access to international airports; another an infrastructure that is much further off the beaten track of the global circulation of capital, talent, and ideas.

Virginia Census Data - Backwardness Results in Slowed Growth and Lost Legislative Clout

I have argued numerous times that areas that are intolerant and hostile to modernity are slowly killing themselves socially and economically. The newly released census data for Virginia bears this out with most of the Commonwealth's significant population growth in relatively liberal Northern Virginia and around Charlottesville while the bulk of losses in population focuses in the reactionary areas of southwest Virginia (e.g., Patrick County, Henry County and Martisville all lost population). A map found here allows one to see the pattern county by county. This divergent growth also means that areas of slow growth or no growth will lose influence in the Virginia General Assembly and in Congress when redistricting is completed. Frankly, I view this as a good thing since for far too long the backward rural areas of Virginia have held far too much sway and have retarded progress across the rest of the state. Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot on the political ramifications:
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Hampton Roads will take a hit when legislative district lines are redrawn this year to reflect population changes over the past decade. The region's population has grown about 6 percent since 2000, according to preliminary data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. That's less than half of Virginia's statewide growth rate of 13 percent, which means the region can expect to lose representation when the required remapping is done.
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The big winner is Northern Virginia, which grew at a robust 24 percent. That means a decades-long trend of shifting political power from downstate to the booming Washington suburbs will continue. The shift will leave local lawmakers of both parties scrambling to save their own skins in a zero-sum game of political musical chairs.
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One potential casualty of any reshuffling done in the Senate is the current level of Virginia Beach representation.

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The clear message to Hampton Roads localities - and even more so southwestern Virginia - ought to be that business as usual is a recipe for future political and economic disaster. The City of Hampton lost population but, based on what I've seen so far with its diversity effort that includes LGBT perspectives, it seems among the few Hampton Roads cities that gets the message that tolerance, cultural diversity and progressive views can mean economic improvement. How it plays out is yet to be seen.

Virginian Pilot: Good Riddance to Ban on Gays

As Bob Marshall fulminates over gays soon being able to serve in the military without fear of discharge haunting them 24/7, the Virginian Pilot - which refused to publish information on GOP Scott Rigell's endorsement by and anti-gay hate group prior to the recent election - has even come out and lauded the demise of DADT. While in my view anything by allies to LGBT Virginians, even the folks at the Virginian Pilot can do the math and realize that with 77% of the population nationally supporting repeal, they had best get on board. The editorial page writers may also be belatedly waking up to the fact that the region needs to become more progressive and socially tolerant after being after slammed and being described as "Old, Slow and Not Too Bright" in a Brookings Institute study. Here are highlights from the Pilot editorial page:
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Good riddance to ban on gays. The inevitable arrived early. Despite overwhelming evidence that the military's controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy was doomed one way or another, it didn't appear Congress would ever muster the courage to end it - until Saturday.
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On a 65-31 vote, the Senate finally approved legislation to allow gays to serve openly in the armed forces. Among those voting for the measure were Democrats Mark Warner and Jim Webb of Virginia and Republican Richard Burr and Democrat Kay Hagan of North Carolina. The vote was somewhat surprising, given the hyper-partisanship on Capitol Hill these days - not to mention the chronic hand-wringing and waffling over this issue.
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[A]generational shift in attitudes toward homosexuality - in the armed forces and the general population - ensured that such a discriminatory policy would not last. Recent court rulings also indicated the ban would not withstand continued legal challenges.
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There's no need to continue denying the reality that gay Americans can serve - and always have served - honorably in the military. More than 13,500 members of the armed forces have been driven out since the "don't ask, don't tell" policy went into effect in 1993. Countless others have lived in fear of reprisal, opted not to re-enlist or decided not to join because they didn't wish to live a lie.
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The military will adapt to this change, just as it did to racial integration and to allowing women to serve. In both those cases, critics predicted the sky would fall. It didn't. It won't this time, either.

Reflections on the NGLCC National Business & Leadership Conference

Living in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, it is easy at times to become depressed over the lack of progress on LGBT rights and start to wonder if things indeed will ever get better. Spending yesterday here in Washington, D.C. at the NGLCC National Business & Leadership Conference has truly helped re-energize me. It was a true honor to stand up on the stage with HRBOR's current president to formally receive the Rising Star Award and a framed commemorative stamp series complete with engraved plaque from the U. S. Postal Service as we looked out across a room of hundreds of LGBT business and chamber leaders from across the USA. Likewise, networking with other local NGLCC affiliates and share ideas and war stories was an amazing experience as well.
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The day concluded with a formal dinner sponsored by IBM and the Argentine Tourism Ministry held in the Great Hall of the historic National Building Museum (the exterior is shown above and the great hall - which is huge and seven stories high - is pictured above) where a number of businesses and individuals were honored. Among those recognized was Fort Worth city council member Joel Burns who is a truly wonderful individual who I enjoyed talking to and with whom I hope to talk further. His amazing statement on coming out and bullying continues to be inspiring and I feel privileged to have met him. Another surprise of the evening was Martina Navratilova acting as auctioneer for the top items in the silent auction at the event.

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It will be a bit of a let down as I head back to Hampton Roads this morning, but having seen how much other chambers have accomplished, I definitely feel motivated to continue to work with HRBOR to create change for the better for LGBT citizens and business owners. It can get better - we merely need to refuse to take no for an answer and refuse to not be treated equally.

America's Top 20 Gayest Cities

Richard Florida - the researcher that coined the phrase the "creative class" and who has correlated the presence of LGBT populations with cities and regions with rising economies has a new piece at the Daily Beast that not only looks at the "gayest cities" in America but also gives a good recap on the thesis that tolerance and diversity - including gays - are good for business. Not surprisingly, the Norfolk area (or most of Virginia except the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.) doesn't makes the cut in Florida's analysis - something that indeed correlates with the economic backwardness of the area which would be far worse but for the huge military presence that cushions the economy in relative terms. Here are a few highlights:
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The U.S. metropolitan region with the largest concentration of gay and lesbian people is San Francisco. That’s not exactly news, but there are more than a few surprises in the Gay/Lesbian Index’s metro-area rankings. Developed by Gary Gates, a demographer at UCLA’s Williams Institute, the Gay/Lesbian Index value tells you how the proportion of same-sex couples among all households of a given metro area compares to the average for the entire U.S. An index value of 2, for example, means that the proportion of same-sex couples in that metro area is twice that of the nation.
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A gallery of the nation's top 20 gay cities can be found here. The U.S. metropolitan region with the largest concentration of gay and lesbian people is San Francisco. That’s not exactly news, but there are more than a few surprises in the Gay/Lesbian Index’s metro-area rankings. Developed by Gary Gates, a demographer at UCLA’s Williams Institute, the Gay/Lesbian Index value tells you how the proportion of same-sex couples among all households of a given metro area compares to the average for the entire U.S. An index value of 2, for example, means that the proportion of same-sex couples in that metro area is twice that of the nation.
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New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, D.C., Boston, San Diego, Denver, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon, all make the list of the 20 gayest metros. But so do Dallas, Columbus, Ohio, Santa Rosa and Sacramento, Springfield, Massachusetts, Portland, Maine, and college towns like Eugene, Oregon, Ann Arbor, Michigan and Ithaca, New York.
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The idea that most gay people live in urban enclaves like the Castro in San Francisco or Chelsea in New York City is something of a myth, Gates notes. "Gay people live everywhere," says Gates, "in cities, suburbs, and even in the country—one in seven same-sex couples live in rural areas." The 2000 Census found same-sex couples living in 99 percent of U.S. counties.
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Research I conducted with Charlotta Mellander revealed that metro areas with higher proportions of gay men and lesbians also have higher housing values—a finding that landed me on The Colbert Report. A study I conducted with Gates in 2001 discerned a close association between regions with higher proportions of same-sex couples and concentrations of high-tech businesses. And there’s more:

• Ronald Inglehart’s World Values Survey has found that tolerance in general, and tolerance toward gays and lesbians in particular, is associated with the shift to a more modern, more democratic, and more affluent “post-materialist” political culture.

• Soul of the Community, a study conducted by the Gallup Organization, found that more open and tolerant attitudes toward LGBT people (as well as to other groups) was one of two key factors, along with natural beauty and environmental quality, that corresponded with higher levels of satisfaction with and emotional attachment to a community.
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[P]laces that attract gay people and lesbians tend to have the same open-minded attitudes and business styles that foster innovation. A visible LGBT community is the proverbial “canary in the coal mine,” signaling openness to new ideas, new business models, and diverse and different thinking kinds of people—precisely the characteristics of a local ecosystem that can attract cutting-edge entrepreneurs and mobilize new companies.
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Christianist nut cases like Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell and Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli really need to crawl out of their Medieval caves, smell the coffee and start making Virginia gay friendly - for the economic good of all Virginians.

Daily Press Coverage of HRBOR/City of Hampton Meeting

I previously reported on the very positive meeting that representatives of Hampton Roads Business OutReach ("HRBOR") had on June 6, 2010 with representatives of the City of Hampton Department of Economic Development concerning investment opportunities in connection with the revitalization of the Phoebus area of the City of Hampton (the main street is pictured at left). My post can be found here on this blog and here on The Bilerico Project. Yesterday, the local paper, the Daily Press, ran an overall positive story about the meeting, citing Richard Florida's work on the "creative class' and referencing other cities/neighborhoods where LGBT businesses and residents have sparked a gentrification and economic blossoming. Unfortunately, the story - which referenced me by name - has set off a firestorm among Christo-fascists and the truly ignorant and prejudiced who apparently would prefer to live in a seedy economic backwater than have more upscale, legitimate LGBT owned businesses move into the area. The irony, of course, is that some are already in the area but the Neanderthals apparently don't realize it.

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The running commentary on the article can be found here and I would encourage readers to create a simple log-in and leave supportive statements to counter balance those posted by knuckle draggers. Comments can be posted here. So far, City personnel have remained steadfast in their support of the HRBOR/DED meeting. Obviously views other than those posted by Pat Robertson's Kool-Aid drinker crowd would be most appreciated.

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As I explained to a Daily Press columnist, overall my experience with Hampton has been most positive - particularly among the educated, well to do, and professional class. The nasty comments posted to the Daily Press article obviously do not appear to be from the better elements of Hampton's population. Instead, they appear to represent the ignorant, Bible beating segment of the population which would drag the city and the nation back to the Dark Ages if given the opportunity.

City of Hampton Solicts LGBT Investors and Entrepreneurs for Revitalization

Mellen Street, the next Rehobeth Avenue or DuVal Street?

I frequently describe Virginia as a particularly non-gay friendly place to live and work. However, there are elements within the state (which obviously exclude our current Governor and lunatic Attorney General) that want to change that situation. Indeed, there is growing recognition of the importance of the LGBT community in developing communities and cities that are magnets for what Richard Florida has termed the "creative class." One example is the May 3, 2010, conference of the Virginia Chapter of the American Planning Association held Norfolk which specifically looked at the importance of LGBT businesses and the LGBT community in the revival of areas such as Norfolk's Ghent, Richmond's Carytown, and the Del Rey area of Alexandria. The conference even included a session on "Being Out . . . and In Business" which included two members of Hampton Roads Business Outreach ("HRBOR"), Virginia's only affiliate of the NGLCC, as panelists.

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Now, for the first time to my knowledge a Hampton Roads city has specifically and enthusiastically sought the engagement of the LGBT community and LGBT investors/entrepreneurs in a revitalization effort. One June 9, 2010 the City of Hampton Department of Economic Development invited HRBOR board members - I was an attendee - to a meeting to review the investment and development opportunities in the Phoebus area of the city. Phoebus, which was a small independent city until 1952, has the potential for pedestrian friendly development like Ghent, Carytown, the historic section of Rehobeth Beach, Old Town Key West and other areas that have become thriving LGBT and artistic centered neighborhoods and/or destinations. With the U. S. Army's upcoming closure of historic Fort Monroe in 2011, Phoebus will have increased water front and beach access, increased marina space, plus the continued draw of the Casemate Museum at the 19th century fort and the newly expanded American Theater (pictured below).

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As for economic incentives, through various programs investors can pursue loan programs, grant programs, and both state and federal historic tax credits (combined a 45% credit), plus favorable zoning that allows the construction of new, green vintage look properties for first floor commercial use and second and third floor residential use. Information on these programs can be found here and here. As for marketing the area from a tourism perspective, Phoebus is centrally located and less than an hour from Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown, as well as less than an hour from Virginia Beach. Situated at the first west bound exit from Insterstate 64, Phoebus offers easy access for Norfolk shoppers/restaurant goers as well as the entire Virginia Peninsula population. Additional gay friendly accommodations will obviously be needed to make Phoebus a potential gay destination, but the city is looking into exactly that type investment already. Hampton is celebrating its 400 year anniversary this summer - and also the city's first ever Pride event this coming Saturday, June 19, 2010, at Millpoint Park in downtown on the waterfront.

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Will Hampton pull this revitalization off? Time will tell, but a good starting point already exists with a diverse population and existing restaurants and art venues. For more information on these exciting opportunities that offer ground floor entry prices, contact: Don Davis, Redevelopment Manager, Department of Economic Development, City of Hampton, VA, (Tel: 757-728-5144). e-mail: dedavis@hampton.gov