Then of course, there’s also the Knitting Factory and the other stodgy leftovers of the Laggards and Late Majority. But you’re never going to convince them all. I’m pretty staunchly entrenched as a 2.5 (somewhere between Early Adopters and Early Majority) and even with my slightly-tardy perspective it’s clear that downtown’s where it’s at, where it’s been, and where it’s going to be.

Interesting point made by Remi about whether living close to downtown is necessarily a sign of innovation.

While I do live close to downtown, that’s because I live close to my workplace and places I like to hang out. Those happen to be in downtown.

I bike for the vast majority of my transportation (usually bus when I don’t bike), and I can do that because I’ve made certain deliberate choices.

Maybe the more accurate innovation in lifestyle choice is to live close enough to the things that matter in your life that you don’t have to own a car. That may or may not be downtown for someone.

I’m also wondering why bike commuting is somehow not as “innovative” as owning a Tango. Far fewer resources were consumed in the making of my bike than would go into a Tango, which is still far from being in the average consumer’s price range.

Committing to a full-on change in habits takes more new thinking than just driving a different type of car, no matter how cool it looks or what type of fuel it will ultimately use. (Not that I don’t think they’re adorable and all.)

Sharing a car with a neighbor would present more innovation, too, than just consuming a different way.

Some of my comments belong on the Innovators page instead of this one, but Remi got me going….

Instead of saying Innovators “participate” in certain events, why not identify Innovators as the ones who CREATE these events and organizations?

For example, I serve on the board of Friends of the Falls right now: http://www.friendsofthefalls.org.

We work actively every day to continue our work on the Gorge Master Plan, drawing people to the Spokane River so they’ll understand what a gem we have and will help keep it clean, accessible, and inviting for many generations to come.

Rick Hastings on that board is one of the Innovators with a vision for the river; he was the founding executive director. If you get to hear him talk about what a difference it makes to embrace the river, rather than turn our backs on it or dump garbage into it as was done for so many years, you understand how important it is to have new organizations operating outside standard government processes to advocate for important values.

(FOF organizes the Spokane River Clean-up. Start at our home page to get to the registration page that’s linked here, please–we want you to be able to download a flyer and read some background and safety tips before you hand over your name and email address to us on the form.)

Interesting and obviously thought-provoking series.

–barb
http://www.biketoworkbarb.blogspot.com
http://www.biketoworkspokane.org
http://www.friendsofthefalls.org

by far the best local website resource, i went through and bookmarked all of em.

Some of the issues I’m seeing, is that you point to using sub-standard local services as a way to innovate. Fresh Abundance, for example, has been a constant let-down to me. Is it innovative to go with a local supplier that does a lesser job than larger *local* entities like, say, Rosauers? Personally I don’t think so, and I would say (following the spirit of these posts) that you are a straggler in the late majority if you follow a smaller, sub-standard local alternative as opposed to a larger, state of the art local business. The “majority” is here defined, of course, in the subset of people who have *any* interest in local development. Those who have no interest — and there are many who don’t — do not belong on the chart at all.

Going back to your first post: “Innovators live as close to Downtown as possible.” Again, I disagree; this would at best be the early majority. The real innovation in Spokane, I would argue, is currently happening at the Northside. While that part of town has been fairly standard in terms of being your stereotypical suburbia, there are those who are trying to make an impact with local businesses. Restaurants like Stir and Cafe Neo have made a real effort to provide true downtown-style dining alternatives in non traditional places. De Leon’s first spot was on Francis, where it existed years before its satellite downtown location opened. The only locally owned multiplex in Spokane is way way up north.

I’m sure if you asked many younger Northsiders, they would tell you they’d love a north-south light rail option. Many of them currently take the bus downtown. In my view, that makes them the innovators, not the ones of us who live downtown who really are more followers.