Keith Debbage's article, "Emphasis on 'creative class' puts cart before work horse" (Ideas, June 12), is a far more logical approach to local economics than the work of Richard Florida, which has been embraced with some enthusiasm in recent years.

In our local economy, we do not find much evidence for Florida's conclusions. Shortly after the announcement that Dell would be moving to the Triad, local economic leaders were asked what Dell's main concerns were in choosing the Piedmont for its new plant. The response was that Dell knew a great deal about the trucking industry in this region. (I think Keith Holliday made the statements, but I could be wrong.) Local leaders had thought that Dell's primary interest was due to the FedEx expansion and the air transport industry.

Florida's emphasis on culture rather than logistics misses the pragmatic nature of business. We need solutions that fit our region, rather than trying to fit into a one-size-fits-all remedy.

Furthermore, Florida's use of the term "creativity" as a criterion of economic class is reminiscent of the way that "intelligence" was used to define economic class in the doctrine of Social Darwinism in the late 1800s. Although he speaks of tolerance, he has simply chosen to draw the divisions along different lines.

Bert Barbee
Summerfield