DaytonDailyNews.com

Cancel all reservations; the grim reaper lurks

Re "Hey, Forbes: We're still breathing," Aug. 6: I woke up this morning and felt just a little woozy. I thought it was the several excellent glasses of cabernet I'd had for dinner last night. But it took none other than the August Forbes magazine (well, more like Forbes' slimy interactive doppelganger) to clear up the mystery. Apparently, along with my fellow Daytonians, I'm perched on the stark, windy edge of eternity without even a modest scrap of hope.

This has affected a change in my worldview. So, cancel my reservation at Coco's tomorrow night. Tear up my Dayton Art Institute membership card. Tell Maestro Gittleman to throw his baton into the river. Board up my lovely home in McPherson Town. Sell those airplanes at Wright-Patterson to the scrap yard. Cork up the big fountains down at RiverScape. Tear down the bell tower at Carillon and build a cute little funeral cairn.

I'm prepared to accept the inevitable. C'mon Dayton, join with me! After all, this is not just slapdash filler generated in the hope of manufacturing a story out of dry statistics. Oh no. This is Forbes Online, for heaven's sake.

— Dave Bukvic

Dayton

The place and the people are what really matter

Forbes.com has selected Dayton as one of the 10 "fastest-dying cities in America." Well, there are lists and there are lists. What really matters comes down to two principal resources: place and people.

In disagreeing with the Forbes.com number-crunching list, I call attention to Richard Florida's work, "The Rise of the Creative Class." According to Florida, urban areas with low levels of inequality, high levels of tolerance, and a high percentage of creative people are the most successful. For example, in metropolitan areas with a population between 500,000 to 1,000,000, Dayton ranks ninth. Instead of being a bottom-feeder, Dayton is a leader in creativity.

For my part, I'm counting on the people of Dayton. We are still creating, innovating, inventing and working. Recently, I typed out a list of our assets. At the top, I placed the people of Dayton. Surrounded with outstanding educational institutions, we are an open-minded and diverse people. As Florida says, "The most successful regions welcome all kinds of people."

The second key economic and social organizing unit of our time is place. "Places provide the ecosystems that harness human creativity and turn it into economic value." Let me put it plainly: Dayton is a great region. It is a great place to live.

— Rodney W. Kennedy

Dayton