Another small step towards a creative downtown Stockton

Mike Fitzgerald's weekend column profiled a group of young San Francisco transplants starting up a "maker space" in downtown Stockton.   While this is a slow developing movement, I still think encouraging more of this is one of the best economic development strategy for Stockton.   Nearly two years ago, I wrote this in another post,

Everybody is so impressed with Silicon Valley that far-fetched hopes for the tech industry often dominate economic development talk.  But the best assets of Stockton, proximity to Bay Area markets with relatively low real estate costs, are not that important to tech industries who aren't sensitive to rents and sell to a global market.  The tech industry has moved up the peninsula to even more expensive San Francisco.  Much of the attraction is the art and cultural attractions of the City, and there is much concern in SF that the tech workers are damaging the City's cultural fabric as they drive rents into the stratosphere.

I have long thought Stockton should focus its economic development on artists (broadly defined to include craftspeople, musicians, etc.), since they are more likely to be attracted to what the city has to offer.  They are sensitive to rents, and value access to the Bay Area market but do not necessarily have to live and work there every day.  Stockton's history, diversity, and urban environment can also be a plus.