There can be a beautiful city, with grand buildings and great public spaces; but how great is that city really if there are homeless people or people who have given up hope begging in every corner of the city.  This is not meant to put down the beggar, nor to put down the city with beggars, but to point out that for a city to be truly successful, there needs to be the hope that people who want to work can find jobs and people who want to start their own businesses have a fighting chance to build them into successful enterprises.

For a city to be at its most prosperous, all of its citizens must have the opportunity to be part of the entrepreneurial success of the city. This is not about "redistributing wealth." From a conservative view, this is making the most of all available resources.  The keys to economic hope are education, creativity, entrepreneurialism, and capital.

For a city to have economic hope means that its people must have economic hope; for the people to have hope, education is a must.  Education is essential to the economic success of an individual or a society.  Students can no longer skate by with the minimum coursework in high school, or rely to heavily on vocational education. The job market is ever changing. The student who learns a variety of subjects, can learn to think for themselves, and can adapt to new situations has the advantage.  A city producing these kinds of students has a distinct advantage.

Most people have tremendous power to be creative. More people who are involved with more creative ideas, the greater the wealth of the city can become. The economic playing field needs to be kept as even as possible, without favoring another.