City Council held a hearing on the "creative economy" on Wednesday afternoon, taking testimony from professionals from Philadelphia's cultural, educational and business communities.

The creative economy can contain just about any business you can imagine as long as it's staffed by the 25- to 34-year-old demographic that city officials kept saying they wanted to retain.

But the following occupations are what officials here consider it: Architecture, engineering and planning; communications and marketing; digital media and programming; fashion design; graphic and visual arts and multimedia design; information technology; interior and industrial design; music, film and video production; photography; product and merchandising design; and software development.

(It might've been easier to describe the sector as anything but law, health care and accounting, although that too can be creative at times.)

On the one hand, the event struck me as an effort by the city-funded Innovation Philadelphia organization to make a case for why the Nutter administration should provide funding for it. Currently, the city budget contains no money for the agency, which was created during Mayor Street's first term.

However, hearing the testimony of several of the entrepreneurs convinced me that they are no different from nearly every small business operating in the city of Philadelphia. They struggle to find affordable office space. They are bothered and bewildered by a city bureaucracy that sends them delinquent tax notices when they in fact are paid up. And good talent is hard to find and keep.

I was heartened to see that nearly everyone who took the microphone agreed that the Philadelphia region doesn't have to create a creative economy like so many other cities. We are rich in museums, arts schools, theatre companies, music ensembles and dance groups. Sean Buffington, the new president of the University of the Arts, said he was amazed how vibrant the area is.

Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown asked several times what the city should be doing to help. A couple of the businesspeople were brave enough to say, "Stay out of our way."

And that's advice the city should heed. Planned economies have as many unintended consequences as the free-for-all we have in the United States. I would cringe at the creation of yet another tax-free zone just for creative economy enterprises. The city needs to lower taxes and regulation on all businesses, not just the selected few who can negotiate a deal for themselves and a few friends.

However, there is something that must be unique to the creative economy mileau because of its immersion in digital technology. You can read dozens of instant reactions and reflections about Wednesday's hearing online in blog posts and Twitter tweets. (For one Philadelphia entrepreneur's reaction, go to the blog "dangerously awesome.")

There creative community has been building in the city for many years now. While many toil alone in home offices or cubicles in shared space, they are never alone with the tools of social networking that they use to share their expertise, their challenges in business, and their opinions on anything.

Outside of one column in the Inquirer (and posted on Philly.com here), I didn't find anyone expending any passion online about City Council's hearing on creating a Green Job Corps earlier this week.