Rust Belt Revival Ideas, Predictions & Articles

[SixthCity]

Wait wait, are you arguing that Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, and/or northeast Ohio is somehow suffering because of a lack of support for liberal/progressive politics?  You gotta do some research man.  Northeast Ohio, particularly the urban areas are bastions of liberal/progressive support.  A Republican Mayor or County Commissioner would essentially be unelectable in Clevaland or Cuyahoga County.  I think you would find a similar dynamic in most northern rust belt urban areas.

 

I do agree that there are underlying issues that go unaddressed - however most of these, I would argue, are macroeconomic trends that we don't have much control over at the local level.  Lack of support for liberal politics is certainly not among our faults her in Clevo.

 

That $50k house is not $50k because there aren't enough (deep) blue votes.

[KJP]

Houston's core is fairly liberal, but surrounded by conservative suburbs and exurbs which tried to block the city from building its own rail transit system to serve its own citizens. Like, mind your own God-damned business?? With one rail transit line built and out-performing its original ridership projections, Houston is now adding light-rail lines as fast as they can build them. And the core is rapidly densifying and diversifying in its land use mix. The arts/cultural scene is doing all right, too, from what I hear.

[3 Dog Pat]

Houston does not have suburbs, think Columbus on steroids.

 

Its suburbs and exurbs are within the city limits.  It's a horrible, horrible, horrible place.

 

I took a HUGE pay cut to leave Houston for New Orleans, but the quality of life made it a no brainer.

 

http://www.texasmonthly.com/daily-post/if-you-needed-it-further-proof-houston-so-much-bigger-most-cities

[KJP]

Houston does not have suburbs, think Columbus on steroids.

 

Its suburbs and exurbs are within the city limits.  It's a horrible, horrible, horrible place.

 

I took a HUGE pay cut to leave Houston for New Orleans, but the quality of life made it a no brainer.

 

http://www.texasmonthly.com/daily-post/if-you-needed-it-further-proof-houston-so-much-bigger-most-cities

 

So what's attracting all the youngin's to H-town?

[Hts121]

^Jobs and $$$

 

 

 

So are you suggesting the city to emulate is Houston?  If so, why isn't Ohio booming?  It's got the same GOP-type governance, same sprawl-friendly policies, same pro-car, pro-highway transportation policies, a population with a similarly conservative mentality, and the same devotion to football above all else...... 

 

It doesn't have the same type of governance.  Texas is a world away from Ohio in terms of the brand of conservative politics.

 

And the number 1 reason why Texas is booming is natural resources and the low tax rates those natural resources allow the state to use to poach companies from other states.  That leads to jobs.  Jobs leads to people.

[bwheats]

As someone who grew up in Pittsburgh, lived in Cleveland for two years,  and now Houston for grad school I can say without a doubt Houston is the worst city. A plethora of amenities that are inaccessible because of traffic that is only getting worse. I live in the inner loop which is within a few miles of all major employment and entertainment nodes. One cannot drive to the store between 3-7 pm or risk being stuck in traffic for at least an hour just to drive a few miles each way. Most transplant Houstonians I talk to complain about the city and the people from here are oblivious to how bad of a city it is. I can't wait to move back to Cleveland in May. Also, the weather is nothing to be proud of, summer is oppressive and miserable while the winter is rainy and cool.

[jmicha]

^That's basically the exact impression I got on my many excursions to Houston when I was doing a co-op in east Texas. The people who grew up there and never lived anywhere else were ALL about Houston being the best place on earth. The people who were transferred there or had lived in other places at some point complained about the traffic, how far everything is from everything else, how a lot of the people are narrow-minded, how there's nothing to do Downtown, how you're quite secluded from other non-Texas major cities since everything is so far away, etc.

 

I've lived in Boston, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and did internships where I lived in Savannah, Hilton Head, and Texas. Though I love Boston I have to say that the highest quality of life is found in Cleveland and Cincy in that list. Savannah was awesome but too small and lacking a lot of amenities and didn't offer many opportunities to its residents. Hilton Head is...hell on earth. I don't get it. A bunch of gated communities off this mega-road. It's not even that pretty compared to neighboring islands. And I've already described Houston.

 

The Rust Belt cities offer so much to their residents. So much so that I think most people take it for granted. Clevelanders are really good at bashing their city but they don't realize how accessible, affordable, and great things really are there.

 

But at the same time a lot of Rust Belters don't ever leave their city they grew up in and this results in them not realizing that the grass really isn't greener on the other side.

[surfohio]

For example, the city making the greatest percent change in the number of college graduates aged 25 to 34, from 2000 to 2012 is.....

 

Houston, Texas.

 

So are you suggesting the city to emulate is Houston?  If so, why isn't Ohio booming?  It's got the same GOP-type governance, same sprawl-friendly policies, same pro-car, pro-highway transportation policies, a population with a similarly conservative mentality, and the same devotion to football above all else...... 

 

Nope. I'm proving that if you want to run with "blame the GOP" rhetoric it would be more effective if you could support it with facts.

 

If that's your opinion, then great.

 

But suggesting houses in Cleveland are so cheap because of Republicans is just so incomplete, I'm not sure that does anything except create more unnecessary division. 

 

 

[kennynbabes]

Nobody hates Cleveland like people who live in Avon, Hudson, or Solon.

 

Not even close.

 

And boy do THEY talk the city down to everybody they meet/on message boards.

 

I was on a trip with a colleague of mine.  In Jackson Mississippi.

 

I live in Detroit shoreway.  He lives in Avon.

 

The folks down there asked how we like cleveland.

 

He says it is boring.

 

I say You don't even live in the same county that the city of Cleveland is.  You live cornfield adjacent.  Cleveland isn't boring.  20 miles outside of Cleveland in cornfield adjacent Avon is boring.

 

Mind you that was the NICEST thing I have heard as an answer to the question.  From NEO natives.  Fairview or Fairlawn are great...Cleveland SUXORS.  And most of them think "travelling" is cedar point.

 

It is depressing.

 

[mrnyc]

^ very true, but to be, umm, fair, those types don't just pick on cleveland or any city, they rip on anything that is not 100% suburban-certified. like even eating at a local restaurant outside of their burb is getting all crazy, when they travel they take tours and cruises, etc. not that there is anything wrong with chains, tours and cruises, but there is more to a thoughtful, full life than those kinds of things.

[surfohio]

^ very true, but to be, umm, fair, those types don't just pick on cleveland or any city, they rip on anything that is not 100% suburban-certified. like even eating at a local restaurant outside of their burb is getting all crazy, when they travel they take tours and cruises, etc. not that there is anything wrong with chains, tours and cruises, but there is more to a thoughtful, full life than those kinds of things.

 

In college I was constantly showing people around Cleveland...people who grew up in places like Parma, Strongsville and Brunswick. None of these guys knew where anything was.

 

I grew up in New Jersey.

[wpcc88]

^ very true, but to be, umm, fair, those types don't just pick on cleveland or any city, they rip on anything that is not 100% suburban-certified. like even eating at a local restaurant outside of their burb is getting all crazy, when they travel they take tours and cruises, etc. not that there is anything wrong with chains, tours and cruises, but there is more to a thoughtful, full life than those kinds of things.

 

In college I was constantly showing people around Cleveland...people who grew up in places like Parma, Strongsville and Brunswick. None of these guys knew where anything was.

 

I grew up in New Jersey.

 

I moved to Cleveland in middle school and left after high school.  My friends that lived there their whole life and continue to do so still don't know the city as well as I do and I've been gone for almost a decade.

[3 Dog Pat]

From our Canadian friends

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/rust-belt-revival-lessons-for-southwestern-ontario-from-americas-industrial-heartland/article22489159/

 

 

When he finally sits down, Cleveland’s leading urbanologist makes the passionate case for why Rust Belt cities like his – for all the economic pain they’ve suffered, people they’ve lost to more prosperous places, jokes made at their expense – are where the future is.

[KJP]

Millennials...settling in cities that were often shunned in the past...Baltimore, Cleveland, St. Louis & Detroit http://t.co/V8UWKwceMW

[KJP]

Gary’s Mayor Knows That After Blight Mapping Ends, the Real Work Begins

By Alexis Stephens | February 24, 2015

 

After 200 volunteers surveyed nearly 60,000 parcels of land, Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson of Gary, Indiana, is ready to make some comprehensive decisions about the city’s blight problem.

 

Gary’s population was 78,450 in 2013, down from a peak of 178,320 in 1960. Freeman-Wilson’s civilian squad spent 18 months pounding the city’s pavements armed with smartphones, identifying occupancy and safety concerns. According to the Gary Parcel Survey, made publicly available on garymaps.com, nearly 7,000 properties in the city are vacant.

 

The city is a recipient of the Center for Community Progress’ 2015 Technical Assistance Scholarship Program (TASP), which will help officials to develop a comprehensive blight prevention strategy. “The elimination of blight isn’t just an exercise in demolition or even in reconstruction,” Freeman-Wilson says. “There is an opportunity to look at ordinances and even state statutes that have an impact on how property is handled by property owners, how it’s disposed of, and how you are able to hold owners accountable.”

 

MORE:

http://nextcity.org/daily/entry/gary-indiana-blight-mapping-mayor-interview

[SixthCity]

Think this goes here...

 

Here's a new website called "Legacy City Design" which appears to be committed to sharing urban planning practices and ideas across America's Legacy Cities.  To my knowledge, the Legacy City moniker came about somewhat recently as a softer way to say "Rust Belt", which I don't mind that much.

 

Under projects, Cleveland has the Opportunity Corridor and Velodrome listed.  Not sure why they choose those but fortunately you can submit new projects for consideration on the page.  Cinci doesn't have any projects listed yet.  Columbus is not considered a legacy city.

 

Here is the link: http://www.legacycitydesign.org/

[KJP]

Long article that's worth reading...

http://thestile1972.tumblr.com/post/101874810155/whats-in-a-number-confronting-urban-population

[KJP]

Old and new articles...

 

Reshaping the Rust Belt through immigrant talent

DOUGLAS J. GUTH | MONDAY, OCTOBER 05, 2015

 

A century ago the Rust Belt was the country's industrial heartland, with cities like Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Detroit innovating manufacturing processes that drew, among others, large numbers of European and Latin immigrants.

 

When industrial decline eliminated well-paid blue-collar jobs, entire families of new Americans left for more foreign-friendly metropolises to find better work opportunities and living conditions.

 

Today, many of these once-dominant industrial cities are taking steps to attract immigrants and refugees as a way to reverse a half-century of population decline. Welcoming groups in Cleveland,  Dayton, Detroit and St. Louis promote immigrant integration within the region, while public officials in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh have been vocal about foreign-born entrepreneurs serving as a catalyst for spurring business creation and rebuilding downtrodden neighborhoods.

 

MORE:

http://www.issuemediagroup.com/features/rustbeltimmigrants100115.aspx

 

 

Remaking the Midwest: Affordability and the Rise of 18-Hour Cities

By Beth Mattson-Teig

November 25, 2015

 

Point to any major metropolitan area in the Midwest from Cleveland to Milwaukee and they all have something in common—a surge in urban revitalization underway ranging from public parks and mass transit to new commercial and residential development.

 

A recent study on the “Resurgence in Midwest Secondary Markets” released by CBRE highlights the push by cities to build stronger, more resilient communities. The building boom underway is being fueled by three fundamental factors—people, place, and profit. A shift is afoot among people choosing to live in and around downtown versus the outlying suburbs. According to CBRE, ten of the 11 Midwest markets studied saw population growth in their downtowns from 2005 to 2015, with Detroit being the exception, which was essentially flat. This echoes much of the research in this year’s Emerging Trends in Real Estate report on the growth in secondary U.S. markets.

 

Cincinnati, for example, has seen its downtown population double in the past decade to 15,000 people. That shift is due in large part to the “millennial effect.” Millennials are choosing an urban lifestyle that offers live/work/play options and amenities all within easy reach by foot, bike, or mass transit. Companies are chasing talent, and Midwest cities are certainly feeling more competitive pressure to create urban environments that appeal to today’s talent pool.

 

MORE:

http://urbanland.uli.org/development-business/remaking-midwest-affordability-rise-18-hour-cities/

[jjames0408]

It makes me insane the way they compare cities to one another, yet do not actually compare them apples to apples. CBRE is being quite liberal in what they call downtown in some of those cities. Milwaukee has around 7-10,000 people living downtown yet they say 31,000? There was growth of 20,000 people downtown in 5 years? I have a hard time believing that. Cinci at 15,000? Kansas City at 20,000? Indianapolis at 27,000? If you're gonna do three square miles in some of them, do it in all of them or just compare actual downtown to actual downtown.

[UrbanSurfin]

Very interesting article. It certainly includes the Rust Belt, but also other regions left behind. The argument is that with deregulation, beginning 35-40 years ago, U.S. governments abandoned two centuries of policy aimed at encouraging strong local/regional economies and parity among regions.

 

Why the Economic Fates of America’s Cities Diverged

Places like St. Louis and New York City were once similarly prosperous. Then, 30 years ago, the United States turned its back on the policies that had been encouraging parity.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/11/cities-economic-fates-diverge/417372/

 

 

 

[clvlndr]

It makes me insane the way they compare cities to one another, yet do not actually compare them apples to apples. CBRE is being quite liberal in what they call downtown in some of those cities. Milwaukee has around 7-10,000 people living downtown yet they say 31,000? There was growth of 20,000 people downtown in 5 years? I have a hard time believing that. Cinci at 15,000? Kansas City at 20,000? Indianapolis at 27,000? If you're gonna do three square miles in some of them, do it in all of them or just compare actual downtown to actual downtown.

 

And 35,000 in downtown Detroit!?  No way.  If your measuring populations inside the downtown district, Cleveland has one of the largest downtown populations in these listed Midwest secondary markets, but to go by these numbers, Cleveland's has the smallest. These other cities are being measured by having downtowns inclusive of considerable residential areas adjacent to, or near their downtown, while Cleveland's numbers are limited to within downtown... Yes, it would be interesting if we included Goodrich, Slavic Village, Central, Tremont, Ohio City, Clark-Fulton, Detroit-Shoreway, etc., which this study seems to be doing for other cities.

[327]

It needs to be consistent or its a worthless metric.  Detroit and Cincinnati both have a lot of density near downtown, whereas in Cleveland it's a pretty bright line between skyscrapers and where everything is 1-2 stories. 

[Robu]

I think the issue here is that Clevelanders consider "Downtown" to be synonymous with the city's Central Business District. But other cities refer to a small cluster of neighborhoods to be their "Downtown." Like in NYC, any neighborhood south of 14th Street is considered a part of Downtown. Similarly, Dayton considers the Oregon District a "downtown neighborhood," as Cincinnati does Over-the-Rhine. So the article's authors are not cheating, but they are using somewhat arbitrary regional definitions. Something more objective (like population within a certain radius of the geographic center of the central business district) might have made more sense for comparison purposes. But even then the definition of a CBD is fundamentally arbitrary.

[jjames0408]

I think the issue here is that Clevelanders consider "Downtown" to be synonymous with the city's Central Business District. But other cities refer to a small cluster of neighborhoods to be their "Downtown." Like in NYC, any neighborhood south of 14th Street is considered a part of Downtown. Similarly, Dayton considers the Oregon District a "downtown neighborhood," as Cincinnati does Over-the-Rhine. So the article's authors are not cheating, but they are using somewhat arbitrary regional definitions. Something more objective (like population within a certain radius of the geographic center of the central business district) might have made more sense for comparison purposes. But even then the definition of a CBD is fundamentally arbitrary.

We're all saying pretty much the exact same thing, but downtown is downtown. If they're going to use population numbers, they need to make them the same regardless of what people in a region call downtown. The amount of census tracts needed to get to those inflated numbers is crazy. It makes it look like Milwaukee or Indianapolis are as urban as Minneapolis. It's just bad reporting/fact finding. Yes, they used CBRE's information, but they should still have a responsibility to look into the data prior to writing an article which compares cities against each other. There was a recent article comparing school districts around the country as well and it was the same sort of BS.

[327]

Might be a pointless pursuit anyway.  The article was discussing millennials moving back into inner cities, which doesn't require a sharp definition of what constitutes a downtown.  Millennials are moving into a variety of inner city neighborhoods.  I often find focusing on "downtown-only" population or growth to be counterproductive, as a CBD can never exist or function in isolation.

[TMH]

To my knowledge all of the apartments on the west bank of the Flats are considered Ohio City.  :wtf:

[KJP]

In @TheEconomist, @avanagtmael argues that older industrial cities in US are becoming centers of brain-intensive mfg https://t.co/ubQLGk0Hbg

[KJP]

Why has there been an exodus of black residents from West Coast liberal hubs?

By Aaron Renn

May 1, 2016 5:00 AM

 

The Black Lives Matter movement has brought the challenges facing black America to the fore, and introduced racially conscious quality-of-life questions into the national debate. How are black residents in America's cities faring? And how are those cities doing in meeting the aspirations of their black residents, judged especially by the ultimate barometer: whether blacks choose to move to these cities, or stay in them?

 

Though results vary to some extent, the broad trend is clear: West Coast progressive enclaves are either seeing an exodus of blacks or are failing to attract them. Midwestern and Northeastern urban areas are attracting blacks to the extent that they are affordable or providing middle class economic opportunities. And Southern cities are now experiencing the most significant gains....

 

It's not just liberal Western cities that are losing their black residents — many economically struggling Midwestern cities have the same problem. Detroit, Cleveland, Flint, and Youngstown all have declining black populations.

 

The greatest demographic transition is taking place in Chicago. A black population loss of 177,000 accounted for the lion's share of the city's total shrinkage during the 2000s. Another 53,000 blacks have fled the city since 2010. In fact, the entire metro Chicago area lost nearly 23,000 blacks in aggregate, the biggest decline in the United States.

 

But in northern cities with more robust middle-class economies, black populations are expanding. Since 2010, for example, metro Indianapolis added more than 19,000 blacks (6.9% growth), Columbus more than 25,000 (9%), and Boston nearly 40,000 (10.2%). New York's and Philadelphia's black population growth rates are low but positive, in line with slow overall regional growth.

 

MORE:

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0501-renn-reverse-great-migration-20160501-story.html

[E Rocc]

Why has there been an exodus of black residents from West Coast liberal hubs?

By Aaron Renn

May 1, 2016 5:00 AM

 

The Black Lives Matter movement has brought the challenges facing black America to the fore, and introduced racially conscious quality-of-life questions into the national debate. How are black residents in America's cities faring? And how are those cities doing in meeting the aspirations of their black residents, judged especially by the ultimate barometer: whether blacks choose to move to these cities, or stay in them?

 

Though results vary to some extent, the broad trend is clear: West Coast progressive enclaves are either seeing an exodus of blacks or are failing to attract them. Midwestern and Northeastern urban areas are attracting blacks to the extent that they are affordable or providing middle class economic opportunities. And Southern cities are now experiencing the most significant gains....

 

It's not just liberal Western cities that are losing their black residents — many economically struggling Midwestern cities have the same problem. Detroit, Cleveland, Flint, and Youngstown all have declining black populations.

 

The greatest demographic transition is taking place in Chicago. A black population loss of 177,000 accounted for the lion's share of the city's total shrinkage during the 2000s. Another 53,000 blacks have fled the city since 2010. In fact, the entire metro Chicago area lost nearly 23,000 blacks in aggregate, the biggest decline in the United States.

 

But in northern cities with more robust middle-class economies, black populations are expanding. Since 2010, for example, metro Indianapolis added more than 19,000 blacks (6.9% growth), Columbus more than 25,000 (9%), and Boston nearly 40,000 (10.2%). New York's and Philadelphia's black population growth rates are low but positive, in line with slow overall regional growth.

 

MORE:

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0501-renn-reverse-great-migration-20160501-story.html

 

What are the demographics of the migrants?  Middle class?

[surfohio]

Why has there been an exodus of black residents from West Coast liberal hubs?

 

MORE:

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0501-renn-reverse-great-migration-20160501-story.html

These results should be troubling to progressives touting West Coast planning, economic, and energy policies as models for the nation. If wealthy cities like San Francisco and Portland — where progressives have near-total political control — can't produce positive outcomes for working-class and middle-class blacks, why should we expect their approach to succeed anywhere else?

 

Thought provoking article for sure. I totally get why it's important to track racial demographics. But I'm already leery of whatever race-based "solutions" some progressives are liable to suggest.

[E Rocc]

But I'm already leery of whatever race-based "solutions" some progressives are liable to suggest.

 

Oh this, big time.  The “progressive” left sees the black community as monolithic, because it is in their best interests if it is.  But I suspect a large number of these migrants are attempting to separate themselves from such.  The problem with moving to the suburbs when your kids are older is their friends can and will visit, and bring some of the issues being fled with them.

 

It’s much like the mistake some make about Islamic immigrants to the US.  For the most part they are trying to get away from the basic culture of their home nations, not bring it with them.

[327]

West coast cities are expensive because there are only a handful of metros along that entire seaboard, and money is moving to the coasts like never before.  Not surprising that the middle class can't hang.  I don't see issues of race or culture or local politics here, just economics.  Hot markets are for rich people.

[X]

Why has there been an exodus of black residents from West Coast liberal hubs?

 

MORE:

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0501-renn-reverse-great-migration-20160501-story.html

These results should be troubling to progressives touting West Coast planning, economic, and energy policies as models for the nation. If wealthy cities like San Francisco and Portland — where progressives have near-total political control — can't produce positive outcomes for working-class and middle-class blacks, why should we expect their approach to succeed anywhere else?

 

Thought provoking article for sure. I totally get why it's important to track racial demographics. But I'm already leery of whatever race-based "solutions" some progressives are liable to suggest.

 

Fair enough, but this article is a hit piece on "progressive planning", not an argument for it.

[surfohio]

Why has there been an exodus of black residents from West Coast liberal hubs?

 

MORE:

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0501-renn-reverse-great-migration-20160501-story.html

These results should be troubling to progressives touting West Coast planning, economic, and energy policies as models for the nation. If wealthy cities like San Francisco and Portland — where progressives have near-total political control — can't produce positive outcomes for working-class and middle-class blacks, why should we expect their approach to succeed anywhere else?

 

Thought provoking article for sure. I totally get why it's important to track racial demographics. But I'm already leery of whatever race-based "solutions" some progressives are liable to suggest.

 

Fair enough, but this article is a hit piece on "progressive planning", not an argument for it.

 

Sure, I got that. I guess my question is what, if anything, should be done to prevent this migration?

 

Also, the article narrowly focuses on black people, when the larger issue appears simply to be how rising property values affect non-affluent people of any skin tone.

[327]

In the case of San Francisco, there's an enforced housing shortage.  It doesn't get much more elitist than that.

[surfohio]

In the case of San Francisco, there's an enforced housing shortage.  It doesn't get much more elitist than that.

 

Are you referring to density and/or environmental restrictions?

[KJP]

One Nation: Young, eager unleash Rust Belt economy

Matthew Dolan, Detroit Free Press 9:10 a.m. EDT June 12, 2016

 

Challenges facing many of America’s former industrial titans like Detroit, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, remain enormous. But a nascent economic rebound is being driven in part by young people.

 

Young people are starting to unbuckle the economic promise of Rust Belt cities.

 

The political and social challenges facing many of America’s former industrial powerhouses like Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore and Pittsburgh remain enormous. But there are nascent signs of rebound, driven in part by youthful entrepreneurs brimming with new ideas.

 

Educated workers in their 20s and 30s are moving in or deciding to stay in part to avoid the rising cost of living, taxes and regulations in tech hubs such as New York, Boston and San Francisco. Newcomers increasingly see opportunities to create their own businesses, make their mark and tap underserved markets, thanks to lower barriers to entry.

 

MORE:

http://www.freep.com/story/money/business/michigan/2016/06/11/one-nation-young-eager-unleash-rust-belt-economy/85644354/

[KJP]

The Case for Working in Silicon Valley and Living in the Rust Belt

A new wave of tech workers is house hunting in Middle America.

Patrick Clark

pat_clark

Rebecca Greenfield

rzgreenfield

  Bloomberg Businessweek Reprints

July 19, 2016 — 7:00 AM EDT

 

When software engineer Eric Anderle and his wife, Rachel, decided they were tired of renting and wanted to buy, they quickly realized that any place in their neighborhood—San Francisco’s spiffy NoPa district—would be out of reach. Rather than look in surrounding towns or across the bay to Oakland, the 25-year-olds staged an escape. Last fall they moved into a four-bedroom house an hour south of Grand Rapids, Mich. The monthly mortgage payment on their 3,000-square-foot home there is about the same as the rent on the couple’s old 600-square-foot apartment. Best of all, Anderle didn’t have to give up his sweet Silicon Valley gig at Twilio. He persuaded the cloud communications company to let him not only work but also live remotely. “We really did like living in the Bay Area,” Anderle says. “We couldn’t see a viable path to do that that didn’t involve delaying the things we wanted for 10 years while we saved.”

 

MORE:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-19/the-case-for-working-in-silicon-valley-and-living-in-the-rust-belt

[KJP]

Let’s relocate a bunch of government agencies to the Midwest

Time to shift economic activity from the overcrowded coasts to places that need more of it.

Updated by Matthew Yglesias@[email protected]  Dec 9, 2016, 8:30am EST

 

America’s post-industrial Midwest is far from being the country’s poorest region. To find the direst economic conditions in the United States, one generally has to look toward Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta region, the Rio Grande Valley, and a smattering of heavily Native American counties in the Southwest and Great Plains. What the Midwest’s recent economic struggles bring, however, is not just large-scale political salience but a particular kind of fixability.

 

The poorest places in the United States have been poor for a very long time and lack the basic infrastructure of prosperity. But that’s not true in the Midwest, where cities were thriving two generations ago and where an enormous amount of infrastructure is in place. Midwestern states have acclaimed public university systems, airports that are large enough to serve as major hubs, and cities whose cultural legacies include major league pro sports teams, acclaimed museums, symphonies, theaters, and other amenities of big-city living.

 

MORE:

http://www.vox.com/new-money/2016/12/9/13881712/move-government-to-midwest

[Dougal]

Let’s relocate a bunch of government agencies to the Midwest

Time to shift economic activity from the overcrowded coasts to places that need more of it.

 

This was tried during the Nixon Administration and called the GOWN Program for Get Out of Washington Now. The idea was it would take a strain off Washington's physical resources as well as force a lot of retirements by superannuated people who would refuse to move. It turned out the hotshots said the action is in Washington - I'll quit and go to another agency; and the old folks said hey, that place (wherever they were slated to go) might make a nice retirement home. The program was a total failure.

 

What the Feds could do is carve out some non-policy making, back office functions and move them individually. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, to pick a random example, is pretty portable. There are lots of other technical operations (Census Bureau, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Library of Congress's electronic archives, etc.) that could move easily.

[GCrites]

This sounds kind of welfare-y to me. Like how they beefed up all of those old military bases named after Confederate Generals in the South while letting Midwestern ones named after Presidents and U.S. war heroes die off.

[KJP]

Hospitals Play a Key Role in Building Pathways Out of Poverty

https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/hospitals-play-key-role-building-pathways-out-of-poverty

[UrbanSurfin]

It's a tough change for hospitals to make, and they're often forced by resentful neighbors to do so. Aultman didn't do much for its Canton neighborhood for a long time until all the current big planning efforts came up. In Columbus, one urban hospital on the near West Side is packing up and moving to the 'burbs -- leaving all its investment behind and building anew in a way that surely will affect health-care costs. Meanwhile, on the near East Side the ever-expanding children's hospital is finally talking to its neighbors and acknowledging its community after decades of tearing down homes for parking lots. Hospitals, universities, and churches are some of the biggest destroyers of neighborhoods in the quest for surface parking.

[GCrites]

It certainly would be nice if these quasi-public entities and large NGOs had to deal with the same opposition that the private sector does. It would disarm right-wing complainers and force better urban design on those that think they are above the law.

[327]

Every time a hospital expands, that parcel stops paying property tax.  This is a major flaw in the concept of building an economy around them.

[StapHanger]

^I think it's a little more complicated than that. The City of Cleveland literally collects 10x as much from income taxes than property taxes at this point, and hospitals are income bonanzas. Schools definitely take a nominal hit, but at the same time, unlike residential property, hospitals don't consume school district resources, so it's not as bad as, say, tax abated or non-profit housing.

[GCrites]

Even if a hospital worker lives out in the sticks (like many do) the city still gets dibs on their earnings taxes. Townships cannot institute earnings taxes.

[327]

^I think it's a little more complicated than that. The City of Cleveland literally collects 10x as much from income taxes than property taxes at this point, and hospitals are income bonanzas. Schools definitely take a nominal hit, but at the same time, unlike residential property, hospitals don't consume school district resources, so it's not as bad as, say, tax abated or non-profit housing.

 

2 questions are raised by this:  why, and is it the best way forward?  Income taxes just went up and that's not exactly the best way to attract non-hospital employers nor residents who work elsewhere.

[BigDipper 80]

Long video but an interesting watch:

 

[KJP]

The Preston model: UK takes lessons in recovery from rust-belt Cleveland

As councils struggle with cuts, one Lancastrian city adapted a pioneering grassroots approach from America to tackling inequality and keeping profits local

Hazel Sheffield in Preston

Tuesday 11 April 2017 02.15 EDT Last modified on Tuesday 11 April 2017 06.24 EDT

 

Ted Howard looks out on a group of people drinking tea from styrofoam cups at Preston town hall on a Monday afternoon in March. The social entrepreneur and author from Cleveland, Ohio, is the special guest at the city’s monthly social forum. “What’s happening in this community is historic – it blows my mind,” he tells the city councillors and local business owners. “We’re working out how to build an inclusive economy.”

 

Howard’s infectious enthusiasm has made him the de facto spokesperson for “community wealth building”, a way of tackling inequality by ensuring the economic development of a place is shared more equally among its residents.

 

MORE

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/apr/11/preston-cleveland-model-lessons-recovery-rust-belt