Years back, when my travel schedule bounced me to a multitude of airports, I got to see a sizable portion of the country. My favorite trips permitted me to drive through various regions so I could break away from the usually uninspiring "hotel to airport" scenery and get a better sense of the area.
I quickly reached a simple conclusion: The United States has a lot of neat places to live.
As a result, if a city becomes dysfunctional, there are plenty of attractive alternatives out there. I wonder if some corporations in New York City will be considering that over the next few years.
2 comments:
Actually it's been going on for years. When I was a newbie to in the food business, retailing imported cheeses and fancy foods, every important importer (except Kraft) was located in Manhattan. There was a "cheese and spice" district as clearly as the more famous garment district. Competitors were in some cases within walking distance of one another. I haven't been to New York for years, but even before I left fancy foods and went to cafeterias those importers were relocating to New Jersey or other places -- more space, better transport, lower costs, etc.
The most important event of the year was always the International Fancy Foods and Confections show. It would be held in various big cities all over the country, but only every other year. The in-between years it had to be held in New York. Again, this may have changed since then. But forty years ago The City had a lock on those parts of the economy.
John,
Good examples. I've seen similar shifts. The list of the subject areas in which New York City has a lock has been dropping and the Internet is a factor. It will be interesting to see if this accelerates.
Michael
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