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Newburgh isn't doing so well
Newburgh (across from Beacon upstate) certainly isn't doing too well, and doesn't appear to be on the path for anything but more trouble. More and more smaller cities and towns are having similar problems. Meanwhile, all the wealthy and/or educated youth are moving to the large cities (a trend reversal from the last few decades it seems). The old American "mushroom ring" around urban centers is now more like an expanding wave of economic desolation out from a prosperous center. The sad part is that many suburbs were planned for the wealthy fleeing the city: large houses, expensive growth-focused infrastructure, little public transportation, large malls and commercial strips. But, they're now seeing massive population growth primarily among the poor and declining tax receipts.
What's interesting to me, beyond the obvious social ramifications for the next few decades, is that I was verymuch a part of this. Scott, Emily, and I (along with several others in the Crew) are almost exactly the demographic that is at the core of this huge shift.
Is human capital (one of the factors in determining a city's global relevance) the primary asset of a city now? The last time there was a general economic downturn, the cities suffered, and the wealthy fled. Now, the cities weathered our current downturn well, and are coming out stronger than before. Maybe the suburbs were only sustainable due to the longstanding bubble supporting them (artificially high property taxes bolstered by cheap loans on large houses) coupled with a previous boom in the service and retail sectors (retail is dead for people like me who have the Internet and service isn't as useful as it once was).
What's interesting to me, beyond the obvious social ramifications for the next few decades, is that I was verymuch a part of this. Scott, Emily, and I (along with several others in the Crew) are almost exactly the demographic that is at the core of this huge shift.
Is human capital (one of the factors in determining a city's global relevance) the primary asset of a city now? The last time there was a general economic downturn, the cities suffered, and the wealthy fled. Now, the cities weathered our current downturn well, and are coming out stronger than before. Maybe the suburbs were only sustainable due to the longstanding bubble supporting them (artificially high property taxes bolstered by cheap loans on large houses) coupled with a previous boom in the service and retail sectors (retail is dead for people like me who have the Internet and service isn't as useful as it once was).
Comments
It makes sense to me, if you put a lot of work into cleaning the city up, people are going to move there, also with the increase of property values in the cities who can live there but professionals.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source;=s_q&hl;=en&geocode;=&q;=&sll;=41.504592,-74.074287&sspn;=0.049688,0.071497&ie;=UTF8≪=41.502599,-74.081326&spn;=0.049689,0.071497&t;=h&z;=14
New York is still #1 in terms of total human capital, though. ^_~
For some more tits (that you can try to tat). ^_______^
Our subways go almost everywhere, and run 24/7.
You have the US government, but we have the WORLD government.
Almost no violent crime per capita (and surprisingly low absolute numbers)
We have an empire (this whole untamed wilderness north and west of us with a few colonies)
Water separates us from New Jersey.
Our Metro is cleaner, if a bit useless. Actually it works pretty well in DC and the bits of Alrington it goes through, but I live too far out currently. (But the Metro is coming to me soon!)
We have the actual world government, the UN is a theatrical display.
Oh DC and it's handgun ban, proof that gun control does not work.
Untamed wilderness? Have you been to Virginia? Go west of the beltway and civilization runs out in an hour.
Over 100 miles of Maryland separated us from New Jersey.
We have PAX Prime.
We are thousands of miles away from New Jersey.
=P
Regardless, I wish we all lived closer. -_-
My grandma lives in the middle of it. It's about the only place you can get pulled over for speeding in VA the day after Thanksgiving and NOT get a ticket.
:P
I've actually been reading about an unforeseen growth in reverse commuters moving into the city over the past few years (those who live in the city but commute to the suburbs). I too will be joining the migration from suburbia to city life in the next year or so as to ease wifey's commute into NYC. I have a very sweet suburban employment gig, so I will have to become one of these reverse commuters as well.
I would really like to get into the city itself, but I think something urban on the NJ side of the water like Hoboken will be a likely landing spot. I can get to work as early as 6AM with flexible scheduling, so the morning drive would be a breeze from anywhere in NYC. However, there is no such thing as "opposite of traffic" between 3-7PM when trying to take any of the major bridges or tunnels back to NYC. The mass transit system is really not built for this so car is the only option.
I really can see the current "generation Y" or "millenials" or whatever the hell you want to call today's 20-somethings being a generation that flocks to the city. People coming out of college and moving to the suburbs now can manage to buy a house, but they are paying a higher portion of their income towards housing than their parents had to. Trust me, paying the cost of your house over again in interest on a 30 year loan is not the model of a wise financial decision, even if it is the "American Dream" to own property. Because of this, people are much less hesitant to rent for longer, or all of, their life, and are therefore more open to urban living.
Living in the suburbs. Bored as all hell. Adults ban everything that is fun. Can't even have a playground made of metal, let alone anything actually exciting. Play video games and go on Internets all day.
But through the Internets, you can see the world. You see all these exciting things going on everywhere else, just not in your boring ass suburb. You socialize with cool like-minded people from around the world. The kind of people who don't exist in your suburb.
It is only natural that someone growing up like that will want to move to a city where there will be like minded people to socialize with and exciting things to do. Where there is no delay in obtaining the latest and greatest awesomeness.
It was always true that the latest and greatest awesomenesses were more available in cities than anywhere else. The difference is that the Internet lets everyone know that they exist.
It's only natural that our generation(s) will go to cities given the circumstances.