Today must be Cleveburgh Monday. Null Space looks at another pressing TechBelt issue:
That and it looks like Ohio may be looking to ante up to keep the combined airline from cutting flights up there. I really have a big Cleveburgh post building up inside of me.. two major airports two hours from each other; just can't be good if governments start throwing in fiscal incentives that will only work against each other in the end.
This passage has everything to do with my first paragraph. What, exactly, do you want high-speed rail to do? In Europe, true HSR helps to connect major cities. I don't think that makes much sense at all in the United States. Hunter's invocation of the national scale doesn't speak to the economic geography of Cleveburgh. But Chris Briem's post does.
To bring another voice into the discussion, please recall Aaron Renn's "Mega-Skepticism":
Geographic proximity alone can offer some benefits. Philadelphia is certainly benefitting from proximity to New York as NYC prices turn it into the sixth borough. Pittsburgh can’t tap into that. But I view this as less of a mega-region, than just the colossus that is New York City expanding its sphere of influence as it becomes an ever more important world city. There is a similar effect going on with Chicago and Milwaukee, but is that replicable elsewhere?
Even with high-speed rail, Pittsburgh isn't going to benefit from New York City like Philadelphia does. Maybe Pittsburgh-to-DC makes sense. Cleveland-to-Chicago? No.
Cleveburgh is not a megaregion. From the perspective of Youngstown, the TechBelt is a singular talent pool and job market. Put a software firm in the Mahoning Valley and you can tap workers in both Cleveland and Pittsburgh. In this regard, better rail in the corridor makes sense. It would functionally expand the density dividend.
Connecting the region's three biggest airports would build the necessary infrastructure to breathe life into the TechBelt. Right now, it's a zero sum game. Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Akron/Canton are all competing for the same shrinking market share. More efficient rail service would make one trans-Atlantic flight economically viable. Instead, Cleveland and Pittsburgh each subsidizes its own flight. Civic pride results in a tragedy of the commons.
The next generation of rail could catalyze more urban economic spillovers. This approach makes the most sense in the Rust Belt given how so many cities (large and small) are packed so closely together yet remain worlds apart. The parochial silos are too small. Megaregions are too big. Urban pairs are just right. Welcome to the Cookie Table Express.
3 comments:
In Europe, true HSR helps to connect major cities. I don't think that makes much sense at all in the United States. Hunter's invocation of the national scale doesn't speak to the economic geography of Cleveburgh
That's right. There is no "European HSR" system which would be the equivalent to a national HSR system for the US. It's a patchwork of national HSR systems that connect to each other. Yes there's HSR from Madrid to Copenhagen and farther, but to take that trip on HSR you would have to change trains several times.
Philadelphia is certainly benefitting from proximity to New York as NYC prices turn it into the sixth borough. Pittsburgh can’t tap into that. But I view this as less of a mega-region, than just the colossus that is New York City expanding its sphere of influence as it becomes an ever more important world city. There is a similar effect going on with Chicago and Milwaukee, but is that replicable elsewhere?
Even with high-speed rail, Pittsburgh isn't going to benefit from New York City like Philadelphia does. Maybe Pittsburgh-to-DC makes sense.
The DC equivalent to the "sixth borough" is Baltimore and even then it's only the part of Baltimore next to the main train station with a MARC train to DC. Pittsburgh is too far away to be DC's "sixth borough".
However, in spite of that I think a DC to Pittsburgh HSR has great value. The distance is right for HSR and I see a lot potential for DC to Pittsburgh business links. The potential in the robotics industry alone is huge given that DC business includes the Pentagon/defense.
Even beyond that as someone working in the tech sector in the DC area, there is a lot of potential to have that moved to Pittsburgh. We have plenty of people who are from Pittsburgh. I can't go anywhere in the DC area without running into someone from Pittsburgh. I have noticed that employers are dealing with increasing salary costs due to cost of living expenses. There are a lot of jobs that can't be moved because the government in here in DC. However, a lot of the tech jobs are in places such as the Dulles corridor and the engineers aren't going to DC proper or the inner suburbs or even just inside the beltway to work. There is no reason why a lot of these tech jobs couldn't be done from someplace else such as Pittsburgh. With links such as HSR and universities like Carnigie-Mellon and industries such as robotics which have a military/government market, Pittsburgh could grab a large portion of the DC tech sector with advantages like its lower cost of living. I don't know how one would make this happen, but I suspect something like it happening for the reasons I said plus I have encountered plenty of people frustrated with living in the DC area. Even if they are not from Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh could provide a complelling alternative to them.
Steve,
Thanks for commenting. You offer a though-provoking analysis. I have seen evidence of DC businesses relocating to Pittsburgh as a form of geographic arbitrage. In terms of linking true megaregions, the Pittsburgh-DC link makes the most sense to me.
Speaking of the "Sixth Borough" phenomenon, I recently read about Scranton's redevelopment strategy to leverage proximity to NYC. It seems to have borne fruit.
I'm not surprised that businesses relocate to Pittsburgh as a form of geographic arbitage. It's not just the cost of living but the quality of life. Sure DC has a lot going for it, but it has a lot of problems such as how the transporation system has become a disaster. You really notice this because everyone commutes to and from work 5 days a week. Add that as another reason for the appeal of Pittsburgh.
I was thinking about this today and my entire office could just as easily work in Pittsburgh without a problem at all. The only exception might be the sales staff which means a small satelite office and I'm not sure even that would be necessary. As someone who works in the defense and security tech sector in the DC area, many of our customers aren't local. They're coming from a military base somewhere else so being DC based confers no advantages in that case. Even agencies like the NSA want to decentralize so the part of the NSA a contractor may work with in the future may not even be in the DC area. Again it's the same thing.
There is also a lot of side benefits to signifigant portions the government, defense, & security tech in or linked to Pittsburgh. Since so much of the tech sector in the DC area is only here because of government in some way, the talent pool can sometimes be a bit insular. Being in or just linked to Pittsburg would provide a broader based talent pool.
I'm sure there are even more benefits I haven't thought of. Of course, I have no idea how to get there from where we are now.
I took a look today to see how Baltimore was doing as the "sixth borough" here, and it appears to have stalled. Baltimore's lower housing prices aren't as lower as they were compared to outside Baltimore now because the housing bubble collapsed. At least for now it's also very limited because it revolves around the MARC trains which means one maybe two neighborhoods in Baltimore and working in DC proper. If you work someplace else, Baltimore isn't worth it since you will have the same commuting problems as before if not more. If you work in DC, then you only want to be close to the train station(s) in Baltimore. There are things that could be done transportation wise that would make Baltimore more complelling but those won't even get started anytime soon.
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