From time to time (more often in this current financial crisis), I wonder if living in the center of a mega-region in the urban core is worth it. Traffic everywhere, expensive real estate, long lines for everything from a sandwich at Potbelly’s to checking out at a supermarket. It seems to wear me out every few months.
Over the past 12 years I have lived in D.C. (twice), London, San Francisco, and Chicago. All incredible places and strong creative class centers but, as I have experienced, not always easy places to live. I cannot be alone can I? Is Scranton, PA my “Green Acres“?
The WSJ had a nice piece by Kevin Helliker over the weekend on Scranton, PA’s revival; including increasing population and improving quality of life. From the piece:
But life in Scranton is more nuanced than the cliché of a once-powerful industrial center in decline. The population here is growing for the first time in 60 years, following a decades-long exodus that halved the city to barely 70,000 people. Its architecturally distinctive downtown, long vacant, is undergoing a dramatic renovation. And tourism is spiking, thanks in no small part to “The Office,” NBC’s hit show about the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin, a fictional New York-based paper company. The century-old “Electric City” sign – dark for decades – shines again above the town square.
There’s a distinctly white-collar movement behind Scranton’s comeback. A return of college-educated natives from cities like New York and Philadelphia is fueling a population rise and a civic makeover. Bringing them back are the very small-town qualities many once wanted to escape: the likelihood of meeting acquaintances and relatives on the streets. The embrace here of modest ambition. The deeply held belief – only heightened by ridicule from the outside world – that Scranton matters.
For six decades Scranton lost an average of a thousand residents a year, many bound for college. The return of even a fraction of them – along with their families – could confer substantial economic benefits. “There was a diaspora of Scrantonians, and now we’re inviting them back,” says the Chamber’s Mr. Burke. The group has a campaign called Rediscovering Scranton, which includes a Web site with testimonials from returning natives.
A population rise of about 3,000 in the last two years, to about 75,000, has given hope that the long exodus is over. School enrollment is up to 10,000 from 8,500 seven years ago. And downtown is buzzing with the sounds of construction. A Radisson hotel is in the city’s old train station. Other recently vacant buildings now house advertising agencies, architectural firms and financial offices, many started by professionals who have returned.
Precisely how many natives have heeded the call isn’t known. But many returnees seem to orbit in a large circle of other returnees, as the case of Ms. Dempsey illustrates. At her firm she employs an architect who moved back to Scranton from New York City, and a designer who moved here with his boyfriend – a Scranton native who has started a wine bar in town. One of Ms. Dempsey’s siblings, a fashion designer, quit a job at Burberry Group PLC in New York City to join a Scranton-area technology firm, while a brother-in-law left a Wall Street investment bank for a Scranton software startup.
I have never been to Scranton and don’t know if I would like Scrantonians (Helliker mentions “returnee sorting” in the pulled quote above), but the pace of life and the size as presented in the article sounds very appealing after 12 years near the center of global mega-regions. Anybody else up for moving to Scranton?
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:34 am
How about moving to Prince George, BC? Lots of great things including a fantastic university (and medical school), a tight community, a diversifying economy, lots of performing arts, but a downtown that needs a lot of help.
Please come and help us with out downtown!
http://downtownletsgetstarted.com
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:51 am
Just checked the Census data. Turns out that Scranton is not too diverse, at least on race. 96.8% White. Not my kind of place.
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:55 am
I think that more smaller towns will realize that there are opportunities in engaging people who are not limited by where they live. I’ve been trying convince planners and politicians in our small town of Sackville, New Brunswick, that if we could attract 50 or so creatives to our town, it would be more beneficial than a new factory or industrial plant. For examples, all of my work is outside of our region so the money I get, and spend in Sackville, is a net benefit.
Some of our new councilors are coming around to this way of thinking, but there is still a rather dominant mindset that we need to attract a big business. Like Shawn from Prince George notes (BTW, I grew up in BC), smaller towns have a lot to offer, especially to folks who work remotely anyway. Look out for a new wave of marketing from small towns to the creative class.
October 22nd, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Great to hear that smaller towns and regions are reaching out. I think they should go for more than just ‘returnees’.
It would be interesting to see a group of RE agents, policy makers, large employers, chambers of commerce, educators and retailers from smaller cities/regions band together and advert/market to residents of nearby larger cities (meaning within 2-3 hrs)…. Single, married, hetero/gay, young, older, etc.. it doesn’t matter, the grind takes its toll on lots of folks… As Richard makes clear in who’s your city, there are plenty of creatives looking for a different lifestyle.
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:54 pm
I’m a big Scranton fan actually. Not only is it Jane Jacobs’ home town, Bill Scranton Jr. catalyzed my first real economic development engagement there a decade or so ago. We worked to create a vision for the Scranton-Wilkes Barre region. One of our key bullets was to have a TV series set there:-) …
So David, given your super-star city misgivings, where would you go? My own pick of the week/month/ year for cost to value would have to be Detroit, and for a little pricier point Montreal.
Just in Detroit for the Creativity Summit. It has a world-class airport (much better than Dulles), a large regional population (about 4.5- 5 million), lots of urban amenities, and real scale. Plus it is close to Chicago and Toronto and not too far from the east coast. Ideally situated really between Chi-Pitts and Tor-Buff-Chester.
As I blogged here, the median price of a house or condo in the city is $9250. Had an architect friend here this weekend. He just bought a place in Mies Van Der Rohe’s Lafayette Park townhouses – pristine for about $100k. He can walk to the ball games. I looked at condos and coops in that development. You can get one bedroom units for $7800 – not kidding. That’s one months rent in London, my friend.
When you moving?
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:57 pm
And btw, didn’t you go to U of M. Can a real homecoming be that far off … The big game is this weekend … What you waiting for …
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:16 am
Try a place like Richmond, Virginia or Frederick, Maryland where I was today. The smaller more manageable cities in the shadows of the creative class meccas will be big winners over the next 10 years.
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:15 am
Harold says: “… a rather dominant mindset that we need to attract a big business.”
This might be great until the big business is taken over by a bigger business, and then moved to China. Big business is too precarious a base for a small town. Your Town Council should visit some rust belt cities along the Ohio River to see what can happen when big business goes Asian.
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:57 am
Hayden has a very good point. Richmond is a great town. Filled with history and culture, interesting bands and startups. It’s part of the giant Bos-Wash mega. Heck, we’ve done a good deal of work there and believe in the place and its vision.
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:05 am
I lived in Walnut Cove, NC (pop.1400)for 20+ years, 8 acres, lots of space and peace and quite. Raised chickens and kids. My idea of being creative was figuring out a new “lick” on the guitar when getting together with my bluegrass pickin’ boys. Life was simple. My wife said I would be buried on our property. Then I lost my job (airline maintenance). That was 2002,after 9/11 everything related to the airlines tanked. With a little luck and a hard push from my wife, we now live in SINGAPORE!! Yeah, I know, I had to look it up on the globe myself(no, it’s NOT China!). We’ve been here going on 4 years now.
Now, you talk about culture shock. You want to redefine small town? Look up Walnut Cove, NC. I literally could not see another house from mine. Maybe 10 people lived in 1 square mile around where I lived. I’m not exaggerating.Now,I look out from my 11 story condo window and see nothing but high rise buildings. They say 16,000 people per square kilometer(I had to look that up too!).
The point is, even though I loved NC and there are times when I miss the dark, quite nights, I wouldn’t trade this lifestyle right now to go back. The traffic noise,the crowded streets,the lights of the city,(I don’t have to wait in check out lines, we have a maid! LOL), the Asian women,(hope my wife never sees this but there’s a reason there’s nearly 3 billion Asians!!)all combine to make you feel like a saxophone sounds(make sense?)As for being creative, I’ve found a local irish pub where I can go and play my guitar and have an audience composed of more than crickets.
Fortunately, as it turns out, I have a very marketable skill(who knew?),although modestly paid, the benefits to being an “expat” are remarkable. A condo and a car, American School for the kids, all utilities,travel allowance,and more,all paid by the company. Man I feel like I’m living like a king. Though Singapore is one of the most expensive places on earth to live, there are ways to afford it.
For me, at this point in my life(50 next month)I am where I need to be.
PS.I heard Richard Florida on BBC radio chatting about MPI and my curiosity lead me here.(before I moved to Singapore I thought BBC was “Bible Belt College”)
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:51 am
Michael Spinks? The pugilist? Great to hear from you and really interesting story. Glad that you are enjoying Singapore and your time living abroad.
As for the points on Richmond and Frederick, I think they sound great. I have been out to Frederick a few times and have yet to visit Richmond. Thanks for the insights.
And yes Richard, both my wife and i graduated from UM. I think Ann Arbor would be a great spot too. I really don’t know Detroit that well, just some ball games attended etc. Should probably head back for a visit.
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:06 pm
There truly is something about smaller cities who’re being revitalized. For example, Albuquerque is “small” (850,000) but it’s downtown is shaping up to be quite the place complete with trendy names like “EDo.” Within minutes you can be out in the desert away from all the hub-ub of the big city.
Is the next wave for people to flock to smaller cities because you can actually afford to live there but still benefit from many of the amenities of a swank downtown life?
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:41 pm
I wonder how many new residents, not returnees, Scranton is getting and where they are moving from — distance, size of city, type of city, etc.
And Albuquerque vis-a-vis Scranton: this shows that there are “small” cities and then there are small cities.
October 24th, 2008 at 12:18 am
Thanks Richard! We’ve been working hard here in Richmond to create a creative class city with all of the values you stress. About 7 years ago, I made the decision to forego New York, DC and Atlanta to continue laying “roots” here while striving to make it more of the kind of place that attracts and retains the creative class. All of the ingredients are here. “Rise” shaped many of my views and we’ve implemented your ideas across the board with great success. We have a long way to go, like all cites, even the greatest ones, but we have made great progress and thank you for your intellectual contributions that have helped steer us in the right direction.
October 24th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Scranton is not the only town in NE Pennsylvania that is attracting new residents. Lots of Poconos towns are growing. The smaller town in commuting distance of a city (NYC is 2 hours away) can be a good choice for quality of life (housing, public schools…) combined with big-city jobs and access to culture when you want it.
Would you believe that some of these places are developing a gang problem? It’s not just big-city operations metastasizing to the hinterland. It’s bored teenage kids alone for hours after school, waiting for mom/dad to get home from the work-plus-commute.
July 26th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
[...] is old news to some, no doubt, but I just stumbled across the musings of David Miller, part of Richard Florida’s Creative Class team, upon reading Kevin Helliker’s October 2008 [...]