The Price of Progress or Apathy?

I went to see a speaker at an event this past Wednesday. She worked for the state, for an admirable organization that tries to balance progress and business interests against preservation and the status quo. It was very informative and I think that their plan, if it ever comes to fruition, is a good one. She said that the Hudson Valley would be the # 1 tourist attraction in the United States in the next 3 years, and that combined with the “Tech Valley” theory (a rip off of Silicon Valley), would revitalize and reenergize communities and entire counties. Very nice, I hope it happens.

I want to look a little further though, if this is going to be a technical corridor, why is it that so many buildings that are already built that can handle this type of clientele (cat 5 cable in already, T-1 lines, floors build to withstand heavy structural loads, etc… sit idle or vacant? Some have these “tech” clients in them, but not too many. Case in point: IBM closed a sprawling plant some ten years ago. This plant has immediate access to a railway line, an interstate, a good amount of service related business in close proximity, but it can’t reach anywhere near full occupancy, because the owner of the plant wants top dollar per square foot to rent to a company. Why go there? Unless you need mega square footage, or are IBM, Motorola, Glaxo-Welcome, why do you need this space?

Now, I’m not just talking trash here. I worked for a few years in the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. That is an example of what the above area could be turned into, but the proper tenants are needed and it would be on a slightly smaller scale. How do you do this? To start off, you have to give tax breaks and incentives. You have to build attractive housing, infrastructure, and recreation to go along with the natural assets that this area has. That won’t happen with the way that current situation is set up. The person pr persons who are managing this vast amount of square footage are doing virtually nothing with it. No real marketing, nothing. About the most exciting thing that happens on that property now is that in the summertime the weeds pop out of the parking lots and you see a guy cutting the lots with a lawnmower. It is a shame.

This brings me back to why I originally started writing a post today: How is it that in a place that is advertised as “Tech Valley” that you cannot have a 15 minute cell phone conversation without getting disconnected three times? HMMM – brings me back full circle now- because it is all about the NIMBY syndrome- as in “not in my backyard.” You see, the communities that line “Tech Valley” or the soon to be #1 tourist attraction in the United States, don’t want to put up cell towers on the hills or anywhere for that matter. So we want the economic benefits of this technical corridor, we want to maintain the beauty of the area for everyone including newcomers and businesses, but nobody wants to step up and do it. Political wrangling at its best. They’d rather fight. I’ll tell you what guys- IBM isn’t coming back, you crapped on them for too long, so they left you. Now you have vast housing developments of 50’s-60’s style cookie cutter housing that nobody wants to live in.

You want to do something? Make it attractive to these businesses to come here. Put up with the traffic, the cell towers, the building of new schools. It’s called progress you idiots and if you don’t like progress then maybe you should go back to farming with a mule and a stick.