My latest column is online in the Indianapolis Business Journal. Obviously it's about Indianapolis, but similar arguments apply to basically every other basically well-performing Midwest city. They are completely parochial talent sheds and need to attract from further afield. Here's an excerpt: Nashville won 5,000 Amazon jobs despite being smaller and having fewer tech jobs than Indianapolis. One reason is that Nashville draws people from all over the country, while Indianapolis overwhelmingly draws from just Indiana. Metro Indy actually … [Read more...]
Archives for June 2019
Indianapolis Bus Rapid Transit
I was on vacation back in Indiana last week, so what else would I do but arrange to take a ride on Indy's under construction BRT system? I had a positive impression of it and am planning to write up a longer piece about the system and the role of BRT in low-density cities generally. In the meantime, here's a podcast I recorded about the project with Jerome Horne from the city's transit agency. If the audio player doesn't display for you, click over to listen on … [Read more...]
St. Louis Blues
My latest article is online in City Journal and is a look at the most recent failed attempt to merge St. Louis city and St. Louis county governments in light of the backdrop of civic challenges there. Here's an excerpt: Better Together, a drive to consolidate the governments of St. Louis County and its towns with the city of St. Louis, was over almost before it started. Following political blowback and the indictment of the St. Louis County executive who would have run the merged government, backers withdrew the proposal. But the problems that … [Read more...]
The Midwest’s Small Suburbs
I've been examining data lately, revisiting a topic I'm mentioned in the past, namely the smaller sizes of suburbs in Midwest cities compared to other parts of the country. This applies to much of the US east of the Mississippi as well. West of that river, there are a number of states and regions where there are large suburbs, some of them ranking among the largest municipalities in the country. For example, here are the ten largest suburbs of Dallas-Ft.Worth: Suburb Population Arlington, TX 398,112 Plano … [Read more...]