AT&T moving to Dallas (San Antonio, Howe: university, live, doctorate)

[TexHwyMan]

Originally Posted by Berlin1980

Unfortunately it is almost impossible to fly from San antonio to Mexico - go figure!

You're kidding, right? There are more non-stop flights to Mexico's capital every day than there are to our own.

http://www.sanantonio.gov/aviation/i...00823421PM.pdf

[the_dimwit]

Originally Posted by TexHwyMan

That's true, it is mostly a prestige thing. Another example that I think is more similar is when Boeing moved from Seattle to Chicago. But still, HQs do employ the best-paid workers in a company, which of course has numerous ripple effects. And being able to say you have a HQ in your town, especially one on the order of AT&T, is a big selling point when looking to attract other companies. Dallas is actually a good case-in-point. When JC Penney moved there in the late '80s, Dallas actually was not that big of a corporate base. I even remember news articles back then about what a coup it was to get them and how important that would be in bringing in other companies, and they even lamented it when JCP moved to Plano in the early '90s because their HQ would be listed as being in "Plano" instead of "Dallas". But in the end it has paid-off for them as many other companies have now moved their HQs there, and many Dallas economic officials will point to that one move as the impetus for it all.

Good points, HwyMan. I'm not going to sit here and say that there will be no effects from this move. I'm just saying that the sky is, in fact, still in place (not falling), and that we should relax a little.

I still hope this spurs some real efforts on the part of city council, mayor's office, and other local government officials to bring businesses into the area (other than military, call centers, and manufacturing). From what I understand (second-hand knowledge), the talent pool in SA is increasing in skills other than customer service and construction. Companies need to be shown the advantages to good labor quality at a cheaper price.

--Dim

[AnthonySA]

No one told AT&T that Dallasites are parasites

JUST JOKING!!

Man this news bites

[melina snodgrass]

San Antonio is a small time town. Now that SBC has merged with a few big hitters and become very successful, it won't need San Antonio. I look to see other big names follow suit. Traffic and inconvenience coupled with the vast niceties in Dallas Fort Worth simply make San Antonio a dead end destination. Remember the main theme in the article was to be able to connect more directly to other major cities. Face it, if you travel a lot, the biggest annoyance is having to connect through Dallas or Houston in order to get home. That extra 1-2 hour layover or change of planes can add up to days in a given year. It's not worth traveling out of San Antonio at all and this city has been unable to attract real non-stop flights thanks mostly to the Wright Amendment. It's moments like this that you realize your town is still small time with small time politicians. I worry more about the carcass of infrastructure that will be left and what, if anything, would replace it.

[stoneclaw]

I'm really sorry for San Antonio, and yes it is good that they didn't move to Austin. That would have been salt in an open wound considering Austin is showing signs of eventually surpassing San Antone. As stated by another poster, the bright side is it maybe an opportunity for the city leaders to figure out new and better ways to lure businesses there in the future. Look at Houston? Houston had several blows like this like the oil crash and Enron collapse. Now H-town is back kicking stronger than ever. Houston is experiencing an even stronger boom now. San Antonio will pull through this.

[tgannaway89]

I think we are mostly shocked because the city has had almost nonstop positive development in recent history. The city has really come out of its shell and is moving into the ranks of other major cities. Heres to what the future brings.

[Alatex]

I'm really sorry for San Antonio, and yes it is good that they didn't move to Austin. That would have been salt in an open wound considering Austin is showing signs of eventually surpassing San Antone.

...Or maybe this underscores why Austin and San Antonio need to work together more as a region, as either by itself might be "too little" to fight off the giants like Dallas, Houston, and Atlanta.

Just for the sake or argument, what if, instead of Austin and San Antonio each having a small-medium airport, there were a single, mega-airport halfway in-between. What if there were high-speed commuter rail between San Antonio and Austin ? Would the region be any stronger of a competitor with places on the level of Dallas ?

[firstclassflyer]

That indeed, would go a long way towards rivaling Dallas etc....still a lot of work to be done though. That would sure annoy the downtown dwellers of both cities though.

[hello13685]

I'm not at all surprised with this news. They probably cannot recruit and retain top executives because those types of people will not thrive in a backwater South Texas town. I'm sorry--that's just how it is. It's the same reason that UTSA cannot recruit and retain top faculty. The only people who do not see this are the locals who love San Antonio dearly. They'd never understand how the most urbane and educated would be turned off by the idea of raising a family here.

[ged_782]

Originally Posted by pr57001

It is no conincidence that this would happen relatively soon after Stephenson takes over. Not that the other factors are not real (flights, telecom vendors) but you can be sure the top execs are not flying commercially, anyway.

AT&T has a corporate jet. It is housed in a leased hangar at San Antonio International Airport.