Salt Lake City.....lessons for Albuquerque

[Prickly Pear]

Originally Posted by ABQalex

No, I'm critical of people who are quick to dismiss proof of what actually is going in Albuquerque, but then go and heap praise upon posts suggesting things that are already occurring or are reality in Albuquerque as somehow being brilliant solutions which our leaders need to take a look at.

Many of us who actually live in Albuquerque and New Mexico and who know what actually is going on here have related things which are actually helping move this city and state forward. Lots has been looked at by our leaders and lots of initiatives, policies and incentives are already happening here, with great results.

In your neighboring state, we would’ve been in the same boat as New Mexico if it wasn’t for Phoenix’s extremely aggressive business leeching and back in history when we were a territory and frankly as a brand new state in the early 1900s, racist. Phoenix grew because the descendants of Confederacy fighters (and maybe some old Confederacy fighters) didn’t like those of Mexican heritage and in particular the Spanish language (Tucson was predominantly Spanish speaking in the early 1900s) so the moved up north a wee bit from Tucson and purposely stole business from Tucson with corporate-favorable taxation and other practices to undermine the Tucson. Then Phoenix went on to continue this practice to start stealing business elsewhere. And that’s what created the red state Arizona is today. Phoenix may not be like that now, but it did lay down our foundation and set the track for our future.

While I could say to you guys is to adopt more conservative tax practices like Phoenix did, and maybe even target a few businesses, I believe it is a terrible idea and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. It will hurt the city’s budget and the ability to provide amenities for the citizens but it would also put a label on you.

If Albuquerque is performing marketing to get outsiders to move there and help stimulate the economy further I definitely haven’t seen it. But I have seen ads for other places... so I question if that is even done to begin with, let alone if it’s providing “great results”. Can you prove me wrong?

I’m hoping things are improving for you guys and I mean that sincerely. I want every city in this country to excel, what happens in other parts of the nation indirectly affects me too, so even though I don’t live there I do have some interest in seeing you succeed.

[Albuquerque101]

One thing to keep in mind when comparing New Mexico to Utah (or most places) is college rankings. When companies look to relocate here, they do consider the homegrown workforce, and education plays a role in that. Utah has relatively highly ranked Brigham Young (ranked 66) in addition to University of Utah (ranked 119) and Utah State (ranked 205). New Mexico's highest-rated college is UNM, which is ranked lower than both Brigham Young and University of Utah (187) and NM State, which is ranked lower than Utah State (221). Both states have smaller regionally ranked colleges and community colleges. How much these rankings should matter is a different discussion, but it's just one of many factors that might make large outside companies that could bring good jobs wary of finding suitable talent here.

[funkymonkey]

Originally Posted by 80skeys

I wanna see a comprehensive list of all similar-sized cities in the U.S.

53 Tucson, AZ MSA 1,039,073 980,263 +6.00% Tucson-Nogales, AZ CSA
54 Fresno, CA MSA 994,400 930,450 +6.87% Fresno-Madera-Hanford, CA CSA
55 Tulsa, OK MSA 993,797 937,478 +6.01% Tulsa-Muskogee-Bartlesville, OK CSA
56 Urban Honolulu, HI MSA 980,080 953,207 +2.82%
57 Worcester, MA-CT MSA 947,866 916,980 +3.37% Boston-Worcester-Providence, MA-RI-NH-CT CSA
58 Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT MSA 943,823 916,829 +2.94% New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA CSA
59 Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA MSA 942,198 865,350 +8.88% Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont, NE-IA CSA
60 Albuquerque, NM MSA 915,927 887,077 +3.25% Albuquerque-Santa Fe-Las Vegas, NM CSA
61 Greenville-Anderson, SC MSA 906,626 824,112 +10.01% Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC CSA
62 Bakersfield, CA MSA 896,764 839,631 +6.80%
63 Knoxville, TN MSA 883,309 837,571 +5.46% Knoxville-Morristown-Sevierville, TN CSA
64 Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY MSA 883,169 870,716 +1.43% Albany-Schenectady, NY CSA
65 McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX MSA 865,939 774,769 +11.77% McAllen-Edinburg, TX CSA
66 New Haven-Milford, CT MSA 857,620 862,477 −0.56% New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA CSA
67 Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA MSA 850,967 823,318 +3.36% Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA CSA
68 El Paso, TX MSA 845,553 804,123 +5.15% El Paso-Las Cruces, TX-NM CSA
69 Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ MSA 842,913 821,173 +2.65% New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA CSA
70 Columbia, SC MSA 832,666 767,598 +8.48% Columbia-Orangeburg-Newberry, SC CSA
71 Baton Rouge, LA MSA 831,310 802,484 +3.59%
72 North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, FL MSA 821,573 702,281 +16.99% North Port-Sarasota, FL CSA
73 Dayton-Kettering, OH MSA 806,548 799,232 +0.92% Dayton-Springfield-Kettering, OH CSA

Seriously, man, if you're stuck in one place for a long time, you start thinking that's the norm.

When's the last time you spent significant time outside of superstar cities? Specifically any of the 20 cities with a population in the 800k-1mm range?

Take your own advice.

Those hundreds of small tech firms all fit on a single block on the street where I am typing this here in Sunnyvale. This street of two city blocks houses some 5,000+ employees. Just in this one little corner of Silicon Valley. You see what I mean by perspective?

"OMG I live in the center of the Tech Universe, why isn't everywhere like here?"
Talk about needing some perspective. From up on that perch you can look down on 99% of the cities in the country.. good grief.

[funkymonkey]

If 90% of jobs/jurors in Sunnyvale-San Francisco-San Jose are computer related just how many History BA's are gonna be working there outside retail?

[funkymonkey]

You know what would probably be the biggest boon for ABQ and NM economically?

People not continually taking a dump on everything at every possible opportunity. It's very discouraging.

Telling people all the **** they're doing wrong never solved anything. You gotta find what's going right and build on that.

[UrsusMinor]

Originally Posted by funkymonkey

You know what would probably be the biggest boon for ABQ and NM economically?

People not continually taking a dump on everything at every possible opportunity. It's very discouraging.

Telling people all the **** they're doing wrong never solved anything. You gotta find what's going right and build on that.

Oh, I hear you! Unfortunately, virtually every city forum has a small tribe of people who mainly want to dump on the city they live in--and then are nasty to anybody who disagrees.

I'll give you a recent example. I was on the Spokane, WA forum, and noticed a long thread on the problems of homelessness in Spokane. Most of the commenters made it sound like a massive, disgusting mess, and most of the discussions were about how to drive out homeless.

A few weeks ago, I happened to visit Spokane for the first time in decades. I was expecting the downtown to be swamped with the homeless. Not like LA or SF or Seattle. But like smaller places--Santa Ana, CA, or Salem, OR, or Olympia, WA.

It wasn't bad at all. Yes, there were some homeless people. Nothing like the crisis that the forum implied, though.

I posted on that forum, mentioning that I was surprised at how comparatively small the problem was compared to other places...and naturally there was a massive pile-on. Someone even said "This reminds me of people who say Spokane doesn't have bad winters compared to Vladivostok or Nome!" As if comparing Spokane to similar-sized cities was equivalent to comparing Spokane's weather to places in the Arctic Circle.

What I have learned is that every city forum seems to have people who are only there to complain and denigrate their city--and who gang up with like-minded people to trash anybody who doesn't agree with them. They especially dump on outsiders who can offer some perspective.

These people are almost always long-term, highly active members. I'm not sure why people would spend years being negative about where they live rather than moving or fixing the place.

I guess some people don't have much to do.

[aries63]

Back to SLC-- I was there for a few days last month. Got to ride the streetcar a few times which was nice. More people were using electric rental scooters than in ABQ. The downtown area didn't look very busy to me until busloads of schoolkids descended on the place where I was having lunch, forming a long line going down the block (Siegfried's Deli was excellent). The smog was pretty bad, they were having inversions while I was there. The traffic everywhere was horrendous. But Red Butte Garden and the Tracy Aviary were world class! Very much worth the trip.