Is Boston's tech boom hurting smaller cities (Worcester, Springfield: neighborhood, schools)

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

public transit has nothing to do with it. That's why most companies offer free parking and thats why the number of cars in Boston has skyrocketed. If public transit had anything to do with it then sunbelt cities wouldn't be booming.

Population wise there's a few cities that are getting the "refugees" from places like Boston but Economy wise they aren't really booming. Basically the middle and middle upper classes (if they are unwilling to slum it) are moving there since they are being priced out here.

Of all the companies that I interviewed in Boston/Kendall area, I think only one offered free parking to employees, and that was only to full timers and not the temp role that I interviewed for. You're lucky to get an actual subsidy on the T/CR pass now too, only the tax deduction.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Fair enough, I don't think all smaller cities are left behind. Most of the ones you're talking about (and others) are doing quite well and there will always be a place for them. But speaking specifically about tech, the gap between the top handful (inc. Boston) and all of the others is widening. And again, almost all of the smaller ones you've mentioned are more independent than the backwards ones in MA.

The reason Springfield is not comparable to Portland or Colorado Springs, etc. and likely won't be a Grand Rapids is not so much the proximity to Boston, but the fact that it's also still the secondary economic hub in its own region. Hartford, which is only 25 miles away, is far and away the largest economic hub in that region. Even with the problems it has in the city limits. The Springfield area is also surrounded on 3 sides by other cities/metros that are economically more significant than Springfield itself. Albany, Boston (with Worcester between), and Hartford. So people on the edges of the Springfield Metro area are within commuting distance to bigger employment hubs. Portland has next to nothing of size within 50 miles unless you'd make the case that Portsmouth (on the edge of that 50 miles) and Lewiston are really pulling talent away. Colorado Springs is over 60 miles from Denver and has no other competing metros nearby. It's far more independent than Springfield.

The reason Springfield is DOA is their unskilled workforce. You can’t have more than near-minimum wage jobs because there is no skilled labor. An astounding 64% of Springfield children live in single parent households so it’s not going to change. It’s too far from Boston to ever add skilled residents commuting to Boston jobs. For a Hartford job, there are plenty of cheap housing options closer within Connecticut. The Hartford job market isn’t growing so the housing market is soft. Even the gold plated leafy suburbs are fairly affordable and cheap by Boston standards.

Pull the census data for a Portland or a Colorado Springs. The workforce is far more skilled. 38.4% college educated in Colorado Springs.

[btownboss4]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

The reason Springfield is DOA is their unskilled workforce. You can’t have more than near-minimum wage jobs because there is no skilled labor. An astounding 64% of Springfield children live in single parent households so it’s not going to change. It’s too far from Boston to ever add skilled residents commuting to Boston jobs. For a Hartford job, there are plenty of cheap housing options closer within Connecticut. The Hartford job market isn’t growing so the housing market is soft. Even the gold plated leafy suburbs are fairly affordable and cheap by Boston standards.

Pull the census data for a Portland or a Colorado Springs. The workforce is far more skilled. 38.4% college educated in Colorado Springs.

Also nobody’s going to mention Colorado Springs is basically a massive MIC town. Like AFA and an Airforce and Army base make it basically a huge Welfare town. That’s not something replicatable on a large scale for midsized towns

[BosYuppie]

Originally Posted by btownboss4

Also nobody’s going to mention Colorado Springs is basically a massive MIC town. Like AFA and an Airforce and Army base make it basically a huge Welfare town. That’s not something replicatable on a large scale for midsized towns

Boulder is the hipster haven overflow place for Denver.

[BostonBornMassMade]

The difference between Springfield and smaller cities not in New England that have been mentioned here is that Springfield is a sea of social dysfunction, poverty and stagnation. It is definitely DOA. Anything to revitalize it will only make it closer to functional and normal.


From what I gather Burlington and Portland don’t have the physical and municipal infrastumructure to support any type of boom and they’re state governments and most residents have intentionally designed it that way. You’re talking about really tiny cities there anyway.

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

I'm not sure the public transit has much at all to do with it. The tech workers dont typically live far away.

I should reiterate it's not a wealth thing. It's a need from employers that employees can get to work without a car. Tech companies first love is foreign labor these days. It's easy to see why public transit makes the logistics much easier since the worker doesn't have to deal with acquiring a car.

It is possible to make it work with just a crappy bus system but not ideal. Mathworks in Natick is an example, they have a ton of H1-Bs I hear but they were already there before foreign labor became all the rage.

In an AV world, you're looking at a city that doesn't get snow much or at all.

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

don’t have the physical and municipal infrastructure to support any type of boom and their state governments and most residents have intentionally designed it that way.

Same could be said of Manchester and Lewiston, tbh.

(Also a bunch of CT cities, but I know you won’t agree as readily)

[Mr. Joshua]

Doesn't bother me a bit.

There have been times in the life of this country where Boston was one of those cities that were "left out".

[BosYuppie]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

From what I gather Burlington and Portland don’t have the physical and municipal infrastumructure to support any type of boom and they’re state governments and most residents have intentionally designed it that way. You’re talking about really tiny cities there anyway.

Portland has been in a major boom for the past 10 years or so. There are geographical constraints ("On peninsula" vs "Off peninsula" is significantly more expensive) but there's plenty of suburban housing within a 20-30 minute drive. There are growing pains, old timers are complaining about the hipsters. But it's a great place.

[missionhill]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

The reason Springfield is DOA is their unskilled workforce. You can’t have more than near-minimum wage jobs because there is no skilled labor.

I really don't get this logic. Who says there's no skilled labor? The area was big into manufacturing for decades and people retain the skills and the appreciation of skilled work that they inherit from the generations that made motorcycles, guns, tires, machine parts and all the other goods made in and around Springfield over many decades. It's not like that population has gone and been replaced by a crop of imbeciles. The big firms are mostly gone but some of the economy is in small scale industry, also education, FIRE, health care, retail, local government -- i.e., like most other places in the US with middling economies. Yes the city has high poverty; it also has middle class neighborhoods, a blue collar sector, a white collar sector and a ring of satellite cities and suburbs populated by people with a variety of skills and education levels.