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I don't think the problem is herd mentality. If you open an office in Silicon Valley you've got local talent for all types of positions, proximity to funding, a

I don't think the problem is herd mentality. If you open an office in Silicon Valley you've got local talent for all types of positions, proximity to funding, and in general somewhere executives and upper management (likely) want to live. Rust Belt cities don't really offer the same advantages. They might have cheaper rent but that doesn't help if no one wants to relocate to there. No company wants to be on the hook for revitalizing a city.

giantg2 4y ago
That's basically the herd mentality I'm talking about - people wanting to live in the same areas. People don't want to live there because nobody is moving there and making improvements. It's easier to just move where everyone else is moving.
- danans 4y ago
  > That's basically the herd mentality I'm talking about - people wanting to live in the same areas. Call it what you will, but people generally want to live around other people - preferably people they care about but at least people who are not dangerous to them or impose much social or financial cost on them. > People don't want to live there because nobody is moving there and making improvements. Actually many previously declining places have reached critical mass and people are making improvements and attracting more people. But those places (i.e. Pittsburgh, Cincinnati), are sucking up most of the interest and creating their own gravity, leaving little left for Youngstown and Flint. > It's easier to just move where everyone else is moving. Of course it's easier - it's simple economies of scale. People seek access to physical and social resources. Raw land or emptied cities and towns with crumbling infrastructure don't provide that.
bluGill 4y ago
There are a lot of people who want to live there. Sure more people want to live in the Valley, but there are still a lot of smart people who don't. And also a few people who moved to the Valley who want to get out. Most of this is about family - it is very hard to move to a new city as your family support network is gone. Those who had a bad family life growing up don't care, but those who had a good family life will accept a lot of pain to stick with family. (I live 300 miles from my family, I'm jealous of my siblings who call grandma for an emergency babysitter at the last minute) With remote work there is no reason you can't hire people who want to live in whatever rust belt city, and there are a lot of them. Just giving good salary to people in rust belt areas would go a long way to helping those cities.
- giantrobot 4y ago
  There are smart people that live in rust belt cities, there's just fewer of them in any given city than in all of the Bay Area. For a company it'll be harder to keep that rust belt city staffed. It's also unattractive for employees to move there since there's fewer tech employers. In the Bay Area someone can walk out of Google and find a job pretty quickly with the same length commute. If someone relocated to Cleveland they can't necessarily do the same thing and face a prospect of relocating again. Remote work is one way rust belt cities can revitalize themselves. There's a lot those cities can do to attract remote workers even if they're not attracting the companies themselves. Their states need to help by harmonizing some employment and tax laws with the states where tech companies are based. No one is moving to Cleveland if a "no working for competition" clause in an employment contract is legal in Ohio. Side note: I don't mean to pick on Cleveland but it's sort of the rust belt poster child.

giantg2 4y ago

That's basically the herd mentality I'm talking about - people wanting to live in the same areas. People don't want to live there because nobody is moving there and making improvements. It's easier to just move where everyone else is moving.

danans 4y ago
> That's basically the herd mentality I'm talking about - people wanting to live in the same areas. Call it what you will, but people generally want to live around other people - preferably people they care about but at least people who are not dangerous to them or impose much social or financial cost on them. > People don't want to live there because nobody is moving there and making improvements. Actually many previously declining places have reached critical mass and people are making improvements and attracting more people. But those places (i.e. Pittsburgh, Cincinnati), are sucking up most of the interest and creating their own gravity, leaving little left for Youngstown and Flint. > It's easier to just move where everyone else is moving. Of course it's easier - it's simple economies of scale. People seek access to physical and social resources. Raw land or emptied cities and towns with crumbling infrastructure don't provide that.

bluGill 4y ago

There are a lot of people who want to live there. Sure more people want to live in the Valley, but there are still a lot of smart people who don't. And also a few people who moved to the Valley who want to get out. Most of this is about family - it is very hard to move to a new city as your family support network is gone. Those who had a bad family life growing up don't care, but those who had a good family life will accept a lot of pain to stick with family. (I live 300 miles from my family, I'm jealous of my siblings who call grandma for an emergency babysitter at the last minute) With remote work there is no reason you can't hire people who want to live in whatever rust belt city, and there are a lot of them. Just giving good salary to people in rust belt areas would go a long way to helping those cities.

giantrobot 4y ago
There are smart people that live in rust belt cities, there's just fewer of them in any given city than in all of the Bay Area. For a company it'll be harder to keep that rust belt city staffed. It's also unattractive for employees to move there since there's fewer tech employers. In the Bay Area someone can walk out of Google and find a job pretty quickly with the same length commute. If someone relocated to Cleveland they can't necessarily do the same thing and face a prospect of relocating again. Remote work is one way rust belt cities can revitalize themselves. There's a lot those cities can do to attract remote workers even if they're not attracting the companies themselves. Their states need to help by harmonizing some employment and tax laws with the states where tech companies are based. No one is moving to Cleveland if a "no working for competition" clause in an employment contract is legal in Ohio. Side note: I don't mean to pick on Cleveland but it's sort of the rust belt poster child.