modern myths

Yesterday I did a google search for some local demographic data, and found what I needed pretty quickly. While on one of the source sites, I saw a link to a forum, and followed it, and in turn followed a couple of links to threads about the Eureka/Arcata area.

What I found there was a series of responses to questions about this area, about what it's like, what the job market is like, etc. The responses were almost entirely from out-of-state people, some of whom had visited once.

Some of the responses were reasonably helpful. But there were several which commented on alleged trashed out front yards, abandoned cars, homeless people; and there were a couple of comments from locals about a "depressed economy."

Two things bothered me about those responses. Let's tackle the ones about the economic situation first, because the answer is simple: Those comments are untrue. They're speculative, none of them cited any actual data, and often they were based on 20-year old information. The "problems" they mentioned are smaller and more localized here than they are in the places those writers are from. But it's a misconception that I still hear sometimes even from those who should know better.

A lot of the problem stems from the 1980s decline that accompanied the transition away from a resource based economy. The logging industry sagged, jobs were lost, some people left the area. People who visited then remember that... I was here briefly in the mid-80s, certainly I remember. We're past that now. The glory days of logging are over, it's a specialty market now, the old days are never coming back. That's a good thing, because it's forced the economy to diversify.

The most telling and most recent sign of that is the beginning of service by Delta Airlines this summer. I was there for the arrival of the first plane, and had a very minor role in making it all happen. It means that we now have three major airlines (the others are United and Alaska/Horizon) flying into a county of only 130,000 people. Clearly, that would not be happening without solid economic justification, especially when times are tough for airlines.

And the airlines are right. The unemployment rate here is currently right around the state average. Median incomes are a little below the state average, but the cost of living is also lower... about 80 percent of the national average. The "Targets of Opportunity" report published a year or two ago by the county identifies six growth sectors, areas which are growing rapidly, and which in general are creating jobs which pay well. I've tossed my copy deep in some pile of paper and don't have time to look for it right now, but among those growth areas are professional services (engineering, architecture, etc.); niche manufacturing; and health care services. There are increasing numbers of telecommuters who have fled the big city (for six years I was one of them), and more information and management workers. Thus the need for those airplanes.

Growth is slow but steady and sustainable. At a time when many rural parts of the U.S. are shrinking, that's a good place to be. We're continually being named to some magazines "best places to live" list often on the basis of outdoor recreation and clean air.

The people who are whining are the ones who have missed the chance to ride opportunity, often the ones who have failed to notice it. The rest of us have been too busy to point it out.

Admittedly, I'm in a better position to see it than most. I sit on the local economic development commission, so I see the numbers firsthand. I know, at least casually, a lot of the city and county decision makers and policy setters. I work for one of those fast-growing professional services firms. Maybe most importantly, I've already watched a variation of this happen in Chicago, 25 years ago... and remember all too vividly the naysayers, the ones who saw the fading days of the rust belt, but never recognized the emerging opportunities... the ones who were left behind. Sometimes the Phoenix can't arise until the ashes have reached a certain critical mass.

The too-rapid growth in the midwest created both good and bad... too much traffic, too much shoddy development. Hopefully, with our more sustainable pace, we can avoid repeating some of those mistakes here.

The second disturbing thing about those comments is a bit more ambiguous. In sum, a few people saw only the fact that we don't all obsess over perfect lawns and shiny new things, and they just didn't understand that. We aren't as materialistic as many parts of the nation. And I need to think on how to really express this adequately... because they didn't see, didn't accept, that we've done some things differently here by choice; that we (or at least many of us) just like to live a little more simply, and don't need to keep up with or impress the Joneses.

That's helping us as the financial bottom falls out of so many other places. Our economic peaks aren't as lofty here. But our chasms aren't as deep, either.