Nashville gains

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Seattle, Washington, has been losing ground. Seven more US states are ranked with Washington as "worst for business": California, New York, Illinois, Oregon, Massachusetts, New Jersey and my own state, Minnesota.

Ranked as "best" are the states of Texas, Florida and Tennessee. Dallas TX and Nashville TN attract businesses with advantages that make it worth the effort of a big move.

Local lifestyle factors in both cities are attractive to employees. With a lower cost of living, families may spend less but get more of what they want. Dallas has seen big growth in its technology and aerospace industries. 

You know Nashville as a huge music center ("Music City") but there's more. Amazon took a million square feet of office space. Health care is the biggest industry economically, and there's a young, well-educated labor force. Real estate here is the fifth hottest in the country. Oracle is moving in.

Nashville is booming. 

Seattle losses

Seattle's newly elected mayor advised its citizens not to buy the product of one of its iconic businesses last November: Starbucks coffee. She walked back her comment later, but it could symbolize an unfriendly trend toward financial supports of the city.

Starbucks originated and is still headquartered there. They made no response to the mayor but they're still planning a partial move to Nashville TN to open a second business hub. They will invest ~$100 million in the new hub and employ about 2,000 by 2031.

The coffee company is not alone in withdrawing some of their presence. Office vacancies around the country average about 17%, but downtown Seattle has vacancies of 36%. The city has lost the confidence of some of the business community. 

Since 2018, 465 company headquarters have moved elsewhere, mostly tech and manufacturing. The massive Boeing left the city back in 2001. Amazon has vacated a million square feet of office space since 2020.

Where do they go?

(cont'd tomorrow)

Billions wasted 1

Years ago, I discovered China's urbanizing drive, their "ghost cities," and their empty towns: staggering amounts of money were invested to develop them, yet almost no one lived there.

Years later, and they haven't changed much. (Here's a recent update on Kangbashi.)

Other countries have their stories of enormous expenditure, followed by emptiness or failure. Check out the gorgeous, expensive Forest City of Malaysia--empty and eerie for the few who do go there:

NYC pays 1

New York City supports foreign-born immigrants who came across U.S. borders without legal authority. For their convenience, "benefits for undocumented immigrants" are published here.

Over 70,000 immigrants have been temporarily put up in Manhattan at the former Roosevelt Hotel, now called "the New York City arrival center," by the city since 2021. "They have no idea what's going on, they were just given a bus ticket or plane ticket."

It's unsustainable for the city, according to the Migrant Affairs Commissioner in this local video report. Mayor Eric Adams has been to Washington D.C. ten times to plead for help in managing what he deems a crisis. He says they are out of room, out of money.

 

(cont'd tomorrow)

Prosecutors 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

About 90% of U.S. criminal cases are handled by elected district attorneys: "Once elected, rogue prosecutors refuse to prosecute entire categories of crimes that are on the books in their states, justifying their refusal by claiming prosecutorial discretion.” 

Yes, these D.A.'s use their own preference about which criminal cases to prosecute. 

So if (for example) the legislature makes it a crime to resist the police making an arrest, a rogue prosecutor (D.A.) might decide not to prosecute breaking that law--it's up to him or her. The practical effect of it is, he repeals a law legally created--when it's his responsibility to to enforce it. 

In 2022, Manhattan's newly elected D.A. announced that his office would not prosecute the following: "marijuana misdemeanors; not paying public transportation fare; trespassing . . resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration in certain cases, and prostitution."

photo

The police are "concerned about the messages these types of policies send to police officers and criminals on the street. . . there are already too many people who believe that they can commit crimes, resist arrest, interfere with police officers, and face zero consequences.”

from CNN

Prosecutors 1

Keeping us safe in America is the job of local law enforcement. A movement was started years ago to upend that security. Two foundational beliefs motivate them: that our criminal justice system is completely racist, and that law-and-order district attorneys have to go because they control what charges will be pressed.

Racial activists with Marxist ties persuaded a billionaire (G. Soros) to donate a million dollars in 2015 to replace D.A.'s in Louisiana and Mississippi. It grew into the "progressive prosecutors" movement, or the "rogue prosecutors" movement in the words of this author.

Cities dominated by leftwing politicians elected these new ones who see defendants as victims. A law professor who supports this rogue movement says its goal is to "reverse-engineer and dismantle the criminal justice infrastructure."

 

photo

The one pictured above claims that he is concerned with protecting the "truly vulnerable." But that doesn't turn out to be the result of the progressive (rogue) prosecutors movement: "In the areas where it has prevailed, the most harm has been done to racial minorities whose interests it purports to represent."

from Imprimis

(cont'd tomorrow)

Water use 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Western cities in drought have figured out how to manage with less water use - amazingly less. 

Las Vegas NV has grown since 2002 by 800,000 residents. But at the same time, the city has adapted to the point that it takes care of all these people while actually decreasing the amount of water it uses by 26 billion gallons. 

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Phoenix AZ's population has doubled since 1980. But the amount of water they use to provide for the needs of all these people has not doubled along with it. On the contrary, water use has decreased by one-third.

Water usage in Albuquerque NM, San Diego CA, Denver CO, and Los Angeles CA is a similar story.

So the take-away is what, that everything will always get better and better? No. It's this: human beings are creative problem solvers. We have it in our nature. We received creativity from our Creator. What we use it for is up to us.

from Human Progress

Water use 1

Here in the American Midwest we are experiencing dry summers. My gardens have done poorly two years in a row. But our western states are doing worse, going through a historic drought, with reservoirs sinking to new low levels of water in reserve. 

Agriculture dominates 80% of all the water use in the West. California's mild weather means that farming products are a significant part of their economy. From 2015 to 1985, crop yield increased by 38%. Amazingly, water use went down over that same time by 14%. 

How? Farmers have figured out how to grow more crops on less land, with less water. They innovated to find new ways of doing what needs to be done in a way that consumes fewer resources. 

It's what human beings have been doing since the beginning. It's how wealth is created. It's how progress is made for the benefit of all. 

Water use is down in cities too. Impressively.

image

from Human Progress

(cont'd tomorrow)

Crime@Chicago

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Riots in major U.S. cities during the summer of 2020 sparked a new trend of violence. 

Murders increased nationwide by nearly 30% that year, the biggest increase the FBI has ever tracked. Ten major cities hit new high numbers in 2021, Chicago leading with an increase of 55% more murders than the previous year. This doesn't even count murders committed on the expressways because they are under state jurisdiction (not the city). 

image

A 24-year-old graduate was walking near the University of Chicago last fall when an 18-year-old confronted him and took his laptop and cell phone, then shot and killed him. The suspect was arrested after he sold the items. He was on probation for carjacking and armed robbery.

Carjackings in 2021 were about 3x as many as in 2019. Drivers are robbed of the car they're driving. Sometimes that results in murder as well. 

This author has ideas that may help. Education, politics, family life are all involved and it's complicated. It always is.

from Imprimis

(cont'd tomorrow)

Student-led 2

 (cont'd from yesterday's post)

Austin Harvest's open-air fresh produce and floral shop opened last summer. The students "came up with the name, they came up with the manifesto, they designed the way it looks. They choose what we sell. … Nothing is being done apart from them making the decisions.” This teaches agency - the truth that what you do matters, that your choices make a difference.

Two businesses partner with By the Hand to provide mentoring, to provide skill training like  flower arranging, and to provide the produce at their cost.  

There's no better education/transformation than actual experience. These students will never forget their successes and mistakes in managing this business and working together.

Faith-based By the Hand Club for Kids provides hot meals, tutoring, chapel, Bible study to kindergarten-through-college students who are failing. They specialize in reading skills, a major indicator of future success.

from Stream

Student-led 1

Homicides in Chicago (2020) increased 50% over 2019. Some of its neighborhoods are not doing very well. But Austin has something to be proud of, and students are doing it.

The community of Austin has about 19 liquor stores. Only 2 grocery stores remain after a third one pulled out. Maybe it was badly managed or maybe insurance went through the roof, the reason could be anything. But grocery stores are few, liquor stores abound.

"By the Hand Club for Kids" organized a forum for their kids to interact with community leaders (including a former Bears linebacker) about potential solutions . . and that's how "Austin Harvest" got started.

"We were asked to knock down a liquor store, open up a fresh market and provide produce at a reasonable price to our seniors,” says a director of the Club. It's a boon to the community, less fortunate people, and even to the students themselves.

from Stream

(cont'd tomorrow)