NYC-WTC_000230725

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

j THE Wall street journal. Wednesdav; ogtober 24.2001 Cities Must Change to Survive / Ry Joel Kotkin The catastrophe that befell lower Man- , New York is not the only city that has to So, what is the future of our great cit­ I hattan last month, and the continuingcon- rethink its development strategy. Even be­ ies, and urban real estate? Under current ) cents over security in Gotham, could fore- fore the terror attacks, many of die great conditions, the corporate functions most. i shadow a broader reversal of fortune for comeback cities of the late '90s. such as likely to stay in cities like New York wilt he America’s first-tier cities. A.ller nearly a Boston, San ECrancisco and .Seattle, had those that require face-to-face con­ decade of remarkable resurgence. New ' begun to suffer precipitous drops in occu­ tact-high-end deal making, collaborative York and other major urban centers face a I pancies and rents. With their own share of creative processes and global connections. new era of uncertainty and intensified Clerical, ad.ministrative and other mid- competition from smaller cities and towns. high-profile targets, these cities have all levsl tasks can be as effectively done from It would be dense for business leaders heightened their security as a response to the suburbs, or from less costly regions of in New York and other key cities to believe terrorism. the comtry. that the assault on the World Trade Cen-1 Yet it would be Inaccurate to blame the The ocher critical element for cities will ter, and the heightened security around all J current crisis facing America's first-tier be to direct their efforts to appealing to high-profile locations, will not profoundly ji cities on Osama bin Laden, Over the past those who. even with the increased fear impact the future of major urban areas, ' year or two, as the Nasdaq fell and the What is needed now is a new vision of dot-cams imploded, the glow of inevitable urbanity that responds, and overcomes. prosperity had already started wearing our altered reality. The giddy period of thin. Lower Manhattan, the Garment Dis­ urban resurgence-nurtured by mayors trict, and other parts of New York were like Rudolph Giuliani, plummeting crime already hemorrhaging tenants before rates and the stock boom of the late Sept. 11. 199fls-has come to an end. A new organiz­ In a new, more austere environment, ing principle for cities needs to be devel­ some entrepreneurs, who may have oped, and fast. It should rely not on hand­ flocked at places like New York's Silicon outs and tax breaks to developers and com­ Alley or West Los Angeles, are now panies, as has been the case in the past, tempted by locations in Jess glamorous lo­ but on an unleashing of the entrepreneur­ cales. “When money was easy, and you ial instincts and assets of our urban popu­ lation. Unfortunately, to date, much of the brave rhetoric coming from Mayor Even before Sept. 11, Giuliani and Gov, George Pataki has been lots of people were fleeing , oriented more toward restoring the old or- i der. Their proposals for a multi-billion dol- major urban areas. Big j lar bailout-including plans to replace the . i twin towers with similarly gargantuan of­ subsidies wont end the out­ fice complexes—are out of whack not only flow. Instead cities must with post-Sept. 11 realities, but with pat­ terns of business dispersal that have been foster an entrepreneurial emerging for decades. Indeed, after Sept, 11, many firms are climate. already signing long-term leases for new locations in the suburban hinterland. With didn't have to make profits, why the loss of 15% of downtown Manhattan's , not locate in office space, according to a recent report Santa Monica?" ! from Reis.Com, it is inevitable that at suggests Hous- ' least some of these firms will find homes ton-based real es-, outside New York City. And once employ­ tate investor An­ ees acclimate to the relative ease of subur­ drew Segal. ban locations, particularly given the long­ “When you term security concerns, they are unlikely have to look at to return to Manhaltaii without massive the bottom line, . subsidies and tax breaks that the city can ‘ other places he- ' ill afford- gin to look more Let us remember that since the attractive." mid-19605, most major cities have either Among the markets that ' lost population or stagnated, while mid­ Mr. Segal has seen business sized, horizontal cities-better adapted to gravitate to are low-profile cities the automobile and better able to offer a sucli as Tulsa, Kansas City and Hart­ suburban-style quality of life-have grown ford, which have been less affected by the rapidly. Indeed, even in the midst of the recession than the bigger cities. These cit­ recent economic expansion, little in the ies also have far lower rents and housing way of high-rise office space was built any­ costs than the still-inflated markets of where in the U.S. With the possible excep­ New York, Sao Francisco, Seattle or West tion of Charlotte, N.C., virtually no major Los Angeles, and arguably make far less American city added significantly to its inviting targets for terrorists. And new skyline in the '90s. telecommunications technologies today I could hasten , this new hegira from the great cities.

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NYC-WTC_000230725