Economic Development: Is Swissvale Hip and Cool? Who Cares?

In economic development circles, one school of thought says that future growth will be in hip urban centers that offer a cool mix of eclectic amenities for a new class of creative workers. Another says that's bunk, and that people instead want big houses, a lot for their money and a secure place to raise their families. Here's today's New York Times on which side is winning the argument:

New River Township is, for the moment, the edge of beyond.

Its square mile of tightly packed homes is the outer crest of Tampa's residential swell, four miles from the nearest grocery store and 30 minutes from the nearest major mall. Just down the road, beyond some orange groves, cattle graze languorously amid the insect hum of a sun-baked field, and only a few mobile home parks and a roadside stand selling tiki huts interrupt the vast sea of pine, palmetto and dense thatch.

But it will be a short-lived isolation. More than three dozen other communities in Pasco County, some bigger than New River, are in the works, promising 100,000 new homes in the next five years. A megamall is coming. And the first of the big-box stores, a Home Depot and a Sam's Club, had their gala openings not long ago.

"It used to be just us and the retirees," said Ruth Parker, who was busy decorating a new child care center at the edge of New River, a part of Wesley Chapel, where she has lived for nine years. "Five years from now, there will be a city here."

America is growing. And it is growing the fastest here, at the farm-road margins of metropolitan areas, with planned communities sprouting up and becoming a prime focus, almost a fetish, for election strategists from both major parties.

…

KB Home has 483 communities under development in 13 states and expects to complete more than 40,000 new homes this year. Yet it is just one of about two dozen such corporate giants fiercely competing for land and customers at the edge of America's suburban expanse.

Poring over elaborate market research, these corporations divine what young families want, addressing things like carpet texture and kitchen placement and determining how many streetlights and cul-de-sacs will evoke a soothing sense of safety.

…

Over the next decade, New River will expand to 1,800 acres and be home to 15,000 people living in 4,800 single-family homes, condominiums, town houses and rental units. It will have a 200-acre town center with 180,000 square feet of office space, 500,000 square feet of commercial space, schools, government offices and a 207-acre park.

…

The homes in exurbs are generally larger and the space between them smaller. They tend to turn their backs to the street, with the biggest and most used rooms in the rear. And the people who live in them are different. Instead of the all-white enclaves of the 1960's and 70's, the new exurbs are a mélange of colors and cultures.

As much as people want to deny it, families--the real engines of community development, growth and vitality--prefer to live in the exurbs. They just do. The question is whether it makes sense to even try to lure them back downtown--and if so, whether cheap and secure or hip and eclectic will persuade them.

Listen, my wife just had twins. We are moving to Swissvale. Not quite an exurb, but not downtown, either. The deciding factors in our decision were, in order: Cost, commuting time and space. Swissvale was a great mix. We actually even managed to secure a single family home--something we couldn't have even considered in Shadyside. Maybe we could have gotten more farther out, but I wanted to be able to get to Pitt in short order.

A coffee shop would be great, I guess. And if I lived next door to an art gallery I suppose I might wander in. But it was cost and space, man. Cost and space.

Screw hip and cool. I got kids.

Comments

[Fester 986]

What part of Swissvale are you moving into? My fiancee and I just moved to the area right around the library/business district and it is a nifty little neighborhood. If you are in that area, Cafe Dolce on Aureilius Street (sic --- I only walk those streets, I don't look at the street signs) is a fun little Cuban coffee shop with great expresso based drinks.

[Sam]

Fester,

Thanks for the tip. We are kind of new to the area and looking for good places to go.

As for our location, we are way, way up the hill. It's a precipitous drop down to Braddock Avenue. So it will be a bit of walking to get to the business district. But I have lived in rougher terrain.

The move is finalized this week, so see you there soon.

And thanks again.

[zp]

Your wife had twins? On her own? And about these eXpresso drinks? I guess they are something you drink in the eXurbs? Just kiddin' ya . . . Zp

[Sam]

ZP wrote:

"And about these eXpresso drinks? I guess they are something you drink in the eXurbs?"

How would I know? You ever see what one of those things costs? Remember the twins? I'll be lucky to have enough for a bit of weak Maxwell House brewed at home!

[zp]

although we do most of our shopping at the strip (can i afford the cost of giant eagle's union wages? can i afford not to pay them?), giant eagle has a strong generic coffee at about 6$ per big can. i drank too much too late today . . . sound of maniacal laughter. Zp

[Sam]

Finally, this whole Internet thing pays off! I have moved around a lot in recent years and dread going through the inevitable hit and miss of which store-brand products pass muster. Where I am at now, for instance, one store has really good generic Triscuits at half the cost, whereas the store down the block offers an entirely inedible version. And don't get me started on cheese.

Again, thanks for the tip. Giant Eagle coffee I shall buy. Now, anyone who can give me the skinny on generic diapers gets BIG props.

When did my life get this boring? Ah, who cares? I am hunting for bargains, dammit!