ANTIOCH, CA – DECEMBER 8: A layer of fog surrounds Rose Hill Cemetery at Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve in Antioch, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

In some parts of the Bay Area, ghosts still exist, if you can conjure them.

All you need are waypoints to a vanished time — decaying old buildings, a tombstone or two, a little history and a few old photos — and your imagination. You’ll find those spirits from the past in surprising locations — amid rolling hills in a lovely East Bay valley, for example, or on a muddy island at the south end of the bay.

Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve lies on the southwest edge of Antioch. Today this parkland is an expanse of grassy green splendor, but the area once teemed with people, residents of five bustling towns that sprang up after coal was discovered here in 1859.

The Mount Diablo Coal Field was the state’s largest coal-mining district from 1860 until 1914, powering California’s post-Gold Rush growth. This area, which was originally inhabited by three Miwok-speaking indigenous tribes, was taken over by Spanish, Mexican and American settlers in the late 1700s as ranch land. A century later, a settler named William Israel discovered a coal seam. Miners began tunneling into the earth to harvest the “black diamonds.”

The towns of Nortonville, Somersville, Stewartville, West Hartley and Judsonville were built around a dozen of those mines. Men and boys dug deep, the grimy fruits of their labor sent by rail and ship to San Francisco, Sacramento and Stockton. Horrific deaths occurred with regularity along the hundreds of miles of underground workings. Tunnels collapsed, methane gas and coal dust exploded. But it wasn’t until the coal seam petered out that residents packed up their belongings and left.

Eureka Slope is an inclined shaft that served as the entrance to the Eureka Coal Mine between 1860 and 1895. Today it’s part of the Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve in Antioch. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group) 

Fascinating artifacts of a lost time remain amid the nearly 9,000 acres of stunning parkland. Hiking and cycling trails wind through oak groves and meadows cut by wildlife trails and overseen by hawks and vultures. And whether you’re walking, hiking or cycling, one particular route offers plenty of options for length — one to seven miles and difficulty — allowing you the history-based adventure of your choice, plus ghosts a-plenty.

The  journey starts at an old mine works with an explosive and tragic history, stops at a graveyard with views to die for, passes through the site of the coal district’s biggest town and mine and delivers you to the quite peculiar residence of a phantom named Jim. Along the way, signs offer photos and information to help your imagination populate these long-gone dwellings.

The past hits you almost upon arrival. On the right side of the parking lot as you drive in, you’ll see a pit and the top of the Independent Mine, where men and boys went down (and sometimes never came up) and coal was hoisted to the surface. Two feet of concrete cap the opening. Below it, an open shaft plunges 700 feet into the earth. Beside the pit are remnants of the steam-driven hoisting works, including the bolts that held down a boiler that blew up in 1873, killing two men and hurling debris more than a quarter mile.

Head half a mile up the broad Nortonville Trail through a gorgeous valley to the Rose Hill Cemetery. On this gentle slope with splendid, expansive views lies proof that toiling in the mines was life-threatening — and so was everyday living. Diseases stole souls at every age: scarlet fever, smallpox, diphtheria, typhoid. Above-ground accidents were common, too. The folks who lie below the cypress spires and pepper trees met their ends as far back as 1865. In addition to the 200-plus graves, Rose Hill boasts one very special ghost. And 142 years after her death in a horse-and-buggy crash, she’s still the talk of the neighborhood.

Midwife Sarah Norton, right, with a member of the Gordon family of Clayton, pictured in a Contra Costa County Historical Society photo on an information sign at Rose Hill Cemetery in Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve near Antioch, Calif. (Bay Area News Group) 

Some call Sarah Norton the “White Witch” and claim she haunts the area, a pale apparition still floating around nearly a century and a half after she breathed her last.

In reality, according to the historical record, Norton was a Canadian immigrant who practiced midwifery, not witchcraft, and died at 68 while traveling to do her life-giving, life-saving work.

“We find the name ‘White Witch’ for her disrespectful,” says student interpretive aide Miranda Shuba, while greeting preserve visitors on a recent afternoon. “When people ask about the ‘White Witch,’ we give them the backstory. She helped deliver hundreds of children and never lost one, not the mother or the baby. If Sarah Norton was next to you at your birth, everything was going to be OK.”

You can find Norton’s tombstone and those of other notables using the cemetery’s handy graves map. Diablo Valley College student Marri Williams, working on a history project while visiting the preserve with her father, said she had a particular interest in Norton.

“She was a hero,” said Williams, 18, of Martinez.

Wander around, and you’ll find fragmented windows into many lives. There’s Ruth, identified on her broken marker as “Wife of Jacob French” — she died at 81 in 1874. There’s a single stone for the two Jewett brothers, Walter and Milton, dead in their teens five years apart. And Susan, who met her end in 1880, was “aged 6 years 7 mos. 28 days.” There’s Annie Spowart — she didn’t see 12, but her father, David, placed her for eternity beneath a marble slab calling her “the darling of my heart.” Not far away, a plaque tells of the demise of three young Welshmen in an 1876 mine accident.

Sarah Norton’s marker stands upright, bearing her son’s lament for the loss of “one who was so kind.”

You can stop here or continue up the Nortonville Trail over a low saddle and down a steep slope to Nortonville, the metropolis of the Diablo Valley Coal Fields. Founded by Sarah Norton’s husband, Noah, it had more than 1,000 residents in its glory days, with a school, stores, churches, hotel and saloons.

The vestiges of these bustling towns still stand, ghostlike, at Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group) 

To see what brought them there — the women and girls in their long dresses, the broad-shouldered miners in vests, dungarees and heavy coats, the boys nearly identical down to the occasional suspenders or overalls — ascend the Black Diamond Trail to where massive, broken brick walls up to five-feet thick still stand at the entrance to the Black Diamond Shaft, the largest mine in the region. More than 1.5 million tons of coal were dug up for two decades, starting in the early 1860s. Shards and chunks of coal still carpet portions of the mine’s tailings piles.

If your legs and schedule allow, proceed up Black Diamond Trail to a paved road that will bring you to the remarkable cave home known as “Jim’s Place.” This single-room abode was carved into sandstone by a person or persons unknown, but is believed to date from coal-mining times. According to the park district, no one seems to know who Jim was, but whoever dug the home out of solid sandstone took care to carve out a fire nook and bore a chimney hole and skylight through to the outside. Old Jim is (probably) long gone, but you can look out the skylight and take in his view.

If you’re up for it, taking the pavement up a steep mile or so to the continuation of the Black Diamond Trail will grant you a vista-filled descent through classic East Bay grasslands and oak forest. You’ll rejoin the Nortonville Trail just above the cemetery. No matter which way you return to your starting point, when you pass Rose Hill on the home stretch, wave goodbye to the spirits you met along the way.

Getting here: Set your navigation app for 5175 Somerville Road, Antioch, to reach this East Bay Regional Parks preserve. Hours vary by season, but the Black Diamond Mines park gates are open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. through March 13, with later closing hours as we move into spring and summer. Parking is $5 on weekends and some holidays. Dogs are $2 each. Find details, including trail maps, at www.ebparks.org.

Where to eat: Just outside the preserve, Kabul Restaurant and Market offers savory Afghan delicacies perfect for a picnic in the preserve or a post-hike meal in the carpet-stacked dining room decorated with posters of Afghan life. Delicious rice-and-lamb qaubili palau or mantoo beef dumplings can be ready in five minutes; chicken, beef or lamb kabob plates take 15 minutes, as does the calzonelike leek-and-potato bolani, ideal for stashing in a day pack.

Just need snacks? Grab some organic, dried, Afghanistan-grown mulberries, locally made Afghan-style candied almonds and some California-grown walnuts from the market’s aisles for a DIY trail mix. You’ll find sodas, yogurt drinks, exotic juice drinks and water in the coolers. The eatery is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily at 2521 San Jose Drive in Antioch.

A ghost town on the San Francisco Bay

Travel to Alviso at the south end of the San Francisco Bay — with bicycles or walking garb — and make the two-mile trip along a flat levee dirt road, past canals and ponds atwitter with bird life, and you’ll reach a viewpoint looking out on the dilapidated buildings of Drawbridge. This island ghost town was built around a former railroad station, beginning in 1876.

Once bustling with vice and bristling with six-shooters, Drawbridge is slowly falling apart and slipping into the muck. But the picnickers, the gamblers, the duck hunters, the carousers — they were real, and they were there. You just have to picture them.

We set out on a recent overcast morning from the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge visitor center. Moments later, we are surrounded by birds — in a canal to our right and all over a large pond to our left. A flotilla of gigantic white pelicans circles a small mud island, poking their beaks beneath the water and tipping them back to swallow their prey.

Everywhere, ducks float and fly, sometimes quacking quietly as they paddle the waters. A great egret, stunningly white with a sturdy and sharp yellow bill, peers into the water, then takes flight with a prehistoric  croak. A murmuration of sandpipers sweeps in front of us so closely we hear their swishing passage like a gust of wind through pines. Overhead, a peregrine falcon harasses a gull, then, harassed back by other gulls, barrel rolls and flaps away. We are immersed in the scent of salty air.

Members of Almaden Cycle Touring Club arrive at a vista point at the Mallard Slough Trail, where the ghost town of Drawbridge is viewable. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group) 

On the way, we run into Mike Chester, 63, a retired software engineer on one of his frequent bike trips out to the Drawbridge lookout. “I love this,”  the Santa Clara resident says. “This is a very special spot to me. There’s a lot of nostalgia for me — the history.”

We arrive at the lookout. A camouflaged skiff motors by on the channel separating us from the ghost town, two camo-clad duck hunters and their black Labrador aboard, heading out along the watery paths traveled by their predecessors, the hunters who founded Drawbridge.

In front of us: decrepit buildings near and far. Away to the northeast, the Tesla factory looms. We gawk at the intersection of past and future. A group of 11 local cyclists pulls up at the lookout, which one of the riders, Rick Gilbert, 73, of Campbell, declares to be “the suburbs of Drawbridge.”

Four of the group have never been to the spot. “I came out for the history,” says Adrienne Harber, 68, a retired high school teacher from Cupertino. “To come out here and see it while it’s still here gives you a sense of what life was like then.”

Getting here: Head for the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge environmental education center at 1751 Grand Boulevard in the San Jose community of Alviso and park in the lot (the gate is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.). Take the Mallard Slough Trail northward for about 1½ miles, then turn right at the stone pump station onto the Mallard Slough Trail Spur which takes you to the lookout.

Where to eat: You’ll find tasty tacos, burritos and more at the El Taco de Oro food truck in front of Mi Jalisco Market in Alviso, plus canned, bottled and freshly made drinks — horchata and tangy agua de jamaica — and Mexican pastries, inside the market at 5210 N. First Street. The food truck is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. For a sit-down meal, adjacent El Taco de Oro restaurant has a large menu, beer and margaritas and is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays.

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Entering room 1 in Holbrooke Hotel is like going back in time. The full-size king suite features a restored vintage sofa and chairs, an original marble fireplace with decorative logs, polished hardwood floors, plush carpeting, and contemporary furnishings like a vintage rotary phone—and, in the bathroom, the original one , meticulously restored clawfoot tub. Two pedestal sinks, gold fixtures and a huge king-size bed bring the room somewhat 21st century, as does a huge alfresco veranda overlooking Grass Valley, California’s scenic Main Street. Though many places like to claim this sort of time travel ability, the Holbrooke’s building actually dates back to 1862, so despite its recent renovation, you can still feel the ghosts of the gold rush era rattling through its walls at night.

Just a few miles away, in Nevada City, is the sister property National Stock Exchange has been similarly restored and similarly laden with whispers of the past. While it is rare to find this style of Victorian-era architecture in California, it is by no means impossible. Many of the early West Coast buildings from the 1850s and 1860s were simply destroyed and rebuilt as more modern building techniques became available, but just outside of Sacramento, these two historic hotels were rescued from the abyss and lovingly restored by the Santa Barbara-based company Acme Hospitality.

In the process, these hotels have helped transform the former gold rush towns in which they are based into destinations for those wanting to get away from Sacramento or San Francisco for the weekend, or idyllic getaways for more ambitious SoCal travelers. While grass valley And Nevada city California might not make the list of California hot spots today, but in the 1860s these cities weren’t just booming, they were the center of it all. As many eager immigrants headed west to try their luck in the mines, and the mine owners and other more affluent residents needed infrastructure, a bank and housing, hotels sprang up in the respective towns to meet the needs of each group.

First came the National exchange hotel, a sprawling building that has undergone a thorough renovation over the past three years. The original structure dates back to 1856 and the rooms have been slightly modified to include ensuite bathrooms, the requisite modern plumbing and electricity. Given these limitations, the National Exchange now offers 38 guest rooms, each with a slightly different layout and decor, and many as large suites. As the name suggests, this hotel offered both upscale accommodation and a bank; It was also the local bar, telegraph office, stagecoach stop and post office, as well as a center of gravity for a town that was the most heavily populated of the gold rush camps.

National exchange hotel

Grass Valley nearby was slowly but surely emerging as another hub catering to the workers and actual miners in the area. A few years later the 28 rooms Holbrooke Hotel opened in 1862 to meet the needs of this slightly different but important community in the area. Given their geographic proximity and historical similarity, it made sense to bring the hotels together to tell the story of this overlooked area of ​​Northern California and offer visitors not just one, but two places to stay and enjoy good, strong drinks and world-class food. The entire ground floor of each hotel has been redesigned to serve as a hub for each township.

At Holbrooke, the Golden Gate Salon serves classic cocktails, an extensive wine and beer list, and chef Zachary Arenholtz’s ambitious cured meats, alongside other imaginative dishes like smoked chicken wings, pozole, queso fundido, and a churro and ice cream sandwich for dessert. Down in the basement, the talk bar only on weekends The Iron Door, is a great boozy hangout in a basement room that’s rumored to have been the former brothel. About 10 minutes away, on the National Exchange, is a restaurant called Lola Dining is the anchor of Nevada City’s dining scene. Chef Alan Gosker works in a warm, contemporary American milieu that alludes to his own Irish heritage with dishes like a lamb shank risotto with peas, mint and feta. Regardless, the National Bar is a type of pub that brings the whole community together.

Like the Holbrooke, the spacious suites at the National Exchange have been furnished with antique furniture, all sourced and selected by a design and decorating team consisting of a Director of Design Anne L’EsperanceDoug Washington from Doug Washington designAnd Bri Ingram. This trio also credits “contributions from dozens of local artisans and craftsmen” to bring both local and vintage accents to each of the properties. Both hotels received historic recognition and protection decades ago when the Holbrooke was designated a California State Landmark in 1974 and the National Exchange was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Only in the last three years have these buildings lived up to their status and balance of preservation and modernization, however, sets them apart from both big-box hotels and newer boutique properties.

If you’re in the area for a few days, a few local attractions to explore are the leisurely Buttermilk Bend wildflower hike in South Yuba River State Park and a bevy of bookstores in Nevada City – Harmony Books and Main Street Antiques & books – along with the local cheese shop, Dedrick’s cheese. (It may be in the middle of nowhere, but Dedrick’s carries La Tur, making it civilized in my book). Other local shops Kitkitdizzi And fur trader sell the kind of witchy tchotchkes and stylized Western clothing that would help an outsider to blend in right away, and both do so at prices more reasonable than you’d expect in a resort town.

If you’re flying into or driving up from Sacramento, be sure to stop at Pour Choice Maroon, a local cafe, cafe and taproom in Auburn, another historic town on the way. With a little help from her friend and co-owner, a Michelin-starred chef, Chef Chris BarnumJordan and Melinda Minyard have carved out a little slice of foodie heaven in a city that has little else to offer — but the bright spot of being in a deserted neighborhood has its perks, and if you want to break the journey, this is it the obvious place to refuel.

That’s the highbrow option, of course. The easy option that is more suitable for getting out of town is to go into town Squeeze burgers, a burger joint at a nearby gas station kiosk, and grab a cheese burger with a “cheese skirt” — a ring of toasted cheese surrounding the burger making this farewell even more decadent — plus some onion rings before heading home. Everything is allowed in the north. And it may not be Victorian, but this local fast-food hit is a reminder that Northern California is a destination all of its own. Whether you think you know the area well or not, there’s always something more to discover.

The post Two Historic Motels Resurrected These California Gold Rush Cities appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

This story is part of the Cities + Solutions series, which chronicles surprising and inspiring climate initiatives in communities across the US through stories of cities leading the way. For more solution stories like this, subscribe to Grist’s Climate Solutions newsletter, Looking Forward.

Brad Simmons, a retired metal worker who has lived in Healdsburg, California, for 57 years, stood under a shady tree with drooping pomegranates late last year and showed off his backyard orchard. In addition to the apple, cherry and peach trees, he has packed a pear tree, two lemon trees and a centuries-old olive tree into the compact garden of his bungalow.

Of course, the small grove requires plenty of water — an increasingly scarce resource in a state that continues to struggle with a historic drought despite recent torrential rains. Still, like many of its 12,000 residents, Simmons has managed to keep much of this wine-growing community north of San Francisco looking green while halving the city’s water use since 2020.

Healdsburg benefits from an invaluable resource that irrigates gardens, trees, and vineyards: free, non-potable water produced by its wastewater treatment plant. According to city officials, the plant recycles 350 million gallons of wastewater that the city dumps and flushes each year, or just over half of its annual water use. The recycled H₂O is used in irrigation, construction and other applications that require less treatment than drinking water. This relieves pressure on regional reservoirs and wells, while attracting a broad pool of users to promote a conservation ethos, while still being able to handle the volume of treated wastewater discharged into the Russian River.

“I worry about water all the time,” Simmons said as he dragged a hose down his parched weed to a giant box filled with 275 gallons of treated water. The washer-dryer-sized containers have become a standard lawn facility in the city. “So that’s a real lifeline.”

California’s sewage projects

Currently, California treats and uses approximately 728,000 acre-feet, or approximately 18 percent of the wastewater produced annually. But the state has higher ambitions for increasing water security: New targets call for a nearly triple increase to 2 million acre-feet annually by 2030.

Supported by initiatives such as the California Water Board’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund and government support, including a $750 million grant program, several major projects are in the pipeline. Orange County, for example, is increasing the capacity of its drinking water treatment plant – already the largest in the world – to recycle 130 million gallons of wastewater per day. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is planning a new $3.4 billion recycling facility that would provide a renewable source of drinking water for 19 million Los Angeles-area customers.

For smaller communities or those with limited resources, however, a more modest approach can be just as effective, says Anne Thebo, senior researcher at the Pacific Institute, a nonprofit water conservation think tank in Oakland, California.

“The local context can really give communities flexibility in developing their water reuse plans,” she notes. Farming communities have an advantage here, she says, because many forms of irrigation don’t require treated water that’s clean enough to drink. But all communities have some flexibility in their ability to use treated wastewater, as the water used to irrigate wood or lawns may be of lower quality than that used for pasture grass such as alfalfa or raw edible crops such as strawberries and lettuce is used. Developing a water recycling plan that meets community needs can diversify a region’s water portfolio and balance overall demand.

Healdburg’s approach

When the wastewater facility was modernized in 2008, reuse was not Healdsburg’s top priority. The city had to comply with environmental regulations for discharges into the Russian River, which included maintaining a higher threshold for nutrient and pathogen removal. The $29.3 million improvement added pathogen-filtering membranes and UV light to a process that already included filtration and microbial scrubbing. The additional measure will purify the wastewater to near-potable quality and make it clean enough to be discharged into the 1,485-square-mile watershed.

But even at this quality, regional water authorities limit discharge to October through mid-May, when rain normally swells the river volume and reduces the risk of adverse impacts. In the remaining months, “we have to think about what we’re going to do with it,” says Healdsburg’s water and wastewater engineer Patrick Fuss. This became the key challenge and eventual success of the Healdsburg program – ensuring there was enough demand for this offering.

Although state regulations allow agricultural use of triple treated water, they also require permits that describe specific uses, primarily to ensure the safety of groundwater and the public. Healdsburg’s original permit included grape irrigation, as well as residential, landscape, and industrial uses. But for years it was a challenge to find enough buyers for the treated water, says Fuss. The recycled water, while free, is not potable and requires separate piping and hoses, resulting in a potentially expensive expense. Others had unfounded concerns about nitrate, mineral and chemical residues in the shipment that could contaminate their prized grapes.

As a result, treated wastewater continued to flow into the river until three years ago, when municipal action due to the escalating drought forced the city to fully comply with discharge regulations. The multi-faceted approach reduces the amount of wastewater entering the system from water conservation measures while increasing the demand for recycled water.

Fuss laid some of the groundwork for this by recruiting winemakers for a door-to-door campaign and involving potential participants in planning a pipeline expansion to facilitate supply. Meanwhile, the city required the use of treated water in all construction projects and made it available at two service stations. Finally, as state and regional water restrictions tightened last year, Healdsburg began free private deliveries of up to 500 gallons per subscriber each week.

According to Fuss, accommodating a wide range of users is crucial in order to balance supply and demand. “We know that we can achieve compliance during a drought if the inflow — the amount of wastewater we have to treat — is reduced because people are saving while demand is greater on the other end,” he says. A wet or normal year would turn the equation on its head, which without adequate taps would quickly overflow the system.

Controlling the quality of sanitation is actually a key motivator for water recycling projects in California, Thebo says. And usually, the development of multiple advantages seems to be the common factor of success. “They are at the heart of the partnerships that form between cities, producers, environmental groups and a host of other stakeholders. And they are also what engages the community and local politicians.”

There doesn’t seem to be a lack of community involvement in Healdsburg. Popularity actually killed the residential delivery program, which at its peak served more than a quarter of city households. “It was [financially] Unsustainable as a long-term strategy,” says Rob Scates, Superintendent of Water and Wastewater, “but it definitely helped spread the word.” Water is still being given away at gas stations, and several transport companies are delivering for a small fee (Simmons reports that he pays $40 for every bi-weekly delivery).

However, the city is taking no chances. As an added reassurance, it has recently expanded permitted uses to pasture, commercial orchards and non-dairy cattle. And plans are in the works to expand the pipe network — painted purple to denote nonpotable supply — directly into the city for municipal irrigation, thanks to a $7 million federal grant. “Word has got around that the water quality is very good and that it’s a pretty reliable system,” says Scates. “Now [users] are really addicted to it. They make sure we follow the rules.”

As an early adopter, Dennis De La Montanya, owner of De La Montanya Vineyards, has no qualms. He’s watered the grapes that produce his award-winning Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the purple pipes for years. “It’s been a real boon in terms of water availability. And we don’t pollute groundwater resources or the public water system,” he says. “It’s a win-win situation.”

Concrete results like these highlight the true value of recycled water, says Thebo. “So many of the challenges of water scarcity can feel insurmountable. But when people can see solutions that impact their daily lives, I think that becomes a point of pride for the community.”

This article originally appeared in Grist, a non-profit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories about climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at Grist.org

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March 14, 2022

The pandemic is likely shifting the tech jobs landscape away from traditional tech hubs in the US to midsize, more affordable cities dubbed “Zoom towns,” according to a story by MSN that cites a report from the Brookings Institute. Large city tech hubs such as San Francisco; Seattle; and Austin, Texas made up nearly half the US’ tech job growth between 2015 and 2019. However, the major tech centers saw their growth slow during the first year of the pandemic. Meanwhile midsize cities such as Cincinnati and Minneapolis have experienced significant growth. These midsize towns were referred to as “Zoom towns” in the Brookings report, though the report noted it’s unclear if the trend will continue.

The post Report cites pattern of tech employees shifting from conventional hubs to ‘Zoom cities’ (MSN) appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

CHICAGO — For Marcus Medsker, the pace of life in Quincy, Illinois, is slow. And he likes it that way.

Medsker, a senior client sales manager at Echo Global Logistics, was living in a two-bedroom condo in the River North neighborhood of Chicago just over a year ago. But when his wife became pregnant with their second child, they decided to move to his hometown.

The 37-year-old grew up in Quincy and said his return in December 2020 was somewhat unexpected. But the low cost of living and small-town feel has made life with young kids a lot simpler, and he said his proximity to family has been one of the most special parts of being back.

Before the pandemic, moving to a different city wasn’t really an option for Medsker, who is now the father of three.

“Me working remotely was never really on the table, so until that became fully available, that’s when we kind of decided to look at Quincy,” he said.

Medsker is one of the millions of Americans who has been working from home during the pandemic. As the average number of COVID-19 cases continues to decline across the United States, many employers are cautiously optimistic about returning to the office. But for some, the remote workplace changes are permanent.

According to a January Pew Research Center survey, about 59% of US workers who say their jobs can mainly be done remotely are working from home all or most of the time. Since 2020, the share who say they have relocated away from the area where they work has increased from 9% to 17%.

Many small towns in the Midwest, including Quincy, are trying to attract remote workers by using their sense of community to their advantage. The city advertises on a website called MakeMyMove, where people can browse through a range of incentive packages offered in cities and towns across the United States. If they decide they want to move, they can submit an application to the destination of their choice.

Evan Hock, co-founder and head of product at MakeMyMove, which was launched in December 2020, said he thinks remote work has given people the freedom to tailor their lifestyles to their personal preferences, not the locations of their employers. As a result, he said many remote workers are choosing to relocate to small towns because of affordability and opportunities to connect with the local community.

“It just so happens that a lot of these smaller towns and rural towns offer a lot of what folks that are leaving big cities are looking for,” Hock said.

In fact, Nicholas Epley, a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, said the sense of community people find in small towns can sometimes replace some of the social connections that are lost in remote working environments.

Epley said social connection happens more when actual, in-person conversations take place. Though most people understand the value of connections with close family and friends, he said they often underestimate the importance of weaker, more distant connections.

“The acquaintances, the more distant colleagues, even conversations with strangers are also important for our well-being,” he said. “What you’re going to lose when you’re not going into the office routinely is a broader social network that comes from connecting formally and informally with the colleagues that you work with.”

Even though these more distant connections can be lost by working remotely, Epley said it is certainly possible to find them elsewhere, like within a small town. Ultimately, he said where people find meaningful connections depends a lot on the individual and what they do for a living.

‘Just a nice little town’

Quincy resident Ricci Dula has had no shortage of social connection since moving to the area with his family from Redlands, California, in 2019.

As he sipped his iced black salt caramel mocha — the same drink he orders each time he visits Electric Fountain Brewing — he said hello to the only other two patrons in the coffee shop, both of whom knew Dula by name. The father of two said he has grown accustomed to seeing familiar faces in grocery stores and restaurants, which rarely happened when he lived in California.

Quincy, home to about 40,000 residents, has four National Register of Historic Places districts packed with more than 3,500 impressive, architecturally distinct buildings. Ornate stone and brick homes tower over the city’s residential streets, and quaint storefronts are clustered merely blocks away from the banks of the Mississippi River.

Dula joked that his days of road rage are long behind him, as it takes less than 15 minutes to get from one side of the city to the other.

“The sense of community is greater in a smaller town,” said Dula, who moved to Quincy for his career, where he served as the scout executive for the Mississippi Valley Council of the Boy Scouts of America. “From a safety standpoint, from the activities for youth, for growing a family or establishing yourself as an employee, I would say that Quincy’s worth it.”

Residents of other small towns also feel proud of where they live; some have even come up with their own creative incentives to attract new families.

In Greensburg, Indiana, the relocation package includes $5,000, gift cards to the seasonal farmers market, and, among other things, a “Grandparents on Demand” service, in which longtime resident Tami Wenning and her husband offer free baby-sitting for those who move to the area.

Located in Decatur County, halfway between Indianapolis and Cincinnati, Greensburg is home to 13,000 residents.

Wenning has lived in Decatur County her whole life, and she said she came up with Grandparents on Demand when she was asked to help brainstorm ideas for MakeMyMove. She wanted to showcase how welcoming the community is, and since she has kids and grandkids of her own, she said she knows there are times when parents need to trust someone to watch their children.

As a result, whether new families are in need of a date night or someone to fill in for Grandparents’ Day at school, Wenning said she and her husband are happy to volunteer.

“It’s second nature around here; you want to step in and help somebody out with their kids,” she said. “It’s the coolest thing on Earth being a grandparent.”

Remote workers Kasey and Doug Waltz moved to Greensburg from Mason, Ohio, in November, and they said they have already come to appreciate the safety, community and convenience of a small town. As the parents of two children under the age of 2, they said the incentives really resonated with their needs.

“The area’s phenomenal; anything that we ever want is right around us,” Doug Waltz said. “It’s just a nice little town.”

‘What they value in life’

In Quincy, “Help Wanted” signs hang in the windows of many businesses along the city’s main streets. Mayor Mike Troup said there are more than 700 full-time positions open even though unemployment in the area is below 3%.

To address Quincy’s aging and stagnant population, the Great River Economic Development Foundation, the city and county’s lead economic development organization, launched a campaign called “Quincy’s Calling” in September .

Quincy’s Calling works in tandem with another city initiative that provides a financial incentive for individuals and families to move. Participants may apply for a $5,000 rebate on property taxes or a $3,500 rebate on rent or lease payments if they take a job in Adams County and reside within Quincy’s city limits for a designated period of time.

In the past five months, more than 55 families have moved to Quincy through the Quincy’s Calling campaign — including a number of remote workers.

Kyle Moore, the foundation president, said he thinks the accessibility of remote work has influenced the success of the campaign.

“I definitely think that the pandemic has caused people to pause and look at what they value in life and the quality of life they want to lead,” Moore said.

For barbershop owners Elizabeth and Matthew Thomas, the cost of their 10,000-square-foot Victorian stone mansion was too good to pass up. The couple moved from the San Francisco Bay Area a year and a half ago and opened Gold Line Barbershop just a week arriving after.

Matthew Thomas is particularly interested in Quincy’s history. The walls of the barbershop are covered with newspaper clippings that detail the city’s criminal past during the Prohibition era; a story Thomas said he finds “fascinating.” He is passionate about protecting the old homes in the area, so he said he thinks the city’s effort to attract new residents is a great idea.

“A lot of these giant, beautiful architecturally significant Victorian mansions on the north end and the south side of town were kind of left behind, and they’re just waiting to be saved,” he said. “Every time I drive around down there, it’s like, I want to buy more.”

Moore, the foundation president, said the early success of the Quincy’s Calling campaign has been encouraging, and he hopes the positive momentum will continue to grow.

“I think if you would have asked us when it started, that we would have had, you know, 25 folks in a year, we would have been happy,” he said. “We hope every year that we can snowball this.”

Despite the ever-evolving nature of the pandemic, remote work is here to stay. According to data scientists at Ladders, a jobs site for positions that pay more than $100,000, 25% of all the jobs in North America will be fully remote by the end of the year.

The doors to the office are still shuttered for Quincy resident Medsker, and even if they reopen, he said he will only have to make the trip to Chicago occasionally.

Medsker said having his kids changed everything, and relocating to a small town gave him the simple life he could not find in Chicago.

“We never really considered Quincy as an option, and then, you know, as we dug more into it, things became more clear,” he said. “We wouldn’t take the decision back for anything.”

———

©2022 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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For Marcus Medsker, the pace of life in Quincy is slow. And he likes it that way.

Medsker, a senior client sales manager at Echo Global Logistics, was living in a two-bedroom condo in the River North neighborhood of Chicago just over a year ago. But when his wife became pregnant with their second child, they decided to move to his hometown.

The 37-year-old grew up in Quincy and said his return in December 2020 was somewhat unexpected. But the low cost of living and small-town feel has made life with young kids a lot simpler, and he said his proximity to family has been one of the most special parts of being back.

Before the pandemic, moving to a different city wasn’t really an option for Medsker, who is now the father of three.

“Me working remotely was never really on the table, so until that became fully available, that’s when we kind of decided to look at Quincy,” he said.

Medsker is one of the millions of Americans who has been working from home during the pandemic. As the average number of COVID-19 cases continues to decline across the United States, many employers are cautiously optimistic about returning to the office. But for some, the remote workplace changes are permanent.

According to a January Pew Research Center survey, about 59% of US workers who say their jobs can mainly be done remotely are working from home all or most of the time. Since 2020, the share who say they have relocated away from the area where they work has increased from 9% to 17%.

Many small towns in the Midwest, including Quincy, are trying to attract remote workers by using their sense of community to their advantage. The city is listed on a website called MakeMyMove, where people can browse through a range of incentive packages offered in cities and towns across the United States. If they decide they want to move, they can submit an application to the destination of their choice.

Evan Hock, co-founder and head of product at MakeMyMove, which was launched in December 2020, said he thinks remote work has given people the freedom to tailor their lifestyles to their personal preferences, not the locations of their employers. As a result, he said many remote workers are choosing to relocate to small towns because of affordability and opportunities to connect with the local community.

“It just so happens that a lot of these smaller towns and rural towns offer a lot of what folks that are leaving big cities are looking for,” Hock said.

In fact, Nicholas Epley, a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, said the sense of community people find in small towns can sometimes replace some of the social connections that are lost in remote working environments.

Epley said social connection happens more when actual, in-person conversations take place. Though most people understand the value of connections with close family and friends, he said they often underestimate the importance of weaker, more distant connections.

“The acquaintances, the more distant colleagues, even conversations with strangers are also important for our well-being,” he said. “What you’re going to lose when you’re not going into the office routinely is a broader social network that comes from connecting formally and informally with the colleagues that you work with.”

Even though these more distant connections can be lost by working remotely, Epley said it is certainly possible to find them elsewhere, like within a small town. Ultimately, he said where people find meaningful connections depends a lot on the individual and what they do for a living.

Quincy resident Ricci Dula has had no shortage of social connection since moving to the area with his family from Redlands, California, in 2019.

As he sipped his iced black salt caramel mocha — the same drink he orders each time he visits Electric Fountain Brewing — he said hello to the only other two patrons in the coffee shop, both of whom knew Dula by name. The father of two said he has grown accustomed to seeing familiar faces in grocery stores and restaurants, which rarely happened when he lived in California.

Quincy, home to about 40,000 residents, has four National Register of Historic Places packed with more than 3,500 impressive, architecturally distinct buildings. Ornate stone and brick homes tower over the city’s residential streets, and quaint storefronts are clustered merely blocks away from the banks of the Mississippi River.

Dula joked that his days of road rage are long behind him, as it takes less than 15 minutes to get from one side of the city to the other.

“The sense of community is greater in a smaller town,” said Dula, who moved to Quincy for his career, where he served as the scout executive for the Mississippi Valley Council of the Boy Scouts of America. “From a safety standpoint, from the activities for youth, for growing a family or establishing yourself as an employee, I would say that Quincy’s worth it.”

Residents of other small towns also feel proud of where they live; some have even come up with their own creative incentives to attract new families.

In Greensburg, Indiana, the relocation package includes $5,000, gift cards to the seasonal farmers market, and, among other things, a “Grandparents on Demand” service, in which longtime resident Tami Wenning and her husband offer free babysitting for those who move to the iarea.

Located in Decatur County, halfway between Indianapolis and Cincinnati, Greensburg is home to 13,000 residents.

Wenning has lived in Decatur County her whole life, and she said she came up with Grandparents on Demand when she was asked to help brainstorm ideas for MakeMyMove. She wanted to showcase how welcoming the community is, and since she has kids and grandkids of her own, she said she knows there are times when parents need to trust someone to watch their children.

As a result, whether new families are in need of a date night or someone to fill in for Grandparents’ Day at school, Wenning said she and her husband are happy to volunteer.

“It’s second nature around here; you want to step in and help somebody out with their kids,” she said. “It’s the coolest thing on Earth being a grandparent.”

Remote workers Kasey and Doug Waltz moved to Greensburg from Mason, Ohio, in November, and they said they have already come to appreciate the safety, community and convenience of a small town. As the parents of two children under the age of 2, they said the incentives really resonated with their needs.

“The area’s phenomenal, anything that we ever want is right around us,” Doug Waltz said. “It’s just a nice little town.”

In Quincy, “Help Wanted” signs hang in the windows of many businesses along the city’s main streets. Mayor Mike Troup said there are more than 700 full-time positions open even though unemployment in the area is below 3%.

To address Quincy’s aging and stagnant population, the Great River Economic Development Foundation, the city and county’s lead economic development organization, launched a campaign called “Quincy’s Calling” in September .

Quincy’s Calling works in tandem with another city initiative that provides a financial incentive for individuals and families to move. Participants may apply for a $5,000 rebate on property taxes or a $3,500 rebate on rent or lease payments if they take a job in Adams County and reside within Quincy’s city limits for a designated period of time.

In the past five months, more than 55 families have moved to Quincy through the Quincy’s Calling campaign — including a number of remote workers.

Kyle Moore, the foundation president, said he thinks the accessibility of remote work has influenced the success of the campaign.

“I definitely think that the pandemic has caused people to pause and look at what they value in life and the quality of life they want to lead,” Moore said.

For barbershop owners Elizabeth and Matthew Thomas, the cost of their 10,000-square-foot Victorian stone mansion was too good to pass up. The couple moved from the San Francisco Bay Area a year and a half ago and opened Gold Line Barbershop just a week arriving after.

Matthew Thomas is particularly interested in Quincy’s history. The walls of the barbershop are covered with newspaper clippings that detail the city’s criminal past during the Prohibition era; a story Thomas said he finds “fascinating.” He is passionate about protecting the old homes in the area, so he said he thinks the city’s effort to attract new residents is a great idea.

“A lot of these giant, beautiful architecturally significant Victorian mansions on the north end and the south side of town were kind of left behind, and they’re just waiting to be saved,” he said. “Every time I drive around down there, it’s like, I want to buy more.”

Moore, the foundation president, said the early success of the Quincy’s Calling campaign has been encouraging, and he hopes the positive momentum will continue to grow.

“I think if you would have asked us when it started, that we would have had, you know, 25 folks in a year, we would have been happy,” he said. “We hope every year that we can snowball this.”

Despite the ever-evolving nature of the pandemic, remote work is here to stay. According to data scientists at Ladders, a jobs site for positions that pay more than $100,000, 25% of all the jobs in North America will be fully remote by the end of the year.

The doors to the office are still shuttered for Quincy resident Medsker, and even if they reopen, he said he will only have to make the trip to Chicago occasionally.

Medsker said having his kids changed everything, and relocating to a small town gave him the simple life he could not find in Chicago.

“We never really considered Quincy as an option, and then, you know, as we dug more into it, things became more clear,” he said. “We wouldn’t take the decision back for anything.”

The post Extra distant staff are transferring to small cities appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Berrien County, Michigan, ist nicht der Ort, von dem man erwarten würde, dass er Einwohner verliert. An der Küste des Michigansees gelegen, sind die „Hamptons des Mittleren Westens“ weithin bekannt für ihre Sandstrände und Weinberge, die viele Touristen aus dem nahe gelegenen Chicago und Indianapolis anziehen. Aber der Landkreis hat diese Touristen noch nicht zum Bleiben überredet, und seine Bevölkerung ist seit den 1970er Jahren rückläufig. Letztes Jahr wurde Rob Cleveland, der Leiter einer regionalen Organisation für wirtschaftliche Entwicklung, kreativ. Wenn Sie ein Telearbeiter aus einem anderen Bundesstaat sind, der ein Haus kaufen und sich in Berrien niederlassen möchte, können Sie sich bei Clevelands Gruppe, der Cornerstone Alliance, bewerben und erhalten 10.000 bis 15.000 US-Dollar.

Seit dem Start des Programms im September haben sich mehr als 2.500 Menschen aus dem ganzen Land gemeldet, um ihr Interesse an den Anreizen zu bekunden, sagte mir Cleveland. Er verband mich mit einer von ihnen, Jill Urbanski, einer langjährigen Einwohnerin von Chicago, die im Oktober im Radio von dem Angebot hörte. Ende Februar war sie nach St. Joseph, Michigan, gezogen und hatte ihre 10.000 Dollar gesammelt. „Es machte absolut Sinn“, sagte mir Urbanski. “Alles ist für mich aufgereiht.”

Es gibt nur ein Problem. In den 10 Monaten seit dem Start des Programms ist Urbanski die einzige Person, die das Angebot der Cornerstone Alliance angenommen hat. Cleveland sagte, dass zwei weitere Familien bald in die Grafschaft ziehen werden, aber er ist noch lange nicht in der Nähe seines ursprünglichen Ziels, bis Ende dieses Jahres 25 Anreize zu verteilen. Jetzt hofft er, dass er fünf schlägt.

Umzugs-Incentives wie in Berrien liegen derzeit voll im Trend. Laut der Website MakeMyMove geben mehr als 40 Orte in den Vereinigten Staaten Menschen Geld für den Umzug. Die Shoals, Alabama, zahlen Ihnen 10.000 US-Dollar. Im Nordwesten von Arkansas erhalten Sie außerdem 10.000 US-Dollar – plus ein kostenloses Fahrrad. Topeka, Kansas, bietet Jimmy Johns Sandwiches im Wert von bis zu 15.000 US-Dollar und 1.000 US-Dollar an. Morgantown, West Virginia, hat eine Welle der Medienaufmerksamkeit erhalten, indem es das vielleicht großzügigste Angebot gemacht hat: eine Kombination aus Geldzuschüssen, kostenlosem Verleih von Outdoor-Ausrüstung, kostenlosen Skitickets und anderen Vergünstigungen im Gesamtwert von 20.000 USD.

Diese Initiativen variieren je nach Größe der Stadt und wie sie finanziert werden (einige, darunter Berriens, werden vollständig mit privaten Dollars finanziert), aber die Idee dahinter ist die gleiche: Durch baumelnde Belohnungen hoffen schwächelnde Gemeinden, neue anzuziehen Einwohner – insbesondere Telearbeiter – aus wohlhabenderen Teilen des Landes. Diese Programme stammen aus der Zeit vor der Pandemie, aber sie haben an Popularität gewonnen, da ein Teil der Unternehmen die Remote-Arbeit dauerhaft einsetzt. „Vielleicht treffen die Leute die Entscheidung, sich von den beengten Büros in Downtown Manhattan zu entfernen“, sagte mir Craig Armstrong, der Architekt des Incentive-Programms in Newton, Iowa. “Wir sind wahrscheinlich gut aufgestellt, um die Vorteile zu nutzen.” Sogar das Wall Street Journal hat bewegende Initiativen gefeiert und gesagt, dass sie neue Wege für “die heutigen Legionen von Remote-Arbeitern, die es jucken, von ihren hochpreisigen, dicht besiedelten Grenzen in Städten wie San Francisco und New York zu springen”, eröffnen.

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Aber die Art und Weise, wie diese Programme ablaufen, entspricht nicht ihrem ursprünglichen Versprechen. Anstelle von etwas, das den Wohnort der Amerikaner grundlegend neu ausrichten kann, sehen fast alle diese Initiativen aus wie in Berrien: Sie bringen einige neue Einwohner an, aber nicht genug, um die Bevölkerungsprobleme der Städte nennenswert zu verändern. Bei all dem Hype um Remote Work tut es für viele schrumpfende Städte eindeutig wenig bis gar nichts.

Umzugsanreize gibt es schon seit einiger Zeit, aber 2018 gingen sie zur Hauptsendezeit. In diesem Jahr begann eine Stiftung in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 10.000 US-Dollar für Remote-Mitarbeiter anzubieten, die in die Stadt gezogen sind. Die Idee – Geld verdienen mit Umzug! – wurde schnell zu einer Mediensensation, die Tulsa genau die Aufmerksamkeit bescherte, die sie suchte. In den letzten drei Jahren haben sich rund 47.000 Menschen für das Programm namens Tulsa Remote beworben. Zwischen den aufgenommenen und den mitgezogenen Familien sind mehr als 1.000 Menschen aus dem ganzen Land in die Stadt gezogen. Der Erfolg von Tulsa ist einer der Hauptgründe, warum so viele andere Gemeinden ihre eigenen Anreize geschaffen haben.

Aber im Gegensatz zu fast allen anderen Orten, die diese Programme anbieten, ist Tulsa eine Großstadt mit Hunderttausenden von Einwohnern. (Die einzige größere Stadt mit Anreizen ist Baltimore, die nur 20 Stipendien pro Jahr vergibt.) Angesichts der Größe der Stadt machten die neuen Einwohner nur einen unbedeutenden Bevölkerungszuwachs von 0,25 Prozent aus. Und weil Tulsa den Trend ankurbelte, hatte es einen Vorsprung bei der Gewinnung neuer Bewohner. „Ich denke, Tulsa hatte einen großen Vorteil, weil es der First Mover war und sich einen Namen gemacht hat“, sagt Richard Florida, Professor für Wirtschaftspolitik und -analyse an der University of Toronto.

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Um herauszufinden, ob andere Programme den kleinen Erfolg von Tulsa Remote wiederholt haben, habe ich 10 von ihnen kontaktiert und mich auf diejenigen mit den großzügigsten Anreizen konzentriert. Ich habe von acht von ihnen gehört und Vertreter von ihnen interviewt. Alle waren gespannt, was ihre Stadt geleistet hatte. Aber keine Stadt kam auch nur annähernd an Tulsas Rekord heran.

Denken Sie an Topeka: Die Wirtschaftsförderungsagentur der Region hat im Dezember 2019 ein Anreizprogramm gestartet. Seitdem hat sie etwas mehr als 65 neue Einwohner zu einer Stadt mit mehr als 125.000 Einwohnern hinzugewonnen. Die Shoals, die Heimat von mehr als 70.000 Menschen, haben seit Juni 2019 nur 25 neue Bewohner durch ihre Initiative angesiedelt. Cleveland aus Berrien County ist stolz auf sein Programm und führt die Underperformance auf den verrückten Wohnungsmarkt zurück. Aber wenn die Cornerstone Alliance schließlich alle 25 budgetierten Plätze besetzt, werden die Gewinne im Grunde genommen nichts ausmachen. Der Landkreis hat 153.000 Einwohner. Selbst wenn die verbleibenden 24 Plätze an Familien mit vier Kindern gehen, würde die Bevölkerung um knapp 0,1 Prozent steigen.

„Ich bin ziemlich skeptisch [that these programs] die Einwohnerzahlen einer Stadt oder eines Bundesstaates spürbar werden“, sagte mir Brett Theodos, Senior Fellow am Urban Institute. Er verglich die Anreize mit einem teuren Marketingprogramm mit begrenztem Nutzen. “Es wird nur so viele Nachrichtenartikel über dieses Phänomen geben”, sagte er.

Das Problem ist nicht nur, dass die meisten dieser Anreize sporadisch mediale Aufmerksamkeit erhalten. Sogar Programme, die vor oder neben Tulsa gestartet wurden, hatten nur minimalen Erfolg. Armstrong schätzt, dass Newtons Initiative seit ihrem Start im Jahr 2014 zwischen 125 und 150 neue Menschen in die Stadt gebracht hat – ein Bevölkerungszuwachs von 1 Prozent, verteilt über mehr als sieben Jahre. Britt, Iowa, hat eines der effektivsten Programme, und die Ergebnisse sind noch recht bescheiden. Es hat seit Beginn des Angebots im Jahr 2018 acht Grundstücke an Familien verschenkt; nach Abschluss der Bauarbeiten und Ankunft der neuen Einwohner wird die Einwohnerzahl der Stadt um 1 bis 2 Prozent steigen.

Das bedeutet nicht, dass die Anreize keine Vorteile haben. Newtons Programm sei teilweise geschaffen worden, um widerstrebende Baufirmen zum Bauen in der Stadt zu bewegen, sagte Armstrong, und dies sei gelungen. Die Grundstücke, die Britt verschenkt hat, sollten sowohl die Bevölkerung der Stadt vergrößern als auch dazu beitragen, unbebautes Land loszuwerden. Britts Bürgermeister Ryan Arndorfer sagte mir, dass das Programm bei Letzterem sicherlich geholfen hat. Und jeder neue Einwohner bringt den schrumpfenden Städten einen gewissen Nutzen, insbesondere wenn es sich um hochverdienende Fachkräfte handelt – was überproportional bei Remote-Arbeitern der Fall ist. Solche Leute geben im Allgemeinen mehr in lokalen Geschäften aus und zahlen mehr Steuern. Außerdem sind sie dafür bekannt, Cluster zu bilden. Wenn sich genügend Angestellte an einem Ort versammeln, ziehen sie Gleichgesinnte an und wachsen die Bevölkerung organisch.

Aber Experten sagten mir, dass es unwahrscheinlich ist, dass die Programme eine kritische Masse von Angestellten an diese Orte verlagern werden. Ein Teil des Problems besteht darin, dass die Beamten hinter diesen Programmen zwar davon träumen, aus großen kosmopolitischen Städten wie Seattle und Austin, Texas, zu ziehen, die Anreize jedoch in Wirklichkeit nur Gemeinden mit ähnlicher Größe und ähnlichem Wohlstand stehlen. Von den acht Familien, die nach Britt zogen, kamen sechs aus anderen Teilen Iowas. Die beiden, die es nicht taten – einer aus New York und einer aus Kalifornien – hatten immer noch Verbindungen zum ländlichen Iowa.

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Diese Programme „sind ein Nullsummenwettbewerb“, sagt Cristobal Young, ein Wirtschaftssoziologe an der Cornell University, der untersucht, wie Staaten Steuern verwenden, um Einwohner anzuziehen. Wenn die Programme öffentlich finanziert werden, sagt er mir, ist es „schlechte Politik, nur Geld von sesshaften Einwohnern zu nehmen und es mobileren Menschen zu geben“. Selbst wenn sie privat finanziert werden, besteht die Gefahr, dass die Programme Druck auf die Peer-Gemeinschaften ausüben, ihre eigenen Anreize zu verteilen, was einen Wettlauf nach unten antreibt.

Die grundlegende Tragödie von Umzugsanreizen besteht darin, dass diese Gemeinschaften dringend mehr Menschen und mehr Arbeitsplätze brauchen. Im Jahr 2006 verlor Newton einen Fortune-500-Arbeitgeber namens Maytag, dessen Hauptsitz mehr als ein Jahrhundert lang zur Erhaltung der lokalen Wirtschaft beigetragen hatte. Als Maytag von Whirlpool übernommen wurde, verlor Newton weit über 1.000 Stellen. Jetzt hat Whirlpool seinen Hauptsitz in Berrien County. Die Geldgeschenke, sagte Cleveland von der Cornerstone Alliance, sind letztendlich zweitrangig gegenüber seinem Pitch. Whirlpool – und das damit verbundene Talent – ​​ist ein weitaus größeres Verkaufsargument. “Die Leute werden nicht für 15.000 Dollar umziehen”, sagte Cleveland. “Es muss Annehmlichkeiten und Möglichkeiten geben.”

Ich war überrascht von der Offenheit, aber er hat recht. Im Kampf um Remote-Arbeiter können Städte nicht einfach für den Sieg bezahlen. Wenn sie nicht die Arten von Restaurants und begehbaren Vierteln haben, nach denen Profis suchen, werden 15.000 US-Dollar einfach nicht ausreichen. Möglicherweise müssen sie sogar attraktive, persönliche Jobs anbieten: Neue Bewohner arbeiten bei ihrer Ankunft möglicherweise aus der Ferne, möchten oder müssen jedoch möglicherweise den Beruf wechseln.

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Die Sieger werden wahrscheinlich Orte wie Boise, Idaho sein; Salt Lake City, Utah; und Nashville, Tennessee – Städte, die vor der Pandemie größer und wohlhabender wurden. Mit anderen Worten, Städte, die bereits gewonnen haben. Anreize „könnten in einem Bozeman funktionieren“[, Montana]“, sagte mir Florida. „Du könntest das vielleicht in einer Traverse City machen[, Michigan]; a Hudson, New York – all die Orte, an denen, wenn man sich die Volkszählungsdaten ansieht, eine Migration stattgefunden hat. Aber es ist immer noch eine kleine Untergruppe von Orten.“

Dass Bewegungsanreize so laue Ergebnisse gezeitigt haben, verheißt nicht gerade etwas Gutes für die Vorstellung, dass Remote-Arbeit den Wohnort der Amerikaner grundlegend verändern wird. Sicher, einige Outdoor-Typen ziehen vielleicht in angesagte Bergstädte. Kostenbewusste Leute könnten in billigere, aber immer noch coole Städte im Landesinneren aufbrechen. Aber bei allem Gerede über die verschwommene Zukunft der Großstädte scheint die Remote-Arbeit nicht viel daran zu ändern, wie sich diese Orte vom Rest des Landes entfernt haben.

Diese harte Realität wird den Boom der beweglichen Anreize wahrscheinlich nicht stoppen. Aber Bargeld und Spielereien sind kein Ausweg aus dem Teufelskreis, in dem sich kämpfende Gemeinden befinden. Stadtprofis ziehen an Orte, um hochwertige Möglichkeiten und Annehmlichkeiten zu erhalten. Und die meisten kleinen Städte werden Schwierigkeiten haben, diese Dinge zu generieren, bis sie genügend Fachkräfte haben. Letztendlich sind die einzigen wirklichen Gewinner von Moving Incentives die buchstäblichen Gewinner: die Empfänger. Das Stipendium von 10.000 Dollar war großartig für Jill Urbanski. Aber war es eine gute Investition für Berrien County? Urbanski hatte bereits versucht, Chicago zu verlassen, und liebte die Grafschaft, weil er dort Urlaub machte. Ich fragte sie direkt, ob sie auch ohne all das Geld umgezogen wäre. Sie zögerte nicht: „Ja.“

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