PA's future - Brooking Institute

[Griff]

Originally posted by tw
... which explains the largest growth in PA is Pike and Wayne counties. Essentially NYC suburbs. To live a life of luxery in the country, they commute four hours a day into NYC. Twice every day across NJ. OK, they are not home long enough to enjoy the country. But they have it anyway.

Its not a life I would lead but their decision to live and commute does create different kinds of opportunities for full-time country folks. Commuters don't have time to maintain their country places so hillbillies do the work. Guys can do the quality construction work they want to and get paid at a good rate. Some of the grander buildings from earlier (mostly railroad) booms get saved. Organic farmers get a market. The economic distortion in land prices while annoying isn't too bad since the daily commuter can't live too far off the black top and lets face it the Dept of Agriculture doesn't want any serious farming to go on around here anyway.

Wayne county is called little Jersey and there is a cultural rift since transplanted urbanites don't always consider the history and traditions of the locales they move into but sometimes those traditions are sufficiently stupid that they need tweaking. The bottom line is if people felt they could make free decisions about housing etc... they'd stay closer to the cities. Of course, when they come out here and build their new McMansion next to a dairy they better not start talking zoning.