I think there are definitely issues with the major and minor river cities…Pittsburgh, Detroit, Wheeling, Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans. Since they are older, have they simply been undergoing suburban flight for longer than other places? Were their advantages limited to legacy transportation infrastructure (such as river junctions, river crossings, rail lines), proximity to natural resources or agricultural regions? Did their wealthy citizens not invest in new ventures after a certain point?

Boofer, I previously posted what I called my “Urbanophile Conjecture”, which is “If you want to be a successful Midwest city, it helps to be a state capital with a metro area of more than 500,000 people”. This explains every city except Kansas City. See:

http://theurbanophile.blogspot.com/2008/06/urbanophile-conjecture.html

Other possible things to consider:

1. River cities that were big in the 19th century seem to have not been able to turn it on. KC was on the Missouri River, but was it really a river town like Cincy or St. Louis?

2. If you look at the boomtowns – Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, Denver, etc. – they seem to be mostly “interior” cities, which again favors the geography of not being along coasts or rivers.

The latter two items are merely food for thought and areas for exploration.

Speaking of Cincinnati, I thought the airport article reflected common sense. Those of us who follow such things have known about CVG’s extremely uncompetitive local fares for a very long time. And as the old adage goes, “the best cure for high prices is high prices.” Cincy-area flyers driving to LEX, SDF, DAY, CMH, and IND is no new phenomenon. While the airport officials still believe that having a hub is a great thing, I would argue that the downside is presenting itself rather boldly now. The DL hub is shrinking, the airport is shrinking, but thus far the fares are not – and people are still leaving the Cincy area to find affordable airfares. Indianapolis and Louisville are two great examples of airports that never became a major fortress hub (not necessarily for lack of trying) and serve their areas quite well. Those airports are now probably in a better position to serve as economic-development engines of their respective metros. But the irony is this: Cincy-area officials use the Delta hub and its nonstop flights to everywhere as a tool to lure businesses so their employees can LEAVE the area conveniently; Indy and Louisville officials use their inexpensive fares to lure conventions and tourism to the area so people will COME to their towns conveniently. What is the better strategy after all?

Finally, I also enjoyed the article about Milwaukee printing its own money. There was an article in Time recently that discussed the growing number of local “alternative” currencies around the world. But if you think about it, we all probably use some kind of alternative currency already. Airline miles, credit card reward points, hotel points, Subway stamps and other restaurant punch-cards, loyalty programs of all kinds, even grocery coupons – these are all alternative currencies. They have differing degrees of liquidity and transferability, but ultimately they function just like any government-issued currency, as a proxy for the exchange of value. Wouldn’t it be interesting if Indianapolis or another large metro area had a major effort to promote patronage at local businesses by establishing a local currency? It could be overseen by a savvy entrepreneur who would establish a bank for the “IndyDollars,” allowing registered local firms to exchange IndyDollars for U.S. currency at a prevailing exchange rate. A large-scale program of local-only currency would certainly be a source of recognition for the area, but could also be a solid source of support for local merchants.

Perhaps Philadelphia made the list because it plays nice with the original building, the setting, and the neighbors.

I still need to be convinced that local currency makes sense but well the River Currency idea is definitely interesting.

Great work. I always look forward to reading your blog.

joe shoemaker