Bit By Bit, Cities Are Losing Us

First, all love and prayers to Brooklyn and New York today, and may the injured heal in all the ways they will need to.

And I say this with no malice, but the subway attack has made me think again about something we’re seeing all around us, including in San Antonio and Austin.

City life is a choice for some, but has long been an obligation for others. If you wanted a certain career, or to work for a certain outfit, you had to go to their town.

You probably had to make housing, schooling and other choices around the choice of that job.

You had to live with however imperfect, expensive, aggravating or scary it was.

Then the pandemic exploded “remote work”, which was already being chatted up by futurists.

Now, for more people every day, you can keep the job and ditch the city.

No longer being able to command your presence, a role they’re used to, cities and their governments will have to get serious about things they’ve allowed to fester, or they will shrink and lose relevance.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens.

I’ll always love New York though!