One of my wife’s favorite movies is the 1944 romantic musical comedy “Meet Me in St. Louis” starring Judy Garland. It is about the travails and joys of four daughters of businessman Alonzo Smith in the year leading up to the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis.
Garland debuts such classics as “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “The Trolley Song” and “The Boy Next Door.” The movie was MGM’s most successful musical of the wartime era. There was such innocence and optimism about the time period that even the typical youthful trials of love and acceptance could be endured with the sense that all is going to be well in the future.
There is one scene on the trolley where two men are deeply engaged in how wonderful St. Louis is. One propounds solemnly, “St. Louis must be the greatest city in the country!”
In the early days of the 20th century, St. Louis certainly seemed to have the advantage as the “Gateway to the West” given all the growth forthcoming on the West Coast.
If there was a remake of this movie today, which city would producers select to make it about? Which city or state projects such an optimistic outlook for the future that everyone would agree it was the greatest place in America today? Would it be St. Louis? Detroit? Minneapolis? Portland, Oregon? Seattle? New York City? Any city in California?
After watching news of the mayhem that has come out of each of those cities the past six years, which venue jumps to mind as being the perfect setting for a joyful musical millions of people would pay to watch or, more importantly, want to visit or relocate their family or business?
Would North Carolina’s two major metropolitan areas, Charlotte/Mecklenburg and Raleigh/Wake County be on the list? If not, why? What needs to be done to make both tied for the top slot in America’s greatest areas to live and work today?
Cities and counties of all sizes have to explain to new prospective companies and residents why they are not going to be the next St. Louis or Detroit before a decision is made on a new investment. Why would a company invest billions of dollars in a new investment in any city or state if they were not 100% assured their investment would be protected by law enforcement? Or that they were not going to be taxed or regulated to death so their enterprise could be profitable and sustainable for the long term?
Businesses don’t exist merely to provide jobs for people in any new geographical area, simply to be altruistic about it, contrary to what many on the progressive left want to believe and want to direct and dictate. As long as businesses are convinced a new city and site will be profitable to them and their shareholders, they will invest millions of dollars in a business and then generate millions of dollars of tax revenue to the city and state over the years by bringing or generating thousands of new jobs — a much-desired byproduct. Once a community or state and their elected leaders forget this basic happy equation of economics and business success, they will follow the sad examples of other major cities that have tumbled and never fully recovered.
St. Louis and Detroit are the only U.S. cities in American history to have reached more than or close to 1 million in population only to retreat back down to close to half that number over a very few short decades.
Besides major fluctuations in market demand for products or services provided by a city such as St. Louis or Detroit, there are other major reasons why such cities often find themselves unable to prevent such steep drop-offs in population or ever fully recover the vibrant economy they previously enjoyed.
Most of them come from decisions made by local mayors, members of town councils and county commissions that help determine if their city is going to be the greatest city in the nation or not.
If they make the right decisions, the businesses and the families who work there will flourish and stay, and others will want to move there to join them. If they don’t make the right decisions and work with business leaders to solve the problems far ahead of time, every large city and smaller local municipality will face the same question of whether anyone will want to meet in their city or simply just put them in the same category of St. Louis or Detroit today.
