Tangent: In decades of socializing in NYC and the Bay Area, I've only ever seen the term 'flyover country' used by people complaining that the coastal elites look down on them. Never once heard the term from an actual coastal elite.
And I live in “flyover country” and hear it plenty and it is a fact of life and business here.
Look, when corporations like Amazon look for a new HQ they head to places like NYC. They say it’s because of the larger labor pools there. And it’s even valid to an extent - Arizona keeps getting semi fabs because they already have semi fabs and labor. The opposite would be looking for some location with the characteristics to grow over time into the location a company wants and making the expanse a long term project. Population characteristics absolutely can change on the scale of decades.
Edit-Just to put a point on this. “Flyover country” is undeveloped country. It’s cheaper to develop. If you want to build a huge fab in the middle of nowhere it’s going to cost little more than the costs of supplies and labor. And there’s always a way to get labor if the price is right. Do it in NYC or SF and you’re competing with all the other current/future uses of that land and it’s going to be expensive. Probably going to face zoning restrictions.
What I’m saying is if SV had a history of developing economy outside of the coasts there might be less salt. Denver’s kind of a good case in point. It’s seen a huge tech influx. There’s probably less salt towards tech/SV there than elsewhere. And if not, the reasons may be informative for anyone looking to better the image of SV. But living there is also sky high-and maybe it’s time to look for ways to move on to cheaper pastures.
