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Cities
<br />Where
<br />Business
<br /> IsBest
<br />
<br />New Jobs, busy stores,
<br />building sprees--all
<br />point to the broadening
<br />impact of a long
<br />economic comeback.
<br />
<br /> America's urban areas still hum from
<br /> an economic expansion that began 29
<br /> months ago and, at the local level,
<br /> sbows few signs of ebbing.
<br /> Jobs keep opening uF~:at a rapid
<br /> pace in Atlanta, Minneapolis-St. Paul
<br /> and Phoenix. Unemployment rates are
<br /> falling. People remain in a buying
<br /> mood. Construction work, particularly
<br /> along the East Coast, is humming. Eeo-
<br /> nomie pockmarks of the 1981-82 reces-
<br /> sion, still plainly evident only a year
<br /> ago in such eries as Pittsburgh, Hous-
<br /> ton and Birmingham, are fading.
<br /> It is welcome news to Americans
<br /> bombarded by reports of a "maturing"
<br /> expansion, of a tidal wave of imports, of
<br /> federal budget deficits that could drive
<br /> up interest rates and of agricultural
<br /> woes that squeeze both farmers and
<br /> small-town bankers.
<br /> However worrisome those develop-
<br /> ments might be, their impact on most
<br /> urban economies has been slight, or
<br /> balanced by gains in healthy industries.
<br /> Here's hog' regional bureaus of
<br /> U.S. News& World Report size up the
<br /> economies of major metropolitan areas:
<br />
<br /> East: On a Fast Track
<br /> New York City's broad-based ec~no-
<br /> my continues to bloom in what Thomas
<br /> Spitznas of Chemieal Bank ealls
<br /> good year, not a great year." Strong
<br /> sectors are construction, retailing, ser-
<br /> vices and government.
<br /> Manufacturing activity remains fiat,
<br /> victim of ii strong dollar that puts U.S.
<br /> goods at a competitive disadvantage.
<br /> Yet imports swell business along New
<br /> York-area docks, where the tonnage of
<br /> imported goods rose 30 percent last
<br /> year, and gll along the distribution
<br /> chain. "The strength of the dollar is
<br /> causing prices of goods we sell to come
<br /> down, and I think this is stimulating
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<br />
<br />Downtown Minneapolis. Twin Cltlae are anow-belt at, wrglgxffm.
<br />
<br />b~ying," says Jack Goldberg, manager of
<br />a Bronx wholesaler of electronic goods.
<br /> There's no jo)' on Wall Street. Broker-
<br />age houses continue to tighten belts as a
<br />lackluster stock market hinders reve-
<br />nues. "Unless volume picks up," says
<br />Michael Lipper of Lipper Analytical
<br />Services, "we might see more layoffs."
<br /> Philadelphia continues its shift from a
<br /> factory to a service economy. Last year
<br /> was the first since 1978 to see a rise in
<br /> employment in the eity--a net gain of 4
<br /> percent. Office construction thrives. A
<br /> 60-story tower on Market Street will be
<br /> the first to eclipse the statue of William
<br /> Penn, standing at 548 feet atop City
<br /> Hail. Still, the city's unemployment rate
<br /> is 11.1 percent.
<br /> President Reagan may vow to cut
<br /> federal job's, but you wouldn't know it
<br /> to see the Washington, D.C., area. The
<br /> region's jobless rate, at 4 percent, is
<br /> one of the nation's lowest. Washington
<br /> and its suburbs added 57,000 jobs last
<br /> year, on top of 43,000t in 1983. Five big
<br /> retail chains plan to invade the area.
<br /> Charlotte, N.C., is on a roll as well.
<br /> The first three months of 1985 saw the
<br /> creation of 2,400 jobs. Royal Insurance
<br /> has broken ground for offices that will
<br /> mean 1,200 more jobs. International
<br /> Business Machines is finishing a plant
<br /> for making printers. Home building, at
<br /> an all-time high in 1984, keeps purring.
<br /> But Atlanta remains the hottest city
<br /> in the South. Coming offa year of tor-
<br /> rid growth-area employment rose by
<br /> 98,700 in 1984--Atlanta seems poised
<br /> for a repeat performance. Says Wayne
<br /> Gantt of Trust Company of Georgia:
<br /> "It's still booming--that's the only way
<br /> to describe it." Retailers, manufactur-
<br /> ers, builders, service firms--all are
<br /> prospering.
<br /> For those seeking jobs, Atlanta may
<br /> be to the mid-1980s what Houston was
<br />
<br />to the late 1970s. Elbert Grah~--v. 25,
<br />found g'ork at an Atlanta hotel four
<br />days after arriving from Oklz::.vma
<br />Says Graham: "If a person re~: tries
<br />hard enough, he'll find the ~pe of
<br />work he's looking for here."
<br />
<br />Central: New Vigor, Old Woes
<br /> Even though depressed farm prices
<br /> take a toll on small eommunitie,_ most
<br /> urban areas fare considerably better.
<br /> Chicago's employment is up ~ the
<br /> first time in three years. St. Louis is
<br /> gaining jobs. So is Kansas City.
<br /> It was a rough decade for _C~wago,
<br /> losing 400,000 jobs as its subur~ ga.ined
<br /> 600,000. But that ma)' be ehangu%- The
<br /> city added 103 new factories m
<br /> the first increase since 1969. Ret~ sales
<br /> rose 12 percent. "We're seei~f~ nog'
<br /> another regeneration of the ci~.' says
<br /> Peter Beltemacehi, an urbanologist at
<br /> Illinois Institute of Teehnolo~. But
<br /> Chicago business leaders complain that
<br /> bitter infighting among Chieatez- politi-
<br /> cians puts a brake on growth.
<br /> Everything looks up-to-
<br /> sas City. Downtown
<br /> are sprouting, and f'flling
<br /> Reid Teaney of Coldwell
<br /> Kansas City is attractive t¢
<br /> "The market is relativeb
<br /> cost of construction is the
<br /> other parts of the eount~~
<br /> land." Still, as the financi.'
<br /> bution center of
<br /> gross4ng region, Kansas Cil
<br /> hie to troubles on the farmI
<br /> The face of St. Louis is
<br /> well. Opening in July are
<br /> shopping mall, called St.
<br /> and the Union Station co~','
<br /> former railroad terminal--~
<br /> tural landmark or a civic
<br /> pending on who is asked~
<br /> hotel, shops, restaurants
<br />
<br />U.S.NEWS & WORLD
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