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Downtown Concerns

As with any location, however, there are concerns that business must consider before moving downtown. For instance, the labor in inner cities may be the last bastion of available labor, there is concern about the quality. Miksch, however, suggests that more often than not, cities and states provide good work-force training programs, and for inner cities in particular, there are usually several outreach programs to help train the labor pool when needed.

Transportation for workers can also be a problem, as well as zoning and land costs. But as more tax money comes back into the city, more capital can be invested into these trouble areas. And, Miksch adds, cities are devising creative solutions to issues like transportation and parking. Many cities, for example, are making better use of the backside of buildings for parking and using shuttle programs and trolley-car type transportation. With cities expressing this sort of aggressiveness and creativeness, the positives of locating in downtown settings may finally outweigh the negatives.