Bizzare Coincidence Or Analysis Technique? Long-- Sorry
So as it turns out I am doing a fair bit of traveling these days looking at transactions, some near some far from my home. This means that I am often in search of an internet computer that I can use for some period of time to check, e-mails, update TCI, etc.
Especially in small towns the most common free internet computer is at the town library. But library policies on the use of the computer vary widely from, " there it is, help yourself" to "the internet computer is only available if you have a library card and the library card is only available with 3 forms of ID showing a local address" and a whole host of policies in between.
Now I see lots of towns where the local real estate market (at least for commercial) seems pretty bad. Lots of vacancies, under utilized properties, etc. And I see a pretty fair number where the commercial market is good. High occupancy, good rents, etc.
Obviously I'd rather buy in the later and avoid the former.
Now here's the bizzare coincidence. In each and every "good" market when I go to the local library to try to use the computer they are pleasant and have a very liberal access policy. In every market where the library has some daconian registration proceedure for the simple use of an internet connection for an hour or so the economy/market is also pretty sucky.
Oddly enough this seems to be the case across the board. Why should there be a direct correlation between these two phenomina? Should I just sit in my living room calling Libraries and asking about their internet access policy and planning a scouting trip?
That doesn't sound too mysterious to me. The towns with the better real estate markets are the ones where the economy is doing better, so they have more tax dollars available, and the libraries can be more generous with computers and internet access time. And conversely in the bad markets.
Also, is it possible that in those towns where the economy is bad, there is more demand for internet access at the library, because fewer families have computers and/or internet access at home? That would lead to more restrictive policies on the part of the library, to try to ration what they have. But that's just a guess. I think my first reason is the main one.
CT
I would go so far to wager that it is more about the fact that friendly towns prosper and unfriendly towns do not. I have spent my fair shair in unfriendly towns and they always seem to be ecomomically (and other ways too), depressed.
Yeah Woodsong, I guess that is sorta my question, which comes first being unfriendly or being economically depressed? Or, as that great philospher P.J. O'Rourke expressed it, "How come some places just suck?"
A lot of what I do is look for obsolete/underutilized buildings and try to figure out odd/new/unusual uses for them. As a result I see a lot of "marginal" locations. I've made decent money in neighborhoods that other people called the ghetto and wouldn't go into after dark. But even an urban ghetto seems to me to have more potential than some of these small towns I go to that are just blighted. But I don't understand why they are blighted. Last spring I looked at two projects in two towns on opposite sides of the same mountain in Georgia. One town was thriving and prosperous (although it had a vacant factory building near the center of the town) the other was like a plague.
But both of those towns would seem to have the same basic economic structure. Both are located next to recreational areas. But one has managed to capitalize on that location and become a "vacation home" location and the other has not. Unfortunately I didn't visit the library in both towns so I don't have confirmation of my library theory.
As far as whether this is as simple as the library being funded better. I don't think that's it because sometimes the library appears to be very well funded (new building, new computers), but is still run by internet Nazi's. Yet the other night I was in a small town in Wisconsin which happens to be posting the fastest rate of growth of any town in the state. The library was one room in back of the police station. But when I walked up to the reference desk to ask about the computer the librarian said, "Well the ladies book group is having their meeting/discussion back there and the noise might disturb you. Here, I've got another computer in my private office, why don't you sit here and use mine?" (friendly library-- booming market)
I said that the book group wouldn't disturb me and I could use the computer back there (cause I didn't want to run her off from her desk). I noticed that the keyboard was really sticky (space bar hardly worked at all) and mentioned it on the way out. "Yes," said the librarian," we know but we don't have any money to buy a new keyboard with."
So here we have the underfunded library in the booming economy but sure enough, the friendliest librarian I've met in years. That was actually the episode that prompted me to start this thread.
The other theory I've come up with since starting this post is that better educated areas tend to boom more. Better, more open libraries, either cause are are the effect of a better educated population so they tend to be economic indicators in that way. Fear of outsiders tends to repress the economy?
Are you just pointing out this observation or are you asking us for ways to access the internet while you are on the road?
All advice, comments, witty remarks and useless trivia accepted.
Quote:
On 2004-08-26 17:51, myfrogger wrote:
Are you just pointing out this observation or are you asking us for ways to access the internet while you are on the road?
Myfrogger, with all due respect....Don't you think if that is the case that commking ought to just call up Al Gore??? HAhahaha