BUSINESS RELOCATION

* One of the most important factors influencing a business location decision is quality of life. Recreational opportunities are an important part of the quality of life that firms and workers seek

McAliney, Mike (ed.) December 1993. Arguments for Land Conservation: Documentation and Information Sources for Land Resources Protection, Trust for Public Land, Sacramento, California.

The San Antonio Riverwalk is often used as an example of the high quality of life and livability of San Antonio, Texas. Site location teams for prospective relocating businesses generally visit the Riverwalk itself. The Riverwalk provides a retreat for employees during the lunch and offers a valuable greenspace in the central business district. (Robert Peche, Vice President, San Antonio Economic Development Foundation, 1990.)

Smith, Van. Summer 1991. "Protecting Rivers, Trails, and Greenways Reap Economic Returns." Exchange.

Corporations rate quality of life highly when looking for a place to locate their operations. The Joint Economic Committee of Congress found that businesses are attracted more by a city's quality of life than purely by business-related factors.

Love, Lisa L., Crompton, John L., and More, Thomas A. July 1994. "Characteristics of Companies that Considered Recreation, Parks, and Open Space to be important in (Re)location Decisions." submitted for publication to Journal of Park and Recreation Administration.

"The term 'quality of life' has been used to embrace many facets of life, but when it is operationally defined it almost always incorporates recreation, parks and open space opportunities."

A Colorado study was conducted to determine what types of companies based location decisions on quality of life factors, specifically parks, recreation and open space opportunities.

Within the quality of life category, "the predominant concern of larger companies was with the bottom-line costs of locating in an area, (while) decision-makers in smaller companies ranked recreation/park/open spaces as their highest priority."

City of Fresno Little Hoover Commission. March 1992. "Report of the City of Fresno Little Hoover Commission to the Fresno City Council: Land Acquisition and Recreational Facilities."

"In competing for professional firms and skilled light industry employers which provide a higher tax revenue per capita than the demand they generate for the new employees, Fresno should reposition itself to provide an attractive, high quality parks and recreation program for the families and children within its municipal jurisdiction. While parks and amenities may not be the 'determinative' factorof these high tax revenue generating employers to select a new headquarter site, they are reportedly one of the four or five most important eliminating factors."

McCaul, John. 1990. "Living in Los Angeles County- The Role of Recreational Opportunities in Assuring the 'Quality of Life' and Long-term Economic Health of the County."

"Businesses trying to relocate their employees or expand operations into Southern California frequently encounter the 'Northern California syndrome'- people in the Bay area 'tend to think the lifestyle is better.' Executivescite numerous examples of the difficulty of enticing Bay Area residents to move to Los Angeles. Real estate and cost-of-living concerns dominate but smog, overcrowding, and a lower quality 'lifestyle' are also voiced as major concerns."

"The statewide per capita average for parkland is 21.3 acres per 1000 people. This figure is significantly higher than the 16.21/1000 figure of LA County."

"Bay Area counties have a much higher ratio of parkland per capita than LA County (ranging from 31.57/1000 for San Mateo County to 103.36/1000 for Marin County).

"Comparison of LA County to other highly urbanized, densely populated counties (such as San Francisco - with 46.69/ 1000 and Alameda County -with 21.22/ 1000) reveal how far we have fallen behind the Bay area in providing recreational opportunities for visitors and County residents."

Palmer, Jr. Thomas C. April 9, 1995. "Menino Unveils Ecology Agenda: Pledges Action on 48 Projects," Boston Globe.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino's plan includes:

"a $250,000 expenditure of city funds for open space;

"an Audubon nature preserve at Boston State Hospital in Mattapan;

"the Boston Greenspace Alliance's schoolyards initiative, which would strip away concrete and bring grass and trees back to city campuses."

"Balanced development, both economic and environmental, will continue to put Boston at competitive advantage as a place to live and work,' said the report produced by (Cathleen Douglas) Stone, who oversees four departments and initiatives in other agencies."

Poole, William. 1993. "The Case for Urban Open Space." Draft report prepared for Trust for Public Land, San Francisco, California.

Public parks and recreational facilities contribute to the economic health of cities by helping to create stable, attractive neighborhoods where people want to live. Such communities attract taxpaying business in search of a high-quality environment for their employees. To the degree that plazas, parks, and open spaces contribute to a communities character-- to what makes it special and worthy of a visit-- they also help generate tourist dollars for city coffers."

Stein, Charles. April 11, 1995. "Quality of Life, Low Costs Boost State's Economy." Boston Globe.

"Quality of life is harder to measure than costs. One person's rural paradise is another's cultural backwater. But business people frequently cite New Hampshire's low crime rate, lack of traffic and wide-open spaces.

If you ask Douglas Pinciaro why his firm is in New Hampshire, his answer pretty much boils down to quality of life. 'I always wanted to have a high-tech business in a low-tech setting,' said Pinciaro.' They like the setting. And it gets them out of the traffic jams.'"

Harrison, Roger. Spring 1995. "Rivers are Magnets for Tourism." River Voices. River Network.

"River stewardship will enhance West Virginia's reputation as a place of superlative beauty and community where people want to live and work. Healthy rivers attract healthy businesses. Corporate executives increasingly cite 'quality of life' (including scenic beauty and recreational opportunity) as a major factor in corporate relocation decisions."

Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program. 1995. Economic Impacts of Protecting Rivers, Trails, and Greenway Corridors., Department of the Interior. National Park Service, Western Region, San Francisco, California.

"A survey of 71 economists rated factors for Arizona's attractiveness as a place to live, work, vacation, retire, and locate future plants and corporate headquarters. The strongest factors contributing to Arizona's positive image were climate, job opportunities, and open space including abundant outdoor recreation opportunities. Seventy firms relocated or expanded their businesses in Arizona, creating 27,800 jobs and $970 million in indirect salaries and wages. Chief executive officers of these firms said they chose Arizona for its 'outdoor lifestyle and recreation opportunities' (Valley National Bank, 1980)."

"The American River Bike Trail in Sacramento, California is included as an important outdoor recreation amenity in the Chamber of Commerce's publication All About Business in Sacramento. It is described as a 30 mile oasis in the heart of the city. The President of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Roy Brewer, considers the trail to be evidence of the high quality of life in Sacramento 'At many locations along the bicycle trail you can wade into the river, cast a line, and not see a single sign of civilization. The river trails provide abundant salmon fishing and natural areas for hiking, horseback riding, or biking - a chance to get away from it all without having to leave the city.'(Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, 1990)."

Myers, Phyllis. March 1997. E-mail correspondence to Ernest Cook regarding Fortune magazine's annual best cities for business ranking - "Best Cities: where the Living is Easy," November 1996.

The following are excerpts from a planned article regarding Fortune's 1996 ranking of best cities for business to be included in the Spring 1997 issue of GreenSense.

" 'I'm sitting here looking out my window at the mountains. We can leave at four to go hiking and biking,' Ed Szydlowski, a First Vice President at Merrill Lynch in Denver told Fortune Magazine and business research consultant Arthur Andersen. Szydlowski's comment typified the many key executives who said that access to nature and recreation was a leading reason why they chose to live where they did."

" 'Emphasizing quality of life issues was a conscious decision on our part. Opportunities for having a well-rounded lifestyle come up increasingly in our talks with CEO's and recruiters,' explains Fortune's Anne Faircloth, co-author of the article. 'They recognize that people have lives outside the workplace.' 'Businesses need to be somewhere,' Dan Malachuk, Andersen's Worldwide Director of Business Location Services, comments. 'Senior executives have a choice, and quality of life matters increasingly in attracting and retaining top managers.'

'If you had virtually identical career opportunities in multiple cities, what would be the most important quality-of-life factors that would determine your choice,' the survey asked. Education, not surprisingly, turned up as the most important make-or-break consideration among the executives surveyed, many of whom are married and raising children. Not far behind, however, are recreation, culture, and crime and safety, with almost half of the respondents mentioning in open-ended write-in answers.'"

See also original Fortune article and Arthur Anderson study:

Faircloth, Anne and Dan Malachuk. November 1996. "Best Cities: Where the Living is Easy." Fortune Magazine.

Malachuk, Dan. 1996. "Business Location and Quality of Living - The Best Cities for Work and Family." Business Location Services Special Report, Arthur Andersen.

Page last updated 04/03/2000