Aleksander Kalashnik CIC Leadership Institute Spring 2007 March 30, 2007

Research Paper: Quality of Life in Binghamton

Introduction: In this paper I will review contemporary literature on the quality of life, analyze how well the quality of the Greater Binghamton area fits what the college-educated creative classes are looking for, and detail general ways in which this area can improve its standing in order to attract the young and the talented to the area. PART I: Review of Literature Before describing what the creative class is looking for in a modern city, it is necessary to define the term. The creative class is a group of people that social scientist Dr. Richard Florida, a Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University, believes are the key driving force for economic development in post-industrial cities. These are people who engage in creative problem solving, drawing on wide-ranging bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Being a member of the creative class generally requires a high degree of formal education. (1) The Creative Class is represented in two broad sections: Creative Professionals: Knowledge workers in the high-tech sector, financial services industry and the legal and health professions.

2 Super-Creative Core: This comprises about twelve percent of all U.S. jobs. This group includes scientists and engineers, university professors, writers, artists, entertainers, actors, designers and architects. This group also includes the thought leaders of modern society, including non-fiction writers, editors, cultural figures, think-tank researchers, analysts and opinion-makers. (1) In his book Cities and the Creative Class (1) Richard Florida lists the following factors that were mentioned by the surveyed members of the creative class as important amenities in the quality of life of any particular locality (p. 84): Large numbers of visibly active young people. Easy access to a wide range of outdoor activities. A vibrant music and performance scene with a wide range of live-music opportunities. A wide range of night-life experiences, including many options without alcohol. A clean, healthy environment and commitment to preserving natural resources for enjoyment and recreation. A lifestyle that is youth friendly and supportive of diversity.

Florida points to the fact that quality of life in any particular city is an important factor for the attraction of the members of the creative class to a particular community. And although salary and benefits are important, they are no longer the driving force for the rising class of tomorrow. Lifestyle factors are increasingly seen as crucial factors in accommodating the high-stress and high-time-commitment jobs of the creatives. However, the particular measures used to measure the quality of life are a matter of debate in the social scientific community. There are different sets of measures that are used, such as social indicators like the areas health level or crime rates, measures of

3 subjective well-being where people evaluate reactions to their own life, and various economic indices. Ed Diener and Eunkook Suh, in their article Measuring Quality of Life: Economic, Social, and Subjective Indicators, (2) show that these alternative indicators come from three different philosophical approaches: normative ideals, subjective experience and the ability to select the goods and services that one desires. Their review of the strengths and weaknesses of each approach points out that each approach is necessary because each measure of quality of life contains information that are not contained in other measures. Each measure is also dependent on the other. For example, affordability of life in a particular community is likely to make its members feel more satisfied with their life as they are able to do more with the money they make. Affordability of living in a particular area is a key component of quality of life, and probably the most important. Affordability is created either through lower prices or through higher wages. Enrico Moretti, in Estimating the Social Return to Higher Education, (3) has shown that an increase in the number of college graduates in a particular area increases the average wages earned in the area. A percentage point increase in the supply of college graduates raises high school drop-outs' wages by 1.9%, high school graduates' wages by 1.6%, and college graduates wages by 0.4%. Binghamton in particular, has an advantage in this area, as it is the most affordable real estate market in the state and thus an excellent place for college graduates to settle and perhaps purchase their first home. And the same time their choice to settle here would help to increase the areas wage levels. However, even though Greater Binghamton is a highly affordable area and presumably has a fairly high quality of life, its young and college-educated population

4 has been decreasing over the recent years. In this case, Binghamton has been a victim of a state-wide and even nationwide phenomenon. As Dora L. Costa and Matthew E. Kahn point out in Power Couples: Changes in the Locational Choice of the College Educated, (4) college educated couples, which is the group with high social capital in their most productive years, are increasingly choosing to locate in large metropolitan areas. One of the major reasons for this reality is the dual-earner phenomenon and the fact that it is challenging for educated couples to find suitable jobs in smaller cities, especially if those cities and towns are located in the Rust Belt or otherwise economically depressed areas. Binghamton may not be able to fight this reality. However, Binghamton can focus on capitalizing on its indigenous advantages to further increase its quality of life and thus attract a greater number of the members of the creative class. (5) By increasing its focus on the provision of amenities, Greater Binghamton will also likely grow economically. (6)

PART II: Application of Theory to Greater Binghamton So, how does Greater Binghamton rate on all of the factors mentioned by Richard Florida in Cities and the Creative Class? While there are many positive attributes to this city, this area has weaknesses in some qualities that the members of the creative class seek in choosing where to live and work. At this point, Binghamtons quality of life is fairly high, especially because of the depressed real estate prices, the city is at a crossroads as to how to move forwards and find ways to capitalize on what it has and improve it.

5 The first factor in Floridas survey is the presence of large numbers of visibly active young people. However, the Greater Binghamton area has lost a large share of its young people, who have moved to other areas. It has become very common to meet people in this area whose families have lived here for generations, but whose children have moved away to bigger cities, to the South or other economically vibrant areas in the United States. The economically depressed conditions in Binghamton, as well as a lack of amenities that attract young people and especially the members of the creative class have served to limit the number of visibly active young people living and working in the area. The second factor is the easy access to a wide range of outdoor activities. This is one of the factors that the Greater Binghamton area rates fairly well on. Thanks to the relatively small size of this area, a range of outdoor activities area available within a short driving distance. Broome and Tioga counties are abundant in parks and outdoor public recreation areas. The closest ski resort location at Greek Peek is available within a 40minute driving distance from Binghamton, and there are a number of other skiing locations within somewhat longer distances. There are over 20 accessible and affordable golf courses in this area, in spite of the fact that the weather in Greater Binghamton doesnt permit their use for the larger part of the year. Then there are the famous Endicott-Johnson-instituted Carousels that are available for free in perpetuity, earning Binghamton its self-proclaimed name of the Carousel Capital of the World. (A claim that has so far not been disputed by any other locality.) The Greater Binghamton community has also successfully established the Spiedie Fest festival, dedicated to the local food specialty. The festival brings big name musicians to the area, features a balloon rally, and allows many local organizations to get exposure and increase

6 awareness of their mission and services through their presence at the festival. The Spiedie Fest has been such a success that according to the local media reports, it consistently brings more people to the area than the actual number of people living in the city of Binghamton. In fact, this event has achieved such a high regional status that the American Bus Association selected Spiedie Fest 2006 as one of their Top 100 Events in North America. (7) Binghamton Ross Park Zoo was opened in 1875 and is the fifth oldest zoo in U.S. (7) Given the areas size, the availability of outdoor activities, especially in the summer, is satisfactory. Of course, the fact that most of these activities are available mostly in the summer prevents many out-of-town college students from experiencing all that the local area has to offer. There is also a number of outdoor sporting events, perhaps the most well-known being the Binghamton Mets, the Eastern League affiliate of the New York Mets. There is also the B.C. Jets, a semi-professional football team, which is a member of the Empire Football League. B.C. Open PGA Golf Tournament is Greater Binghamtons stop on the PGA tour, whose past players have included Tiger Woods, John Daly, Fred Couples, Tom Kite, Lee Trevino and Arnold Palmer. Another well-publicized event is the annual Chris Thater Memorial Races, which brings together world class cyclists, runners and inline skaters to race on the streets of Greater Binghamton. And a large sporting event available on campus is the Empire States Games, an Olympic-style event, which draws sports teams from around the state to Binghamton University and has been a highly successful endeavor of the university. The third factor from Cities and the Creative Class is the presence of a vibrant music and performance scene with a wide range of live-music opportunities.

7 Unfortunately Greater Binghamton is somewhat lacking in this area. Although there have been numerous efforts to increase the availability of live music in the area, this is still a weak area. Some local cafes offer live music, such as the Cyber Caf and the Lost Dog Caf. The recently established Magic City Music Hall also brings a number of live acts to the area every year. But the live music scene in Greater Binghamton cant be called vibrant. And although the availability has improved in recent years, Binghamton still has a ways to go until reaching vibrancy in availability of live music. Binghamton Universitys own undergraduate Student Association has also tried to add to the availability of live music in the area by bringing live acts to the campus. However, when these acts take place on campus, they dont serve to connect the students to the local area, although they do bring community members to the campus itself for their large events, thus offering a useful service to the community. The Binghamton Philharmonic also serves to fill the need for availability of live music by offering a blend of pop and classical music in the local area. Binghamton Summer Music Festival features pop, jazz, classical and dance artists at Binghamton Universitys indoor-outdoor Anderson Center for the Arts. However, even the venues that are available in Binghamton are not very well publicized and therefore are not generally known by the students, a number of whom would probably take an opportunity to attend some of the them had they been made aware of it. The second part of the third factor, Binghamtons performance scene actually performs much better under scrutiny. Binghamton is the home of the Tri-Cities Opera, a regional opera company that was founded in 1949 and has an international reputation for its resident artist training program. Binghamton is also home to the Cider Mill Playhouse,

8 a respected regional company presenting popular theater for over 25 seasons, Broadway Theater League, a nationally touring company offering Broadway shows, and the areas newest theater, the Endicott Performing Arts Center, where one can see local community groups, individual artists, the EPAC Repertory Company and the EPAC Kids Theater Workshop. The Anderson Center for the Arts at Binghamton University also contributes to the cultural vitality of the area, by bringing local, national and international acts to the local stage. The fourth factor provided in Richard Floridas work is the availability of a wide range of night-life experiences in the area, including many options without alcohol. Unfortunately, while Binghamton offers a medium range of night-life experiences, there are practically no options without alcohol. This is a serious drawback to the cultural scene in Greater Binghamton and its ability to attract the creative class, who may not necessarily be interested in getting drunk and partying when they go out at night and many of whom would prefer to be stimulated in other, more intellectually or culturally engaging ways. The fifth factor is a clean and healthy environment and commitment to preserving natural resources for enjoyment and recreation. Greater Binghamton is a very green area and has a fairly clean environment because it is a micro-urban area with few of the problems, especially in the air and water quality, that attend many of the larger cities in the United States. Binghamtons manufacturing, chemical and military-industrial past has left it with a number of polluted areas, including nuclear waste and chemical pollution. However, as the manufacturing and industrial jobs have been leaving Binghamton for areas with cheaper labor, the areas environmental conditions have stopped deteriorating

9 and in many cases started improving. The local government and community leaders are committed to cleaning up the environmental pollution, through state-financed Brownfield development projects on former polluted industrial sites as well as in pursuing the corporations responsible for pollution to pay for cleanup. If the Greater Binghamton community is able to clean up its environment and successfully transition to a postindustrial economy, its natural resources are on track to be preserved and increased and will be available for enjoyment and recreation to present and future generations. The sixth factor that the members of the creative class consider important in making their location choices is a community with a lifestyle that is youth friendly and supportive of diversity. The Greater Binghamton area is fairly youth friendly. It has low crime rates and City Crime Rates has named it one of the safest metropolitan areas in the nation. (7) On the other hand, it is unclear whether or not the fact that young people are leaving this area and becoming a smaller proportion of the population is what is also contributing to the low crime rates in the area. The Greater Binghamton area also boasts high quality school systems. Newsweek reported Binghamton and Vestal public high schools among the top 1,000 in the country (7). The implication of this is that the local children and youth are able to get a good education without needing to go to a private school, which is crucial due to the high poverty levels within the Greater Binghamton community. Greater Binghamton also boasts a number of community youth programs and local governments also support efforts to prepare and retain youth in the local area. The lifestyle of the Greater Binghamton community is definitely supportive of diversity and the area is known for attracting fairly high numbers of immigrants from very diverse set of nations. There are large immigrant communities of Italians, Chinese,

10 Ukrainians, Indians, Koreans, Germans and the Vietnamese. (8) Other smaller communities of immigrants include refugees from Bosnia and Kurdistan (Iraq), as well as immigrants from Romania, Poland and Russia. Muslim and Sikh community members feel comfortable in the area and their clothing style is accepted by the community. However, the Greater Binghamton area lags behind other metropolitan areas in the level of the actual diversity and the number of diverse people that it attracts. In fact, according to the US Census data, Greater Binghamtons diversity levels lag behind national averages. Non-Hispanic whites account for 69.1 % if US population as a whole. (9) Broome County, however, consists of 90.4% of a white, non-Hispanic population. (8) Granted, this is probably due to the economically depressed condition of the local area and this will probably change as the local economy improves. This has happened in the past, when Binghamton attracted a high number of immigrants to work in its shoemaking and cigar industries, and is likely to happen in the future, if the Greater Binghamton community as a whole can figure out how to improve its future economy. Binghamtons support for diversity also includes its support for women and the elderly. The Administration on Aging has selected Broome County as a case study winner for populations 100,000-250,000 in their Livable Communities for All Ages Competition. (7) And Self Magazine has ranked Binghamton #12 out of 200 cities listed in their report Annual Americas Healthiest Cities for Women. (7) The greatest advantage that Greater Binghamton has, however, is the affordability of life in this community. This is the top factor in quality of life in any community and Greater Binghamton clearly has a major advantage in this area, with good houses and apartments available at highly affordable rates. In fact, the local housing costs are well

11 below the national average, either to buy or rent. Greater Binghamton has also been reported in Business Week as the most affordable housing market in New York State. (7) A house that costs $1 million in Westchester will cost about $170,000 in Binghamton a difference of more than 5 times in price, making home-ownership much more accessible. The 2006 Average Home Sales Price in Binghamton was $171,135. Due to the high affordability of living in Greater Binghamton, the people of the region are able to enjoy the fruits of a middle-class life style at a much lower cost than in other locations. The affordability of life in this community also makes it an attractive community for recent college graduates to settle in and perhaps even to purchase their first home.

PART III: Implication of Findings for Greater Binghamton and Advice for Community Greater Binghamton has abundant cultural, sports and lifestyle opportunities, very low crime rates, beautiful nature and outdoor activities, numerous and affordable parks and golf courses, highly affordable real estate, excellent health care system, highly rated schools and colleges, low cost of living and it is also receiving state developmental aid. As the Binghamton area is able to capitalize on its present level quality of life, as well as increasing the quality of life and number of amenities, its economic performance is likely to improve. (6) Binghamtons quality of life has actually been given 5 Stars by Expansion Magazine (7), which proposes good areas for companies to expand, so it has a good basis to build on. Therefore the advice for the community is actually quite consistent with the mission and vision of Catalysts for Intellectual Capital 2020. The Greater Binghamton community needs to capitalize on its high quality of life to attract new college graduates

12 and the members of the creative class, as well as make efforts to improve in any area where its lacking. Research shows that this will help improve the economic performance in the area by attracting more companies to locate in the area, as well as by attracting more college graduates to the area by positively affecting their personal location choices. As the number of college graduates in the area increases, the local economy will further improve and local wages will rise. As mentioned previously, a percentage point increase in the supply of college graduates raises high school drop-outs' wages by 1.9%, high school graduates' wages by 1.6%, and college graduates wages by 0.4%. Therefore, if CIC and the local community are able to facilitate the retention rate of college students in the local area to the level of 20% (from the current level of 3%) by 2020, this will have the spillover effect of increasing the areas wages and salaries by 32.3% for high school dropouts, by 27.2% for the areas high school graduates and by 6.8% for the areas college graduates. The fulfillment of CICs vision is thus highly desirable for all members of the Greater Binghamton community and should be welcomed and facilitated in all necessary respects. As the Greater Binghamton community attracts more college students to the area, achieves both faster and more quality economic growth and the wages across the area rise for all sectors and educational levels of the community, it will also have the ability to attract more college students in the future, and not just from the local colleges. The goal in the future should be to increase the longevity of the decisions of recent college graduates to stay in the area. Two key factors in encouraging them to stay in the area for the long-term is the affordability of housing and the ability for two-earner college-

13 graduate families to find suitable jobs in the area. The first factor is already available and the second will become more likely as the area grows in the pathway described above. Greater Binghamton is a well-suited area for college graduates to start and build a career, a family and a life. The community should capitalize on its strengths and work with CIC 2020 to attract more college graduates to the area, increase the proportion of the creative class in the local area as a result, and make this transformative future possible.

14 CITATIONS: 1. Richard Florida. Cities and the Creative Class. Routledge. (2004) 2. Ed Diener and Eunkook Suh. Measuring Quality of Life: Economic, Social, and Subjective Indicators. Social Indicators Research. Vol. 40, No. 1-2. (1997): 189-216. 3. Enrico Moretti. Estimating the Social Return to Higher Education: Evidence From Longitudinal and Repeated Cross-Sectional Data. National Bureau of Economic Research. (2002): Working Paper No. 9108. 4. Dora L. Costa and Matthew E. Kahn. Power Couples: Changes in the Locational Choice of the College Educated, 1940-1990. The Quarterly Journal of Economics. Vol. 115, No. 4 (2000): 1287-1315. 5. Rogerson, Robert J. Quality of Life and City Competitiveness. Urban Studies. Volume 36, Numbers 5-6 (1999): 969-985. 6. Steven C. Deller, Tsung-Hsiu (Sue) Tsai, David W. Marcouiller & Donald B.K. English. The Role of Amenities and Quality of Life in Rural Economic Growth. American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 83 (2). (2001): 352. 7. Greater Binghamton Coalition. Greater Binghamton Quality of Life Articles. Accessed: March 30, 2007. < http://www.greaterbinghamton.com/library/news-media/Greater%20Binghamton %20Quality%20of%20Life%20Articles.pdf> 8. City Data: Broome County, NY Accessed: May 1, 2007 http://www.city-data.com/county/Broome_County-NY.html 9. Census Scope: United States Non-Hispanic White Population Accessed: May 1, 2007 http://www.censusscope.org/us/map_nhwhite.html