Commuter economies

Yesterday's paintball outing was held west of Chippewa Falls, WI, which is bit north of my old stomping-grounds, a.k.a. Eau Claire, WI. In "my day," the two cities were connected by State Highway 53, which also ran through the town of Hallie. What I mostly remember about Lake Hallie is the Farm and Fleet store, RV dealerships, used car lots, a VFW, and a wonderfully low-key, unpretentious Mexican restaurant (Pancho's Place).

That's the route my husband and I took, because backtracking to the new Highway 53 after a run to the military surplus store would have been counter-productive. The new bypass has made a palpable difference along what's now officially called "Business 53." Pancho's Place stands boarded-up, and there's an inescapable "ghost town" sort of feel to the real estate on either side of the road. In fairness, a couple new office complex buildings have gone up at the southern end of that route (meaning the northernmost part of Eau Claire), and the Farm and Fleet seems to be doing okay. But, all in all, the bypass seems to have been no blessing to that part of town.

I suppose that cities with mature mass-transit systems have their own variation on the malaise when routes are rearranged and stops are closed off. But what intrigues me is the notion of telecommuting, and how it will impact both. That phenomenon, I very strongly and cynically expect, will not grow nearly as quickly or as large as predicted. Yet, assuming it did, the change would likewise have a very real impact on commercial real estate and transportation. When enough people simply nuke leftovers in their own microwaves rather than pop around the corner to the sandwich shop for lunch, the sandwich shop closes its doors. When it's both faster and less frustrating to hop on the highway and grab a ream of printer paper from the office supply superstore in the mall area than it is to fight for a downtown parking spot to buy the same paper at the Mom-and-Pop variety store, Mom and Pop go out of business. I'm sure you can think of other scenarios as well.

One adaptation to telecommuting that would not surprise me, however, would be the re-emergence of the corner store, at least in places that are used to cars for transportation. Heck, if gas prices spike (and stay that spiked), it might even be more expensive to make the trip to Wal-Mart than to pay a few more pennies at the corner store (which would make me, at least, happy on a few different levels).

But it's largely a moot point, I think. It's true that professional firms could save money in the short term by having a percentage of their staff work from home. (And only a fool would underestimate the attraction of short-term savings.) But that scenario involves management not having their direct-reports under their eye forty-plus hours of every week. I thiwaynk we all know how likely they are to relinquish the illusion of control...

That being said, I still predict that telecommuting will have some tangible impact on neighborhood and mega-mall economies. It just won't be catastrophic like a highway bypass or subway stop closing. If it helps reverse the overspecialized wastelands of strip-malls and McMansion suburbias that highways have engendered (at least in this part of the nation), I think I can get behind that with few to no reservations. (Of course, if "telecommuting" translates into my boss requiring me to hook up a surveillance webcam up to my workstation, all bets are off...)