Room for profit is the key. Comments from local folks in-the-know seem to say this has been investigated here in the ATX, and there isn't room for profit.
Alas, your garage idea might be the next step. (maybe a mobile geek-hut in the garage, with solatubes for a bit of natural light?)... hmmm
Just celebrated my 1-year anniversary here in Austin, Texas. Took 8 years to convince wife to make the move. Been fantastic so far. Article is right-on in many regards:
Business/startup/tech climate is strong. (btw: norm is mucho less of the douche than SXSW crowd)
Housing: we moved from Seattle. Home prices roughly half (in 'burbs, near exceptional schools). Taxes are roughly double -- a big reason for low home prices, besides all the cheap land.
Lifestyle: Austin's very similar in people-climate to Seattle. Active, outdoor-loving, low-key, friendly folks.
Climate: summer unbelievably hot, rest of the year, pretty fantastic (for a Seattle boy).
While I've seen a bit of the Red-State stereotype, personal freedom and a live and let live attitude (personally, in government, and business) is much more the norm -- and perhaps much of the reason for riding the recession a bit smoother.
The first time I flew into Austin, I hopped into a cab at the airport. On the way to the hotel, the cabbie asked if I had ever been to Austin before, to which I responded that I had never been to Texas.
He turned around, looked directly at me, and said "Austin ain't Texas son."
I've lived in Texas for most of my life, imoving between Dallas and Austin, and I can attest to the spirit of what the cab driver told you; Austin is radically different from the rest of the state. Austin is a staunchly liberal college town while the rest of the state is extremely right-wing.
Regarding #1 -- "educational capacity to train the people needed".
One of the additional benefits to source article's proposal: There's a large, highly trained base of Navy 'nukes' who are in the fleet now or out in the world. Many of the ex-nukes are building and operating non-nuke plants now. These are the folks who spent years (decades) training and operating the same scale of power plants in the proposal (on subs and surface ships).
While university nuke-e programs are light, there's no shortage of folks to build, manage and do the work.
Here goes... Seattle is a fantastic town, water everywhere, gorgeous vistas and when the weather cooperates (August) there's no better place (I've found) in the entie-ree world.
That said, I just moved my teensy company from Seattle to Austin (after nearly, gulp, three decades in the SEA). Ms. Rich's article reads like the 'impressions' of one who's never, umm, started a company in Seattle.
5 reasons I left (and won't be headed back):
- traffic is abysmal. Not NYC/LA abysmal, but for a town of its size, truly awful.
- weather is grey/overcast and misty (most years) for 10 months.
- it's hard to attract/keep talent with families -- home prices near good schools, within short commute of downtown (or eastside) core are high. Wages are somewhat high, but get eaten up fast if you buy a home.
- business taxes, fees. State/county government is bloated and seems very willing to sacrifice job creation for revenue (read: more taxes on the way).
- did I mention the weather? Went back for thanksgiving - culture shock. Weather was overcast and I was struck by how dark it is. Light at 9am-ish and starts to get dark at 3:30.
There's a reason Seattle runs on caffeine.
(edit: thought I had this bulleted list thing down - alas, no)
Confirmed on my MyTouch (worst phone name evar - though very happy with the beast).
App works fantastic in practice in my tests, though
choked on one case tonight. Had kids in car, drove by movie theater -- no showtimes/reader board visible outside (theater is in the mall).
Tried to get showtimes by 'reading' AMC theater logo on side of building ("daddy, why are you taking a picture of that building?"). No go. Google maps and gps to the rescue.
'The Very Hungry Caterpillar,' a popular children's book has sold 29 million copies, and according to Newsweek, does $50 million in licensing deals a year. (yes, year)
Alas, your garage idea might be the next step. (maybe a mobile geek-hut in the garage, with solatubes for a bit of natural light?)... hmmm