More than 2,500 years have passed since the Greek storyteller Aesop told the fable of the fox and the grapes. The fox, unable after much futile leaping to reach grapes on a vine, walks off muttering that the grapes were not quite ripe and probably sour.
The years have not changed that common response to a failed attempt. Except the Triangle can dismiss its thwarted attempt to land an Amazon headquarters with a different twist _ the Triangle is not quite ripe and those grapes were much too sweet.
I-40 between Raleigh and Research Triangle Park already slows to crawl at rush hour and opening a true urban mass-transit system is still far off. Rents are rising fast, new homes are scarce and the need for affordable housing is growing rapidly. The Triangle isn't ready for a massive new employer and the fruits it offered are too rich for the region to absorb in terms of traffic and pressure on the cost of living.
For Raleigh, that fruit in the form of 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in investment _ came tantalizingly close. Amazon received 238 proposals for its new eastern headquarters and Raleigh's proposal earned it a spot among the 20 finalists. Amazon's decision to split its new headquarters and send about 25,000 jobs each to two locations appeared to improve the chances of smaller cities like Raleigh. But on Tuesday, Amazon said it was going with two predictable locations in the metro areas of New York City and Washington, D.C.
Some may regret losing Amazon, but many will happily send that traffic and tens of thousands of new, well-paid tech workers to the already traffic-choked and expensive environs of greater Washington, D.C. and New York City. It makes sense for the company to grow on the edge of cities with the infrastructure to absorb a massive newcomer rather than trying to convert a smaller city into a big company town.
Seattle, home of Amazon's headquarters where 45,000 are employed, can testify to the growing pains of accommodating the online retail giant. Amazon has fed economic growth there, but it has also contributed to rising housing costs, traffic and homelessness.
Nicole Brodeur, a former News & Observer columnist who now writes for the Seattle Times, offered a warning to her former city when Raleigh made Amazon's short list. She noted that "between 2010 and 2016, the company brought $38 billion to the local economy, created 53,000 non-Amazon jobs and boosted the personal income of non-Amazon employees by $17 billion."
But she said the rapid growth came at a cost to the character of her adopted home: "That little plant we nurtured has grown into an open maw that is swallowing everything, including our soul � and giving us plenty of traffic in which to sit and ponder what we never saw coming."
Nonetheless, seeking Amazon was a useful exercise. The process helped the region assess its attributes and focus on where it wants to go next. It promoted cooperation among local governments, the state and business groups. And it gave everyone the fun of wondering: What if?
And in failing to win, the Triangle also benefited by having to confront its drawbacks and consider what can be done to improve transportation, provide more affordable housing and protect the quality of life.
In the end, what matters isn't that the Triangle didn't win, but that it learned what it has _ and what it really doesn't want to lose.
