doug reich
Some guy
- Joined
- 4/23/08
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http://geekswithblogs.net/bloesgen/archive/2008/08/02/124201.aspx
This section really caught my eye:
Don't get me wrong, I love New York; it just seems like the real energy has gone elsewhere. An ambitious young person has so many roadblocks here that the real growth is not here. That's not to say may beloved home town is going to the dumps, but it will be or has been unseated as the center of the universe (a tough pill to swallow!).
This section really caught my eye:
Their description is everything I have heard about New York prior to 1993 (if we have to date it). Ambition, energy, "can do". The paragraph about not telling people how tall the Burj al Dubai will be sounds exactly like what happened with the Empire State Building and Chrysler building: the Empire state stuck a needle on top to edge out the competition.My executive summary: "Like Vegas, only more so". More buildings, more money, more construction, and a very strong drive to be the first/biggest/tallest/fastest/best at everything. It was really eye-opening.
...
I stayed at 5-star hotel, and hung out in the executive lounge for happy hour, so maybe my experience was not a typical cross-section of the population, but the snippets of conversation I overheard were fascinating. Everybody was negotiating *something*, even though it was the weekend. Dubai is a haven for type-A personalities, overachievers that's don't have an off switch or pause button. About 80% of the population is non-UAE, many of whom are just working there for a while and moving on. The feel of business in the air was palpable, and was everywhere I went. They've taken what I think was once a sleepy trade port and turned it into a technology and financial hub. Everybody who's anybody wants to be there, all major companies and banks have operations there.
Nothing happens at a small scale in Dubai. They are putting up the Burj Dubai tower (photo below), but for competitive reasons have not announced what the final height will be. Every few months they just say "yup, we're going up a few more floors". They're building a monorail that will serve the entire city, and it looks like they're doing it all at once. No 5 mile pilot projects here, it seemed like 50 miles or so at once.
Don't get me wrong, I love New York; it just seems like the real energy has gone elsewhere. An ambitious young person has so many roadblocks here that the real growth is not here. That's not to say may beloved home town is going to the dumps, but it will be or has been unseated as the center of the universe (a tough pill to swallow!).