Why not Lure Google to Coldstream Research Campus?

I’m sitting here wondering if anyone in Lexington is watching the activity over in the Triad in North Carolina.

They’re bending over backwards to lure Google to locate a big server farm to Caldwell County - most recently in the form of a $4.8m grant from their Job Development Investment fund. Google (via Madras Integration, so says The News & Observer) is holding $600m worth of investment and 210 jobs - most of which would be over $48k per year.

Wouldn’t it be a great idea to see a big server farm out at Coldstream Research Campus? How about a new bus service between Coldstream and downtown restaurants that runs every 10 minutes on weekdays?

Could UK supply enough graduates enough REASON to stay in Lexington to work at a Google or similar company? There have been some ideas moved around.

But we have a lot going for us as a city… Even downtown is looking up. Graham Pohl wrote in this week’s Business Lexington, our downtown matters, and there’s a lot happening. Housing starts outside the ring are slowing. Still, the stats show that we have a long way to go in some areas.

Perhaps we’re starting to listen to Richard Florida’s wisdom. I think that the best solutions are a mix of Dr. Florida’s solutions and incintives such as those Lenoir’s people are bringing up. If Lexington can continue to improve its vibrance for the young engineering crowd without losing its already-established family-friendly and well-educated lifestyle things are definitely looking up.

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