Boeing’s decision to move its headquarters to Chicago five years ago was a huge blow to Seattle’s big-time pretensions. After the dot-com recession, an earthquake and a small downtown riot, Boeing said it had to leave because it wanted to be seen as a global business. Ouch. Mayor Paul Schell was quoted as saying, "I'm waiting for the locusts."
Today a package of Seattle Times stories makes a case that the move actually had a minor impact in terms of employment, Boeing’s charitable giving here and the local property market. In an interview, the executive who led the move, John Warner, gushes praise for the city and state. Another story cites a recent transplant from Portland saying that Amazon.com and other new tech employers better represent Seattle now.
The package repeatedly mentions that Boeing moved just 150 headquarters jobs. But what about the impact of that elite group and the people who regularly came to Seattle to meet with them? These weren't just hardworking machinists (and there are still more than 60,000 Boeing workers in the state). But their departure meant a drop in demand for nonstop flights, top-end restaurants and hotels, and other cultural assets. True, the sky didn't fall. But every leading city needs a fully mixed economy and the loss still smarts.