These days it seems that whenever a community wants to boost its economy, they try to play the "silicon card."

Towns and cities that are trying to keep their heads above water are beginning to promote their areas as the next big business growth place. In the rural areas where there is lots of space, we are trying to attract the "Lone Eagles," people who, apparently, want to work together without actually being together with others.

In the urban areas, we are trying to attract people to abandoned factories and vacant loft space, promoting these spaces as ideal locations within established communities for dotcoms and other technology-oriented businesses.

On the one hand we are saying, "get as far from the city as you can and still be able to work," and on the other hand we are touting, "be as close to Manhattan as you can while not actually being there."

This marketing ploy has been tossed around in the urban area where I live for several years. There is literally thousands of square feet of vacant space waiting for some genius to find a way to sell it, lease it or rent it to those supposedly fleeing the big city for a smaller one, but one that is not that far away from the "culture" of Manhattan.

A couple of years ago, there were students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) swarming all over our city. They were working on a project about how older buildings in urban areas could be given "new life," and how available "space" in cities could be best used for the benefit of the residents.

This cute little girl (I’m not being sexist or ageist—she was a cute little girl to someone like me, old enough to be her mother) kept stopping in to my office and calling me on the phone asking questions about "space" she "discovered" in our city.

Don’t you think this would be a good space for day care? For a new library? For a museum? And so on. Well, yes, I guess so, after about a half million dollars is spent bringing the building up to code and in line with the Americans With Disabilities Act. The kid was smart, but just didn’t have a grasp on the economic situation facing cities today.

The MIT kids eventually went back to Massachusetts and later sent us their published findings and recommendations: turn vacant space into day care centers, libraries and museums. Oh, one more thing: try to attract Silicon Alley businesses.

Well, duh, what did they think we were doing all this time?

See, the reason we have all this space is that northern New Jersey, especially North Hudson County, used to be the home of the American textile industry. Hundreds of embroidery and garment manufacturers brought their craft and specialized machinery here from Europe, attracting thousands of other European immigrants to the area for the jobs in their factories.

You know the story. Foreign competition and suburban sprawl killed the city factories and, in some instances, the cities themselves, leaving the so-called "Rust Belt" areas.

And, in the rural areas, acres of land that was once farmland now lies vacant and open, leaving, shall we call it, a "Meadow Belt." Much different circumstances, to be sure, but with a strikingly similar result—struggling communities looking for new ways to save their economies and the future of their towns and cities.

So, now, these struggling rural and urban areas are being advised to woo technology businesses and the people who work for them.

The problem is, I’m not so sure that if we cast this lure they will take the bait. We all think that no one in their right mind really wants to live and work in the big city, but millions of people do. Some do leave, but for the most part they leave to begin a new or different lifestyle.

Here in my city, we have convinced ourselves that New Yorkers—Manhattanites—want to leave to pay lower rents, live in smaller communities and in general leave the hassles of big city life behind. So, we tell them about our vacant buildings, we tell them about our super loft space with great views of Manhattan, but so far few have made the move. The "nerds" don’t seem to want to leave Manhattan, even if it means just moving across the Hudson River.

So, to those who think Sullivan County could become the home for Silicon Alley refugees: I hate to burst your bubble, bubby, but I just don’t see it happening.

Besides, you should be careful what you wish for... you might get it.