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New Rural Sales Pitch: Work Outside D.C.'s Fallout Zone
 | WaPo. Salt's on the table. |
Winchester and its neighbors along Interstate 81 in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley have much to recommend themselves to potential employers, including a low cost of living, access to a major highway and views of the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains.
More recently, though, the area has been successfully trumpeting another attribute: It is just outside the "blast zone."| Conflating "fallout" and "blast" zones. Sheesh. Alec's not too bright. |
In a little-noticed migration with implications for both greater Washington and the valley, several federal agencies, including the FBI, are relocating operations to the I-81 corridor. Helping drive the shift is the government's emphasis on security in a post-Sept. 11 world, which turns Winchester's location 75 miles from Washington into a geographic ideal. It is far enough from the capital to escape the fallout of a nuclear explosion -- a distance often estimated at 50 miles -- but still close enough so that employees can get to the District relatively easily when they need to.
"There's a certain distance they need to be out from the strike zone -- and Winchester is outside of that," said Jim Deskins, economic redevelopment chief for the 26,000-person city.
Posted by: .com 2006-12-26 |
