<p>Long before there was a Silicon Valley and before the faculty at Stanford conceived of creating a local electronics industry, Bell Laboratories in NYC was the most advanced center for electronics research and development in the world. They had operations there between 1898 and 1966. In fact, Stanford graduates were leaving CA for jobs in the east like at Bell Labs. By the 1960s, Bell Labs had left the city for more abundant and cheaper space in New Jersey. </p>
<p>In seeing this proposal, I can’t help but think that Stanford’s campus sits on 8100 acres, while all of Manhattan is 14,700 acres.</p>
<p>Silicon Valley needed vast tracks of undeveloped land to be available for quick development into R&D facilities and manufacturing facilities. Land is just too sparse and expensive in NYC. Bloomberg may well be stimulating the economy of NJ by doing this.</p>
<p>I also believe the efforts to establish a campus in NYC would likely take the focus away from Stanford retaining its current leadership position in engineering. Meanwhile, MIT continues to focus on advancing its already lead position right in its own Cambridge campus.</p>