Ed Kohler makes a
pitch for Google to come to St. Paul, Minnesota — and it’s both a fun and
compelling one. He points out that Ford is abandoning its Twin Cities Assembly
Plant that comes complete with its own hydro-electric power station, handy for
power-hungry (that’s electric power I’m talking about) Google. But frankly, I
think Larry and Sergey would find the underground tunnels a sweet enough reason
to grab the giant area smack in the middle of the Twin Cities. The five coolest
reasons from his pitch:
- Power Plant: 100 million kilowatts of energy per year from the
included hydro-electric dam. - Train Yard: Sure, Ed thinks Google could use it for moving portable
data centers around. But I could see Google’s cofounders deciding they need a
private Google Train to go with their
Google Jet. Hook
it up to the hydro dam, and you’ve got the world’s biggest electric train set. - Parking: Currently used to store the Ford Rangers built at the
plant, which is supposed to close next year. There’s so much of it that Google
employees would never have parking problems
like those at Yahoo. - Easy Airport Access: The international airport is nearby, handy for
private jet landings or for regular Googlers slumming it on the airlines. - Tunnels: I mean really big ones, like you could race
non-environmentally friendly 4x4s in them. Or boats. Or both. At the same
time.