Notoriously contrarian Internet publication Slate has a new solution to the growing backlash between local tech companies and the local citizens who seem to have a problem with them. Using last week's anti-eviction protests and the Google bus at the center of it all as a jumping off point, opinionator Matthew Yglesias suggests local tech titans just pack it all up and head to Ohio, where plentiful resources will solve everyone's headaches.

To wit:

The Bay Area is sick and tired of the antics of entitled techies, and the nouveaux riches want a place where they’ll be appreciated. It’s time for federal authorities to step in and move the show someplace else. Cleveland, say.

After all, every big city has its share of obnoxious protesters and obnoxious overclassers. What makes the tensions in the Bay Area especially extreme is the fearsome competition over scarce resources—specifically housing and office space.

San Francisco isn't dense enough to support the influx of new residents and city officials don't seem interested in adding density, Yglesias argues. So, instead of benefitting everyone, the boom only results in obscene rents and private busses in Muni stops. Although smaller companies have tried to jumpstart tech hubs in cities like Las Vegas and New York, nothing will really take hold unless Google, Apple, Facebook and Twitter all ship themselves off to the Buckeye state. (Also considered in Yglesias' argument: Buffalo and Pittsburgh, neither of which has a major airport, and Detroit, which according to the author is "a bit cliché at this point.")

Anyhow, don't expect Slate's (and no doubt some San Franciscans') dream of a Silicon Cleveland to ever be realized: Apple's futuristic campus is already going to be the pride of Cupertino, no matter what non-tech industry folks think about it. Twitter is happy with it's downtown tax breaks (and possibly considering more space). Facebook is gearing up to build its own corporate exurbs. And Google still has their eye on Mission Bay. Those shuttle buses have already started rolling.

[Slate]