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Find a new city

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Re: Find a new city

#91

Post by mr_pink »

nostromo wrote: post #60
rpazyaquian wrote: post #34

This jumped out at me: > “I’m trans, so I need to live somewhere progressive so I feel safe day-to-day and don’t feel like I’m going to get beat up for using the wrong restroom.” This is a pretty damn good reason to live somewhere like Seattle or Boston, and a pretty damn good reason not to live somewhere like (edit:) North Carolina or Tennessee or Georgia. The reality is that many of us are limited by not wanting to…

Have you actually spent time in Raleigh or Atlanta? The idea that trans people are getting murdered in the street is just not correct. I'm gay and I've spent a lot of fun nights in Boise, Idaho because a gay friend of mine lives there with her wife. We always have a blast. She has a great career in Boise and I don't think she's experienced more homophobia there than when she lived in New York City. (I know she had at…

> I think a lot of coastal elites have no idea what they're talking about when they speak about the extreme danger of being different in middle-America.

Here's a counterargument (counter-anecdote, really): I'm different in other ways (foreigner), I found living in middle-America a nightmarish experience of prejudice and outright hate. Being cat-called once is child's play compared to living in the mid-west while foreign.

Re: Find a new city

#92

Post by beamatronic »

fowkswe wrote: post #46

For people looking for that 70s NYC like experience, with proximity to NYC, I HIGHLY suggest checking out the Albany / Troy area. Both are gritty little cities with a bunch of interesting people living there doing interesting shit, all for next to nothing. You can rent a townhouse for under a thousand / month. Shit, you can BUY a gorgeous 19th century townhouse for under a 100k - the same thing that would be 3 millio…

Isn't Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute around there?

Re: Find a new city

#93

Post by fowkswe »

beamatronic wrote: post #92
fowkswe wrote: post #46

For people looking for that 70s NYC like experience, with proximity to NYC, I HIGHLY suggest checking out the Albany / Troy area. Both are gritty little cities with a bunch of interesting people living there doing interesting shit, all for next to nothing. You can rent a townhouse for under a thousand / month. Shit, you can BUY a gorgeous 19th century townhouse for under a 100k - the same thing that would be 3 millio…

Isn't Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute around there?

Yes, RPI is in Troy. It would be one of the points on my list of assets. They have this amazing music venue called EMPAC...

Re: Find a new city

#94

Post by tbrownaw »

ryandrake wrote: post #26

I used to live in Nowhere, Florida, and would move back in a heartbeat, but from an employment standpoint it became too risky. Most places outside of The Usual Tech Hubs are one-horse towns when it comes to tech employment, major opportunity risk. If you're a software engineer and live in the Bay Area and suddenly lose your job, depending on the economy you're probably in for a 1-6 month job search at local companies…

Most places outside of The Usual Tech Hubs are one-horse towns when it comes to tech employment, major opportunity risk.

I've heard that a lack of other major employers competing for the same employees is a significant consideration for large companies looking to change cities.

They can hire people from wherever and pay relocation, then not worry about them jumping ship over mildly lousy raises.

(Source: recruiters in town a while ago for a bank setting up a new IT office half way across the state; about half is me reading between the lines.)

Re: Find a new city

#95

Post by SegFaultx64 »

fowkswe wrote: post #46

For people looking for that 70s NYC like experience, with proximity to NYC, I HIGHLY suggest checking out the Albany / Troy area. Both are gritty little cities with a bunch of interesting people living there doing interesting shit, all for next to nothing. You can rent a townhouse for under a thousand / month. Shit, you can BUY a gorgeous 19th century townhouse for under a 100k - the same thing that would be 3 millio…

I second Troy (I hate Albany but that is personal preference). They are also reasonably safe considering how improvised they have been in recent times. Prices in Troy are already starting to climb, so get while the getting is good.

One thing I will say is that both are very small compared to a NYC feel, and public transit is awful.

Re: Find a new city

#96

Post by SegFaultx64 »

bsparker wrote: post #21

Cleveland is a great city

Cleveland is fine if you are reasonably well off. Like many run down urban areas it is currently going through a substantial revival (driven mostly by "hipsters" opening vegan restraunts and the like.)

I can only imagine it would be miserable to be truly poor in Cleveland, especially as it continues to gentrify.

Re: Find a new city

#97

Post by SegFaultx64 »

beamatronic wrote: post #92
fowkswe wrote: post #46

For people looking for that 70s NYC like experience, with proximity to NYC, I HIGHLY suggest checking out the Albany / Troy area. Both are gritty little cities with a bunch of interesting people living there doing interesting shit, all for next to nothing. You can rent a townhouse for under a thousand / month. Shit, you can BUY a gorgeous 19th century townhouse for under a 100k - the same thing that would be 3 millio…

Isn't Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute around there?

Yep, there is also a pretty decent tech scene driven by a couple of local successes (mostly RPI affiliated):

Apprenda Commerce Hub Vicarious Visions etc...

Re: Find a new city

#98

Post by uola »

anateus wrote: post #44

Tech is here because the money for tech is here. It started with the US Gov't putting money into military bases and later Lockheed and other mil contractors. During and after WWII tax regulations changed in such a way that VC become more and more profitable, and the industry grew alongside the talent pool that was being drawn in. This created a feedback loop of talent and money. But the money is the primary driver he…

I think you're kind of right, but I feel the comparison with LA/NYC is slightly weird. SV is the leader in the consumer web space (and some other areas). If you're into hardware, games or electronic music the choice of SV is far less obvious. It could/would make sense to go to China, Germany or Sweden instead.

One problem is that everyone is so busy to copy SV that they fail to invent their own scene. Probably a result of having to justify yourself to investors. But it really seem like the window in which subcultures can flourish has become much smaller.

Re: Find a new city

#99

Post by Nav_Panel »

bradleyjg wrote: post #67
jrochkind1 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you make a good point that 'cheap' is very relative to your means and access, and the LES may not have been cheap for _everyone_ even in the 80s. Definitely important to remember. But I'm inclined to believe Smith that it was cheap for her and people like her in a way present-day NYC isn't, for similar people today. I guess we could try to look up rent statistics over time etc. > if you want that in NY now yo…

> Maybe somewhere I haven't heard of (cause I don't live in NYC) in Queens or the Bronx? I don't know if you'd have the same access to culture and money living in some far-off non-subway-served part of the Bronx though. Large parts of the southern Bronx are served by subway and still affordable. The have relatively bad crime stats and you may feel out of place but all that was true in the LES in the 80s too. And even…

> Large parts of the southern Bronx are served by subway and still affordable

Not for long. There's already a hip coffee shop on 134th st right off the 3rd Ave bridge. Things are gonna creep upward pretty quick. Give it 5-10 years and it'll look like Harlem does now.

Re: Find a new city

#100

Post by wrsh07 »

st3v3r wrote: post #36
wrsh07 wrote: post #4

I definitely understand the need for a progressive city -- I grew up in the midwest in a place that was decidedly not. But Paul Graham gave a talk about how Pittsburgh could be the next startup city [1]. And price factors in for both artists and entrepreneurs. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/pgh.html

If that's true, then why isn't PG holding Y Combinators in those other cities? I mean, he's the one running it; he should (relatively) easily be able to set one up wherever he wants.

There is YC Fellowship. I'm sure he could be doing more, though.
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