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'Google go home': the Berlin neighbourhood fighting off a tech giant

theguardian.com

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Re: 'Google go home': the Berlin neighbourhood fighting off a tech giant

#71

Post by wellboy »

drinchev wrote: post #13
mhomde wrote: post #9

I think Berlins "Poor but happy" times are fast coming to an end. Rents have been rising quickly the last few years and tech companies and startups becoming more prevalent. Heck, Neukölln went from being a cheap alternative to being as trendy and expensive as Kreuzberg. Berlin kinda, from what I understand, enjoyed it's special culture much because it wasn't an industrial city and lacked an large international airpor…

> Berlin will be Europe's Silicon Valley within a few years. Things that need to happen before this : 1. Salaries need to grow faster. Rent is really high for the new comers specialists. 2. Companies need to increase the salary gap between good and bad workers. Right now you are not able to negotiate more than 10% on top of the "average" salary. 3. Germany needs to fix the privileges of employees having options / sha…

4. 100 Founders need to make billion dollar exits to fund universities, vc funds, industries

Re: 'Google go home': the Berlin neighbourhood fighting off a tech giant

#72

Post by saintPirelli »

mhomde wrote: post #9

I think Berlins "Poor but happy" times are fast coming to an end. Rents have been rising quickly the last few years and tech companies and startups becoming more prevalent. Heck, Neukölln went from being a cheap alternative to being as trendy and expensive as Kreuzberg. Berlin kinda, from what I understand, enjoyed it's special culture much because it wasn't an industrial city and lacked an large international airpor…

No way. Europe's Silicon Valley will establish in Eastern Europe, where living is cheaper and governments are more willing to ease up on regulations to accomodate the flexible start-up employer-employee relationships. Warsaw, Sophia, Tallinn, those are the spots to keep an eye out for.

Re: 'Google go home': the Berlin neighbourhood fighting off a tech giant

#73

Post by m_fayer »

adulakis wrote: post #24
ksec wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slightly Off Topic: I thought Germany has some form of protection by law so rent and property market don't get to hike the prices to whatever they want. So while the world 's property market is on fire by QE, Berlin hasn't moved a needle at all. So why has rent risen so much?

City has failed to provide enough housing for incoming people. There is for example an old unused airport (Tempelhof) standing empy at prime location.

It's not empty. It's an enormous, unique, and beloved park that is starting to become as major an icon of Berlin as the Fernsehturm.

Re: 'Google go home': the Berlin neighbourhood fighting off a tech giant

#74

Post by sykh »

sparrc wrote: post #70

Obviously they can oppose all they want, but the fact of the matter is that most people are going to love the jobs and opportunities it will bring. Whether that is high-paying jobs in engineering or management, middle-paying in hospitality, construction, renovation, or lower-paying in cleaning/janitorial. At least it's my perspective that these sorts of neighbourhood changes are impossible to prevent. Does anyone kno…

Kreuzberg is different. It’s a traditionally leftist district. Every May Day there are clashes with police. At least when I lived there. It may eventually change but the people there are not as money focused. They are more culture focused in the sense of wanting local business over large corporations. Most people there are not going to love the accompanying jobs. Some jobs aren’t worth the cost. Some are.

Re: 'Google go home': the Berlin neighbourhood fighting off a tech giant

#75

Post by mstade »

saintPirelli wrote: post #72
mhomde wrote: post #9

I think Berlins "Poor but happy" times are fast coming to an end. Rents have been rising quickly the last few years and tech companies and startups becoming more prevalent. Heck, Neukölln went from being a cheap alternative to being as trendy and expensive as Kreuzberg. Berlin kinda, from what I understand, enjoyed it's special culture much because it wasn't an industrial city and lacked an large international airpor…

No way. Europe's Silicon Valley will establish in Eastern Europe, where living is cheaper and governments are more willing to ease up on regulations to accomodate the flexible start-up employer-employee relationships. Warsaw, Sophia, Tallinn, those are the spots to keep an eye out for.

Speaking of Estonia, I was at their embassy in Stockholm last fall and they were pushing hard for Tallinn as the next European capital of tech. Nearly every conversation you had with them, regardless of topic, would somehow gravitate toward how great Estonia is to set up a tech shop. Whether because of cheap real estate or the quality of their work force, or the prevalence of craft beer – it was all just a great place to be.

Frankly I kind of bought it. I'm going to visit this summer.

Re: 'Google go home': the Berlin neighbourhood fighting off a tech giant

#76

Post by ido »

uhnuhnuhn wrote: post #48
aestetix wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is overblown. The Berlin "housing crisis" is only happening in a few trendy neighborhoods-- Neuköln, Kreuzberg, F-schein, etc. There is a rather ill-informed effort to attempt to compare it to, for example, what is happening in the Bay Area, which is absurd. In the Bay Area, any place to live within walking distance of public transit is so expensive that only tech workers can afford it, extending far bey…

The Berlin housing crisis is very much happening almost everywhere. City-wide average rents increased 45% between 2009-2015. Rents doubled in some districts in that timeframe and even in the least affected areas (Marzahn and Spandau) rents increased by more than 30%.

45% in 6 years is 6.21% compound per year, which is not unusually high for that time scale for an attractive large city.

Re: 'Google go home': the Berlin neighbourhood fighting off a tech giant

#77

Post by Schaulustiger »

mhomde wrote: post #16
oblio wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry for the hipsters, but Berlin is the capital of the biggest economy in Europe and it was once one of the biggest metropolises in the world plus one of the biggest hubs of economy and science. It was always destined to go towards its past glory once Germany reunited. The only question was: "how long will it take for that to happen?".

Maybe Leipzig is the new Berlin :)

It's closer to just being Hypezig.

Source: am from Leipzig.

Re: 'Google go home': the Berlin neighbourhood fighting off a tech giant

#78

Post by scandox »

aestetix wrote: post #39
mhomde wrote: post #9

I think Berlins "Poor but happy" times are fast coming to an end. Rents have been rising quickly the last few years and tech companies and startups becoming more prevalent. Heck, Neukölln went from being a cheap alternative to being as trendy and expensive as Kreuzberg. Berlin kinda, from what I understand, enjoyed it's special culture much because it wasn't an industrial city and lacked an large international airpor…

I think this is overblown. The Berlin "housing crisis" is only happening in a few trendy neighborhoods-- Neuköln, Kreuzberg, F-schein, etc. There is a rather ill-informed effort to attempt to compare it to, for example, what is happening in the Bay Area, which is absurd. In the Bay Area, any place to live within walking distance of public transit is so expensive that only tech workers can afford it, extending far bey…

Even 5 years ago when I spent 3 months in Berlin the idea of calling Neuköln trendy would have seemed pretty nuts. So I think that suggests something radical is happening.

Re: 'Google go home': the Berlin neighbourhood fighting off a tech giant

#79

Post by fileeditview »

saintPirelli wrote: post #72
mhomde wrote: post #9

I think Berlins "Poor but happy" times are fast coming to an end. Rents have been rising quickly the last few years and tech companies and startups becoming more prevalent. Heck, Neukölln went from being a cheap alternative to being as trendy and expensive as Kreuzberg. Berlin kinda, from what I understand, enjoyed it's special culture much because it wasn't an industrial city and lacked an large international airpor…

No way. Europe's Silicon Valley will establish in Eastern Europe, where living is cheaper and governments are more willing to ease up on regulations to accomodate the flexible start-up employer-employee relationships. Warsaw, Sophia, Tallinn, those are the spots to keep an eye out for.

I really think none of these places (including Berlin) will be the Silicon Valley of Europe just because the salaries are too low. Why would talent leave elsewhere to go to eastern Europe and earn significantly less?

Re: 'Google go home': the Berlin neighbourhood fighting off a tech giant

#80

Post by icebraining »

dgellow wrote: post #62
dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #26

I always find it amusing that American companies, be it Amazon or Google, are surprised that people don't want them here. They seem to really believe people love them, whereas in fact people use them because they have to, and put up with problems caused by them also because they have to.

I don't think that anyone is surprised here. The quote is: > I think Google were surprised that they came up against opposition,” says Stefan Klein, a local activist with the GloReiche neighbourhood group at one of their twice-weekly open sessions. So, one activist thinks that Google is surprised (which sounds quite naive IMHO). Then later in the article: > A Google spokesman in Berlin says that the company has spoke…

I'm not saying Google was surprised, but a spokesperson would have to be pretty poor at their job if they admitted they were caught off-guard.
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