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Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

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Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#821

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Okay, I'm gonna let you in on a shocking secret. Ready? Lean in close so this doesn't get out. Some people go to bars... to drink. Crazy, right? I know! But it's true, I swear. And it turns out San Francisco has -- well, at least pre-pandemic -- bars that make really good drinks. Smuggler's Cove is hands down one of the best tiki bars in the world. Rickhouse is a great (if crowded) new-deal whiskey bar, right around…

it's not about a pickup joint. when i go out, i enjoy women in the crowd. i know it's hard for you to understand with your large anime and mgtow collection, but men like to hang out with a good mix of women -for the company, not just the sex. heck, even my wife doesn't like a bar full of guys. and no one likes a saturday night hangout that closes at 1am. that's not a bar -that's a daycare. the drinks you described do…

> but men like to hang out with a good mix of women -for the company, not just the sex

I mean, it is about the sex. Anyone who says otherwise is lying to themselves. The sexual tension and the real, if very slight, possibility of sex happening has to be there. Why do rock climbers insist on climbing actual walls? The very real possibility of death has to be there, otherwise it's just not worth it. You might as well have stayed at home and masturbated.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#822
post #430

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> The misconception is that people are leaving because the housing is too expensive and its not worth it anymore. Almost everybody I know that moved out had no problem affording housing (high earners / home owners / rent controlled). People are leaving because quality of life has fallen dramatically and the only thing keeping people in SF was their offices. Whether something is too expensive is not just a function of…

Only in the short to medium term... the characteristics which make SF an attractive place to live (just like NYC) are resilient and sticky. If you consider a post-covid world 5 years from now, do you think that SF with it's museums, bars, restaurants, and proximity to nature will be an unattractive place to live? Do you think that remote-first/remote-only companies where the majority of employees are outside of the b…

If I came from maybe Flagstaff Arizona I'd think SF has "museums, bars, restaurants, proximity to nature" but having lived in plenty of other places with more museums, bars, restaurants and proximity to nature SF was a let down.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#823

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only in the short to medium term... the characteristics which make SF an attractive place to live (just like NYC) are resilient and sticky. If you consider a post-covid world 5 years from now, do you think that SF with it's museums, bars, restaurants, and proximity to nature will be an unattractive place to live? Do you think that remote-first/remote-only companies where the majority of employees are outside of the b…

If I came from maybe Flagstaff Arizona I'd think SF has "museums, bars, restaurants, proximity to nature" but having lived in plenty of other places with more museums, bars, restaurants and proximity to nature SF was a let down.

I'm curious, where else have you lived with such a great balance of everything?

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#824

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I came from maybe Flagstaff Arizona I'd think SF has "museums, bars, restaurants, proximity to nature" but having lived in plenty of other places with more museums, bars, restaurants and proximity to nature SF was a let down.

I'm curious, where else have you lived with such a great balance of everything?

#1 suggestion: Washington, DC. Museums (the Smithsonian museums), bars, restaurants (one of the Michelin cities), proximity to nature (there's a national park that cuts through the middle of the city, there's the National Arboretum, and you're about an hour drive from numerous state parks in Virginia and Maryland)

#2 suggestion: Chicago, IL. Museums (check), bars (check), restaurants (also a Michelin city), nature (Lake Michigan).

#3 suggestion: Boston

I will 100% grant that the weather in the Bay Area is generally better than all three of those places - but if you don't highly rank outdoor activities, does that matter as much?

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#825
post #460

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If the same people were smashing the windows at Starbucks or Walgreens each day, the police response would suddenly be totally different. The police prioritize protecting the property rights of large landowners, first and always. Don’t buy their excuses.

People brazenly come into my Starbucks all the time and openly announce they are shoplifting, because they know that the police won't show up to take a report for at least an hour. Once we do have the report, even if they do get caught, nothing happens. Many months of reports and multiple trips to the courthouse and we can MAYBE get a stay away order. Usually before that point, the store management has shuffled aroun…

And then people get astonished when the righteous party doesn't get elected.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#826
post #430

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The misconception is that people are leaving because the housing is too expensive and its not worth it anymore. Almost everybody I know that moved out had no problem affording housing (high earners / home owners / rent controlled). People are leaving because quality of life has fallen dramatically and the only thing keeping people in SF was their offices. Whether something is too expensive is not just a function of…

Only in the short to medium term... the characteristics which make SF an attractive place to live (just like NYC) are resilient and sticky. If you consider a post-covid world 5 years from now, do you think that SF with it's museums, bars, restaurants, and proximity to nature will be an unattractive place to live? Do you think that remote-first/remote-only companies where the majority of employees are outside of the b…

Look at Detroit. It has farm land now. Soon a robocop statue!

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#827
post #753

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can rent-to-own a 6br house on a 6k+ sqft lot with a detached garage in NJ with a ~1hr commute to Manhattan for $3,500/month in NJ. $3k/month on an apartment gets you a luxury huge 2 to 3 bedroom with in unit w/d and bowling/swimming in the basement or something in Hoboken with a Thinking 36k/year (more then the total comp of many workers in America) is cheap housing is a Bay-area distortion.

As someone who grew up in NJ about an hour south of Manhattan, that sounds like a living situation that would make me very unhappy as an adult (don't get me wrong; I had a great childhood). But I have some dear friends who lived in San Jose for several years and then ended up moving back to rural South Jersey, so, clearly, to each their own. Even the 25min commute from Hoboken would make me sad. I want to be able to…

>I have some dear friends who lived in San Jose for several years and then ended up moving back to rural South Jersey

That's a hell of a jump. What about rural South Jersey appealed to them?

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#828

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I know this is only anecdotal evidence, but whenever I do have to go into SF for meetings, it's not a pleasant experience. I do feel for the suffering that is evident in the city. But having to literally step carefully over syringes and flecks of human feces everywhere makes my trips to SF a health hazard. Once I was about to sit down on BART when I noticed a syringe left jabbed into the seat cushion, with blood stil…

I’ve never been to SF, how often can one find abandoned syringes on the street or in public transport?

I saw more used syringes on the street in my year living in SF than I have the rest of my life combined.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#829
post #613

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> Nightlife is horrible, bars pretty much close at 1am, hardly any live music, gender imbalance, and not much density so it often just feels "dead" in a lot of places As a southern Californian, I can attest to this. It's pathetic that our bars have last call at 2am (effectively many close at 1:30a). There's been push after push to get last-call to 4am like it is in NY but they never go anywhere in the state legislatu…

I think it's silly that they even close. What's the point? Can someone enlighten me on why bars and stuff close at 1am? Thanks!

Bars are loud. People smoking outside of bars late at night tend to be very loud and sometimes get in fights. If you're trying to go to sleep, it's annoying to have a crowd of drunk young men screaming at each other outside your window.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#830
It would be a really interesting world if people could pick where they lived based on where they wanted to live rather than where their job is. For a long time: we've had this dual blight of people having to leave places they love for work AND pushing out others who want to stay in the place they're moving to.
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