Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy • Hacker News Board

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#101

Post by shuckles » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:50 PM UTC

throwdour wrote: post #64

tharne wrote: post #37

This is what happens when a city neglects basic quality of life issues, and allows petty crime to thrive. It happened to New York in the 1970's and took roughly three decades to recover from. Good luck, San Francisco.

I think many people prefer petty crime to tech elites. With the upward pressure on rents over the last 10 years, even having your bike stolen every few weeks is cheaper than getting evicted and/or having to find a market rate dwelling. Of course, it's better to have neither exploding costs nor petty crime, but at the end of the day, dealing with petty crime is more affordable. EDIT: Getting downvoted to oblivion but…

Rents in San Francisco rose faster in the 20 years before 1995 than they did in the 20 years after.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#102

Post by bradlys » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:50 PM UTC

godot wrote: post #63

ghaff wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot to like about many areas of California. Which ones may depend on your weather, cultural, etc. preferences. But Silicon Valley proper I find not particularly appealing; housing costs are only part of the reason. (SF itself has well-documented pluses and minuses.) I don't live or work in CA/SV. But if I were in SV but no longer needed to commute, I might well stay in CA but I'd probably move somewhere out…

I did this and completely agree. I lived in the bay area since high school, more than two decades ago. Last year I finally moved away from it for good. Not far, just to the Greater Sacramento area. (I've been working remotely for a couple years, well before COVID) Qualify of life improvement is huge. Weather and cultural are important reasons for me to stay in California (plus family and friends), and I still get tha…

> real summers/not chilly

I mean, it's not cold once you get outside of SF/San Bruno. If you're in the peninsula or south bay, it's really fucking hot during the summer. Uncomfortably hot because no one has AC and many of the homes don't have insulation still.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#103

Post by secondcoming » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:50 PM UTC

rs999gti wrote: post #16

chrismckleroy wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Better weather” I can’t help but laugh. One of five Mediterranean climates worldwide, built on apricot orchards, formerly home to one of the most diverse animal and again ecosystems before the arrival of whites. It’s really hard to beat the weather in Silicon Valley. It’s almost non seasonal, anything grows. The diversity currently of this area is very high, it’s the home of top universities, between the two cross p…

> before the arrival of whites. Jesus, bro, why'd you throw this in?

Hating yourself is fashionable now. It'll pass.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#104

Post by cultofmetatron » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:51 PM UTC

given how much the locals hate techies, the migration couldn't happen soon enough. I haven't been in SF in 4 years and its been great. I made valuable contacts but beyond that, there isn't much SF offers now that remote work is becoming mainstream

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#105

Post by Apocryphon » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:51 PM UTC

TuringNYC wrote: post #86

gonehome wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I've had some friends leave (to CO and DC), but I'm skeptical of companies and VCs leaving. For a kind of funny example, there was an episode of the all-in podcast (mostly a podcast of successful VCs) where they talked about SV politics and leaving. The irony was while they talked about CA politics to an absurd degree ("worst run state in US", etc.) when they asked each other if they were planning on leaving al…

>> Yeah, I've had some friends leave (to CO and DC), but I'm skeptical of companies and VCs leaving. >> I have had older friends leave to have a family. They went to Santa Cruz, Seattle, Denver, DC, and Austin. It's a shame. The ones that stayed either are very rich where a $5M house is not an issue, or they still live with three roommates and rent without kids. Just wait until they look for interesting jobs and get…

The main idea is that those jobs are now moving to remote, because of the pandemic?

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#106

Post by AndrewKemendo » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:51 PM UTC

kilbuz wrote: post #87

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #70

I'd love to hear from people who want to stay in the Bay area what is unique that you cannot find elsewhere in cheaper locales. I lived in Mountain View for 3 months during 500 startups and the valley proper was the most garden variety suburban existence you could find anywhere. I lived in SF proper off and on and can attest that it certainly has (had?) fantastic restaurants/shops and a particular type of culture tha…

For me (in SF): climate that matches what I want perfectly. The option for snow or beaches on the same day. The food, the diversity, the grittiness, the jobs, the history. And all my family lives here, too. The biggest one of all: walkability, never having to get in my car unless I want to leave the city. Where did you end up moving that you found a better fit for yourself?

Northern Virginia about an Hour from DC.

The only two things you miss in VA on your list is "grittiness" which is a negative for me, and walkability, which you could get if you go closer to DC.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#107

Post by birdyrooster » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:51 PM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #89

bigyikes wrote: post #13

As it happens, tomorrow I’m putting in my 30-day notice to terminate my lease and leave the Bay. (And I’m paying 2 additional months rent in fees to do so) Not being tied to the office fundamentally changes the calculus of choosing where to live. There just aren’t good reasons to live here anymore for so many of us. Even if you enjoy the area, chances are you can get a better deal by moving just a bit further away. A…

>> and still come out ahead financially. Ya. Earning a SF wage but living elsewhere is great. But there is a flip side to this coin. As employees realize they can work from home, employers also realize they can have employees work from home. They will soon realize they don't need to pay SF wages. Those who convert their in-office jobs into work-from-home are a covid oddity. Those who will be hired in the future on th…

We’ve been trying to hire these people for ages locally and remotely and we still couldn’t find them so I have no idea where you think all the talent was hiding until covid 19.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#108

Post by nph5667 » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:51 PM UTC

dekhn wrote: post #67

ylhert wrote: post #33

Tech in SFBA reminds me of the Resource curse ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse ). SFBA did nothing special to attract the wealth of technology companies, they effectively got lucky with Shockley/Fairchild/Traitorous 8 and the boom in technology that followed. It seems the local gov't have squandered an opportunity to truly capitalize on the gift they were given, and perhaps even done their best to jeopa…

This is ridiculous. The Bay Area, specifically Stanford and Berkeley, contributed to the WWII tech research initiative and then afterwards, Terman made Stanford Research Park which led to Silicon Valley.

The point was the local govts did not contribute to the the rise of Silicon Valley, not that no one in the Bay area was involved

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#109

Post by krohling » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:51 PM UTC

After 10 years in the Bay Area tech scene I'm sitting here at a co-working space in Poulsbo, WA. Home ownership is still a challenge given how crazy the market is for places that are not in a city but close enough to commute if you wanted to. However, many QoL enhancements including views of the mountains every day, close to the Olympics, generally lower taxes/cost of living. I left the Bay in June and don't see going back any time soon.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#110

Post by rmk » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 5:52 PM UTC

akhilcacharya wrote: post #77

rmk wrote: post #74

The major obstacle to living in SV is the insane cost of homeownership that puts the (pretty commonplace) aspiration of living in one's own home with a nice yard out of reach of all but the richest (even being in the top 5% of incomes in the nation is no guarantee of being able to own a house in Palo Alto, for example.) With the recent passing of Prop 19, things get even worse: people who are looking to inherit homes…

> poor public schools in many areas What exactly makes them so bad?

I don't know exactly, but my experience is that most parents say private schools do a better job (teachers are better engaged and aren't checked out, apathetic pencil pushers). In the areas with good school districts (and there are a handful of those), things swing to another extreme: too much pressure, like Singapore-style schools, which causes children to buckle under the pressure later in their lives.