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Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

businessinsider.com

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

#631

Post by rcpt »

DeRock wrote: post #602
jelliclesfarm wrote: post #548

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 4. Increase taxes on the wealthy, etc. This won’t work. When the tech exodus begins, it’s going to cause CA to buckle at its knees because the wealthy has been subsidizing more than 80% of the population. It is not sustainable or healthy at all to suckle at the teat of the wealthy. We should abolish all taxes and only retain taxes based on consumption. And a flat modest capital gains tax. With dedications gone, thi…

> the wealthy has been subsidizing more than 80% of the population CA does not tax wealth, they tax (predominately) income, and I wouldn't be so quick to equate the 2. Prop 13, for example, can mean that wealthy land owners pay almost nothing in tax if they've owned their property for a long time.

> Prop 13

https://www.taxfairnessproject.org/ generally the wealthier you are the bigger your tax cut.

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

#632

Post by sneeze-slayer »

jaredtn wrote: post #528
sneeze-slayer wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, if only we had our plastic straws, then all the problems in the area would magically disappear.

That's exactly my point :) It's not that plastic straws are significantly good or bad - they're a distraction from the real issues. And the fact that it gets any airtime at all is absolutely ridiculous. Certainly distracted you from discussing housing, infrastructure, or crime in your response.

I can agree with that. Plastic straws suck, and banning them is good for oceans, but small stuff like this is focused on. Just ban them/add a surcharge, like plastic bags, and move on to bigger things.

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

#633

Post by nitrogen »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #554
ummonk wrote: post #472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there are two issues here. First, housing is somewhat inelastic in that it takes multiple years to respond to a rise in demand and plan out and build new housing even with a reasonably fast permitting / approval process. Second, due to labor and materials costs, the price of housing in many areas is far below the cost to build new housing so housing prices will necessarily go up even with maximum build rates.…

>Second, due to labor and materials costs, the price of housing in many areas is far below the cost to build new housing so housing prices will necessarily go up even with maximum build rates. Specifically, the cost of land is what causes the cost to build to be so high. Owning unproductive land is cheap, and incentivizes simply holding onto it until it appreciates sufficiently.

The cost of timber has also tripled this year, at least in some areas.

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

#634

Post by eli_gottlieb »

rpearl wrote: post #555

Nobody really brings up that the bay area is one of few places in the US where you can live without a car. Really, even compared to other "walkable" cities beyond a select few, similarly expensive places. Nobody really brings up that the bay area has better LGBT and other minority protections than anywhere in the US, either. Every time someone mentions cheap midwest cities I have to pull up https://crossingenres.com/…

>Nobody really brings up that the bay area is one of few places in the US where you can live without a car.

Not really, not compared to Boston or, particularly, New York.

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

#635

Post by hashkb »

rpearl wrote: post #555

Nobody really brings up that the bay area is one of few places in the US where you can live without a car. Really, even compared to other "walkable" cities beyond a select few, similarly expensive places. Nobody really brings up that the bay area has better LGBT and other minority protections than anywhere in the US, either. Every time someone mentions cheap midwest cities I have to pull up https://crossingenres.com/…

Everyone brings that up. All the time. As one of the (maybe not elite) tech people who has left the Bay Area, I can tell you that we're well known braggarts. The "SF attitude" actually makes it harder for us to integrate into new communities.

Edit: also, SF isn't _that_ walkable; have you spent time in NYC? SF was a huge letdown to me once I had lived there for a couple of years.

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

#636

Post by [deleted] »

arthurjj wrote: post #564
rpearl wrote: post #555

Nobody really brings up that the bay area is one of few places in the US where you can live without a car. Really, even compared to other "walkable" cities beyond a select few, similarly expensive places. Nobody really brings up that the bay area has better LGBT and other minority protections than anywhere in the US, either. Every time someone mentions cheap midwest cities I have to pull up https://crossingenres.com/…

> Nobody really brings up that the bay area is one of few places in the US where you can live without a car. Is this true? I've only visited the bay for a total of 15 days but only SF and parts of Oakland seemed walkable.

[deleted]

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

#637

Post by ghaff »

nus07 wrote: post #582
rpearl wrote: post #555

Nobody really brings up that the bay area is one of few places in the US where you can live without a car. Really, even compared to other "walkable" cities beyond a select few, similarly expensive places. Nobody really brings up that the bay area has better LGBT and other minority protections than anywhere in the US, either. Every time someone mentions cheap midwest cities I have to pull up https://crossingenres.com/…

I agree on almost all of your points with a few caveats. - Cars : The Bay Area is very walkable but that’s mainly SF. The tech burbs of Palo Alto , Menlo Park are not super walkable and you are relying on the BART and other public transport . But Covid has destroyed public transport and cuts in funding threaten them further. LGBT : This is not really the 80s and 90s . Most big cities from DC, Atlanta, Austin ,Chicago…

And SF wrt cars only to some degree. I know a couple who decamped to SF and sold their cars when their kids got older. They do indeed live without owning cars. They also use Ubers, ZipCars, and regular rental all the time.

I think a lot depends on what you're used to. I think a lot of folks accept the limited mobility they knew through school when they graduate. It becomes less acceptable as they get older. Many exceptions of course.

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

#638

Post by kurthr »

secondcoming wrote: post #622
kurthr wrote: post #575

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people don't care about those things, but do care about how big their house is, how many cars fit in the garage, and how much they (and their kids) look like the people (and schools) around them. To be fair when I was living "rural", I loved being only 45min from a 24hr Walmart, and I've lived as a minority, which doesn't feel great so I get going back from whence you came. But I'm still going to say, what you d…

> I loved being only 45min from a 24hr Walmart Perhaps I'm misreading you, but having to drive 45mins to get to a shop seems like a massive inconvenience!

Yes, I was living rural (trying to write my dissertation without distractions) and 45min was wonderfully close! My mail was most of a mile away, and the closest "convenience store" was ~5 miles. I never thought I would say that I loved being "near" a 24hr walmart (it was also where the farmers market was held), but after 6 months you learn how important that is. I will say that the ability to buy RAM, HD, Monitor, etc along with groceries at 3am (with a 30day return warranty) was also pretty amazing.

Try getting more RAM in SiliValley or SF at 3am today!

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

#639

Post by commandlinefan »

hbosch wrote: post #625
rpearl wrote: post #555

Nobody really brings up that the bay area is one of few places in the US where you can live without a car. Really, even compared to other "walkable" cities beyond a select few, similarly expensive places. Nobody really brings up that the bay area has better LGBT and other minority protections than anywhere in the US, either. Every time someone mentions cheap midwest cities I have to pull up https://crossingenres.com/…

I had a whole long thing typed out. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt instead, and assume you didn't mean to generalize suburbs and exurbs as racist and homophobic, artless, desolate and uncivilized places. I live in a quaint little town by the water, a decent drive away from a major city. I'm a tech worker that chose to move, because city perks didn't outweigh the city stress. I would say that for anyone consid…

We actually do have high quality produce and food here in North Texas, too.

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

#640

Post by throwaway987978 »

jonny_eh wrote: post #229
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…

I have a wife and young child and plan to stay long term. Both my wife and I work in tech, and are not fans of remote work. So for both of us this is the best place career-wise. We own a modest house, with a nice yard, so no complaints there. We love the food, nature, weather, and theatre scene. We're in San Mateo, walking distance from downtown, which means we have access to some of the best ramen outside of Japan.…

What's your favourite ramen restaurants? My wife is Japanese and she hasn't found anything that rivals Japan yet.
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