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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

#711

Post by legerdemain »

rcpt wrote: post #624
hn_user82179 wrote: post #616

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SF has a phenomenal climate though in comparison. The public transportation is lacking but I mind walking or bike a lot less in SF winters as opposed to NYC winters.

I biked to work nearly every day in NYC. The weather really isn't that bad. And in NYC if ever I had some other obligation after work instead of my usual commute that was bikeable to. In California nearly every time an errand popped up I couldn't bike that day.

"Really isn't that bad" is your experience. The physical reality is that average January lows in NYC are 20 degrees lower than in SF.

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

#712

Post by dpeck »

habosa wrote: post #689

In the last 10-15 years San Francisco gained a ton of residents that didn't want to be there at all. They moved there because the job opportunities in tech were too hard to turn down. I had some friends like this, they just never really liked the city. Now they're all leaving because their job is not making them stay. That's fine and I'm happy they have more choices now. But there's a flip side to that. One of my lea…

I think most bigger cities have this same set of people, though I would guess SF has it more. I’ve certainly experienced it in Atlanta, and from former coworkers in Chicago/NYC/Boston as well. There are a lot of people who will complain incessantly about the place they live, and how it’s not as good as some other place.

A lot of those folks aren’t going to find happiness with their move but some will. The grass is always greener until you’re standing on it.

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

#713

Post by Apocryphon »

labcomputer wrote: post #705
xienze wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think SVs appeal is that you can leave in a quiet suburb close to a lot of easily accessible nature, while still having Amazon 2-day shipping, ridesharing, Uber Eats, and luxury retail. Maybe there’s something you’re not explaining here but there’s plenty of places all over the country that fit this bill. Austin, Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, Denver, etc. And Amazon 2 day delivery is available all over the place..…

This is pre-Covid: > easily accessible nature From my office in Palo Alto, I can ride my bicycle up Sand Hill Road, past horse farms, and then up a secluded 2000 ft (~600 meters) mountain with virtually no traffic and return during my lunch break . Or I can take a long lunch and ride out to the coast, through rolling farmlands. And I can do that virtually any day of the year, thanks to the local climate. Most of the…

> Many places have some of what SV offers. Very very few have everything, and I would argue that none of the cities you listed fit the bill.

Ah, but all of them have more affordable housing.

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

#714

Post by dang »

badconvincer wrote: post #188
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 reactionary revisionism and based on your post history you know it.

Personal attacks and name-calling will get you banned on HN.

Please don't create accounts to break the site guidelines with.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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

#715

Post by reddog »

ghaff wrote: post #637
nus07 wrote: post #582

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 exce…

>They do indeed live without owning cars. They also use Ubers, ZipCars, and regular rental all the time.

Is there that much of a difference between owning a car and renting a car or using Zip or having a chauffer (Lyft, Uber, taxis) tote you around? I'd get rid of my car too if I could afford to have Uber haul me everywhere.

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

#716

Post by xvector »

eplanit wrote: post #664
xvector wrote: post #620

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And rent is sky-high, tax is insane, homeless with needles are everywhere, the city is one of the dirtiest in the country, and bleeding-heart citizens have passed propositions increasing crime and tying the hands of police. If there’s one thing I remember about the BART it’s the overwhelming noise and the constant smell of urine. The public transport situation is archaic and pales in comparison to other cities. You c…

Man, you're sounding just like I did 6 years ago before I left -- and I realize (with sympathy) that it's only become more intense there since that time. You'll be very happy to escape. Good luck!

Just need to save enough for a house. Where did you move to? Did you like it there?

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

#717

Post by ghaff »

reddog wrote: post #715
ghaff wrote: post #637

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 exce…

>They do indeed live without owning cars. They also use Ubers, ZipCars, and regular rental all the time. Is there that much of a difference between owning a car and renting a car or using Zip or having a chauffer (Lyft, Uber, taxis) tote you around? I'd get rid of my car too if I could afford to have Uber haul me everywhere.

I guess it still works out for them. They also rent their parking space to someone else. And he rides a bike, etc. And they use public transit. But, yeah, it's dependent on having a number of car options also available.

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

#718

Post by chao- »

reddog wrote: post #715
ghaff wrote: post #637

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 exce…

>They do indeed live without owning cars. They also use Ubers, ZipCars, and regular rental all the time. Is there that much of a difference between owning a car and renting a car or using Zip or having a chauffer (Lyft, Uber, taxis) tote you around? I'd get rid of my car too if I could afford to have Uber haul me everywhere.

>Is there that much of a difference between owning a car...? I'd get rid of my car too if I could afford to have Uber haul me everywhere.

With reference to my sibling comment, definitively yes. I personally spent less on a handful of Lyft rides per month in Houston than I did on insurance alone when I owned a car. Never mind the cost of the vehicle itself, gas, any repairs...

Even adding in the cost of my rail and bus rides, still doesn't come close to the cost of a vehicle.

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

#719

Post by rightbyte »

reddog wrote: post #715
ghaff wrote: post #637

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 exce…

>They do indeed live without owning cars. They also use Ubers, ZipCars, and regular rental all the time. Is there that much of a difference between owning a car and renting a car or using Zip or having a chauffer (Lyft, Uber, taxis) tote you around? I'd get rid of my car too if I could afford to have Uber haul me everywhere.

And use home delivery! You outsourced the car dependency to poor gig workers.

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

#720

Post by ghaff »

chao- wrote: post #702
ghaff wrote: post #637

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 exce…

You can make a lot of things work in a lot of places. I have lived in both Dallas and Houston without a car, for example (but also Berlin, Santiago, Tokyo, so I have comparison points). If you don't have kids, and have the freedom to plan a bit around where you live and work, you won't really feel like you're missing anything. I would take a trip via Lyft twice a month to some venue that's further away than the bike/…

TBH though, I'm mostly not interested in "making things work" if I have more convenient options. At one point, I spent a lot of time in Houston and I absolutely needed a car--for my job if nothing else. But even living in New Orleans at that time I absolutely needed a car for my job.
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