Live data from Hacker News

Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

businessinsider.com

821–830 of 1001 posts

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

#821
post #582
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…

> 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 .

Even SF is not very walkable compared to Chicago, DC, Philly, Boston, etc. (All significantly cheaper than SF.) Even by American standards, the BART is a pretty second-rate metro. (And that's not even counting the fact that nowadays it's essentially unsafe at night, for single women, etc.)

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

#822

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I said something bad about "red necks" or other such subcultures people would get angry and indignant. But somehow it's become OK to make disparaging comments like that about San Franciscans.

Rednecks and San Franciscans aren't protected classes of people.

Huh? I wasn't talking about legal stuff.

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

#823
post #752
post #734

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But their success has very little do with the tax burden imposed on them by the state of California (c.f. any number of Seattle-based companies).

I don’t know what you’re getting at but it isn’t my point. And the other way to look at it is California is expensive because the opportunity to become rich is greater here than elsewhere.

Florida and Texas both have comparable numbers of billionaires, and aren't crazy expensive.

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

#824

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Every time someone mentions cheap midwest cities I have to pull up https://crossingenres.com/out-in-the-united-states-where-can ... and see if anything's changed since I last checked. This analysis is shallow and has a thumb on the scale in favor of California. The author says of same-sex marriage: “There is much talk at the federal level by the presumed GOP candidate of creating legislation that would remove this…

> California, by contrast, reacted to an identical court ruling in 2008 by banning same-sex marriage until all such laws were overturned in 2015. This is a cherry-picked example and a bad-faith argument. You're trying to portray the CA Prop 8 battle as demonstrating that CA was/is regressive. It does not show that. It's more accurate to say that there was a national debate going on at the time, and the open-ness of t…

>This is a cherry-picked example and a bad-faith argument.

First time reading one of rayiner’s comments?

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

#825
post #819

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I don't get it when people say SF is "walkable". No, Toronto is walkable. It's flat, dense, everything is close by, and clean. I'd be content to walk 45-50 mins to get somewhere. In SF, I dread having to walk, bike or take public transit anywhere. It's unpleasant, unsafe, smells horrible and there's rampant petty crime. And not just one district, it's like that in most of the areas you need to go to

SF is walkable because its tiny, yet each area feels very different because of the elevation changing your scenery in every nook. Ive been walking around the city for the past months now daily, and have not once encountered something unpleasant, unsafe, or smelly. Now of course I avoid the tenderloin etc. area, but thats how its designed currently. All the homeless are in one place.

Look I love San Francisco, but you might want to take a COVID test if you really think the city doesn't smell.

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

#826
post #813

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do taxes work in the US? I find it so complicated! So California has their own state Capital gains tax? How much is that?

In summary, for normal people, taxes in the US come at federal, state and local levels. 1. Federal: a) Income tax of 10% on income over around $12k (single) or $24k (married) up to 37% on income over $518k (single) to $622k (married). Capital gains tax is at the same rate for assets held less than a year but up to only 20% for assets held more than one year. b) FICA, a wage tax. You pay for 7.65% for social security…

>Some cities also have an income tax (for example NYC).

SF afaik and all of Pennsylvania does the same.

NYC's rate is 3.9% I believe.

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

#827

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I don't know if you guys realize it or not but there's a new cottage industry around artisan flavored paper straws. People soon realized paper disturbs the flavor profile of beverages and took that as an opportunity to shape and craft the profiles to their liking given the inevitable. There's all kinds of sustainably grown hemp and bamboo paper straws that add some real interesting notes and aftertastes to a beverage that can actually be paired to illuminate and compliment the natural flavors of the many things we enjoy drinking. There's a new art in it, it's the proverbial lemons to lemonade moment and people are capitalizing on it as long as the once beloved plastic straws remain regulated out of the picture. This is actually how progress happens if you think about it.

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

#828
post #532

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Austin isn’t full at all lol

Austin is good during quarantine. But not for safe, social, walkability.

It depends on what you’re walking to and for. I walk several miles a day in Austin’s parks and green belt areas. I’m thankful for where I live during COVID.

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

#829
post #625

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Wow. But... how do you survive long-term without Blue Bottle and SFMoMA?

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

#830
post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> no idea where you think all the talent was hiding until covid 19 The talent isn't being converted from potential - as was recently said, "You can't be what you can't see". I was in Kansas City meeting people in Jan and it's pretty clear that there's a lot of talent hiding out there in downtown Missouri. The talent there tops out at SSE because there's no vertical space without jumping to management & two years down…

> The talent there tops out at SSE

That was my experience at an F500 in the midwest. I wasn't a senior engineer but I was doing the same type of work as the seniors on my team. And I felt like my role could have more ownership. They did have team leads, a few architects, and agile related roles. But there wasn't much else for devs who didn't want to be managers.

My current company in the bay area is a lot better. I feel like I have more ownership, and the IC roles are more granular. I think technically senior can be terminal, and staff/principal roles here require influencing other teams. But my company has thought about promoting ICs, and I clearly see how staff/principals have a more challenging job.

Post reply on HN