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Tech workers swore off the Bay Area, now they’re coming back

nytimes.com

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Re: Tech workers swore off the Bay Area, now they’re coming back

#111

Post by muzz »

yardie wrote: post #89
the_third_wave wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is it suddenly with all this talk about racism ? > Racism in SF or LA is bad... > ...having to deal with racism in Boise, Idaho, for example, was something they didn't feel comfortable with... Who are those racists and in what way do they express their racism? I'm a European who has been on your side of the Atlantic and Pacific quite often for work- and leisure-related purposes over a period of several decades.…

I was waiting for one of these responses to arrive. And just like clockwork... So let's dig in: > If I can believe the current narrative things have been going from bad to worse to black people walk the streets in fear of their lives from racist cops in the last few years. In fact, just the opposite. It was worse before, but has slowly gotten better. Black artists have been making songs and paintings about corrupt an…

NWA song as a data point, wow

Re: Tech workers swore off the Bay Area, now they’re coming back

#112

Post by muzz »

syshum wrote: post #44
bgentry wrote: post #14

I moved to Austin in November after 10 years in the Bay Area and a lifetime in different parts of California. Not a chance we will move back, certainly not for decades. The most refreshing part of the change is that people are genuinely nicer and more friendly around here than anywhere I lived in California (OC, SD, SF, Berkeley, Stockton for college). I really didn’t expect that, which I think was probably due to cr…

Dont worry, most of California is moving to Texas, so Texas will be just like California in no time, long before "decades", so you will not need to move back California is coming to you

The data I've seen contradicts your assertion https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-bay-area-exodus-that-wasnt-...

Re: Tech workers swore off the Bay Area, now they’re coming back

#114

Post by refurb »

majormajor wrote: post #50
refurb wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a bit of a cop out. The Bay Area had some of the most progressive politicians and progressive policies in the country. I’ve seen plenty of progressives claim “they aren’t true progressives” but that comes across as a bit of a “no true Scotsman” argument that you hear from defenders of communism. And it begs the question - if no one has been able to attain “true” whatever, is it really even an option?

"Extreme inequality ruins things" is more of a progressive belief than a conservative one. Enter SF! How a place is governed is different from the party people run on, and the lack of accountability on results is the current failing of SF. Execution matters, not just ideas. What is it that people think the TX government is better at? What similar challenges has the government of, say, Fort Worth faced as SF, and what…

This seems to be a lot of excuse making. If you dig deep enough you can find that SF - despite the growth and huge tax revenues - has failed to effectively deliver even simple government services like policing and keeping the community clean. And in terms of addressing the challenges of growth I’m not sure SF has done anything at all. They certainly haven’t built more housing, improved transit or anything else. And this is in a city entirely run by Democrats in a state where the Democrats have full control of all levels of Govt.

If you had given an example where a really effective policy was instituted that at least made some small aspect better I might agree but even that’s not apparent.

Re: Tech workers swore off the Bay Area, now they’re coming back

#115

Post by refurb »

majormajor wrote: post #67
throwawayboise wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lack of accountability on results is the hallmark of progressivism. As long as the intentions were good, outcomes don't seem to matter.

This seems to be a statement on the level of "cruelty is the point of conservatism." It's non-serious, even if we pretend that there's never been a conservative policy enacted that didn't deliver it's promised goals. It's noteworthy for how it completely fails to give an example of a conservative city or state in the US that faced and solved similar problems.

Well considering the failure of the SF BOS to effectively address any of the cities challenge yet still get re-elected time and time again (even after showing they do the same things their voters complain about) goes pretty far in backing up that claim. As long as politicians in SF say the right thing, that’s all voters seem to care about.

Re: Tech workers swore off the Bay Area, now they’re coming back

#116

Post by renewiltord »

djrogers wrote: post #101
renewiltord wrote: post #70

I live in Austin right now after almost a decade in the Bay. It's nice and I can see why people like it: it's got more of the kind of vibe which lets you raise a family - very suburban, relatively cheap (wrt the Bay Area), people will say hi on the street, stuff like that. San Francisco is a city , though, as small as it is, in a way that Austin isn't, as big as it is. Just like London and New York City are in a diff…

> Texas politics, which leaks to Austin, is very top-down big-government. SF and maybe CA politics is more personal freedom. I don't see that at all. California is one of the hardest places in the country to run a small business. It's #1 or #2 in high taxes every year. California very restrictive and proscriptive land use laws (Rent control, permitting requirements, mandatory building laws, etc). California also has…

Oh, I see those as freedom, yes, but not that around my person.

Yeah, there's a lot deregulated in Texas, but for personal freedom it is some seriously big government stuff. In the Bay, I can buy and consume weed or psychedelics, I can drink in the park, I can generally be naked. Texas is very big on government policing personal behaviour. They're not really about individuals having freedom around their person.

Re: Tech workers swore off the Bay Area, now they’re coming back

#117

Post by aritraghosh007 »

muzz wrote: post #113

This should have been absolutely expected. Tech giants were even buying up offices during the pandemic ostensibly in anticipation of larger workforces in the Bay Area.

Google and Facebook both expanded their real estate along the Embarcadero waterfront. On the retail side, Ikea made its first purchase for a retail store in SF. Construction hasn't taken a back seat in SF during the lock down. These stories often get hidden by the catchy headlines of who's shutting down offices and going fully remote.

Re: Tech workers swore off the Bay Area, now they’re coming back

#118

Post by peytn »

gamblor956 wrote: post #103
oceanplexian wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The refusal to follow the CDC guidelines for vaccinated individuals and masks was simply a good example of a government that was/is not interested in following the science, and demonstrates that CA is not going to act rationally in a public health situation. That's not an environment I would want to risk starting a business or investing in.

It sounds like you have an ideological issue rather than a scientific one. CA's lockdowns were based on scientific evidence that COVID19 spreads through the air. Requiring masks was based on that evidence. As there were a lot of scientific unknowns during the past year, the lockdowns were overly broad as a matter of necessity--nobody knew how bad it could get. Moreover, CA's refusal to stick to the lackadaisal CDC gu…

Come on, for a while there we had a “0% ICU capacity” despite empty beds because every COVID patient counted as two people or something [1]. That’s not science.

We did some things right, but the state government really, really is not some bastion of good sense.

[1]: https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/12/29/how-can-california-ha...

Re: Tech workers swore off the Bay Area, now they’re coming back

#119

Post by atatatat »

muzz wrote: post #110
atatatat wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The things I loved about SF seemed to be happening in Miami Almost like smart people can smart anywhere there's a beach.

Yet somehow they didn't before a year ago

Horses tied to a plastic chair don't run sometimes, either.
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