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Could Atlanta Buy A Silicon Valley?

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Re: Could Atlanta Buy A Silicon Valley?

#11

Post by rjurney »

lacker wrote: post #9
rjurney wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, sort of. There are large Asian communities in the suburbs between Buford Highway and Duluth, and the Asian population of Georgia Tech (around which most startups are based) is not insignificant. While racism is a problem in the South, thats not going to be an issue for hackers in the city. Quite the opposite: Atlanta is a diverse, tolerant place.

Atlanta is diverse and tolerant by the standards of Georgia, but it is a far cry from California or NYC. Just the perception of the entire South as an unfriendly place for non-white people will prevent many people from moving there. Plus, it is hard to attract immigrants - a lot of smart hacker immigrants would never move to a "red state".

Right, but I don't think you've actually spent any time in Atlanta, because what you are saying is wrong.

I live here, and I've spent time in California, North Carolina, Ohio, all the places you mention and Atlanta is as tolerant as California. Midtown Atlanta is the most gay accepting place outside of West Hollywood or the Castro, and if you think there is a shortage of Asians here you've obviously never been here.

You're just projecting your own prejudices. You don't know anything about Atlanta.

Re: Could Atlanta Buy A Silicon Valley?

#13

Post by rjurney »

lacker wrote: post #10
patrickg-zill wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you speaking from experience, or your own prejudice? How about this - many Asians settle in CA because it means they are only a plane trip away from relatives in Asia. As an example: JFK to Manila means a travel time of 24 hours due to 1 or 2 stops; LAX or SFO to Manila if going direct is 12 hours. Nothing to do whatsoever with "racism and intolerance".

I am speaking from the experience of having lived in Ohio, North Carolina, and San Francisco. The proximity to Asia is definitely another factor, but there is definitely at least a perception of racism in the South that discourages Asian and foreigners from moving there.

Even though you are wrong, and speak from inexperience and prejudice, your opinion does point out something important: people like you have a prejudice against Atlanta as 'backwards' because it is in a region with different social problems than you are used to.

Re: Could Atlanta Buy A Silicon Valley?

#14

Post by lanceweatherby »

I don't know how in the heck an article answering the questions that PG posed turned into a string of comments about racism and calling people meatheads.

But since someone opened the door and let the big elephant in the room, I am going to go ahead and admit that it's standing there. The sub-culture of technology startups is dominated by white males. Minorities are not represented at the same proportion of their general population percentages anywhere in the country. I am not saying its right and we should all work to correct the issue. But it is. Look at the YC companies. Look at the TechCunch50. Look at Demo. Saying that it's just Atlanta is unfounded stereotyping.

It would be much more beneficial to discuss Atlanta and other cities on the criteria that PG laid out. In my article I pointed out that Atlanta could be more tolerant. The city is not alone.

Re: Could Atlanta Buy A Silicon Valley?

#15

Post by jackowayed »

jraines wrote: post #6

I heard that Atlantic Station condos are going for bargain basement prices right now (a friend is hoping to sell for a 60K loss) -- walk to movies, food, and groceries and bike to Tech Square. It's tempting to think of what living in Atlanta could be without its defining characteristic (godawful traffic). Without going into all the other factors, Atlanta does have the necessary condition -- a concentration of smart p…

I think the Bay Area has proven that godawful traffic and being a startup hub are far from mutually exclusive.

Re: Could Atlanta Buy A Silicon Valley?

#16

Post by jhancock »

lacker wrote: post #5

One big problem with starting businesses in the South is racism and intolerance of outsiders. A key part of Silicon Valley is attracting the best talent from anywhere in the world, and it's going to be hard to do that in Atlanta. For example (from Wikipedia), Atlanta is 2% Asian. San Francisco is 33% Asian. In fact 36% of San Franciscans were born outside the US. edit: I do not mean to say that southern == racist. Fa…

I lived in Atlanta for 10 years (went to school at Georgia Tech). I moved there when the population just hit 2MM; now its 5.5MM!!...back in the day when you would expect it to be _more_ racist.

I am now married to a Chinese lady. I've lived in Shanghai the last 9 years. I wouldn't worry at all abut moving my wife and 4-year-old "hybrid" son to Atlanta. Neither would I worry about moving them to my very small home town in south Georgia.

Re: Could Atlanta Buy A Silicon Valley?

#18

Post by lacker »

rjurney wrote: post #11
lacker wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Atlanta is diverse and tolerant by the standards of Georgia, but it is a far cry from California or NYC. Just the perception of the entire South as an unfriendly place for non-white people will prevent many people from moving there. Plus, it is hard to attract immigrants - a lot of smart hacker immigrants would never move to a "red state".

Right, but I don't think you've actually spent any time in Atlanta, because what you are saying is wrong. I live here, and I've spent time in California, North Carolina, Ohio, all the places you mention and Atlanta is as tolerant as California. Midtown Atlanta is the most gay accepting place outside of West Hollywood or the Castro, and if you think there is a shortage of Asians here you've obviously never been here.…

I'm not trying to say anything bad about Atlantans. I'm just saying that there are much fewer Asian-Americans and foreign-born people in Atlanta than in San Francisco, and that makes it hard to attract more to Atlanta. (And these groups are a signature of Silicon Valley.)

some census data from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/13/1304000.html and http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/0667000.html :

  Atlanta:
  1.9% Asian
  3.6% of companies are Asian-owned
  6.6% foreign-born

  San Francisco:
  30.8% Asian
  21.4% of companies are Asian-owned
  36.8% foreign-born

Re: Could Atlanta Buy A Silicon Valley?

#19

Post by etal »

tptacek wrote: post #3
etal wrote: post #2

Atlanta feels more like Chicago than SF to me -- the sprawl is worse, the weather is better (but it's certainly not the California coast), and the meathead culture is substantial although I'm not sure I can compare it to Chicago's. The Olympics were a good thing for the downtown area, and there is some government willpower to make it more appealing to entrpreneurs -- notably in biotech. With the CDC, Emory, and Georg…

Chicago isn't a sprawl city. San Diego and San Jose definitely are. I don't know what a "meathead culture" is, but your favorite band is more likely to play here than in Atlanta or San Francisco.

Sorry, no disrespect intended by the "meathead" phrase -- the edit link is gone now, but I meant whether a city council would rather invest in 1000 startups or a football stadium. Sports seem pretty popular in Chicago and ATL, less so in SF, with SD somewhere in the middle.

SF city apparently killed off its own music scene in cold blood during the last decade, but Atlanta's is alive and well right now.

Re: Could Atlanta Buy A Silicon Valley?

#20

Post by lacker »

rjurney wrote: post #13
lacker wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am speaking from the experience of having lived in Ohio, North Carolina, and San Francisco. The proximity to Asia is definitely another factor, but there is definitely at least a perception of racism in the South that discourages Asian and foreigners from moving there.

Even though you are wrong, and speak from inexperience and prejudice, your opinion does point out something important: people like you have a prejudice against Atlanta as 'backwards' because it is in a region with different social problems than you are used to.

I wouldn't say that Atlanta is backwards. I am only confident of saying that a perception of unfriendliness to Asians and foreign-born people prevents many people from those groups from moving there.

So, I'm open to being proven wrong here. And I'm having a hard time finding any hard data either for or against this. Is there really a perception among Asians and foreigners that Atlanta is an unfriendly place?

The closest thing I can find to data is demographics. But the size of a population is only somewhat correlated to tolerance. I can find some polls but they don't have much data. Any other thoughts?

polls: http://www.city-data.com/forum/city-vs-city/572890-what-best...

http://goldsea.com/PAC/index.php?showtopic=278

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