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What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

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Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#501

Post by skrebbel »

cperry wrote: post #417
stephencanon wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. South of Palo Alto it gets too hot in the summer. Farther north it gets foggy and cold too often. Palo Alto and Menlo Park have it just right.

Don't forget Redwood City! Climate best by government test. ( http://www.redwoodcity.org/about/local_history/exhibits/clim... )

ehh. isn't that right next to Palo Alto? I'm reading this thread from all across the pond, and when people from towns at biking distance from one another start discussing where the weather is better, I start feeling a bit weird.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#502

Post by jseliger »

DaveInTucson wrote: post #487
jseliger wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've lived in Bellevue, WA, then Worcester, MA, then Seattle, WA, then Tucson, AZ, then New York, NY, and I've never had a problem with sun or its lack. Different people react differently, however, and I still a) went running most days, and b) really like the cultural / lifestyle aspects of living in cities. I prefer the Seattle experience of relatively temperate weather, year-round, to the Tucson experience of insan…

> the Tucson experience of insane heat for about five months of the year. I've got to object to this. Yeah, June and July (and to a lesser extent August) are pretty intense, but I'd hardly characterize the rest of the summer heat as "insane". > I still a) went running most days, I suppose this could be an issue. Especially during the summer rainy season (usually July-early September) it's still pretty hot and the hum…

>I've got to object to this.

Maybe four months of insane heat: mid-May to Mid-September are ridiculous. I can't even ride a bike without sweating like a mule after a mile.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#503

Post by Osiris »

lostlogin wrote: post #17
Osiris wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I first moved to the Bay Area, I got a 40% pay increase, but I calculated at least a 50% increase in cost of living (coming from Salt Lake City), and that was moving to the East Bay. Some days I'm sad I moved away (Denver), other days I'm happy to own a home for a lower payment than my rent in the Bay Area.

Did that pay increase make you better off or was it a net loss?

I was better off in the I received several large raises while I was there. It was actually my first job out of college so it was a bit of a jumping off point for me. I was better off in that sense than had I stayed where I was.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#504

Post by tymekpavel »

cmccabe wrote: post #292
Aloisius wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I commuted to Mountain View from San Francisco on Caltrain. It is doable, but it gets old pretty quick. Also those sports fans that the OP say don't exist much? They all take Caltrain to go to the ballpark at peak commute hours during the season. Also, they allow alcohol on Caltrain. Imagine a packed train full of orange and black with lots of alcohol. With the coming electrification of Caltrain in preparation for hi…

Alcohol isn't allowed on Caltrain on days when there is a sporting event.

Not true. Alcohol is allowed on CalTrain, and is only prohibited after (i.e. on the return trip from) a sporting event.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#505

Post by msellout »

mej10 wrote: post #307
drusenko wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rent control. A lot of people are living/stuck in apartments and paying much, much less in rent. The high rent only applies to new people moving in, and I'd suspect that less new non-tech people are moving in these days.

How is rent control like that legal?

You've got it backwards: rent is controlled by the law.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#506

Post by msellout »

meh01 wrote: post #365
jgmmo wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, a personal attack against the organization whom hosts the article and yet complete avoidance of any consideration of the points made in the article, so refreshing.

The problem is that the article isn't worth even reading because of the source. It's like linking to the AEI or Heritage Foundation or some US Chamber of Commerce stuff. You know what you're going to get, and there's no point wasting cycles.

Regardless of the source (I didn't read it), there are some good arguments for buying non-local, non-organic being better for the environment. Efficient farms use less land to produce the same amount of food. Taxing carbon and pollution appropriately would allow lowest price to correctly indicate what is best for society, including environmental concerns.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#507

Post by crag »

All of you can always move down here to Miami (South Florida). I actually live in Fort Lauderdale across the street from the beach. I do a lot of work in Miami.

For the price you pay for a tiny apartment in NYC you can live VERY well down here. Of course, Florida is crazy.. :) Not to mention you lose your net connection when a storm flies by.

And if you in tech, spanish is a must. Since much of the tech work here is linked to South America. The one exception is medical. Though there is a fair amount of banking work down here too.

Of course you'd be living outside the bubble. That brings it's own drawbacks.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#508

Post by dandandan »

clauretano wrote: post #45
DanBC2 wrote: post #13

>The most crushing aspect I saved for last though. Taxes here are significantly higher than I’ve experienced anywhere. This means you’re squeezed both on your take home pay and your expenses. ...and some weirdness means they don't spend that money on roads, so the road surfaces are lousy . Maybe I've been spoiled by our great road surfaces in UK.

In the northeastern US, they have to fix the roads every spring from damage caused by plows and frost heaving. In SF and other mild cities, there's now much seasonal component to road maintenance so roads tend to go much long between repaves. Similar stories play out in cities like Seattle.

What freeways in the northeastern US have average daily traffic volumes above 300k? Do those have alternative routes or see significant traffic volumes overnight? It's tough in Southern California because of a lack of north/south transit corridors.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#509

Post by arethuza »

petercooper wrote: post #63
jrabone wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or Edinburgh. Maybe it's places starting with 'E'...

Truth. Edinburgh has the worst road surfaces and quality of any British city I've driven in (one of the nicer cities otherwise though!)

You do know that we have a lot of cobbled streets here in Edinburgh? ;-)

On a serious note - I think the ongoing billion pound Great Tram Fiasco resulted in a lot of streets being left half-repaired for a long time as they were once part of the ever-shrinking tram route. Either that or the council is saving money on road repairs to help pay for it.

Or it might be part of the ongoing attempt to discourage driving in the city - which I don't mind as I pretty much walk everywhere!

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#510

Post by ableal »

hyperbovine wrote: post #448
jseliger wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've lived in Bellevue, WA, then Worcester, MA, then Seattle, WA, then Tucson, AZ, then New York, NY, and I've never had a problem with sun or its lack. Different people react differently, however, and I still a) went running most days, and b) really like the cultural / lifestyle aspects of living in cities. I prefer the Seattle experience of relatively temperate weather, year-round, to the Tucson experience of insan…

> Obviously nowhere else in the U.S. is going to rival the weather experience of the CA coast. Did you not read the article? :-) Seriously, summers in the city (of San Francisco) can be miserable , at least insofar as your definition of summer includes wearing fewer clothes and dining outdoors. In general the coast of California north of say, Seal Beach, is not an enjoyable place to be after sunset, anywhere. Even in…

The west coast of Europe has a big advantage over that of the USA: the Gulf stream.

It's nice to have an ocean-sized "hot water bottle", running at about 15C in winter.

(Also: http://www.snopes.com/quotes/twain.asp )

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