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Why Oakland's a Tech Start-up Game Changer

oaklandlocal.com

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Re: Why Oakland's a Tech Start-up Game Changer

#11
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> have begun driving up renting costs The two bedroom I rented near the 19th St BART in Oakland was $1,700 in 2009 and is now on the market for over $4,000 a month.

In Oakland? That seems about right, considering it's a 2 bedroom, a comparable spot in SF would be closer to $6 or $7k. Out of curiosity do you know the folks living their now? I'm always curious to hear who these people that are making enough money to justify a $4k rent payment. The Bay Area never ceases to amaze me. The rent prices are so crazy yet the pay increase is negligible.

A couple both making six figures is basically what's happening there, or someone has decided it's OK to be 'rent poor'.

Re: Why Oakland's a Tech Start-up Game Changer

#12
post #3

Great article. The diversity in tech is definitely apparent in Oakland. Not just in employee demographics, but in how companies tend to think in a different manner. The article mentions that start-ups in Oakland are driven by a social mission, and it's very true. I work at VSCO and we're based in Oakland. VSCO is not about giving likes, being popular, or generating money through ads. We are simply about empowering th…

> I like to think that the tech companies coming to Oakland also share a sentiment of contributing to social causes bigger than themselves. I'm pretty skeptical. It's telling, too, that there was no mention of the big companies with their names on towers.

I interviewed with one of them, and they picked a fight with me about advertising because I felt my previous employer had taken the absolute lowest possible road. I continually tried to acquiesce, even noting that they had a paid option, and they basically said that they hate their paid customers, who they lose money on (why not charge us more?!?), and that they only ever did a paid option because they were forced to.

Pretty sure I had been using their fucking service longer than anyone I interviewed with there, but whatever. ;)

Re: Why Oakland's a Tech Start-up Game Changer

#13
post #10

I don't live in the US, but it's weird: downtown San Francisco people tend to look down on Oakland, but every time I've been, San Francisco is unique in having human feces on the streets. In Oakland: there's a bunch of parks, a hacker space called the sudo room, a bunch of JS related companies included npm Inc are headquartered there and the last JSFest was there.

Please do not try to understand this through such a narrow lens.

San Francisco has human feces because it is one of the only cities in the USA which has not completely criminalized homelesness, because there are a lot of services there, and because once people decide that San Francisco is home, they really, really, really do not want to leave.

First of all, there are plenty of human feces in Oakland, but again, let's try and crawl away from that lens. If you become homeless in Oakland, the best advice I can give you is to spend your last $5 on a BART ticket to San Francisco. Oakland and a lot of Alameda County's solution to these sort of problems are a humongous jail called Santa Rita which is comparable to the size of the nearby San Quentin prison. Most of the people in there are there for minor crimes related to homelessness or poverty, and their situations escalate once they enter what is a major portal to our for-profit prison system, which per-capita is the most heavily populated in the world.

Re: Why Oakland's a Tech Start-up Game Changer

#14
post #10

I don't live in the US, but it's weird: downtown San Francisco people tend to look down on Oakland, but every time I've been, San Francisco is unique in having human feces on the streets. In Oakland: there's a bunch of parks, a hacker space called the sudo room, a bunch of JS related companies included npm Inc are headquartered there and the last JSFest was there.

Please do not try to understand this through such a narrow lens. San Francisco has human feces because it is one of the only cities in the USA which has not completely criminalized homelesness, because there are a lot of services there, and because once people decide that San Francisco is home, they really, really, really do not want to leave. First of all, there are plenty of human feces in Oakland, but again, let's…

I'm glad you acknowledge the problem, but I think you're understanding it through a narrow lens yourself: there are many cities worldwide with the the same levels of homeslessness as San Francisco (or higher), none are as filthy. Hell even in the US Portland has methheads everywhere: they don't shit on the street. SF has a unique problem.

Your claims about for profit prisons may be true, but they don't change the fact that San Francisco is uniquely filthy.

Re: Why Oakland's a Tech Start-up Game Changer

#15
post #7

According to Wikipedia, "Oakland has the fifth largest cluster of 'elite zip codes' ranked by the number of households with the highest combination of income and education". That's a good sign. On the other hand, Oakland is also persistently near the top of the list of most dangerous cities in the US. One recent report put it at #2 [1]. That's generally not a good sign. Is there much interaction between the high inco…

To answer part of your question, the high-income/education zip codes are residential neighborhoods in the hills and more northern neighborhoods. This has been the case for a century. The zips on the lower end are also residential neighborhoods, but in the flats of the East and West parts of town. This area has been in stagnation since the early post-war years. Neither interact with each other almost at all, rarely even sharing schools.

Neither are areas where any business would establish itself, because most all of Oakland are old fashioned post-war neighborhoods. Downtown Oakland, and the meat of the city's desk & cubicle type of office spaces are in the center near the lake and the bridge. This is a very small area without a whole lot of commercial development starts, current or planned. A surprising amount of high density residential real estate priced for upper-middle class types are slowly appearing. These projects are eating away at the old retail/warehouse space that would typically be turned into new commercial development. There is an alternate universe where Twitter moved to Oakland/Emeryville and brought the mid-Market/Castro-East craziness with it...

[Also, there is plenty of violent crime throughout the Valley. It doesn't show up very well in crime statistics and reports because how closely intertwined it is with the poor, semi-homeless and meth. Nobody likes to talk about it, and it is very good at hiding in the bushes (literally).]

Re: Why Oakland's a Tech Start-up Game Changer

#16
“Oakland has a unique opportunity. It has an opportunity that no other region has anywhere in the world, so if Oakland can’t do it, no one else can,” Selassie said.

I don't see any reason to believe that. I mean if Oakland pulls it off -- diversifying tech and becoming an important hub in that regard -- awesome. But I see no reason to believe that it has to be something in the SF Bay Area. Part of what made Silicon Valley a growth opportunity is that that area was relatively undeveloped and it was, thus, cheap. Historically, a lot of our biggest companies were founded during a recession or depression and a lot of stuff was founded someplace cheap. In order to go live someplace expensive, you need to already be making good money. By definition, brand spanking new businesses and industries are not doing that.

So I don't see any real reason to believe that any place in the SFBA is The Spot to bet on for becoming "the next Silicon Valley -- only for X thing or with X twist."

Re: Why Oakland's a Tech Start-up Game Changer

#17
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I like to think that the tech companies coming to Oakland also share a sentiment of contributing to social causes bigger than themselves. I'm pretty skeptical. It's telling, too, that there was no mention of the big companies with their names on towers.

Your skepticism for the bigger companies is certainly just. My comments are more inclined to smaller start-ups like GoldieBlox and Qeyno.

There's lots of little startups with lofty goals wherever you look. I don't think Watsi[1] means anything in particular for the character of San Francisco.

[1]: or twitter for that matter, though I'm sure no one will agree with me

Re: Why Oakland's a Tech Start-up Game Changer

#18
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please do not try to understand this through such a narrow lens. San Francisco has human feces because it is one of the only cities in the USA which has not completely criminalized homelesness, because there are a lot of services there, and because once people decide that San Francisco is home, they really, really, really do not want to leave. First of all, there are plenty of human feces in Oakland, but again, let's…

I'm glad you acknowledge the problem, but I think you're understanding it through a narrow lens yourself: there are many cities worldwide with the the same levels of homeslessness as San Francisco (or higher), none are as filthy. Hell even in the US Portland has methheads everywhere: they don't shit on the street. SF has a unique problem. Your claims about for profit prisons may be true, but they don't change the fac…

Agreed. San Francisco is the filthiest city I've ever worked in. That the residents appear A-OK with public activity that would at least warrant a visit by social services or the cops in other cities amuses and amazes.

Re: Why Oakland's a Tech Start-up Game Changer

#19
post #4

Oakland is incredibly close to San Francisco. If you want all the benefits of being in Silicon Valley's startup network with only a fraction of the cost, then Oakland is your spot. The only downside is that many businesses already realize this and have begun driving up renting costs.

> have begun driving up renting costs The two bedroom I rented near the 19th St BART in Oakland was $1,700 in 2009 and is now on the market for over $4,000 a month.

[deleted]

Re: Why Oakland's a Tech Start-up Game Changer

#20
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> have begun driving up renting costs The two bedroom I rented near the 19th St BART in Oakland was $1,700 in 2009 and is now on the market for over $4,000 a month.

In Oakland? That seems about right, considering it's a 2 bedroom, a comparable spot in SF would be closer to $6 or $7k. Out of curiosity do you know the folks living their now? I'm always curious to hear who these people that are making enough money to justify a $4k rent payment. The Bay Area never ceases to amaze me. The rent prices are so crazy yet the pay increase is negligible.

16th St BART is in San Francisco (in the mission). As crazy as rents are, they're not yet $6-7k for a 2BR in the city (unless you're talking super luxury).
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