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Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

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201–210 of 1001 posts

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#201
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are not impossible problems. They are fixable and we need to agree on the root cause before we can talk about solutions.

There are reforms that would fix the problems. But they are politically impossible to enact. Moving to a city that already has a functioning society is something one person can do without permission. So people do.

What are examples of cities with functioning societies? My backup plan was NYC, but thanks to de Blasio that's now out.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#202
post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, its society and its lack of compassion does it. Not "the homeless".

San Francisco has a lack of compassion? News to me.

What would call it when one of the richest cities doesn't give a shit about wide-spread homelessness and drug abuse?

Sure, people may talk about it to virtue-signal, but nothing gets actually done that would help.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh yea, I agree the natural beauty is astounding. It's the extreme left wing, near Bolshevik culture and attitude that has destroyed it for me. I say this as a lifelong democrat.

[flagged]

It's only Bolshevik to Americans who don't actually understand the meaning of that word, or any related concept for that matter because of the incessant propaganda they're subjected to

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#204

These HN comments don't seem to grasp that there are two distinct groups of people here, and these trends can/will counteract eachother: the ones that are in the city for work, and the ones that are in the city because they love cities. COVID creates an exodus of one, but people in the latter category are also moving into cities as well as prices drop and they are no longer priced out. HN folks love to complain about…

> who are very much not doing as well mentally and are looking forward to being back in the city.

Why do you think they're not doing as well mentally? Isolation? Lack of things to do?

I've noticed that the pandemic really emphasizes my relationships with my neighbors. We've never been so close, and now all of our world is smaller, so we're talking a lot more from our balconies, sharing recipes and planting tips. It's nice but certainly a throwback to older times where you knew all of your neighbors.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#205

These HN comments don't seem to grasp that there are two distinct groups of people here, and these trends can/will counteract eachother: the ones that are in the city for work, and the ones that are in the city because they love cities. COVID creates an exodus of one, but people in the latter category are also moving into cities as well as prices drop and they are no longer priced out. HN folks love to complain about…

To add to your point: my friends in the suburbs aren’t weathering the pandemic any better than my city dwelling friends. Even my more rural friends are complaining because their communities are now overrun with people heading up to their cabin, with hunting/fishing/outdoor/firearms stuff all being hard to find and expensive due to increased demand. And they probably have reason to be scared because high quality medical care is scarcer and further away so their healthcare networks are at greater risk of being overrun

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#206
post #132
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hiking/cycling/camping can be crazy socially distant and probably one of the best things you can do for your own mental and physical health right now. A ride up Tam isn’t going to be any more or less dangerous than it was before. Outside of a few extremely popular spots it is not restricted in Washington, at least to my knowledge. If it is in the Bay/CA then it is news to me. In any case, that stuff will still be the…

Hiking in the Bay Area is extremely difficult right now. You have to wear a mask EVERYWHERE outside where you are near people. On trails with 90+F weather you have to put your mask on every 30 seconds with how many people there are, it's a mess. My mental health is not improving when there are a million people all trying to do outdoor activities in the limited space we have nearby.

I can't believe California is making people where masks outdoors.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#207

As a native San Franciscan, I can only say, “bye Felicia!” With all the techbros and bankers fleeing home to connecticut or wherever it is they’re from, we can rebuild our destroyed community. Hopefully this will spread to San Mateo County and the Santa Clara valley. Startup brats have turned oir vibrant, freaky, hippy, radical home into a bedroom community for the most boring rich people in the world. Covid is a god…

Those Felicias are the majority of the tax base, and fund all of the initiatives that rebuild communities. Falling housing prices -> falling property taxes -> less funding for schools. Even the new revenue tax passed last year to fund homeless programs is based employees being in SF, when they leave, no more funding. Not to mention all the money the Felicias pump into the local economy by ubering to brunch to buy the…

Shrug. Rationalize their existance all you want, but we will get by just fine.

Do you know why San Francisco has always been expensive?

Because it’s so worth it. We will do just fine without the parasitic green-eyed monsters who have invaded our homes since Web 2.0.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#208
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't make much sense either -- many companies will happily employ people from India or Brazil if they live in SF or Chicago. Why are the "cultural/communication problems" not present then?

People in the US from other countries have often assimilated at least some US culture. Or will be expected to assimilate important cultural issues more rapidly in an office in the US with mostly US cultured people than in an office elsewhere with few US cultured people. Many of the communication problems are rapidly addressed with constant realtime communication that happens in a shared office but doesn't with teams…

There's also a big difference between one or two people from other places on an American team, which will still behave like an American team, and a team of people entirely from country X, which will behave like a country X team.

Exhibit A: https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/01/tech/cisco-lawsuit-caste-disc...

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#209
post #141
post #24

It seems very tough to draw any conclusions on this just yet. The media has clearly latched onto a storyline of a mass exodus from American cities, but the reality is probably much more complex. It seems plausible that SF already had such low inventory numbers that any change would look huge on a chart like this, though that doesn’t appear to be the case in the other highly competitive markets seen here. I’d love to…

> But cities have enduring appeal - proximity to people and culture and things to do is just as much a factor as proximity to work. Proximity to people may be something that loses appeal in the medium term. This is a suspicion rather than anything that can be evidenced yet, we'll see how it plays out, but I think it might start counting as a negative, or less as a positive, for a while.

Few people are going to restructure their entire life over medium terms concerns, if they can avoid it.

Re: Remote work is reshaping San Francisco, as tech workers flee and rents fall

#210

These HN comments don't seem to grasp that there are two distinct groups of people here, and these trends can/will counteract eachother: the ones that are in the city for work, and the ones that are in the city because they love cities. COVID creates an exodus of one, but people in the latter category are also moving into cities as well as prices drop and they are no longer priced out. HN folks love to complain about…

Do you mind giving examples of what you have access to in NYC when so many things are shuttered right now? As for "white flight" it's more of a "white collar flight" where people with money and resources and higher income remote jobs will leave as long as living conditions suck.

> Do you mind giving examples of what you have access to in NYC when so many things are shuttered right now?

Right now, I've basically reallocated my budget of city activities towards local restaurants, and I've been eating a ton of great delivery. As the cases have slowed, I'm cautiously considering outdoor dining. Either way, I'm eating great food right now.

I live in Brooklyn, so Prospect Park (central park of the borough) is always nice for walks or distanced picnics with friends. My local neighborhood is also just generally pleasant for walks. Many outdoor farmers markets are still in full swing.

There's an outdoor climbing gym in Dumbo that I can walk to from my apartment, and I go there now as well even. Full contact tracing, check-in/out, reservation system, the whole nine yards. Not many places have a large outdoor climbing gym.

All of this is also powered by people actually following mask laws and it being summer. I'm fully aware winter is going to be less fun, but I'm ready to weather that and order lots of good delivery.

> As for "white flight" it's more of a "white collar flight" where people with money and resources and higher income remote jobs will leave as long as living conditions suck.

Well put, and I think that will be a big positive for cities if it continues.

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