Google Plans Large New York City Expansion • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#391

Post by CydeWeys » Mon, Nov 12, 2018, 3:59 PM UTC

gwright wrote: post #72

CydeWeys wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NYC is such a big city that you can find everything and everyone here. You're more likely to feel out of place culturally in a small city if you can't find your subculture there, whereas in NYC your subculture is guaranteed to exist. How many hacker groups, meetups, and conventions does random small city have, for example? Or gaming? Or anime? Or comics? We've got all that in spades.

It is still a city. Is it that hard to accept that not everyone wants to live in a city, never mind a metropolis like NYC?

The problem, though, is that the density outside of cities doesn't exist to support the talent pool required for a large office of a major multinational corporation. By the time you've added enough people to have a sustainable population for the highest tier of a given industry -- which includes multiple alternative employers plus the whole attendant service industry -- you end up with a city.

Of course I accept that not everyone wants to live in a city. The point is, though, that you have to make serious sacrifices if that's your first priority -- you need to either accept a long miserable commute, or acknowledge that you're limiting your ability to grow into the top tier of your chosen profession. Cities have very real beneficial network effects for businesses.

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#392

Post by CydeWeys » Mon, Nov 12, 2018, 4:50 PM UTC

thaumasiotes wrote: post #363

CydeWeys wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it possible to do this without a car, though? Because in NYC you don't need a car even to live an hour away on transit, and a car is a pretty substantial monthly expense.

Yes, it's possible to do it without a car. See my cousin comment.

I'm not just referring to the commute though, I mean is the neighborhood you're living in itself built around not requiring a car? I live in a dense part of Manhattan where the majority of people don't own vehicles and most needs can be fulfilled simply by walking a few blocks; is this true of South Hayward?

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#393

Post by ciferkey » Tue, Nov 13, 2018, 2:56 PM UTC

Alex3917 wrote: post #295

TulliusCicero wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The rest of the country desperately needs real industry and good paying jobs - and will go to huge lengths to try to get them No they don't. Tax breaks aren't enough. One of the big reasons a lot of people really like NYC is that it's one of the few cities in the US that actually feels like a city. NYC is urbanist in a way that relatively few American cities are (and most of the other cities in this category are al…

NYC literally has an app where anyone can press a button if they're standing somewhere where they feel like a tree should be planted, and if you press the button a couple hours later a group of guys will show up and start digging a hole and plant the tree. For all of its problems, it's the only city that works at least somewhat like a city should.

This sounds awesome! Do you know what the app is called?

Re: Google Plans Large New York City Expansion

#394

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Nov 14, 2018, 1:50 AM UTC

CydeWeys wrote: post #391

gwright wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is still a city. Is it that hard to accept that not everyone wants to live in a city, never mind a metropolis like NYC?

The problem, though, is that the density outside of cities doesn't exist to support the talent pool required for a large office of a major multinational corporation. By the time you've added enough people to have a sustainable population for the highest tier of a given industry -- which includes multiple alternative employers plus the whole attendant service industry -- you end up with a city. Of course I accept that…

[deleted]