How long before all the Californians make Austin the exact same place they fled from?
I mean, Austin is pretty close already. Their housing prices have been sky-high for a while now, especially compared to Dallas and Houston.
Oracle Moving HQ to Austin
41–50 of 451 posts
Re: Oracle Moving HQ to Austin
#42Likely irrelevant, but reminded me of this[0]: """Basically, we’re moving because of William Whyte‘s rule: virtually all corporate relocations involve a move to a location which is closer to the CEO’s home than the old location. Whyte discovered this principle after an extensive study of Fortune 500 companies that left New York City for the suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s"""
Tesla will likely move its HQ to Texas following Musk's move (if it hasn't already), which would seem to be in line with Whyte's rule. However, it is likely both would have the same underlying reason (legal, financial, taxation or otherwise), rather than just "making it more conventient for musk".
I wonder if Elison or Katz have also moved to Austin recently ......
[0] https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2003/03/28/finding-an-office-...
Re: Oracle Moving HQ to Austin
#43Re: Oracle Moving HQ to Austin
#44How long before all the Californians make Austin the exact same place they fled from?
> How long before all the Californians make Austin the exact same place they fled from? That is a concern. But part of SF's problems is structural: transportation and new construction are constrained by water. That is much less of a concern in Austin.
Have you ever been to Austin? It has the worst transportation network in the entire state of Texas, and that's a really low bar. The bus network is mediocre at best, the rail system (actually only one line) is practically useless, and there's only two highways that are notoriously gridlocked at all hours, even in non rush-hour.
Re: Oracle Moving HQ to Austin
#45I think this is a major news for Silicon Valley. Schwab, HPE, now Oracle. I hope that this would give somebody in California Legislature a pause.
Considering that one of the most prominent legislators literally told Elon Musk to get fucked on Twitter, I doubt anyone is listening.
Assemblywoman Gonzalez is somewhat notorious for being a blowhard on Twitter
Re: Oracle Moving HQ to Austin
#46How long before all the Californians make Austin the exact same place they fled from?
This is a popular joke among conservatives, of course, but the reality is the opposite.
There are two types of people moving from Cali to Austin: people who can't afford living there anymore, and people who can easily afford it but are tired of paying high taxes. The latter group tends to be on the more conservative side (essentially the FYGM section of the political spectrum) and their wealth does give them the ability to influence local politics.
So, if anything, Austin, one of the most liberal cities in America, is more likely to shift to the right as a result of these migrations from California and other blue states.
edit: downvotes by conservatives are laughable lol, keep them coming guys!
Re: Oracle Moving HQ to Austin
#47Shouldn't the republican party be worried? If the trend continues and a lot of companies move from California to Texas bringing along a lot of liberal employees with them, won't that tip the already narrowing margin towards the democratic party?
(This is all conjecture) Whether or not Texas "purpled" because of Trump or population dynamics is an open question in my mind. I think a person's political identity is mostly environmental rather than principled. Yes there are some beliefs which are ingrained in us but mostly those beliefs don't enter into the political arena much.
Californians moving to Texas make it blue-er and themselves red-er. Who knows how this effects the electoral calculus into the future.
Re: Oracle Moving HQ to Austin
#48Is _this_ the point where everyone and their grandpa has finally figured out that Austin is cool, and therefore it is automatically not cool anymore? What's the next hip town?
Perhaps Boulder, unless it's already too late?
Re: Oracle Moving HQ to Austin
#49Average high/low temperatures in the summer for Austin are:
June. 92° / 72°
July. 96° / 74°
August 96° / 74°
Average high/low temperatures in the summer for Cupertino are:
June. 75° / 55°
July. 76° / 58°
August 76° / 58°
Austin will never, ever be like Silicon Valley because of this. The freedom you get from cooler weather is great from an energy utilization stand point and for allowing safer and more desirable conditions outdoors. Not to mention you have much more beautiful choices of nature in Northern California. Think about whenever you travel to Austin for conferences, it's oppressively hot and you basically travel from one air conditioned building to the next. Now imagine 10 years time of increased global warming. California will still be coastal to one of the coldest waters in the world at this latitude, which is a natural air conditioner. To me this spells the end of Oracle's supremacy in anything other than selling smaller and smaller volumes of mainframes. They've started focusing further and further on cost reduction.
Edit: For those downvoting me, Texas is a wasteland of has-been tech companies that couldn't cut it when in competition with the west coast and the rest of the world. Oracle isn't going to change that.
Re: Oracle Moving HQ to Austin
#50How long before all the Californians make Austin the exact same place they fled from?
You're confusing supply-and-demand-driven cost of living with liberal vs conservative politics.
NIMBYism and desires for high-paying jobs cut across the American political spectrum.
(Existing property owners in Austin, however, may be ecstatic if their property is suddenly priced like SF value... but that doesn't mean they're gonna want to relax zoning and increase density and change the shape and character of their neighborhoods, like we're told is the answer for SF.)
(And of course, fleeing higher prices by nature means that *demand is overall higher in the place you're leaving. Which makes it hard to say it's been "ruined.")