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Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

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Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#511
post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> the Bay Area >> libertarian paradise > What a strange notion. San Francisco has some of the most paternalistic laws in the US Not sure if you are aware but the Bay area is much bigger than just San Francisco. San Francisco isn't even the biggest city. There are very libertarian subcultures of the broader Bay Area, including in San Francisco, but most notably among the wealthy and business owners of Silicon Valley.

Not sure if you’re aware, but many of the links I shared are about the Bay Area as a whole . > libertarian subcultures I’m sure there are lots of subcultures. What does this have to do with who is actually governing?

> I’m sure there are lots of subcultures. What does this have to do with who is actually governing?

A whole lot. Look no further than the recent ballot initiative won by Uber and Lyft against classifying drivers as full employees, or similarly failed ballot initiative to remove prop 13 from commercial property taxes. The direction of both results was very much in the libertarian direction.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#513
post #492

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Easy access to nature means I can go on a scenic five-mile hike between lunch and dinner. It means I can see a beautiful view without planning a day trip. I can meet with groups of friends of all fitness levels and enjoy a pleasant afternoon outdoors where we all have fun. I can go see thousands of migratory birds a few miles from my apartment. Half Moon Bay is 30-45 minutes away, depending on road conditions. Fairly…

> Easy access to nature means I can go on a scenic five-mile hike between lunch and dinner. So can I, as I mentioned there's a major state park within the city limits where I live... > It means I can see a beautiful view without planning a day trip. Incredibly vague and subjective. What constitutes a "beautiful view"? > I can meet with groups of friends of all fitness levels and enjoy a pleasant afternoon outdoors wh…

I'm not sure why you feel this need to argue that other regions are just as good as the Bay Area. Are you a tourism promoter? Whether you're right in absolute terms is insubstantial. What matters is that hundreds of thousands of people feel the way I do, and that's why we moved here or stayed here.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#514
At the end of the day you cannot underestimate the value of being surrounded by high caliber people and how it will impact you. People will always have to pay a premium for that. Which is why cities like SF and NYC will always have a draw for young and ambitious people who don't mind living in rat holes.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#515

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My experience living in an area that has high net migration from California is that the people leaving bring California's policies with them.

Anything specific? One guess I'd have is that an influx of new people creates that anti-housing response anywhere which can lead to some of the same problems. I suspect that's less about CA policy and more about bad incentives around housing being an investment in the US. If you mean that most people from CA don't like Trump (or the Republican support/defense of him), then yeah I think you're probably right about tha…

It's not as pronounced here in WA as it is in say Nevada. But, things that I see in WA, off the top of my head (not all government policy):

1 - anti-housing like you say. You see lots of signs in my neighborhood wishing against more-dense housing, despite (relatively) astronomical pricing. At least in Seattle, we do have an issue where we're constrained by water so there isn't a lot of places to build that aren't very far out. So density really is the only solution if you're going to keep computes reasonable. The only people who can afford to buy the existing not-dense housing have a ton of money or income (or both). A >$1m SFH is just not affordable in a city where median household income is $100k.

2 - push against increasing property tax. Sort of a corollary to the housing bit. Which gets doubly odd because we have no income tax in WA. Weirdly regressive.

3 - the strange and ineffectual CA-style push against "assault rifles" as the main item of gun control, despite the fact that all rifles nation-wide kill ~300/yr while pistols kill 30,000/yr, 10k of which are homicide. I say ineffectual because Amdahl's law is a thing, so even if you did magically disappear all riles in the country, it would have a ~1% impact on gun violence.

4 - restaurants heating the out of doors. This spiked a lot with coronavirus so it's hard to talk about now. (This might also be me projecting because I myself am an implant from the Midwest (yes I am a hypocrite), and heating the out of doors is just complete insanity to me)

5 - Many more good restaurants in general though. Sadly, still not a lot of good mexican restaurants.

6 - a change in coffee styles. Take from that what you will, people are kinda religious about it here.

It's really hard to pick out what's actually influenced by CA implants, vs what is just homegrown.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of failed research parks, oil wells, railroads, gold mining operations. The thing with oil wells, railroads, and gold mining, is that geography/geology matters more than path dependence. Silicon Valley and Hollywood, and to a lesser extent NYC and London, are more about path dependence. Their dominance in their sectors seem more resulting from, if anything specific to point to, legal factors, than geography or a…

Hollywood is what Hollywood is largely due to its geography. Within a ~4 hour drive of Hollywood its possible to get to an area of california that looks at least passingly (for the purpose of movie making at least) similar to more or less anywhere in the world. This isn't the map i was looking for, but gives you the basic idea https://brilliantmaps.com/california-filming-map/ . The Geographic diversity around Hollywo…

The climate too. Always sunny (good lighting). Warm, but not too hot.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with going to restaurants and public events? If people don't want to be locked down, there's not much you can do about that.

I did not state one way or the other in my comment about whether it was right or wrong, and frankly my opinion on that topic is not of importance to my point here. I stated that it seems clear that these people are moving way from temporary restrictions (by relocating to places that do not have the same restrictions), and that there is no guarantee that any of these will be 'permanent' moves after those restrictions…

It's certainly a factor, but "temporary" concerns are probably not significant enough to cause people to move. Moving is a big ordeal unless you are young and can pack everything you own into a car.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#518

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you serious? SF's Castro is the gay capital of the world. Summer of Love. The Emerald triangle. The Hells Angels. I could go on.

But why there? Why not somewhere else? Only seemingly non-random factor you gave is the Emerald Triangle, which could be the answer.

Ahh, sorry. I think I mis-read your comment. I thought you were questioning the existence of free-wheeling culture in CA.

As to why CA, I don't think there is any one reason. The weather and geography are huge. It was a lightly populated state in the 1950s, so real estate was much cheaper than on the heavily populated east coast (big for both start ups and 'artistic' types). And the gold rush mentality is/was pervasive, which I personally think leads to a government and culture that is generally supportive of start ups and small businesses. While CA has a reputation for being unfriendly to businesses, the taxes and regulations are largely targeting big businesses. So that leaves more room for small start ups to compete.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#519

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't about urban vs rural. Thinking SV is such a joke it must be run by clowns is one of the (few, but these kinds of people have more in common than you'd think) things that inner city types and people from the panhandle of any state that has a panhandle have in common.

Comments like this make me wonder if the end of SV meme is some kind of psyops campaign.

It's not. It really is just that disconnected from the everyday realities of the rest of the country.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#520
post #515

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anything specific? One guess I'd have is that an influx of new people creates that anti-housing response anywhere which can lead to some of the same problems. I suspect that's less about CA policy and more about bad incentives around housing being an investment in the US. If you mean that most people from CA don't like Trump (or the Republican support/defense of him), then yeah I think you're probably right about tha…

It's not as pronounced here in WA as it is in say Nevada. But, things that I see in WA, off the top of my head (not all government policy): 1 - anti-housing like you say. You see lots of signs in my neighborhood wishing against more-dense housing, despite (relatively) astronomical pricing. At least in Seattle, we do have an issue where we're constrained by water so there isn't a lot of places to build that aren't ver…

What's wrong with heat lamps for outdoor dining, especially when it's cold?
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