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Why San Francisco's way of doing business beat Los Angeles'
- Animats 11y agoAt least LA has low and medium wage jobs.
- ill0gicity 11y agoSan Francisco does as well. I'm going to sound like a rich white male when I say this, and it's not intended that way, but who do you think takes out the trash at all the tech companies? Where do those tech bros eat their meals when not provided by said tech companies? Who builds out all the tech companies' new offices? Who-- Oh. The problem San Francisco seems to have is all the low and medium wage jobs appear to support the tech companies. There are few artisans and craftsmen in SF.
- hugh4 11y agoYou can't really compare SF to LA, because SF is a tiny, arbitrary corner of a giant metropolitan area, whereas Los Angeles is a much larger equally arbitrary slice of another giant metropolitan area. Anyway the point is that if you're going to compare SF to something compare it to a couple of LA suburbs, maybe Downtown + Hollywood + Bel Air or something.
- jshaqaw 11y agoAgree with you Hugh. Per capita comparisons are silly given the vast population differential. I love San Fran and am no basher here but the geography+zoning of San Fran makes it an enclave for the high income with no place for anything else. Unfortunately unlike Lake Wobegon everyone can't be above average income. Not sure if San Fran has applicable lessons outside its little zone.
- markdown 11y ago> There are few artisans and craftsmen in SF. I've been led to believe the exact opposite. Apparently web designers (they like to use fancier names these days) from SF spend all their time artisanally handcrafting websites.
- themoonbus 11y agoWhere do those people live, though?
- iolothebard 11y agoRichmond, San Leandro, Pacifica, Freemont, Oakland (non-gentrified areas), Concord, ... Pretty much the ends of BART.
- WWLink 11y agoOr live in Vallejo/Benicia/Fairfield for that extra $5 bridge toll shudder I was thinking about it, there is one thing LA beats the bay area at - if you live an hour away from work, paying a toll is just an option (for high speed lanes, if they exist). In SF, you either pay the toll or you.. don't cross the bridge, because there's no other choice! But growing up in the Bay Area, I never thought a 6 mile commute would take me 40 minutes on a day with horrible traffic. Thankfully, it's usually only 20 minutes! Another thing about LA: The traffic lights are really the worst thing. Even the 405 during rush hour isn't that bad - just a typic freeway parking lot. I've seen 80 look just like it! Now, for a uniquely Los Angeles experience.. here goes: You're waiting about a block and a half from the next red light in evening traffic. Finally, the light turns green, but cars aren't moving. You need to turn left up at the intersection, but the left turn lane begins about 5 cars from the limit line. The light turns yellow, and then red. Finally, the cars in front of you start moving again. So you start moving, and wonder if you'll actually get into the left turn lane.... sadly no. There's 2 cars in front of you, and a cement median that keeps you from waiting in line. Lather, rinse, repeat. The light turns green, cars move, you're finally in the left turn lane at pole position! In the midst of that you watched a handful of fed up people run the red arrow because they couldn't stand waiting 5 minutes for yet another green light. Eventually, you get going.
- shalmanese 11y agoOr: The high cost of housing has pushed all the poor people out of SF.
- bjwbell 11y agoOccam's razor strikes again or in the latimes case Occam's butter knife.
- jtmcmc 11y agoif you read the article it's comparing the 10 county area of the bay vs. the 5 county area of la
- shalmanese 11y agoAll 10 counties have seen a housing squeeze. My point is the article doesn't distinguish between existing poor residents getting richer vs poor residents being displaced by new, richer immigrants. Both would produce an increase in average GDP but through different means.
- kristopolous 11y agoMany tech people such as me strongly prefer Los Angeles over the bay. The bay "way of doing business" really irks and alienates me - polite people who couldn't care less about you baldly lying with a smile; constantly appeasing you as if you're a docile imbecile. It's deeply insulting and incredibly disrespectful. No sincerity, humanity or compassion - void of substantive human interaction. It's a process, not a person. For example, at events there I'm a networking point in a social elbow running contest. I've had people turn away from me pretending I don't exist if I'm not connected with who they want. it means that the pleasantries of the social interaction was a total farce - the "personal connection"? 100% grade A bullshit. The acrimony and inhumanity of it disgusts me. Makes me ill just thinking of it. What a dreadful place. Terrible 8 years of my life.
- joelrunyon 11y ago> if I'm not connected with who they want. it means that the pleasantries of the social interaction was a total farce - the "personal connection"? 100% grade A bullshit. The acrimony and inhumanity of it disgusts me. This made me laugh. I'm not sure about the tech scene specifically, but LA in general has this reputation for the entire city & cited as the main motivation by everyone I know that has moved away from it.
- oneJob 11y ago>polite people who couldn't care less about you baldly lying with a smile; constantly appeasing you as if you're a docile imbecile Same here. Was attempting to figure out if this was sarcasm or not. This is how I'd describe LA, with one small difference. In LA you're treated as if you're super cool, rather than a docile imbecile. Had to laugh.
- IvyMike 11y agoWhen you picture the smiley glad-hands, admit it--you're picturing a movie producer. The further outside the entertainment industry, the more normal LA gets.
- kristopolous 11y ago
- blumkvist 11y agoWhat a journalistic diarrhea. Google l.a. population: 3.884 million Google san francisco population: 837,442 also, hoards of javascript developers making 100k and more, so yeah...
- iolothebard 11y agoMore like 18m for the LA area vs 7m for the SF area. Not sure why that pisses you off, but rage away.
- blumkvist 11y agoBecause he is comparing apples to oranges and making conclusions.