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The New San Francisco Suburbs, a Plane Ride Away
- api 17y agoThe hyperinflation of coastal real estate and the super-concentration of talent in these places is getting absurd and insane.
- donaldc 17y agoThe hyperinflation of coastal real estate and the super-concentration of talent in these places is getting absurd and insane. The latter leads to the former.
- api 17y agoI'm quite aware of that. I just think it's too bad that the majority of America is a vomit of worthless and aggressively ugly sprawl full of lazy slobs that drive away any talent.
- pw0ncakes 17y agoThis "majority of America" has good mid-size cities that could be great but have a critical mass problem due to the suburban mistake (e.g. Minneapolis, Madison). The cities themselves are competitive with the nicest coastal places, and the people in them are smart, talented and interesting (although not quite as ambitious as on the coasts). The suburbs are depressing and hideous, as you described.
- mml 17y agoMentioning Madison and Minneapolis in the same breath is silly. Sorry Madison, you are in no way comparable. Minneapolis is about twice the size , harder to spell, and prince can be seen here.
- pw0ncakes 17y agoFair point: they're cities of different sizes with different character. I like both, but they're different. I was just using them as examples of beautiful cities with really interesting, vibrant cores but with depressing suburbs.
- api 17y agoI agree about that. I grew up in Cincinnati. The city core is gorgeous but neglected, and is surrounded by hideously ugly suburbs. It's starting to get revived a bit though. Last time I was there it was getting nicer, and more young people were living there.
- chipsy 17y agoSee Richard Florida's "Rise of the Creative Class" or sequels for a broad overview of talent concentration.
- groaner 17y agoSomewhat OT, but I got weirded out by the story for a moment. It turns out that Scott McNeely != Scott McNealy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_McNealy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_McNealy -- who almost certainly does not have any money woes whatsoever)
- rbanffy 17y agoI agree. That really felt like I stepped into a parallel universe. Just got to my desk, cup of coffee in hand, on a Monday morning. Weird way to start my week ;-)
- Empact 17y agoThis is a how a once-venerable tech city loses its significance. Suffocated by incompetent governments and an unwillingness to build, talent is forced to move elsewhere and ultimately shifts the center of gravity toward their chosen destinations. I for one look forward to Portland, Austin and the rest picking up where San Francisco left off.
- pg 17y agoActually the region seems more prosperous than ever. I've never heard of an example of a city that died from high real estate prices. Do you know of any? Empirically, what seems to kill cities is crime, or the death of some industry they depend on.
- lunchbox 17y agoReminds me of Yogi Berra's famous quote: "No one goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
- Empact 17y agoComing from New York, I can tell you that San Francisco's expensive real estate has almost nothing to do with it being "too crowded."
- lunchbox 17y agoReplace "too crowded" with "too popular". Real estate prices will rise and fall to reflect demand. If prices are ridiculously high, that's because lots of people really want to live there. (By the way, I'm not disputing anything you said. pg's point about real estate prices is what reminded me of the Yogi Berra quote.)
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- pw0ncakes 17y ago
- donaldc 17y agoAnother advantage with the locations of Seattle and Portland in particular is that they're in the same time zone as Silicon Valley.
- jckarter 17y agoThe Northwest needs jobs, not parasites further inflating its real estate market. How about you move some companies up there too?
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- tomjen3 17y agoAnd I need a hot girlfriend, but that doesn't mean I will magically get one. I, like the Northwest, needs to get my shit together and start behaving in such a fashion that I can attract what I want.
- daeken 17y agoYes, damn those parasites. All those people working elsewhere and living in the Northwest are stealing jobs and not putting any money into the local economy. Err, wait...
- hugh3 17y agoI visited Portland for the first time last month, and was struck by how much it reminded me of San Francisco minus the worst things about San Francisco. 1. San Francisco is a right bastard to get around since the various districts are spread out and separated by huge hills. Portland is easily walkable. 2. San Francisco has slow, dirty, overpriced public transport. Portland has a convenient light rail system which is free in the downtown core area, and drops you right at the airport for a buck fifty. 3. San Francisco is filthy. Portland is clean. San Francisco has aggressive panhandlers and crazy people everywhere, Portland somehow keeps most of 'em out. 4. San Francisco is insanely expensive and only those earning multi-hundred-K a year can afford to actually buy there. Portland is nice and cheap. 5. San Francisco has great scenery which is spoiled by tourists. Portland has perfectly adequate scenery which isn't. Another nice thing: no sales tax. That means that you wind up paying what it says on the label and don't have to do the "compute in head and fumble with loose change" thing. Plus they've got good food, funky bars, and a classic video game arcade. What they unfortunately don't have is a first-rate university, or anywhere else that might be likely to employ me.
- blasdel 17y agoPortland is also the whitest major city in the US. It was officially a "Sundown town" until the late sixties!
- _delirium 17y agoPart of that's due to its comparative lack of suburbs, though, so unlike in most major cities, whites actually live in the city instead of the suburbs. For example, Boston is 55% white within the city limits, but Greater Boston is closer to 70% white, which isn't far off of Portland's 78%. Edit: Actually it looks like Greater Boston is more like 80% white. The state of Massachusetts overall is ~88% white, and the Greater Boston area has about 60-65% of MA's population. Even if we assume every single non-white person in MA lives in the Boston area, they'd make up <20% of the metro-area's population.
- waterlesscloud 17y agoThey do have the best bookstore in the country, as well. Powell's deserves its reputation for depth.
- fretlessjazz 17y agoThe next San Francisco suburb? Austin Texas.
- iamelgringo 17y agoIt's not just in high tech that you're seeing that either. I work with several nurses that commute in from Houston, Austin and Portland. They make more working 12 hour shifts for 6 days in a row in the Bay area than they can make working a whole month in their home towns.