5 ms·
I liked that medium post, because I'm also one of those people who said goodbye to a number of friends who had moved away - until I decided I've had it with thi
by 60654 8y ago
I liked that medium post, because I'm also one of those people who said goodbye to a number of friends who had moved away - until I decided I've had it with this town, too, and it's time to move away as well.
But the post throws a bunch of softballs. It mentions rising costs, hipster drinks, etc. And yes, the _relentless_ costs are a huge factor. But it's not just the costs that changed, it's the entire tenor of the place. The focus on money, valuations, investments... it's like working for Wall Street, with all the nonsense and none of the benefits of being in NYC. And a lot of people are looking at themselves and asking: is this what I want to do with my life? (Except for those who did...)
But on the plus side, moving away is not such a bad thing. Unlike what the post author suggests, the transplants will not "ruin" other cities. At least not the large ones: Pittsburgh, Chicago, Boston, NYC, there are great cities out there with a fun tech culture, much more housing (so it's cheaper), and they've been absorbing newcomers for a hundred years without any danger to their existing culture. (I'll leave Austin and Portland out of it - they might be too small to survive a mass migration of Californians. ;) )
- mcguire 8y ago"To the angry locals of Portland, Seattle, Denver, New Orleans, Kansas City, Phoenix, Austin, and elsewhere, please hear this defense: The Californians who are coming in and “ruining” your cities are not snobs. They don’t have trust funds. They aren’t entitled. They are the opposite." That may be true, but I've met too many people who sold a one-bedroom garden shed in California for $1.2B and moved to a shiney new 11,000 square foot mcmansion in Hyde Park. They're just passing the ruin along.
- oculusthrift 8y agoi think you meant an M not a B
- extra88 8y agoI haven’t been there in over 20 years but I thought it was the hills around Austin being ruined by McMansions built by transplanted Californians. Hyde Park was for charming bungalows that weren’t that cheap.
- mcguire 8y agoI couldn't remember the name of the neighborhood, so I pulled Hyde Park out of my flying monkeys.