4 ms·

Because, of course, the financial district is home to the hottest restaurants, lounges and nightlife.... The city should give up wasting time on banks and bank

by dr_ 15y ago

Because, of course, the financial district is home to the hottest restaurants, lounges and nightlife.... The city should give up wasting time on banks and bankers and focus more on growing it's tech sector. Otherwise you're never going to find a Google, FB or Apple HQ in Manhattan.

pavel_lishin 15y ago
Why is the time spent on banks wasted? Reading your comment objectively is extremely hard when it's on HackerNews. "Stop wasting money on the industry I'm not in, and start focusing on me!"
- clobber 15y ago
  Maybe because financial services don't make anything. They don't build anything.
  - Vargas 15y ago
    They are middleware, They enable others to make something, build something.
- dr_ 15y ago
  The comments below sum it up. I am neither in financial services nor technology, although because I live in the region I associate with people who work in both industries, and although it's not right to generalize - in general there are vast differences in their outlook on life, the world, and what they contribute to manhattan.
showerst 15y ago
Doesn't google already have a huge office/datacenter in one of the biggest buildings in manhattan? http://mashable.com/2010/12/03/google-manhattan-1-9-billion/ http://mashable.com/2010/12/03/google-manhattan-1-9-billion/ Granted, it's not the headquarters, but still.
burgerbrain 15y ago
"the financial district is home to the hottest restaurants, lounges and nightlife...." "The city should give up wasting time on banks and bankers" These two sentences do not jive.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- infinite8s 15y ago
  The first sentence is sarcasm. The financial district is pretty dead after business hours (as is midtown).
  - burgerbrain 15y ago
    Ah, fair enough.
- cbr 15y ago
  I think it's because the first one is sarcastic, but I'm not familiar enough with nyc to be sure.
mnutt 15y ago
I imagine the reason they were not known for restaurants and nightlife is that it was mostly offices and traders left at the end of the business day. As more people start living there, we're slowly getting more restaurants and bars.
- jbooth 15y ago
  Like what, the Blarney Stone? Nothing south of Chambers is worth going to at all, except maybe the 2 overpriced bars on the water next to WFC.
  - mnutt 15y ago
    You're right. The lunch places are getting better, but that doesn't really support the idea that it's more than just bankers these days.
jbooth 15y ago
The financial district spews absurd amounts of money into the city. More than the tech sector.
bgruber 15y ago
from where the hottest restaurants, lounges and nightlife are, it's a hell of a lot easier to get to the financial district than to CT.
hugh3 15y ago
The city should give up wasting time on banks and bankers and focus more on growing it's tech sector. Otherwise you're never going to find a Google, FB or Apple HQ in Manhattan Why would they want one? I know we think that the tech sector is the be-all and end-all of everything on HN, but it ain't. It's one sector among many. It's one of the most lucrative sectors, it's true... but then again so is finance, and finance is what NYC happens to already be good at. The big danger to NYC's economy is that it's too concentrated on a couple of sectors -- but the solution is more of everything, not just more of one thing. On the other hand, the financial sector has already crashed, and it didn't turn New York into Detroit, so I guess that's not too dangerous after all. Ultimately I don't think New York City is a particularly good place for an Apple/Google HQ. These companies have big open-space office parks, rather than monolithic skyscrapers, for a reason. Several reasons, probably, including ease of extension, the tastes of their employees, the need to get a lot of stuff in and out, et cetera.

by dr_ 15y ago

pavel_lishin 15y ago

Why is the time spent on banks wasted? Reading your comment objectively is extremely hard when it's on HackerNews. "Stop wasting money on the industry I'm not in, and start focusing on me!"

clobber 15y ago
Maybe because financial services don't make anything. They don't build anything.
- Vargas 15y ago
  They are middleware, They enable others to make something, build something.
dr_ 15y ago
The comments below sum it up. I am neither in financial services nor technology, although because I live in the region I associate with people who work in both industries, and although it's not right to generalize - in general there are vast differences in their outlook on life, the world, and what they contribute to manhattan.

showerst 15y ago

Doesn't google already have a huge office/datacenter in one of the biggest buildings in manhattan? http://mashable.com/2010/12/03/google-manhattan-1-9-billion/ http://mashable.com/2010/12/03/google-manhattan-1-9-billion/ Granted, it's not the headquarters, but still.

burgerbrain 15y ago

"the financial district is home to the hottest restaurants, lounges and nightlife...." "The city should give up wasting time on banks and bankers" These two sentences do not jive.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
infinite8s 15y ago
The first sentence is sarcasm. The financial district is pretty dead after business hours (as is midtown).
- burgerbrain 15y ago
  Ah, fair enough.
cbr 15y ago
I think it's because the first one is sarcastic, but I'm not familiar enough with nyc to be sure.

mnutt 15y ago

I imagine the reason they were not known for restaurants and nightlife is that it was mostly offices and traders left at the end of the business day. As more people start living there, we're slowly getting more restaurants and bars.

jbooth 15y ago
Like what, the Blarney Stone? Nothing south of Chambers is worth going to at all, except maybe the 2 overpriced bars on the water next to WFC.
- mnutt 15y ago
  You're right. The lunch places are getting better, but that doesn't really support the idea that it's more than just bankers these days.

jbooth 15y ago

The financial district spews absurd amounts of money into the city. More than the tech sector.

bgruber 15y ago

from where the hottest restaurants, lounges and nightlife are, it's a hell of a lot easier to get to the financial district than to CT.

hugh3 15y ago

The city should give up wasting time on banks and bankers and focus more on growing it's tech sector. Otherwise you're never going to find a Google, FB or Apple HQ in Manhattan Why would they want one? I know we think that the tech sector is the be-all and end-all of everything on HN, but it ain't. It's one sector among many. It's one of the most lucrative sectors, it's true... but then again so is finance, and finance is what NYC happens to already be good at. The big danger to NYC's economy is that it's too concentrated on a couple of sectors -- but the solution is more of everything, not just more of one thing. On the other hand, the financial sector has already crashed, and it didn't turn New York into Detroit, so I guess that's not too dangerous after all. Ultimately I don't think New York City is a particularly good place for an Apple/Google HQ. These companies have big open-space office parks, rather than monolithic skyscrapers, for a reason. Several reasons, probably, including ease of extension, the tastes of their employees, the need to get a lot of stuff in and out, et cetera.