6 ms·

> Sacramento doesn't get talked about in tech circles and sites like this and related articles, because it's not supposed to be the "next sexy tech town", but i

by gopalv 5y ago

> Sacramento doesn't get talked about in tech circles and sites like this and related articles, because it's not supposed to be the "next sexy tech town", but in reality is a lot of people have moved here since the pandemic, both tech and not. Sacramento also has a train line that takes you to Santa Clara, which is better than driving - this has made it a better choice for a few of the folks to consider that over Dublin or Pleasanton in the most recent migration (Amtrak is close to a lot of hardware-lab specific jobs like Nvidia, Lockheed, Marvell, GlobalFoundries and Arista), though that connectivity might shift if BART finally loops around to SJC. Also Sacramento has good schools, decent federal funding pull (over say Tracy) and an airport with a few direct flights from Seattle or NYC. The only downside pretty much is the weather in comparison and that too not by much.

Judgmentality 5y ago
> The only downside pretty much is the weather in comparison and that too not by much. Sports, bars, culture, muni metro, proximity to the ocean, proximity to nature (I can be alone in natural parks with less than 30 minutes of driving from my house in SF), jobs, dating, restaurants, I could go on. I'm not even someone that plans on staying in SF (I actually don't like it that much), but there are lots of downsides if I left for Sacramento. I realize there are upsides as well, but I think it's disingenuous to say 'Sacramento is as good or better than San Francisco except for the weather'
- vincentmarle 5y ago
  Endless homeless people and camps, needles on the streets, feces on the streets, yelling drunks, crime and burglaries. Yeah, SF definitely has a “lot” going for it. Glad I left.
  - Animats 5y ago
    The backlash against homeless people is coming.[1] There's a GoFundMe for a scheme for national homeless concentration camps.[2] "The plan calls for the construction of 6 Homeless Help Campuses. These would be built on Federal Land by the Army Corps of Engineers and would be funded by the Federal Government through grants to the hosting states. Targeted states are California, Washington, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey and Georgia. Each campus will hold up to 50,000 residents. The campuses will include all services required by the residents including K-12 education, a trade tech college, physical and mental health care programs and will even include a local community based policing agency." [1] https://www.sfchronicle.com/local/article/California-s-reopening-is-colliding-with-an-16174581.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/local/article/California-s-reope... [2] https://homelesshelpamerica.com/ https://homelesshelpamerica.com/
    - dang 5y ago
      You have a substantive point and this is an interesting comment but please don't toss in flamebait like "concentration camps" - it will just create a flamewar and with Godwin-colored flames at that. Thoughtful critique is fine of course.
      - chrisseaton 5y ago
        That’s what a concentration camp is though. It’s not hyperbole it’s literally the idea of them. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment
        dang 5y ago
        The historical origin of the term is one thing, the historical associations of it are another, and it's not possible for people to argue about it on the internet without flamewar. The HN approach is to observe that we don't need to go there, and then not to go there.
        rovolo 5y ago
        I understand that you don't want to use the term "concentration camp" because it's associated with Nazi extermination camps. What term would you prefer instead, "internment camp"? There really needs to be a term which people can use to describe sweeping up classes of people and confining them to an area.
        dang 5y ago
        Yes, that is a more neutral term, for the reason you mention—but only if it is used where strictly accurate, and not as an exaggeration to score rhetorical points. When I looked yesterday, it wasn't clear to me what's actually being proposed at the site the GP was linking to. If it really is a proposal for involuntary confinement, then the word internment seems justified, otherwise surely not.
    - 5y ago
  - jethro_tell 5y ago
    Where did you go since that's the topic of conversation?
- godot 5y ago
  I can't comment on other items on that list, but the amount of nature you can be in within 30 minutes of driving from anywhere in the Sacramento region is drastically more than 30 minutes from anywhere in the bay area. Our family has been able to enjoy the nature a lot more since moving out here. Certain aspects change in priority drastically as one's life stage changes. Dating is one of those. As one goes from being single to married, dating goes from being just about the highest priority concern to the lowest. Similar for bars/night life. Once those things are out of the picture, I find Sacramento to be infinitely more enjoyable than SF.
  - pkdpic_y9k 5y ago
    Totally agreed but gotta say Ive never lived in a city where my wife and I have enjoyed our dates more. There seems to be literally no end to the number of world-class coffee shops, breweries, brick oven pizza joints, sushi restaurants and parks out here. After growing up in SF, living in the desert for a long time and desperately trying to make NY and LA work I can honestly say Sacramento is the healthiest feeling place Ive ever lived. And thats including the weather. Its a dry heat... :) That said we moved here during COVID so still trying to figure out how to connect with tech folks out here of anyone has any thoughts?
  - zeruch 5y ago
    "but the amount of nature you can be in within 30 minutes of driving from anywhere in the Sacramento region is drastically more than 30 minutes from anywhere in the bay area." Not true at all. The sad truth is there are more hiking trails and options for "stuff" involving nature than a far majority of folks realize. Even in areas like Los Altos, Palo Alto, Cupertino, etc, are dangerously close to non-urban reserves and other spaces, but often have no idea. Many feel fine driving from Palo Alto to go to Marin for Alamere Falls and brunch in Mill Valley, but have no idea Butano or Purisima or Skeggs and brunch in Woodside or Pescadero or Davenport and is a fraction of the distance and comparatively stunning.
- nemo44x 5y ago
  Many people also find the hedonistic, materialist, and vapid culture of SF repulsive. I can understand why many people would want to be arms length to it, using it for the occasional good restaurant or art exhibit and then heading home to a place more fulfilling and community oriented. To not be immersed in it and all of its adjacent dysfunction. SF is a whore you visit here and there but not often and certainly not one you make a meaningful part of your life - so-to-speak. Get the money and get out when you grow up some and want to take life more seriously than 40 year-olds hopelessly clinging to youth on the muni kickball field.
- chrisseaton 5y ago
  Dating? I hear that dating is an absolute disaster in San Francisco.
- chipotle_coyote 5y ago
  Well, as someone who lives in the SF Bay Area but genuinely loves Sacramento, I think it's actually pretty easy to undersell it. Sacramento has some wonderfully walkable, vibrant neighborhoods, particularly around Midtown and downtown. Before the pandemic, it wasn't uncommon for me to have an evening there that went something like this: early drinks at the Jungle Bird, a terrific retro tiki bar; a walk a few blocks to any number of solid restaurants (ones I remember were Cantina Alley, Frank Fat's, Lucca, Camden Spit & Larder, The Press, Broderick, and Centro Cocina Mexicana), maybe off to Temple Coffee afterward, and if we didn't get dessert at the restaurant, a stop at Rick's Dessert Diner or Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates. I've worked in both downtown San Francisco and downtown San Jose, and honestly prefer downtown Sacramento to both (although see the qualifier below). As for nature, well: obviously Sacramento ain't near the ocean. But it has two rivers running through it, a lot of parks (Sacramento has more trees per capita than any other major city in the United States -- seriously!), and you don't have to drive very far to get into the Sierra foothills. You'd be surprised at what you can find around there. The qualifier below: obviously San Francisco is, for all of its warts, a "world class" city in ways that few other cities in the United States are. I like Midtown Sacramento more than any neighborhood I spent time in around SF, with the possible exception of Hayes Valley, but many neighborhoods in have great attractions and you can get to all of them via public transit. But unless "a half-dozen world class bars and four three Michelin-starred restaurants" is a make-or-break requirement, Sacramento is...honestly pretty nice. I really wish I'd been able to get things together to move there in 2019, because real estate prices started shooting up during the pandemic.
  - zeruch 5y ago
    Sacto is underrated (although I think I'd rather be in sleepier Davis and just train up) and downtown SJ has been overly maligned, often without any direct experience (or any real attempt to look). I live in the latter now, literally in SoFA (South First Arts district) and certainly before COVID it was a small but damn vibrant area.
    - chipotle_coyote 5y ago
      I definitely know the place! Haberdasher might be the best whiskey bar in the Bay Area. Davis seems like a neat place, although real estate was surprisingly expensive the last time I checked. (Okay, sure, welcome to California.)
- 2trill2spill 5y ago
  Proximity to nature? Sacramento is near the Tahoe area as well as the rest of the Sierra Nevada range. Proximity to nature is one area where Sacramento resoundingly beats the Bay area. However I agree with the rest of your examples.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- jiveturkey 5y ago
  disingenuous? it’s just his opinion. having lived both places, i agree. just my opinion
throwaway1777 5y ago
Sacramento to Santa Clara is a 3 hour trip one way. No one is doing that daily.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
gnicholas 5y ago
> Also Sacramento has good schools There are a number of factors that make the school system so outstanding: 1: The best schools are the public schools. There are some perfectly fine private schools, but the public schools (at least in SJUSD) are even better. 2: There are excellent magnet programs at the elementary, middle, and high school level. These programs do not exist in some other areas, including in Silicon Valley (this has come as an unwelcome surprise to my family). The schools in Sacramento regularly send their kids to national rounds of science competitions, and when I was a student (20 years ago) they regularly placed in the top 5 nationally. 3: Students from throughout the region can 'open-enroll' into magnet programs, regardless of geography. In my high school, we had students who came from 45 minutes away. So the upshot is there are great schools that are free and that are available to any student (especially the advanced programs).

by gopalv 5y ago

Judgmentality 5y ago

> The only downside pretty much is the weather in comparison and that too not by much. Sports, bars, culture, muni metro, proximity to the ocean, proximity to nature (I can be alone in natural parks with less than 30 minutes of driving from my house in SF), jobs, dating, restaurants, I could go on. I'm not even someone that plans on staying in SF (I actually don't like it that much), but there are lots of downsides if I left for Sacramento. I realize there are upsides as well, but I think it's disingenuous to say 'Sacramento is as good or better than San Francisco except for the weather'

vincentmarle 5y ago
Endless homeless people and camps, needles on the streets, feces on the streets, yelling drunks, crime and burglaries. Yeah, SF definitely has a “lot” going for it. Glad I left.
- Animats 5y ago
  The backlash against homeless people is coming.[1] There's a GoFundMe for a scheme for national homeless concentration camps.[2] "The plan calls for the construction of 6 Homeless Help Campuses. These would be built on Federal Land by the Army Corps of Engineers and would be funded by the Federal Government through grants to the hosting states. Targeted states are California, Washington, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey and Georgia. Each campus will hold up to 50,000 residents. The campuses will include all services required by the residents including K-12 education, a trade tech college, physical and mental health care programs and will even include a local community based policing agency." [1] https://www.sfchronicle.com/local/article/California-s-reopening-is-colliding-with-an-16174581.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/local/article/California-s-reope... [2] https://homelesshelpamerica.com/ https://homelesshelpamerica.com/
  - dang 5y ago
    You have a substantive point and this is an interesting comment but please don't toss in flamebait like "concentration camps" - it will just create a flamewar and with Godwin-colored flames at that. Thoughtful critique is fine of course.
    - chrisseaton 5y ago
      That’s what a concentration camp is though. It’s not hyperbole it’s literally the idea of them. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment
      - dang 5y ago
        The historical origin of the term is one thing, the historical associations of it are another, and it's not possible for people to argue about it on the internet without flamewar. The HN approach is to observe that we don't need to go there, and then not to go there.
        rovolo 5y ago
        I understand that you don't want to use the term "concentration camp" because it's associated with Nazi extermination camps. What term would you prefer instead, "internment camp"? There really needs to be a term which people can use to describe sweeping up classes of people and confining them to an area.
        dang 5y ago
        Yes, that is a more neutral term, for the reason you mention—but only if it is used where strictly accurate, and not as an exaggeration to score rhetorical points. When I looked yesterday, it wasn't clear to me what's actually being proposed at the site the GP was linking to. If it really is a proposal for involuntary confinement, then the word internment seems justified, otherwise surely not.
  - 5y ago
- jethro_tell 5y ago
  Where did you go since that's the topic of conversation?
godot 5y ago
I can't comment on other items on that list, but the amount of nature you can be in within 30 minutes of driving from anywhere in the Sacramento region is drastically more than 30 minutes from anywhere in the bay area. Our family has been able to enjoy the nature a lot more since moving out here. Certain aspects change in priority drastically as one's life stage changes. Dating is one of those. As one goes from being single to married, dating goes from being just about the highest priority concern to the lowest. Similar for bars/night life. Once those things are out of the picture, I find Sacramento to be infinitely more enjoyable than SF.
- pkdpic_y9k 5y ago
  Totally agreed but gotta say Ive never lived in a city where my wife and I have enjoyed our dates more. There seems to be literally no end to the number of world-class coffee shops, breweries, brick oven pizza joints, sushi restaurants and parks out here. After growing up in SF, living in the desert for a long time and desperately trying to make NY and LA work I can honestly say Sacramento is the healthiest feeling place Ive ever lived. And thats including the weather. Its a dry heat... :) That said we moved here during COVID so still trying to figure out how to connect with tech folks out here of anyone has any thoughts?
- zeruch 5y ago
  "but the amount of nature you can be in within 30 minutes of driving from anywhere in the Sacramento region is drastically more than 30 minutes from anywhere in the bay area." Not true at all. The sad truth is there are more hiking trails and options for "stuff" involving nature than a far majority of folks realize. Even in areas like Los Altos, Palo Alto, Cupertino, etc, are dangerously close to non-urban reserves and other spaces, but often have no idea. Many feel fine driving from Palo Alto to go to Marin for Alamere Falls and brunch in Mill Valley, but have no idea Butano or Purisima or Skeggs and brunch in Woodside or Pescadero or Davenport and is a fraction of the distance and comparatively stunning.
nemo44x 5y ago
Many people also find the hedonistic, materialist, and vapid culture of SF repulsive. I can understand why many people would want to be arms length to it, using it for the occasional good restaurant or art exhibit and then heading home to a place more fulfilling and community oriented. To not be immersed in it and all of its adjacent dysfunction. SF is a whore you visit here and there but not often and certainly not one you make a meaningful part of your life - so-to-speak. Get the money and get out when you grow up some and want to take life more seriously than 40 year-olds hopelessly clinging to youth on the muni kickball field.
chrisseaton 5y ago
Dating? I hear that dating is an absolute disaster in San Francisco.
chipotle_coyote 5y ago
Well, as someone who lives in the SF Bay Area but genuinely loves Sacramento, I think it's actually pretty easy to undersell it. Sacramento has some wonderfully walkable, vibrant neighborhoods, particularly around Midtown and downtown. Before the pandemic, it wasn't uncommon for me to have an evening there that went something like this: early drinks at the Jungle Bird, a terrific retro tiki bar; a walk a few blocks to any number of solid restaurants (ones I remember were Cantina Alley, Frank Fat's, Lucca, Camden Spit & Larder, The Press, Broderick, and Centro Cocina Mexicana), maybe off to Temple Coffee afterward, and if we didn't get dessert at the restaurant, a stop at Rick's Dessert Diner or Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates. I've worked in both downtown San Francisco and downtown San Jose, and honestly prefer downtown Sacramento to both (although see the qualifier below). As for nature, well: obviously Sacramento ain't near the ocean. But it has two rivers running through it, a lot of parks (Sacramento has more trees per capita than any other major city in the United States -- seriously!), and you don't have to drive very far to get into the Sierra foothills. You'd be surprised at what you can find around there. The qualifier below: obviously San Francisco is, for all of its warts, a "world class" city in ways that few other cities in the United States are. I like Midtown Sacramento more than any neighborhood I spent time in around SF, with the possible exception of Hayes Valley, but many neighborhoods in have great attractions and you can get to all of them via public transit. But unless "a half-dozen world class bars and four three Michelin-starred restaurants" is a make-or-break requirement, Sacramento is...honestly pretty nice. I really wish I'd been able to get things together to move there in 2019, because real estate prices started shooting up during the pandemic.
- zeruch 5y ago
  Sacto is underrated (although I think I'd rather be in sleepier Davis and just train up) and downtown SJ has been overly maligned, often without any direct experience (or any real attempt to look). I live in the latter now, literally in SoFA (South First Arts district) and certainly before COVID it was a small but damn vibrant area.
  - chipotle_coyote 5y ago
    I definitely know the place! Haberdasher might be the best whiskey bar in the Bay Area. Davis seems like a neat place, although real estate was surprisingly expensive the last time I checked. (Okay, sure, welcome to California.)
2trill2spill 5y ago
Proximity to nature? Sacramento is near the Tahoe area as well as the rest of the Sierra Nevada range. Proximity to nature is one area where Sacramento resoundingly beats the Bay area. However I agree with the rest of your examples.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
jiveturkey 5y ago
disingenuous? it’s just his opinion. having lived both places, i agree. just my opinion

throwaway1777 5y ago

Sacramento to Santa Clara is a 3 hour trip one way. No one is doing that daily.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

gnicholas 5y ago

> Also Sacramento has good schools There are a number of factors that make the school system so outstanding: 1: The best schools are the public schools. There are some perfectly fine private schools, but the public schools (at least in SJUSD) are even better. 2: There are excellent magnet programs at the elementary, middle, and high school level. These programs do not exist in some other areas, including in Silicon Valley (this has come as an unwelcome surprise to my family). The schools in Sacramento regularly send their kids to national rounds of science competitions, and when I was a student (20 years ago) they regularly placed in the top 5 nationally. 3: Students from throughout the region can 'open-enroll' into magnet programs, regardless of geography. In my high school, we had students who came from 45 minutes away. So the upshot is there are great schools that are free and that are available to any student (especially the advanced programs).