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> But there's not much gentrification going on, since Twitter keeps hundreds of staff inside, with free gourmet meals, plus a slew of free services, dry cleanin
by jcrites 13y ago
> But there's not much gentrification going on, since Twitter keeps hundreds of staff inside, with free gourmet meals, plus a slew of free services, dry cleaning, even cleaning staff apartments. It is competing with local businesses rather than helping support them — it's the opposite of gentrification.
It's not as if Twitter or Google provide those services via their own full time employees, right? They hire local companies to provide these services. We're talking about catered food from local companies, apartment cleaning from a cleaning company, etc.
If anything, we'd expect a _greater_ level of commerce with local businesses, since employees might not choose to spend their own income on those services. By providing the services to all employees, those companies actually create more demand for local business than would probably otherwise exist.
The fact that they're being provided as benefits is irrelevant - they are increasing demand.
The article seems to ignore this, and as a result it does not make sense to me.
- wmf 13y agoThe article is not talking about creating jobs in general, but about cleaning up certain neighborhoods. Nice restaurants aren't opening in the Tederloin because the catering is being brought in from elsewhere in the city.
- jasonlotito 13y agoHaving recently visited SF, I can't really say I was impressed with the neighborhoods surrounding these tech companies. If there is a greater level of local commerce happening, it's not apparent visually.