Photos of San Francisco Before the Silicon Valley Bros Invaded(motherjones.com)
motherjones.com
Photos of San Francisco Before the Silicon Valley Bros Invaded
http://www.motherjones.com/media/2013/12/photos-san-francisco-janet-delaney-south-market
8 comments
> It means that if you setup a company in SF you'll have to pay your employees more so they can afford to live there.
According to the detractors, that's exactly the problem. The engineers at Google can afford to live, roughly, wherever they want, while the waiters, waitresses, security guards, janitors, etc., that have lived in San Francisco all their life are being "driven out" by those Google employees, which are the ones driving up rent prices for the rest.
Note, Google is a placeholder for 'tech company' in this scenario. Clearly, Google isn't the only high-paying company in the area.
According to the detractors, that's exactly the problem. The engineers at Google can afford to live, roughly, wherever they want, while the waiters, waitresses, security guards, janitors, etc., that have lived in San Francisco all their life are being "driven out" by those Google employees, which are the ones driving up rent prices for the rest.
Note, Google is a placeholder for 'tech company' in this scenario. Clearly, Google isn't the only high-paying company in the area.
True, it's also interesting to note that for the city to function "the waiters, waitresses, security guards, janitors, etc" are required. The tech employees aren't. We could end up in a situation where 'aspiring entrepreneurs' work those jobs while they try to get their startup off the ground (a bit like people trying to get into acting in Hollywood).
Agreed. Another irony is that what has happened to SF is basically what every city would like to happen. Just like every startup, they've met their goal -- they're hip, and have traction, and now, basically, they're having problems scaling their success.
If you squint hard enough, you could draw parallels to Twitter's early success -- lots of users, and not enough infrastructure to support it. San Francisco is now looking at a number of fail whales, but, at the same time, housing regulations prevent them from scaling. They've made that as a deliberate choice, and a pretty baffling one.
As I stated elsewhere (so won't bother repeating at length), I believe the market would ultimately correct for this except for the artificially constrained supply being imposed by the building regulations. As an east-coast dweller that only works in SF, it's interesting to watch from afar. I mean, the idea of a class war ensuing as a result is obviously not a great one -- I'd hate to have to navigate SF like I would some war-torn country when I'm there for work, but one assumes the issue will resolve itself, some way or another, well before it ever gets to that.
If you squint hard enough, you could draw parallels to Twitter's early success -- lots of users, and not enough infrastructure to support it. San Francisco is now looking at a number of fail whales, but, at the same time, housing regulations prevent them from scaling. They've made that as a deliberate choice, and a pretty baffling one.
As I stated elsewhere (so won't bother repeating at length), I believe the market would ultimately correct for this except for the artificially constrained supply being imposed by the building regulations. As an east-coast dweller that only works in SF, it's interesting to watch from afar. I mean, the idea of a class war ensuing as a result is obviously not a great one -- I'd hate to have to navigate SF like I would some war-torn country when I'm there for work, but one assumes the issue will resolve itself, some way or another, well before it ever gets to that.
Most of the nerds that work at Google where probably bullied at high school by the jocks so now your doing this now and labeling them "bro" with the label of the group that bullied them.
I though MJ was supposed to be a proper Union Mag and not a front for the hobbyists IWW (which is how one DGS I know described the IWW)
I though MJ was supposed to be a proper Union Mag and not a front for the hobbyists IWW (which is how one DGS I know described the IWW)
Got to admit, SF looks a whole lot better now than it did then. There's a reason rent is high now and low then: SF is now an incredible place that everyone wants to be.
Back then, clearly not so much. Looks like that convention center was an incredibly good idea.
Back then, clearly not so much. Looks like that convention center was an incredibly good idea.
On the other hand it does suck for people who have lived there their entire lives and now can't afford it anymore. It also seems quite unfair.
One thing I find strange is why tech companies set up in an area which is limited in growth opportunities because of it's location. It's not like SF can grow out in all directions. It seems like this is only going to get worse. It means that if you setup a company in SF you'll have to pay your employees more so they can afford to live there. You'll also have to raise their salaries more every year to combat growing rent prices. It seems in the interest of companies to start moving out of SF. Once they do engineers will hopefully follow. It's a bit of a chicken and egg problem though. If you setup outside SF now talent will be difficult to get and until some companies start setting up outside SF talent will stay in SF.