Discussion
  • Read More
    Wile_EHamilton Nolan
    6/07/16 10:37am

    Remember when the big new thing was telecommuting and paperless offices? The dream of workers all spread out, working wherever they wanted to, collaborating over the Internet.

    A complete failure of an idea shown by all the latest tech companies building campuses to collect all their workers in one spot.

    So, how long before we see the first 21st Century company town?

    No place is worse on this issue than Long Island, NY. An insufficient tax base made worse by strict zoning laws that make it impossible to build anything but single family homes in 90% of the residential areas. Leaving young and single people with nowhere affordable to live. Which leads to large businesses NOT building on the island, which leads to further depressing the tax base.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      ╰(　´◔　ω　◔ `)╯< Woke and BokeWile_E
      6/07/16 10:42am

      It’s puzzling, too, since they can all just work from some tax haven and avoid having to pay CA income tax.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Wile_E╰(　´◔　ω　◔ `)╯< Woke and Boke
      6/07/16 10:50am

      I think having a physical office in “Silicon Valley” is vital to attracting venture capital and investors. But, that could be accomplished with just the executives and head office people. The actual worker drones who get stuff done could be anywhere.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Sean BrodyHamilton Nolan
    6/07/16 10:35am

    I’m all for building more housing.

    When do we have a conversation about having fewer people?

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Low Information BoaterSean Brody
      6/07/16 10:38am

      Fewer people, or more efficient people? Dissociative Identity Disorder yields all the benefits of a large pool of personalities, with a much smaller footprint in terms of actual bodies.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      ReburnsABurningReturnsSean Brody
      6/07/16 10:41am

      We’re already doing that though.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Ed SpockHamilton Nolan
    6/07/16 10:32am

    - A guide for housing in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, Seattle and other popular cities in the United States that attract a large number of young people and working professionals.

    Decent housing in these kinds of cities is going to be super fucking expensive from now until the end of civilization.

    Plan accordingly.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Sean BrodyEd Spock
      6/07/16 10:37am

      Decent housing in these kinds of cities is going to be super fucking expensive from now until the end of civilization.

      Plan accordingly.

      Buy somewhere here, let it out and move to Provo, UT and live off the rent?
      Yup. on it.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      windchillEd Spock
      6/07/16 10:38am

      San Jose is bigger than SF. This isn’t just about young wealthy people renting chic apartments. It’s about managing housing costs over an entire metropolitan area.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    ReburnsABurningReturnsHamilton Nolan
    6/07/16 10:38am

    One thing California must do is take away the autonomy of municipalities when it comes to housing.

    http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-po…

    Some academics argue that greater state and regional control over development results in more affordable housing and neighborhood diversity. Researchers at UCLA recently found that the more influence local residents had over zoning, the greater the segregation between rich and poor communities within cities.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Silencio!ReburnsABurningReturns
      6/07/16 10:45am

      Sufficient housing is in no way related to how close rich and poor communities are.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Mike_SmithReburnsABurningReturns
      6/07/16 10:47am

      Or maybe large businesses shouldn’t be allowed to set up shop where there is insufficient housing nearby.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Sarah Palin DenierHamilton Nolan
    6/07/16 10:33am

    What’s stopping someone from building high rise apartments? It seems like an absolute no brainer out there, so obviously there is some sort of dumb red tape preventing it.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      NathanZSarah Palin Denier
      6/07/16 10:44am

      SF is right on top of an earthquake zone iirc.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      ReburnsABurningReturnsSarah Palin Denier
      6/07/16 10:45am

      High rises are damn expensive. Finding private capital willing to build them without them being luxury condos is pretty hard.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    FC37Hamilton Nolan
    6/07/16 12:09pm

    Again, why did we as a species decide to set up millions and millions of people to live in one of our relatively few urban centers directly over a massive and active fault line?

    Tech jobs can be anywhere. Why has this great democratic and decentralizing force only driven more people to pay more money to live in a small, risky area?

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Cheshire MoonFC37
      6/07/16 1:52pm

      Um... because earthquakes really aren’t that bad compared to hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, blizzards...
      The last really serious quake we had in the Bay Area was in 1989, and yeah it was shitty, but only 60-70 people died. 285 people died in Superstorm Sandy, there were 1700 tornadoes in the US in 2011 alone which killed over 500 people... and hurricanes happen almost every year.

      Every structure currently standing in the Bay Area and Los Angeles has either survived several major earthquakes already, or has been built since the last large one with MAJOR improvements to seismic building standards. All of these tech companies are on new building built on rollers.

      http://gizmodo.com/5833664/how-bu…

      You can keep your shitty weather. I’ve been through many earthquakes and I’ll take them any day.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      AK7007FC37
      6/07/16 2:02pm

      Risky how? Stop being afraid of earthquakes, you dumb hick. I’d gladly take our occasional earthquake over the hurricanes and tornadoes your type deals with.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    ╰(　´◔　ω　◔ `)╯< Woke and BokeHamilton Nolan
    6/07/16 10:40am

    Deport all tech workers from California to the Midwest. Problem solved.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      DubayaTeeEff╰(　´◔　ω　◔ `)╯< Woke and Boke
      6/07/16 12:50pm

      Or colonize the lost coast. It’s pretty up there.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      ╰(　´◔　ω　◔ `)╯< Woke and BokeDubayaTeeEff
      6/07/16 1:56pm

      No. Stay away from the rest of CA, and also the NorthWest. Just send those fuckers to the Midwest where they belong.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Frankenbike666Hamilton Nolan
    6/07/16 5:11pm

    I’m gonna let y’all in on a little secret. California has always had a housing crisis. Even in the 1950s. The cities are too expensive, and people move to the smaller cities on the outskirts. This is why we have suburban sprawl, since rents and property outside of the cities is cheaper.

    We wouldn’t have had rent control that exacerbated the problem if we didn’t have a housing crisis. Prop 13 never would have passed, with its lies about how it would stabilize or even lower rents.

    This is one reason we’re looking to move to a smaller city somewhere...NOT in California. I’ve lived here all my life, and this state sucks ass now with all of its Nuevo Rico Silicon Valley and Silicon Beach douchebags.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      bob_dFrankenbike666
      6/07/16 5:37pm

      Except now even the suburban sprawl is unaffordable. And even less than 40 years ago, the entirely SF bay area was extremely affordable - even SF - rents have gone up 100-fold (and more) throughout the entire area, including places like San Jose (that have never had rent control). It’s all down to tech companies paying salaries so far beyond the average.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Frankenbike666bob_d
      6/09/16 2:16pm

      Yep.

      And those overpaid people do not mind driving their poorer neighbors out of the region.

      Most of my friends have moved out of LA because the jobs available to them in the entertainment and game industry, which used to pay exceptionally well, just don’t pay enough to afford to live like anything more than a college student.

      What often happens, is the industry moves to somewhere else, so it can pay people less and they can still live better. The Silicon Valley industries haven’t gotten to that point yet. But the Aerospace industry in California is a pretty good cautionary tale, and much of Los Angeles visual effects industry has moved to Vancouver, BC.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    The_MockingbirdHamilton Nolan
    6/07/16 11:01am

    I think it should be a law that in order to qualify for a position in local government, you must have 1,000 hours playing SimCity.

    I was joking when I wrote that, but there have been a lot worse laws proposed lately, so who am I to judge?

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Tallulah Geocities Angelfire was raised by wolvesThe_Mockingbird
      6/07/16 11:48am

      I’m thoroughly qualified. When can I start dropping meteoroids on my neighbors?

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      artless.dodgerThe_Mockingbird
      6/07/16 11:56am

      Then Congresswoman artless.dodger will introduce Prop 20, wherein we put people in empty swimming pools and remove the ladders.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    windchillHamilton Nolan
    6/07/16 10:36am

    It is a failure of long-term planning, to be sure, but it’s also a near-terminal case of rich people not wanting to risk a penny of their property values. More housing inevitably means denser housing because you can’t just build more mini-mansions, everythere, and that means existing mini-mansions don’t go up in value. Look at all the screaming about George Lucas putting a housing development on his OWN PROPERTY.

    Oh, and racism. There’s more than a hint of how those brown people will move in if we have apartments they can actually afford.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Silencio!windchill
      6/07/16 10:49am

      Racism?? Try again. San Jose is one of the most diverse and racially balanced cities in the U.S., 33% of residents are Hispanic, another third are Asian. 39% were born in another country. Exactly who is trying to keep which race out?

      Reply
      <