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New Tech Money, Same Old Problems

Posted by Soulskill on from the those-who-don't-study-history-are-doomed-to-something-something dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Following the publication in May of George Packer's alarming article in the New Yorker revealing the state of the communities surrounding California's tech boom, the LA Times reports that despite the wake-up call, things are getting even worse in the Bay Area as tech companies seek to completely insulate their employees from ever having to interact with the real world. Quoting: 'Every weekday starting at dawn and continuing late into the evening, a shiny fleet of unmarked buses rolls through the streets of San Francisco, picking up thousands of young technology workers at dozens of stops and depositing them an hour's drive south. It's an exclusive perk offered by Apple, Facebook, Google and other major Silicon Valley companies: luxury coaches equipped with air conditioning, plush seats and wireless Internet access that ease the stress of navigating congested Bay Area roadways. The private mass transit system has become the most visible symbol of the digital gold rush sweeping this city, and of the sharpening division between those who are riding the high-tech industry's good fortunes and those who are not.'"

14 of 372 comments (clear)

  1. Next thing you know... by roc97007 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...they'll all be in a huge space station... Hey, waaait a minute!

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    1. Re:Next thing you know... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Really. So companies provide employees with a free benefit, thereby reducing pollution, and relieving traffic congestion, and this means that things are "getting worse"? This is the stupidest article I have read so far today.

    2. Re:Next thing you know... by hawguy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Really. So companies provide employees with a free benefit, thereby reducing pollution, and relieving traffic congestion, and this means that things are "getting worse"? This is the stupidest article I have read so far today.

      I think the problem is that it's turning SF into a "bedroom community" for employers far to the south rather than having the workers live *and* work in the city (thus they are spending less time and money in the city. When I worked in SF during the first dot-com boom, my coworkers and I all went out to lunch at local restaurants and met after work at local bars. The worker that leaves the city at 7am on a bus, and them comes home at 7pm to be dropped off in his neighborhood is probably not spending as much time going out and supporting local businesses. Further, the added influx of SF residents are driving up rents, so even those that *do* work in SF find it difficult and expensive to find a place to live. Oh, and the city receives no payroll tax for those employees, so not only does the city earn less tax revenue due to reduced spending by these workers, but they receive no payroll tax either.

      Rather than subsidizing bus travel to make it more attractive to live in SF and work 40 miles south, it would be nice to see the Peninsula cities and tech companies work on making it more attractive for their employees to live closer to work. It's no fun to live next to an office park that becomes a big unwalkable, bike unfriendly concrete wasteland after working hours.

    3. Re:Next thing you know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The picture in the article was taken 100 feet from my house, and the rental units in our building have gone up from $1800/mo to $2800/mo within just two years. I'm not complaining, but the article is dead-on that this huge influx of intelligence and money has thus far failed to actually lead to any benefit for the large majority of people who actually live here. It's a bit of a disappointment so far, and possibly a prelude to what's to come for the rest of the country (?).

      I actually left Silicon Valley 14 years ago in order to escape the slit-your-wrists boredom of Silicon Valley. San Jose is loaded to the gills with money, but they never seem to prioritize perks for those who are not directly working for those companies. To give just one example, I distinctly recall having to drive quite a distance to get to the nearest bar, even when I was working for a great company. San Jose's idea of a solution to that sort of problem is to vigorously go after drunk drivers (as opposed to just creating more and better mass transit). Those who have lived in the Bay Area might have noticed the incredible difference between San Jose and San Francisco police officers.

      I think many people are legitimately concerned about what this culture brings with it. The human aspects of San Francisco which set San Francisco apart from the rest of the world -- the electronic music, burning man artists, etc -- have already mostly crossed the bridge to Oakland.

      In reviewing the comments here, I'm honestly not completely surprised that the people here would take a clinical view of the article. This is not exactly a reflective community. You guys probably won't get it until your tech company throws you away at age 45 or 50, as tends to happen when your pay gets too high. Will you know enough to start up your own company at that point? Those who have put everything they had into their work tend not to have the time to think about such things. The same things that make the Silicon Valley culture lacking in empathy also sporadically appear here too.

    4. Re: Next thing you know... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      the "lifestyle" they crave is getting killed off by the gentrification the tech money is bringing in.

      Except that SF was fully gentrified forty years ago when the gays and DINKs* moved in. Other than the homeless, poor people haven't been able to live in SF since before you were born. I don't think many theaters, shops, bars and restaurants are shutting down because their customers are "too rich".

      *DINK = Double Income, No Kids

  2. Allegory by CanHasDIY · · Score: 5, Funny

    Every weekday starting at dawn and continuing late into the evening, a shiny fleet of unmarked buses rolls through the streets of San Francisco, picking up thousands of young technology workers at dozens of stops and depositing them an hour's drive south

    Huh.

    OK, maybe it's because I'm an old-school Missouri farm boy, but... that sounds an awful lot like cows at a stockyard.

    They're just one beat off from installing cattle chutes.

    MooooooooHeyisthataStarbucksooooooooo.

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    1. Re:Allegory by xaxa · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Huh.

      OK, maybe it's because I'm an old-school Missouri farm boy, but... that sounds an awful lot like cows at a stockyard.

      Don't they have school buses in Missouri? This is pretty much the same thing.

      And maybe it's because I'm from a European city, but it sounds like the public transport isn't very good if companies run private buses. The Google, Facebook etc here don't need buses, nor (presumably) do the offices in New York. (We don't have school buses here either, children are expected to use the normal public transport. It's free for them.)

    2. Re:Allegory by Stumbles · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Sounds like the beginnings of "The Company Store" coal miners suffered in the 1800s. i wonder when Google will start paying their employees in Google dollars that can only be spent at Google stores. Of course Apple and others will have their equivalent money.

      --
      My karma is not a Chameleon.
    3. Re:Allegory by Stiletto · · Score: 5, Informative

      There is no serious public transport system between SF and the South Bay/Peninsula (or between tri-valley area and South Bay/Peninsula, or really between anywhere and South Bay/Peninsula). There's only Caltrain which is a sad joke. These companies are stepping up BECAUSE the government has failed. /Disclaimer, I do not work for a company that provides such bus service, but would love to--it's a HUGE benefit to not have to commute yourself 3+ hours to/from work

    4. Re:Allegory by Stiletto · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually, fuck you with facts:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley_BART_extension


      "In 2000 Santa Clara County voters approved a 30-year-long half cent sales tax increase to fund BART."

      "In 2008, to mitigate that fact, the voters were again asked to raise sales tax this time by 1/8th of one percent to come into effect when and if federal funding of the project was given the green light."

      "The project was cut into phases with service to northern San Jose at Berryessa originally planned for 2018 and to downtown San Jose by 2025 which may or may not include Santa Clara."

      So, after all these taxes, federal funding, and time, this government project has still gone nowhere, they don't plan to even be done until 2025, and even then, they will have failed to even include all the destinations they planned for.

      Meanwhile, these tech companies have given up waiting for the government to un-fuck itself, and just deployed their own damn mass-transportation system.

  3. Wish my employer did that. by sackofdonuts · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Driving in the Bay area is horrid. Getting bus service to and from work would be great. Could get some extra sleep too.

    1. Re:Wish my employer did that. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What's even more confusing is the article treats this like a bad thing, but it's objectively making bay area commutes BETTER by taking thousands of cars off the roads. Can you imagine how much worse traffic would be if these shuttles weren't in place?

      It's not like other mass transit is an option. Caltrain is already overloaded.

  4. This is good. by darkwing_bmf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The buses are better for the environment and road congestion than if each person had to drive individually. And they don't cost taxpayers extra money. This sounds like a win-win to me.

  5. Re:WTF perspective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I want to agree with you but I it is getting more difficult to ignore the ways in which people are disengaging from the real world.

    When my former college hired crossing guards to help adults cross a minor city street because they couldn't take their eyes off their gadgets I became convinced something significant has changed. When I see a lack of pick-up games and activity in the parks on beautiful days but see the organized indoor summer camps bustling with kids and tight supervision I wonder if we've become unable to live in the real world.

    We live in a world that is safer than ever - whether we're talking about world politics or safety in our neighborhoods but we're also acting more fearful than ever.