[HN Gopher] Silicon Valley Is Flooding into a Reluctant Austin
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Silicon Valley Is Flooding into a Reluctant Austin
Author : donsupreme
Score : 39 points
Date : 2021-04-11 21:04 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.bloomberg.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.bloomberg.com)
| xwdv wrote:
| When visiting Austin what are the number one places a Silicon
| Valley resident should go to for networking?
| EarthLaunch wrote:
| San Francisco. Just kidding. Although that's what I did.
|
| It's weird right now due to Covid, but obviously incubators
| like Capital Factory or (if it's still going) Tech Ranch.
|
| Apart from that, well, culture is online now.
| TypeCaste wrote:
| Are the tax benefits of Texas offset by Austin's rising home
| prices, and the proportional increase owed in property taxes?
| rossdavidh wrote:
| The cost of housing in Austin is definitely higher than
| surrounding parts of Texas, and rising. However, nowhere near
| Silicon Valley levels.
| Snoozle wrote:
| I used to live in Austin in 2007 until 2013. Even back then the
| transition to tech hub was well underway. We went from the
| Portland of the south to a yuppie paradise in fairly short order.
| Who can say whether the changes are good or bad? They're going to
| happen either way. We traded weird restaurants and way too much
| hipster music for tech bros and planned areas like the domain.
| They both have their charms and their annoyances.
|
| On a related note, we live in an age of mass communication.
| Cities that become cool become migration magnets due to
| widespread knowledge and relative ease of relocation. See:
|
| Boulder Portland asheville nashville bend boise missoula Austin
| tacoma, others I'm sure.
|
| I view it as a net negative because part of the reason these
| 'weird' cities came to be was the needs of the locals who already
| lived there. Nowadays some liberal musician will just move to
| city X instead of giving their personality to the area around
| them.
| rossdavidh wrote:
| I mostly agree. I should point out, however, that my wife and I
| both came from small towns in southern Illinois, which are the
| same size (actually slightly smaller) they were decades ago. It
| isn't better.
| jseliger wrote:
| Austin prohibits adequate housing from being built:
| https://austin.curbed.com/2020/1/30/21115370/austin-
| housing-..., which is likely driving up the cost of living in
| the city--just like California.
|
| Without liberalizing zoning laws, Austin will likely continue
| to see the exact same effects as California. This can be
| changed: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16704501 if
| enough people want it to change.
| rossdavidh wrote:
| While Austin's zoning laws could definitely be better, there
| is tons of housing being built even now. I see large numbers
| being built at the edge of town. Not saying there's not
| problems, especially for new construction in old
| neighborhoods, but it's not like there isn't a lot of
| construction happening.
| rossdavidh wrote:
| So, I'm an Austin resident, and programmer, who lived in the
| south Bay from 1989-1992 before moving to Texas. So, I am feeling
| a little ambivalent, and also hypocritical, about the recent
| influx of Californians. But, I can tell you that the basics of
| the Bloomberg article definitely seem to be legit. Lots of
| California license plates on cars in Austin lately.
| politelemon wrote:
| I'm seeing a lot of "ifs" and "shoulds". As an outsider looking
| in, it appears there's nothing in place to prevent the SV
| problems from arising in Austin.
|
| Do these tech companies realise what's going to happen, or is it
| going to be wrapped up as part of the cost of doing business,
| before they move on to someplace else. I'm now imagining a
| tornado of tech companies travelling across the country ravaging
| economies in its wake, with a periodic exodus of tech folk
| travelling in a procession of Teslas slowly making their way in
| Boring tunnels.
|
| Maybe all that is just extrapolation and there are examples of
| tech friendly cities which haven't been affected in the same way.
| rossdavidh wrote:
| Not sure if Austin will do what's needed, but one thing I can
| say is it is a big topic of discussion, by old residents and
| new. So, this doesn't by any means guarantee effective action,
| but it's certainly on everyone's radar.
| spaced-out wrote:
| >I'm now imagining a tornado of tech companies travelling
| across the country ravaging economies in its wake, with a
| periodic exodus of tech folk travelling in a procession of
| Teslas slowly making their way in Boring tunnels.
|
| You know, a lot of us are just people in their late 20s/early
| 30s, just looking for a place to settle down and raise a
| family.
| DivisionSol wrote:
| I am moving to Austin very shortly from the Bay Area.
|
| Rent is 1/2 as cheap for 2x the sq ft, and property values still
| currently with in the stratosphere (unlike the Bay Area). No
| income tax.
|
| Hopefully Austin acts quick and starts building new/upgrading
| existing buildings to accommodate the growth that's happening.
| rossdavidh wrote:
| Well one thing that helped a bit is that the governor did not
| allow the city to stop construction at any point, even when
| lots of other stuff was locked down last April. But, even with
| non-stop building, it's falling behind.
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