The New York Times, which got some local flack a few days ago for publishing an article noting the positive effects (the re-population of mid-Market) of efforts by companies like Square and Twitter to move into San Francisco, also just covered the city's ambivalence towards, and even hostility against, the tech industry.
The article, which published yesterday, hit most of the notes San Franciscans are familiar with at this point: stratospheric rent and real estate prices, the fate of the Mission, Peter Shih, condoization and housing evictions. This coverage, at least, seems more in tune with what people have been saying about the city's burgeoning tech population, and the growing question in most residents' minds about whether the city will remain a viable home for anyone but tech professionals. It also resonates with the Haight, where it's hard to even find a one-room rental for less than $2000, and where tech professionals live cheek-by-jowl with longtime residents, students, artists and retirees. So what do you think? Is the current tech boom another bubble? Did any readers here survive the dot-com boom? Or has San Francisco always characteristically been a city of gold diggers ready to oust the previous arrivals? Has San Francisco ever been affordable?
The article, which published yesterday, hit most of the notes San Franciscans are familiar with at this point: stratospheric rent and real estate prices, the fate of the Mission, Peter Shih, condoization and housing evictions. This coverage, at least, seems more in tune with what people have been saying about the city's burgeoning tech population, and the growing question in most residents' minds about whether the city will remain a viable home for anyone but tech professionals. It also resonates with the Haight, where it's hard to even find a one-room rental for less than $2000, and where tech professionals live cheek-by-jowl with longtime residents, students, artists and retirees. So what do you think? Is the current tech boom another bubble? Did any readers here survive the dot-com boom? Or has San Francisco always characteristically been a city of gold diggers ready to oust the previous arrivals? Has San Francisco ever been affordable?
