What a bizarre article. It's about the real estate crunch, but they spend so much time at the beginning talking about the weed store and the gardening sensor startup (not to mention the clever use of "high times" in the headline) that I was thoroughly confused about the point they were trying to make for a while. The relevant part of the example is basically, "SF tech startup finds relatively cheap office space in a long-vacant storefront in Oakland."
It is quite a weird read. A lot of these articles feel like the realizations of people who previously were too blinkered to even notice Oakland's existence. It will be bad for Oakland when such people start flooding over here.
I have a startup in a solar accelerator program in downtown Oakland. Our building right around the corner from a BART stop. When I have a meeting in SF, it's only 15 minutes to get to Embarcadero. It takes my co-founder longer to get from North Beach to that stop.
Also, Oakland is pretty flat, so riding your bike around is super fast and easy. You don't need a car at all to have an active social life. I constantly go to meetups all over the bay area, and the only time I drive is when something is in the peninsula. Heck, San Jose is easily accessible via BART + express bus.
Nice, it seems like you've found a good transit solution that works (which is rare in the Bay Area) and I'm happy. A couple of questions came to mind, and I mean them in the nicest way --
1. Do you live in the same place that the accelerator is -- in Downtown Oakland? Is that considered a safe neighborhood? You compare that with your founder commuting from North Beach, which is not a business district, so he likely lives there. North Beach is good neighborhood that lacks an underground lightrail but is otherwise a desirable neighborhood -- plenty of bars/restaurants, walkable from downtown, close to the bay, less crime, etc. I think it is unfair to compare commuting from Downtown<->Downtown with Community<->Downtown.
2. There are many commonly biked routes in SF that have no gradient, failing which, one can always walk, muni, or ride-share over to the destination. Owning a car is pretty unnecessary in SF (like it is in Oakland).
3. As someone who has done the BART + 181 journey more times than I wanted, in my experience it takes 1:30+ reach downtown San Jose from east bay. Which is kinda acceptable if your destination is in downtown San Jose. Even a few miles out (N 1st St., Cupertino, Mtv., or Sunnyvale) and you're in for a 2:30 + hour one way commute using the public transit. What I realized was that nothing beats a car in South Bay.
Why do you say that San Jose is more easily accessible from Oakland than from SF when SF has a < 1 hr bullet Caltrain that reaches all South Bay cities' downtown?
I accepted a good job offer in San Francisco, starting when I graduate next June. It seems like everything I've read about the Bay Area has has been the same: "The expenses are insane. They are getting worse. Turn back now."
Articles like this make me wonder what I've gotten myself into.
Since you're a developer out of a good university, you will be fine living in the city. I'm assuming you're making at least $100k at the very minimum, and have no dependents. There are still good deals to be had in SF, you just have to know what neighborhoods are overpriced and which are underpriced.
You should be able to get a good-sized studio for under $2500/month, which is a reasonable portion of your salary. If you're cool with roommates, you can get a nicer room in a more convenient part of the city.
Doesn't hurt to try it out! That's what I'm doing (been here for 3 months now). If you ever get nervous or have any last-minute questions feel free to ping me!
I'm assuming it's some kind of tech job. Keep in mind there are thousands of people living in the city who make minimum wage. You're going to be doing substantially better than them.
Find a share house with people with similar interests, get a studio in the Tenderloin or (potentially) move to the East Bay.
If they want people to live/work in Oakland, they're gonna need to convince the BART folks to run past midnight. That is probably the biggest thing holding Oakland back.
[+] [-] hamburglar|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thrownaway2424|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gregcohn|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sv123|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] diafygi|11 years ago|reply
Also, Oakland is pretty flat, so riding your bike around is super fast and easy. You don't need a car at all to have an active social life. I constantly go to meetups all over the bay area, and the only time I drive is when something is in the peninsula. Heck, San Jose is easily accessible via BART + express bus.
If only they would make BART 24/7 like NYC...
[+] [-] ultimoo|11 years ago|reply
1. Do you live in the same place that the accelerator is -- in Downtown Oakland? Is that considered a safe neighborhood? You compare that with your founder commuting from North Beach, which is not a business district, so he likely lives there. North Beach is good neighborhood that lacks an underground lightrail but is otherwise a desirable neighborhood -- plenty of bars/restaurants, walkable from downtown, close to the bay, less crime, etc. I think it is unfair to compare commuting from Downtown<->Downtown with Community<->Downtown.
2. There are many commonly biked routes in SF that have no gradient, failing which, one can always walk, muni, or ride-share over to the destination. Owning a car is pretty unnecessary in SF (like it is in Oakland).
3. As someone who has done the BART + 181 journey more times than I wanted, in my experience it takes 1:30+ reach downtown San Jose from east bay. Which is kinda acceptable if your destination is in downtown San Jose. Even a few miles out (N 1st St., Cupertino, Mtv., or Sunnyvale) and you're in for a 2:30 + hour one way commute using the public transit. What I realized was that nothing beats a car in South Bay. Why do you say that San Jose is more easily accessible from Oakland than from SF when SF has a < 1 hr bullet Caltrain that reaches all South Bay cities' downtown?
[+] [-] hyperbovine|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] taylorlapeyre|11 years ago|reply
Articles like this make me wonder what I've gotten myself into.
[+] [-] ericdykstra|11 years ago|reply
You should be able to get a good-sized studio for under $2500/month, which is a reasonable portion of your salary. If you're cool with roommates, you can get a nicer room in a more convenient part of the city.
[+] [-] rhizome|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] prezjordan|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nedwin|11 years ago|reply
Find a share house with people with similar interests, get a studio in the Tenderloin or (potentially) move to the East Bay.
Either way you're going to have a blast. :)
[+] [-] superfunc|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mrj|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eru|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jedberg|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Confusion|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thrownaway2424|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] degio|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mahyarm|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jasonlaramburu|11 years ago|reply