
In Oakland, a Sign of Some Very High Times - ot
http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/20/oakland/
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hamburglar
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."

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sv123
Yeah, probably the longest TC article I have ever read.

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devindotcom
Oh boy, you must have missed Kim-Mai's last major article and one or two of my
own :D

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diafygi
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.

If only they would make BART 24/7 like NYC...

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ultimoo
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?

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SomeCallMeTim
Right downtown it's not too dangerous, and there are some good housing
options. And downtown is an easy bike ride from Temescal, Rockridge, the
Piedmont Avenue area, the Grand Avenue/Lake Merrit area, or Piedmont (city),
all of which are reasonably safe places to live (certainly on the same level
of "safe" as you'd find in San Francisco -- Piedmont is probably safer, in
fact). And all of those destinations are predominantly flat gradients to
downtown (well, at least compared to San Francisco hills; it's not Kansas).

San Jose, on the other hand, does suck to get to from the East Bay. Best plan
is to avoid going to the South Bay, or to hope that your destination is within
striking distance of the Amtrak station. Or to hope that they finally finish
the Bart connection. I agree that Caltrain gives you better South Bay access;
I'd be tempted to Bart in to Millbrae and transfer to Caltrain if I still
lived in the area and didn't feel like driving.

When I lived in the East Bay, I would end up in San Jose only 2-4 times per
year, and I'd usually drive. On the other hand, I worked in San Francisco for
over three years, and I never drove to the City once during that time; a mix
of Bart and ferry trips (depending on where I lived at the time) handled my
commute nicely.

There's also a great start-up incubator (or at least there was) in downtown
Oakland; a start-up that I joined moved in there for a year or so, and that
made for an even easier commute.

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taylorlapeyre
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.

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ericdykstra
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.

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cobookman
> ...100k at the very minimum...

If its a big corporation sure, but not at a startup.

That said, he could also live in one of the various co-ops in SoMa for not too
much money (if he's fine sharing a room). And the inner-Richmond does have
cheap rent as well (~$750-1000 per single room)

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te_chris
Wait, sharing a room??? What the hell?

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solistice
Even though this isn't quite on the topic of Bay Area rent, room and apartment
sharing is pretty prevalent in Beijing as well, with similarily ballooning
rent prices. Whilst I was living there, I shared an apartment with 3 other
people, the landlord and 2 other chinese guys which were sharing their room.
In fact, most of the younger foreigners I happend to hang around with shared
apartments, and I wouldn't be suprised at some of them sharing rooms either.
The only guy under 25 where I'm certain that he had his own flat to live in
had a mother who used to work in real estate. Proably the most cramped
situation that was described to me by an expat involved a girl that i met in
one of the cities posher nightclubs who came to Beijing to find a modeling
job, who was sharing an apartment with 5 other girls. Presumably, they did
share rooms. And this is foreigners that came to Beijing despite of that. I
cannot imagine how cramped some of the BeiPiao (Chinese migrants coming to
Beijing) are willing to live just in order to stay in the city.

So if you're young, unmarried and you're not incredibly fussy about living
together with other people, I think you should absolutely go for it. Having to
share a room isn't some kind of ungodly indignity, especially if you get along
with your roommates.

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te_chris
There's a large gulf between sharing flats and sharing rooms though. Sharing
flats is common all over the world for obvious reasons, sharing rooms seems
like a good time to question why you're in a certain place.

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jedberg
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.

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Confusion
How about sane working hours?

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jedberg
People like to go out after work, especially on weekends. BART ending at
midnight makes that really tough.

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malyk
There is nightlife and such in the east bay...

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degio
So here's a question for the readers: would you rather live/work in the
Berkeley/Oakland area or in the south bay?

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mahyarm
Berkeley/Oakland if your single, the south bay if you want suburbia.

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eyeareque
But what about santana row? ... Just kidding.

I like the South Bay personally, but I also don't drink or party. To each
their own.

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mahyarm
Even if you don't drink or party, just on an available woman basis.

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jasonlaramburu
There are also some great, affordable restaurants in downtown Oakland. Highly
recommend it to startups looking for space.

