
Next Big Tech Corridor? Between Seattle and Vancouver, Planners Hope - jseliger
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/03/technology/next-big-tech-corridor-between-seattle-and-vancouver-planners-hope.html
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santaclaus
> and an international border divide the two cities, keeping them farther
> apart than their geographic and cultural identities would suggest.

For real, crossing into Canada from the US at Vancouver is probably the
toughest English speaking border I've dealt with as an American. England,
Ireland, the Anzacs, I've never had an issue, but damn, every time I visit
Vancouver I budget extra time to deal with immigration. I go through Toronto a
lot, too, and never have issues there, but nearly everyone I know gets
harassed on both sides of the Canadian/US border up at the Couv.

~~~
cbHXBY1D
True. I live in Seattle and had a friend visiting early last month and I
wanted to take him to Vancouver for a day trip. We drove to the border and I
explained to the border guard we are just sight-seeing for the day. The guard
directed us to pull over near their facility and they made us give them our
keys, cell phones, and wallets while they went through everything in my car.
We were put into two different rooms and questioned for 1.5 hours. They even
went through my laptop bag and found paperwork about an upcoming surgery in a
week and accused me of not giving them details about that. They left my car in
a mess.

All in all, the day trip wasn't worth the feeling of violation.

~~~
bruceb
I think what is frustrating is not the stopping and questioning but the
attitude. I have been stopped on the way to Vancouver. For the most part
Canadian border control is professional and polite.

On the way back a few times I have encountered surly demeaning behavior. Being
a border patrol officer would be a tedious job at times and I don't expect a
smile but outward hostility is ridiculous. For non citizen encountering this
it is a terrible and lasting bad first impression of the US.

~~~
wangchow
Honestly the day trip people would annoy me if I were a border patrol officer.
Commuting in and potentially exploiting economic loopholes or something. That
or smugling drugs across the border.

Especially given the strength of the USD over CAD these days

~~~
jdavis703
Then perhaps you shouldn't be a border patrol officer. It would be like
waiters being annoyed at being asked what's in the food they're serving.

~~~
wangchow
True. :)

I suppose that's why I'm not!

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abysmallyideal
Did anyone even read the article? They're opening the tech corridor in Canada
due to Canada's "friendlier immigration policies" so they can import more
workers from China and India, not to spread the difference. They complain
about not enough tech grads from US universities, but the reality is they
don't want to pay for them.

It is far cheaper and easier to import their labour force or offshore more
jobs than it is to try to hire and pay "qualified tech grads" in the US.

The tech corridor has nothing to do with a tech corridor per say, and more to
do with Canada's lax immigration policies. They used up whatever h1b they were
alotted in the US and now want to use Canada's more lax immigration
equivalent.

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Tiktaalik
A Highspeed rail link would be incredible.

I've ridden the Amtrak to Seattle and Portland a few times. It's a much longer
trip but its so convenient to not need to bring down a car and be able to use
wifi the whole way. If there was a faster rail link I'd go down to Seattle all
the time.

~~~
Frondo
Try the Bolt Bus! It's a nicer version of a Greyhound bus. Wifi, comfy seats,
way fewer stops, I love it.

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ttul
Seriously, Vancouver needs to deal with housing costs. As the article points
out, junior developers are comfortable renting a cheap apartment. But
executives want to own a house - and not a house two hours out in the
countryside. Vancouver houses are just ludicrously expensive; this keeps good
people away.

~~~
aceofspades19
2 hours is a pretty big exaggeration. To put in perspective, ~2 hours drive
from downtown Vancouver is Yale BC, or if you went northwest down the 99, that
would put you in Pemberton, which both are really in the middle of nowhere. I
don't know of any large city where you can buy a detached singe family house
cheaply anywhere close to the downtown core.

~~~
dmix
Not wanting "ludicrously expensive" housing does not mean expecting "cheap"
housing...

Pretty much everyone agrees Vancouver is needlessly expensive. I mean it's not
Tokyo, Hong Kong, NYC, SF, etc where there's an inherent justification for
paying lots of money to live there. I've heard the nightlife is nothing to
look forward to nor is it known for it's culture.

The problem could easily be solved by simply building more. Unlike SF or
Manhattan, Vancouver doesn't even have artificial land growth limitations for
being on an inlet/island to rationalize the lack of growth.

~~~
eyqs
I'm not sure what you mean by artificial land growth limitations. If you're
talking about building height or city size limitations, Vancouver certainly
has height restrictions, and it's surrounded on all sides too (UBC, Burrard
Inlet, Burnaby, and the Fraser). You could build more outside of Vancouver
proper, but then executives wouldn't want to live so far.

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benwilber0
The growth will occur on the USA side of the border, Everett and Bellingham,
simply because the obstacles to founding a startup company anywhere in Canada
are ridiculously unfriendly.

~~~
etjossem
You're being downvoted over this, but I'm curious to know what you think those
obstacles are.

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Tiktaalik
With salaries and housing prices as they are in Vancouver, the case to stay on
the Canadian side of the border instead of leaving for Seattle is awfully
weak.

~~~
dmix
I'm hoping Victoria turns into an active startup scene soon. I want to move
west for proximity to Seattle/SF but Vancouver's cost of living was a big turn
off. $2k/m in Toronto goes a very long way compared to most big cities (thank
you liberal municipal building policy!) where I'm not sure it's worth the
trade off.

Not having to deal with months of winter (I don't mind BC's rain) and a 1-2hr
ferry to Seattle/Vancouver does sound alluring though.

~~~
emilyfm
Victoria is much more affordable than Vancouver (although rentals are
currently tight), and has less summer rain (rain shadow from the Olympic
mountains).

See [https://github.com/sendwithus/vic-startup-
jobs](https://github.com/sendwithus/vic-startup-jobs) for local startup jobs.

It could be considered more of a Salish Sea triangle for startups, with
Victoria, Vancouver, and Seattle all being close and each having advantages
and disadvantages.

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intrasight
How about Bellingham? Beautiful, affordable, and half-way between.

~~~
dammitcoetzee
Shh. Don't tell them about Bellingham. Haha

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Hondor
I had no idea the border cuts right through a suburb like that

[https://www.google.nl/maps/@49.0021485,-122.7413957,3a,46.4y...](https://www.google.nl/maps/@49.0021485,-122.7413957,3a,46.4y,270.59h,90.54t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sRppSGXNWTpXxpw1ndtaM6Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en)

Kids could lose a ball in the bushes and become illegal aliens running to pick
it up.

~~~
gregpilling
Yep, I used to live 5 miles from there. Looks about right. Thousands of miles
of wire fence makes up most of the border. Not very secure. Easy to walk over
or through if you wanted to.

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ttul
As if Seattle needs any help.

~~~
mentifex
I live between Seattle and Vancouver, and I would like to offer my
[http://mind.sourceforge.net/theory5.html](http://mind.sourceforge.net/theory5.html)
for [http://ai.neocities.org](http://ai.neocities.org) Strong AI free-of-
charge to the entrepreneurs of the Next Big Tech Corridor.

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jimjimjim
nice area! I took the train between vancouver and seattle to avoid possible
border delays and it was a very relaxing journey with only two problems,

1) freight has right-of-way and if they are having problems then you are
having problems

2) you pretty much need a car in seattle since everything is so spread out.
(not so much in vancouver).

~~~
jsolson
When I moved to Seattle I sold my car because everything was walkable :)

Mind you, I was coming from Atlanta, GA.

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segfaults
Why is it always the cold areas? Why can't a tech corridor be further south...
:(

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ThePawnBreak
Um...Bay Area?

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aianus
SF is extremely cold. You can't ever spend the whole day in a t-shirt, not
even in the summer.

~~~
michael_h
Extremely cold is pushing it. Chilly is probably more apt.

It generally has a mid-level UV index, so you feel warm in direct sunlight,
but the humidity is very low so the 'breeze' feels cold. Some may find this
unpleasant.

