
The Problem with the Facebook Cafeteria and Free Food - Someone1234
https://www.theringer.com/tech/2018/8/2/17640904/facebook-cafeteria-free-food-mountain-view-menlo-park-google-headquarters
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wahern
TL;DR: If you don't build walkable spaces, don't be surprised if people
sequester themselves.

I take issue with this characterization: "Silicon Valley wasn’t given a
choice; tech businesses were born there". Silicon Valley cities _embraced_ the
office park model of development. Office buildings in Silicon Valley are
spread out, surrounded by parking spaces and manicured lawns, because its what
cities _require_. They _required_ this because they thought it was better than
what they saw in dense, grimy San Francisco.

I've worked at 5 or 6 different places in South Bay. Having to get into your
car, drive a few miles to a lunch spot, and drive back takes a ridiculous
amount of time if you do it every day. And that's just for a drive-thru.
Actually sitting down some place? You only did that occasionally, when it was
okay for everybody in your group to be out of the office for 2+ hours.

In the Financial District of SF there are more places to eat in a 1 block
radius than in a 3 mile radius in most places in Silicon Valley. (And it's not
a stretch to say that about most neighborhoods in SF, especially in the NE
quadrant.) If workers prefer cafeteria food in neighborhoods like Tenderloin
or Civic Center, the solution isn't to ban cafeterias, it's to clean up the
neighborhood.

