NY Resurgence? San Francisco's Half Recovery?
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Interesting article in the Economist this week with the subhead "the strange half-recovery of California's prettiest city." Since 2000, San Francisco has shed more jobs than Detroit. And it's not just tech. "The city's finance and insurance industry now employees fewer people than during the recession of the 1990s.
The city's population has become even older. The trend is people in their late 50s buying a pied-a-terre. The "younger workers have a detached relationship with the city. Google shuttles 1200 people a day to its headquarters in Mountain View." Yet, the housing market remains the fourth-least affordable in the America. The bottom line, talented people who not all necessarily rich, are moving to more affordable cities.
I flash back to the NY Tech Meetup last week. The sweltering Cooper Union was overflowing with people (600 they say), energy and fresh ideas. A kid whose college thesis was on better inventory management in parking lots, talks about his internet startup: ParkWhiz. Even the Amazon rep presents its new hosting platforms with the fervored intensity of an entrepreneur. The crowd screams and one gentleman offers his testimonial on how he wouldn't be in business without Amazon.
I wonder if this intensity and excitement exists in the Mission, Redwood Shores, Mountain View? Has New York has finally come of age in the technology startup world?Labels: Meetup, NY Tech, SF San Francisco
 |
