Google expanding to accomodate 30,000 new hires in the Bay Area (Livermore: house, tech jobs)

[felinius]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

No, but they need to spread the wealth. There are many parts of the state that need jobs, and can accommodate growth. Bay Area freeways are already too congested, and rents are going so sky-high, long-term locals are getting pushed out. Growth can be more rationally planned.

... like creating jobs in areas that really need the jobs, aka Central Valley.

Thinking about the possibility of that many new hires by Google alone makes me queasy. Traffic's already gotten worse within the past two months, not sure how much more traffic we can really handle. Boo.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

Ruth4Truth, don't their shuttles go to Oakland and Berzerkly? Rents will probably go up. But, I guess if you spread 30,000 techies out all over the Bay Area, their total impact won't be so bad?

There are shuttles to Oakland and Berkeley, and rents have gone up on those routes too. But it really encourages burn out. 3 hours a day commuting. Even via a cushy shuttle is a giant time suck. Google should spread the offices around it combine it with housing development within 1 mile to lessen the traffic impact. And build within in 1/2 of frequent transit and rail stations.

More workers in farflung office parks is not what we need.

[18Montclair]

^Maybe Google is one of the parties interested in the Sears store?

[likealady]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

^Maybe Google is one of the parties interested in the Sears store?

It sounds like they will be expanding into their purchased south bay properties, but I wouldn't rule that out.

"Their young engineers like to live in San Francisco. So this provides an option so they don't have to drive all the way to Mountain View. It will help Google recruit new talent."

Who's driving to work? If those Google buses didn't exist, just how many of their employees in SF/East Bay would be willing to do that commute day in and day out? They also kind of brought that problem on themselves. By giving the employees buses, they've given an incentive to live in the city. Now they want to open a Redwood City office so the commute isn't as bad. Well, if you didn't offer the dumb bus to begin with, I'm sure less of your employees would be living so far away if they wanted to work for you. Also, don't they have an SF office? Is it only reserved for a certain team or something?

What's really sad is that Google and tech startups think they must be in this area. Yeah, I get that it's the heart of the tech industry, but a Google office in say, Portland, would do a lot of good for that city. Or even expanding their current satellite offices would be a better option. I don't really want to think about how much more ridiculous the rents will get and how congested the streets will be if they are really going to bring in 20-30K more employees into this area.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

This kind of reminds me of how Boeing impacts the Seattle area. They hire thousands, and later lay off thousands. Repeat.

A fluctuation of thousands of employees coming and going in an area with massive hires and layoffs is really hard on the local economy.

I get nervous when companies expand like mad.

[18Montclair]

Google is not responsible for the job market in other areas.

And start ups flock here from all over the world because the Bay Area recieves around half the nation's venture capital, which is the money that finances their growth.

So yes, you can start a company anywhere, but nowhere even comes to close to the Bay as far as incubating new tech start ups into internationally known brands.

The proof is in our daily lives.

[felinius]

Originally Posted by likealady

Who's driving to work? If those Google buses didn't exist, just how many of their employees in SF/East Bay would be willing to do that commute day in and day out?

On the Google site, it says this:

Googlers often leave their cars at home (or don't own cars at all). About 6,400 Googlers take the shuttle to work on any given day, and our shuttle program hit 2.5 million rides in 2013.

So that's only a drop in the bucket... they're still bringing a lot more cars with new employees.

[citylove101]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

No, but they need to spread the wealth. There are many parts of the state that need jobs, and can accommodate growth. Bay Area freeways are already too congested, and rents are going so sky-high, long-term locals are getting pushed out. Growth can be more rationally planned.

This will not happen and IMO should not happen. People in the same profession need to be physically near other folks in that profession for networking, bouncing ideas off of each other, chance meetings that lead to new things, etc.

I mean think about it: If there is any industry in the world where workers don't need to be sitting at desks next to each other it's the tech industry. Yet they all home in on Silicon Valley. There's a reason for that -- the critical mass is good for business, and the more, the merrier. It's why businesses of all sorts tend to cluster -- the music industry in LA or hedge funds in Greenwich CT are classic examples. To cut a record or invest some money you don't NEED to be near anyone else who does it. But birds of a feather flock together. Always have and always will.

I have no idea where or how G will expand, but I do agree that it's pretty speculative to say that all their additional real estate will house the maximum 30,000 workers it theoretically could.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by citylove101

-- the critical mass is good for business, and the more, the merrier. It's why businesses of all sorts tend to cluster -- .

And good heaven knows what's good for business should always be considered over what's good for the rest of the host community, eh?

[Pietro25]

I'm curious to see at what point Highways 101 and 280, the commuting corridors between SV and SF, get saturated. Highway 101 is a tough commute now. At some point, no matter how many Google buses the tech companies provide for their proverbial "young engineers who want to live in SF," the highways will come to a standstill. Even commuting by private bus will be a big hassle.

Then what happens? Will Google deliver its employees to and from work in drones?