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Also, saying the Bay Area is just "tech" is like saying Texas is just "energy" or NYC is just "finance + some advertising/marketing/media"
Even ignoring the statement's inaccuracy, "tech" is a broad (and very profitable high margin) and huge industry that's only growing and becoming more important to the economy and people's lives. It's not like "tech" = cars or steel. So if it's the case that the Bay Area dominates the (world's) tech scene, I'm pretty content with that. It also suggests that the Bay Area's economy is one of the richest and largest in the world...which it is.
SF is also the banking, legal and publishing hub of the Western U.S. Also #1 in the U.S. for new media, which is separate from "tech"
As the poster above says, tech is many things. SF is in all of it. Hardware, corporate software, internet companies, new media companies, social networking.
It's also a heavy research city in general for medicine, defense, along with having very strong leading universities. A top 4 university (HYPS) (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford) and the #1 public university in the country, (UC Berkeley)
SF also has it's hands in Film, LucasArts, Industrial Light and Magic, and Pixar are all in SF.
Well considering SoCal subsidizes the rest of the state ( including the hundreds of dollars taken out of my paycheck every month), I think a little water is a fair price to pay to make sure California's economic engine doesn't die.
Google has plenty of Southern California campuses. Along with many other tech companies. I guess SoCal is starting to inch into the literal thing the Bay Area is known for.
If we were to go only by your metrics, OP, why in the world would you ever leave NYC? NYC's GDP crushes LA's. It's economy is stronger and more diverse. Its more ethnically diverse (LA has a higher percentage of foreign born, but NYC has a greater diversity of foreign born,) more urban, better transit, more cosmopolitan, etc., etc. Can you see how ridiculous you sound?
It's great that you love LA, and that you're happy there but please take off the blinders. Outside of a few choice areas, LA is sprawl. You're confusing sprawl with country and suburban. LA is a sprawling urban area. Period. SF is the denser, more walkable and transit friendly city. Add the beautiful natural setting, lower crime rate, booming economy, cleaner urbanscape, and it's understandable why many people will prefer SF.
P.S. LA will never rival NYC in the future, but rest assured its place as America's second city is secure for the foreseeable future.
My point is that given everything that both SF Bay and LA offer,
LA offers everything that SF Bay does while the reverse isn't true.
Napa Wine Country, Southern California has plenty of wine growing areas.
Hiking in Marin? LA has the most urban hiking in the country
SF urbanity may not exist as much in LA, but LA is plenty urban enough.
Given that Southern California has grown by at least
1 million people every decade for the past 100 years, it's just beyond me how someone would willingly choose SF over LA. But opinions are opinions
Well considering SoCal subsidizes the rest of the state ( including the hundreds of dollars taken out of my paycheck every month), I think a little water is a fair price to pay to make sure California's economic engine doesn't die.
Google has plenty of Southern California campuses. Along with many other tech companies. I guess SoCal is starting to inch into the literal thing the Bay Area is known for.
Uhh it is the other way around buddy. Norcal has much higher per capita incomes, while so cal has a much higher welfare/food stamp rate.
If the state were split in two, norcal would be fiscally solvent, and so cal would be dependent on federal aid.
Either way, we all know the bay is going to win this poll.
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