Comments | ultraswank: Is the Bay area worth it?

ultraswank

Is the Bay area worth it?

Aug 10, 2007 15:56

I'm going through another round of dis-satisfaction with our lovely Bay Area. Mostly it's financial; our continuing house hunt is just making it clear how far away we are from buying anything, the market upheavals are making me nervous about my job and I'm getting really sick of making more money then almost any member of my family yet still ( Read more... )

Comments 14

jgcr August 11 2007, 00:09:06 UTC

we think about this a lot too. the trouble seems to be that most of the other places we'd want to live (seattle, portland, deecee, new york, london, vancouver) are either worse on the cost of living front (NY and london) or better, but with enough job trade-off to remove much (though not all) of the benefit.

what's great about here?
1. you people
2. the food
3. the randomness
4. the politics (as annoying as some of the local politics can be, it's so *relaxing* to not be in, say, Virginia. especially on the cultural politics front.)
5. possibility of raising my kids with cosmopolitan values -- certainly possible in many places (esp. the above list of cities) but extra-easy here.

so, not totally sure we'll stick, but, well, we have so far ...

ultraswank August 11 2007, 00:30:09 UTC

Yeah, I'm exploring a long shot possibility of keeping my current position and salary but being able to relocate to Portland. Thing is, from my rough estimates we could take a 40k hit to our income and still be able to get a house up there. Of course it sounds like Portland's problem is finding a job at all.

jgcr August 11 2007, 00:37:20 UTC

it is. i love portland otherwise. (it also seems to have public school issues, but a. so does sf, and b., i actually totally distrust the rhetoric around public schools these days and would have to go check and decide for myself.)

interestingly, we just hired a developer who will be working from portland. and i have a designer on my team who works from vancouver.

chipadeedoodah August 11 2007, 02:15:47 UTC

1. Yeah this is something I'm totally homesick for right now, because we haven't met anyone and my former mechanisms for meeting people (find goth scene nerds, subscribe to e-mail lists and web groups, read & filter who's worth knowing, contact them) aren't there anymore since I'm not much for any particular scene these days.

2. You're mentioning coastal cities, which means the sushi's still going to be good (alas poor me). Otherwise you can get ethnic cuisine of great variety and quality in almost any city.

3. Create randomness.

4. Conversely, your vote matters more the closer you are to the center or left the further you get from the sf bay monoculture.

5. Already covered.

Holy shit is 1 a sticking point tonight, though. Totally goddamned lonesome.

Thread 5

eac August 11 2007, 00:36:09 UTC

We'll pout if you move?

(Actually, I fight with this in my head all the time. Then someone opens an eccentric coffee shop down the block or a random man stops to convince me that I should stop in for cake and I remember how seldom those things happen elsewhere. Also, James' work is more interesting here than it would be elsewhere.)

(The comment has been removed)

jgcr August 11 2007, 14:28:41 UTC

Monthly dinner thing = yes plz. But you're not alloed to do *all* the work yourself if you host. ;)

podle August 11 2007, 16:02:33 UTC

You know - we were talking about this very thing last night. I know that the friend factor is very high for me whenever I even remotely consider leaving the Bay Area. And yet - we spend so little time actually visiting each other. This should absolutely be remedied. I would totally come to monthly dinner gatherings and bring food and wine. Also - you're right next to BART so us non-driving folk can get to you easily! As an added bonus, for those of us trying to stick to budgets, potlucks are a really nice alternative to dinner out.

ztepfinat0r August 11 2007, 18:46:50 UTC

angel_boi August 11 2007, 09:46:41 UTC

if you ever left the island...
and answered your phone every once in a while...
you'd have a better idea

anonymous August 11 2007, 17:54:00 UTC

I don't think I have anything profound or new to add, just chiming in to agree with the general angst. Myself, I have a cadre of friends who are turning 50, which has made me start worrying about money in a whole new special way. Nevertheless, at this point I am not giving any serious consideration to leaving the Bay Area, due to ( ... )