Hacker News Reader

Comment by simonsarris | Hacker News Reader

Do recall that Google itself couldn't even get a couple small bridges built in mountain view to save the polluting commute of its own workers between parts of campus.

But even Google money can't shake a small city council.

https://www.mv-voice.com/news/2013/12/23/viewpoint-city-shou...

View on HN

Serious question, why do the major tech companies put up with this and not slowly migrate elsewhere? I get it's a bit of a chicken vs. the egg game when it comes to where the work is & where the talent is, but the bay area seems like it's at such a critical mass.

Because when they're doing well, the benefits (to them) out-way the costs.

It was only really obvious to me what the benefits were after I visited Palo Alto. For Stanford spinouts, you can literally go visit 10 VCs within a 20min walk. If must make life so much easier.

For larger companies, they still want to interact with VCs and aquire startups. They also want access to other forms of capital/banking services which are available in the area.

Google is just one voice. There are people that actually pay taxes on their homes there. Enough of those people should be able to raise a fuss, any fuss. I don't think they will. P(Fussing | SWJ) = .01. There's my odds.

The thing you predicted would not happen basically happened in 2016: https://www.mv-voice.com/news/2016/11/08/council-incumbents-...

In the same election, neighboring Palo Alto rejected the "residentialist" slate of candidates.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com