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Comment by softwaredoug | Hacker News Reader

It’s weird going to downtown SF these days.

Everyone seems from out of town. Or if they live nearby, just downtown for their teams onsite.

It’s like a decrepit city district that exists for the sole purpose of flying people in to meet in person. Less a thriving center for tech. More a default place for leadership to get everyone together.

Obviously the vicious cycle of nimbyism, lack of affordability, and homelessness only continue a downward spiral that existed pre pandemic. But there doesn’t seem to be a lot of original thinking on a solution other than “get people back to offices” from those that CAN afford to live nearby and pretend the world hasn’t changed.

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> exists for the sole purpose of flying people in to meet in person. Less a thriving center for tech. More a default place for leadership to get everyone together.

Right. In which case you may as well meet at an airport hotel with good meeting rooms.

Maybe there is a market for that. Repurpose under-utilized indoor malls as business conference centers where teams meet once or twice a week. Malls have plenty of space, plenty of parking, good HVAC, food facilities, and some shopping. All you need to make an unused store into a meeting space is furniture.

> In which case you may as well meet at an airport hotel with good meeting rooms.

I'm not finding in-office work productive for the in-office meetings. Those are just as productive remotely.

It's for the hallway conversations, for pair-programming at someone's desks, for grabbing lunch with another senior technical leader on another team and finding out what they're up to, and bonding such that the next time we need to integrate we are automatically looking to fast-track helping each other out.

This requires a sense of place, comfortable vibes, and a pleasant lunch location with good food.

Call me spoiled, but an airport hotel and a buffet table just won't cut it.

Our industry's problem is that the low-EQ engineers have no interest in any of the human elements that make teams and organizations productive. And the only ones around with high-EQ are the VC's who are blinded by the dollars and cents of it all.

So noone REALLY has a vested interest in understanding what we lost when we went all remote during COVID, and what are the minimal elements from it required that are needed to be brought back.

A few malls are trying this.

I called my local mall to use their little event space (think 60 folding chairs and a podium in a 900 sqft box). No call back.

I am continually surprised at how hard it is to find a place to hold a small meetup in the evenings

a group i knew found success by renting out dance studios (even day-of in a major city, they usually had a couple hours free in the afternoon/evening), and bringing cheap plastic folding tables/chairs (the kinds you use for picnics) with them

not something you'd use for formal business meetings, but definitely hackable up as your budget allows

School gyms and parish halls are also options, especially if you have a personal connection to one.

>>Right. In which case you may as well meet at an airport hotel with good meeting rooms.

Japan Airlines recently launched a "rent clothes" offering for overseas travelers.[1] This would dovetail nicely with your idea of meeting at an airport hotel with great conference rooms.

[1] https://press.jal.co.jp/en/release/202307/007481.html

Pretty interesting. I took a quick glance at the men's clothes for rent. Unfortunately, the clothes are completely out not my style and I have no fashion sense (my wife reminds me daily). https://anywearanywhere.store/collections/all

My teams use small hotels for this. Doesn’t have to be a convention center hotel but most hotels you can rent a meeting space. Out of town guests just need to walk up to their rooms when meetings adjourn. But likely we’ll be hosting a team dinner too somewhere in the vicinity

I lived in SF for 15 years. The apartment prices are still insane (for a non violent neighborhood). I hope the entire place collapses, so you can get a run down 2 bedroom for 2k. Like it should be. Let artists start moving back in.

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/apa/d/san-francisco-large-t...

SF should have turned some of that office space into more affordable housing long ago. This would have created a community. The Castro is cool, because people live there. There is a little central downtown area and then it is surrounded by housing. Downtown SF is completely devoid of that.

It’s crazy that now entire neighborhoods of skyscrapers are basically just glorified “wework” spaces now

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