Agreed 100%. We have a similar group in Indianapolis (http://indystartuplab.org) that meets every Monday night for dinner, talking and hacking with like-minded developers or other tech-related folks.

The accountability is great - the group will not let you get away with blowing off your projects. If you tell everyone about a grand plan one week, someone will make sure you followed through the next week (or you can expect a playful ribbing). We have people working on startups, open source, blogging/writing, prepping conference talk, people writing games, learning iOS, trying to figure out how to start a freelance business, you name it.

People come and go, but even going for just a month will be more valuable than going to a year's worth of the typical Meetup.com groups. It only takes 2-3 people to start one of these and the benefits are immense.

Thanks so much for codifying this Steve!