What WIll Replace Tech In San Francisco And Does It Matter?
San Francisco is a city of booms and busts, and we’re in the middle of a partial tech bust. To be entirely transparent, I’m happy about that. I’ve wanted San Francisco to go through an economic restructuring ever since the tech boom began to change the Bay Area. Now, with the help of Covid-19, a lot of tech companies have left the City, or at least most of their workforce has as remote work becomes the norm, and it doesn’t appear to have any intention of returning. With tech’s visible absence, one is left to wonder, what’s next for this foggy dot of land sitting on the edge of the California coast?
No one seems to know, but it appears to be a mixed bag.
In some ways, things are improving. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in San Francisco is $2,600. Now, I know that’s a lot of fucking money, but hear me out, in 2019, a one bedroom apartment in the City could easily go for $3500. Tourism appears to be coming back, and I know a lot of people hate on tourists, but they certainly serve a purpose for the local economy.
No one really hated tech, they hated inequality.
In other ways, things are getting worse. It appears mass incarceration is on its way back. The lessons we learned in the 1980s and ‘90s appear to have faded and those who suffer from drug addiction and mental illness are likely back on their way to being locked in cages for the mere sin of existence. Poor people and minorities will suffer at the hands of what amounts to a political publicity stunt that study after study have shown doesn’t really work.
If another big money industry does come to San Francisco and fills the economic hole tech left behind, I hope that we do more to protect those most vulnerable from the harshest consequences of American capitalism. No one really hated tech, they hated inequality.
Another question is will I be in San Francisco to witness what comes next? My lease is up in February and there is a part of me that wants to head back across the bridge to the familiarity of the East Bay. I could get an apartment in Oakland or some random suburb in Alameda or Contra Costa County and feel a sense of accomplishment in the fact that I scratched living in San Francisco off of my bucket list.
Sometimes I daydream about leaving the Bay Area and blazing a new trail for myself, but if the four days I spent in Las Vegas taught me anything, it’s that most of America sucks.
Despite my distaste for the faux-wokeness and traffic of the City, there’s another, rather loud part of me that wants to stay in San Francisco and figure it all out. I could’ve stayed in Vallejo or Sacramento and kept my shitty call center job. I could have gotten an apartment with my best friend and played video games every night after work. But I didn’t do that. I took a chance.
I don’t know what will take tech’s place, and I really don’t care, as long as it doesn’t displace people.
But that’s probably wishful thinking.
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