RE: [NYTimes] Austin, we have a problem

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From: JS Kelly (jskelly@jskelly.com)
Date: Sun Aug 20 2000 - 10:46:01 PDT


I don't know about 1989-1992, because I left the Bay Area around 1989 (and
have only recently come back). And the way you are describing it sounds
like the way it is now, not the way it was then. It used to be a *great*
place to live. I'd echo Adam (Rifkin's) sentiments about Austin: DON'T
MOVE HERE -- only that, for the Bay Area, it's already way too late. And
the more people like Adam ("I only moved here for the money, I really hate
this place" Beberg) who move here, the worse it'll get. It's depressing.
Even more depressing, for anyone who grew up here -- and knows how nice it
used to be. Even a deep recession wouldn't drive enough people away to
make it a nice place to live again.

-jsk

> > Impressions of the Bay Area, circa 1989-1992: suburban hellhole.
> > Totally homogeneous. Pre-packaged. Synthetic. Isomorphic.
> > Pretensious. Weirdly provencial. Surprisingly racist, under a
> > veneer of hypercorrectness. Inflated sense of its own importance.
> > Land of Strip Malls. Overengineered. Gang-raped by franchises.
> > Crowded. Single-themed. The opposite of laid back. Dry. Car
> > fetishistic. Not user friendly. Hyperexpensive. Basically totally
> > uninteresting. Utter alpha male turbo business geek culture, and
> > *nothing at all but that.* Soul killing.
 


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