[javra]

Wow, this article really doesn't even at least mention some of the problems this new boom bring. Maybe ask long time residents of neighborhoods like East Liberty, Bloomfield, or Lawrenceville how happy they are that they got driven out by rising rents due to rich techies? The "revitalization" of Pittsburgh might benefit some, most of them relatively new to the city, but gentrification will hurt lots of its populace who will then be forced to live in the sprawl ghettos around the city where crime is already a big problem.

[thesmallestcat]

What I don't understand is why so many young tech dude(tte)s seem incapable of integrating. Any place that experiences a tech boom will also experience a boom in luxury apartments, $10+ cocktails, tapas bars, on demand laundry and so on. This can't help but to displace the old way of living in an area, even if it does bring jobs.

Is it so terrible to find, vet, and rent a normal apartment, do your own chores, and eat "regular" food (non-organic, probably GMO, the horrors!) from the normal grocery store or the nondescript diner/sandwich shop? And just act like a normal person and not carouse like an idiot having brunch exclusively with your well-heeled friends? I guess it's human nature and has more to do with money than anything else, but so much for software engineer exceptionalism.

[Eridrus]

I think it just shows what most people would do if money we're not an issue, so rather than techies being unable to live normally, this is what normal looks like when people are not so constrained by money. I think NYC is a good example since it's not just techies, but rather how people like to live when they are less constrained by money.

[nostrademons]

It's a power thing. When you immigrate to a new area and come in at the bottom of the social strata, you have no choice but to assimilate and work your way up. When you immigrate and come in at the top of the social strata, you change the social strata.

Local businesses can't help but cater to economic incentives. If most of the dollars coming in want luxury apartments, $10 cocktails, tapas bars, on-demand laundry, etc, that's what they'll get.

[closeparen]

In SF old housing stock is rent controlled. On the rare occasion that it pops up on the market, competition is fierce. Usually it doesn't turn over, because policies intended to prevent that turnover are working.

New luxury complexes have straightforward availability and rent first-come-first-served. The leasing office will make an appointment with you pretty much whenever, and if you apply, you get the unit. They're known quantities with Yelp reviews and everything.

If you're a newcomer with not much time and not much price sensitivity, which are you going to end up with?

FWIW, Victorians in good shape rent for more than luxury skyscrapers. Rich people do prefer them and they are, in fact, more luxurious. But buildings that throw around the word "luxury" are the path of least resistance.

You'd be hard pressed to find any luxury apartment as luxurious as an average 100-year-old single family home, yet for some reason only the former is an obnoxious wealth symbol.

[javra]

I think for some parts the problem is not really specific to tech people. It's just very difficult to integrate milieus that differ that much in income. People living on six figure annual income just have different needs than people trying to get by with magnitudes less.

[nickstefan12]

Your comment just made me think: these are all kind of conveniences of lifestyle that might relate to millenials growing up in McMansion-ville?

When they move to the city, they don't really want to live in the city. They want McMansion suburbanized city with a bar scene...

[thesmallestcat]

I think you're right, and to be more precise, that they are trying to create their ideal college town, a place that typically combines quaint shops with familiar big box chain stores.

[lotsofpulp]

Considering no one is forcing people to spend their money on tapas bars or $10 cocktails, maybe it is terrible. The old delis/sandwich shops/diners/grocery stores have bad product and bad service, otherwise people would go there. Why would you not want a Trader Joe's, where you can find products of much higher quality, than a corner store bodega type place where there is no quality control or accountability? Why go to a deli when you can go somewhere with various options and spices than instead of just meat and bread?

[sumeno]

What's the alternative for those neighborhoods? They weren't exactly in great shape before the tech companies came to Pittsburgh.