[c0g]

I find it really interested to hear this sort of thing - how two people experiencing the same thing have completely different views. For context, I moved to near San Jose from Cambridge (UK) and love where I live.

I have friends in SF paying the same rent for way less space. I can drive to surf or mountain bike in 30 mins and it’s not too bad to go ski. I can keep a motorbike in my garage along with my car, and a desk and computer to hack about with electronics. I’m six miles from work and can ride a motor or leg bike to work, or drive, or get a Lyft if I’ve had some beers in the pubs that are near my office. There’s tonnes of restaurants of all sort nearby and a number of bars and restaurants 10-30 mins walk away. I can get to SF in about an hour, thought most concerts I want to see are in Berkeley which is a bit further. If even that’s not enough, I’m 15 minutes from SJC so can get to anywhere in the world about as easily as it’s possible for anyone to. Houses are low and flat, but the diversity of styles and the care put into people gardens (the smell of the flowers!) is wonderful. There are three free libraries where people have installed book shelves and benches in their front yards for people to stop by. My town has a few parks that are always full of people, and I can bike to others if I feel like it on the weekend. There’s a store for anything I want within 20 mins. Despite what the article says, towns do have a sense of there and identity, it’s just more diffuse and less obvious.

I’m not trying to take away anything from people who prefer to live in SF, but there’s a lot of us who live in the valley proper and love it here. The meme that there’s nothing of value here and fun comes to San Jose to die seems very popular on the internet.