Monthly Archives: June 2020

WHAT WILL LIFE BE LIKE IN THE BAY AREA AFTER COVID19?

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We all know that the driving force in the economy of the San Francisco bay area is the high-tech industry. The COVID19 epidemic has made big changes in the way that people in the high-tech industry live and work, and some of those changes will be permanent. Most high-tech workers in this area are now working at home, and many of them will never return to working at an office. Some San Francisco tech giants, including Twitter and Square, have told most of their employees that they can now work from home permanently.

HOUSING. The fact that high-tech company employees are now working at home explains why rents in some bay area cities are falling but not others. The average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment in San Francisco has fallen 9% since May, 2019. In Mountain View, average rent fell 16% and in Cupertino 14%. However, in Oakland, rents rose 5%, and rents in Berkeley are holding up too. In other words, rent is falling in cities where big tech companies are headquartered. Now that high tech employees are working from home, and many permanently, they can move to nearby cities where the rent is cheaper. The average 1-bedroom apartment in San Francisco currently rents for $3,400 a month. See: Rent Jungle. However, the average 1-bedroom apartment in Oakland is $2,500 a month. A person working at the Salesforce Tower may have been willing to pay $4,000 a month for an apartment nearby for the convenience of being able to walk to work, but what about now? For a recent college graduate in a high tax bracket and with student loans to pay off, being able to save over $1,000 a month on rent by moving to the east bay is a no-brainer. No one knows when this epidemic will be over, and when it is over and tech companies have reopened their offices, how many people who are now working at home will go back to commuting to the office 5 days a week just like before? Some tech people working at home may feel that they can now move far away from the bay area to places where rent is really cheap, places like Lubbock, Texas; where you can rent a modern 1-bedroom apartment that’s walking distance from Texas Tech for $500 a month. Of course, a lot of high-tech people currently working at home will still need to live near Silicon Valley when this is over so that they can attend meetings and conferences. Plus, there are a lot of people who work at home 4 days a week but who have to go to the office 1 day a week. I know people like that. Besides, how many people would really want to move from Palo Alto to Lubbock?

OFFICE SPACE. If working from home becomes the new normal for the high-tech industry, what will happen to companies that rent office buildings in Silicon Valley and downtown San Francisco? What will happen to companies like We Work? And what will happen to the businesses near high-tech company headquarters that depend on income from the people who work there – or used to work there – places like spiffy bars and restaurants in San Francisco’s financial district?

A FEW GOOD PROJECTS.

If you are looking for things to do because you are spending more time at home now because of the virus, here are some good projects.

1. Emergency water. During the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, all the water mains in the city burst. Some people in San Francisco didn’t have potable water for months. What would you do if that happened today? Everyone who lives in earthquake country should have an emergency supply of water. Gallon jugs of water are very cheap. You can also just clean out empty plastic milk and juice jugs and fill them with water. Store water jugs in a basement or bike shed or garage just in case they leak.

2. Dump expired food & meds. What’s in the back of your refrigerator? When was the last time you went through your refrigerator and kitchen cabinets and dumped expired food or food that has gone bad? There are a lot of foods that people never check the expiration dates on because they think they are edible forever, products like ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, etc., but that isn’t true. All food goes bad with time. You should also go through your medicine cabinet and replace expired meds.

3. Clean out your closets. When was the last time you went through your closets and got rid of the stuff that you have no possible use for? I am constantly amazed at the stuff that people store in their closets. I once had a tenant who called me over because the light bulb in his living room closet wasn’t working. I couldn’t get to the light fixture because the closet was full of used paper shopping bags. I told the tenant that I would return to fix the light after he removed the bags from the closet. When I returned, there were piles of shopping bags all over the living room. It turned out that the problem was just a burned-out light bulb. I know several other people like this, people who never throw out shopping bags, no matter how many they already have. Some people will not throw out empty boxes either. I know someone with a basement filled to the ceiling with empty boxes.

4. Start a Goodwill box. Start putting things that you have no use for in a giveaway box so that everything is in one place. Ask yourself if the things in this box are actually salable or just junk. People leave junk at thrift stores at night that should go in their garbage can instead. Thrift stores have no use for cracked dishes, broken appliances, or old mattresses. It is illegal in California for stores to sell used mattresses. On the other hand, thrift stores may actually want your old shopping bags.

HONORING CONFEDERATES ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES.

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The University of Nevada Rebels. Confederate statues are being removed from college campuses all over the United States, but what about their sports teams and mascots? Have you ever heard of Hey Reb? The official nickname of the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) is The Rebels, and the team’s mascot is Hey Reb. Whenever I go to Las Vegas, I see people wearing Hey Reb t-shirts. I also see them at gift shops at the airport and in hotels. Hey Reb is an old Confederate soldier with a huge white mustache. Hey Reb is often depicted carrying a Civil War era rifle. He sometimes also has a cannon. But why?! Nevada was a Union state, and slavery was never legal in Nevada. During the Civil War, Nevada Territory contributed significantly to the Union war effort. The 1860s was the height of the Comstock Lode, the biggest concentration of silver ever found in one place in all of history. The mines in and around Virginia City shipped hundreds of millions of dollars in silver back east to finance the Union war effort. Nevada was admitted into the Union in late October 1864, one week before the presidential election. There weren’t enough people living in Nevada at the time to qualify it for statehood, but Nevada was admitted into the Union anyway in order to give Lincoln a few more electoral votes. So, considering its history, why is the mascot of UNLV an old Confederate soldier? In 2016, after a mass shooting at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina; the UNLV student newspaper changed its name from ‘The Rebel Yell’ to ‘The Scarlet & Gray Free Press’, but that was as far as they were willing to go. The majority of the players on UNLV’s football team are black. What do you suppose those black football players are thinking when they win a game and then a guy runs out onto the field dressed up like an old white Confederate soldier to congratulate them and do a victory dance?

Update: The University of Nevada Las Vegas has just announced that they are considering replacing Hey Reb with a new mascot. Well, I have a suggestion. I think that their new mascot should be named Hey Sucker! Hey Sucker! would be a bankrupt gambler with his pockets out to show that there is nothing in them. Hey Sucker! could be of any race. Las Vegas casinos will accept the life savings of anyone, regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. They are very democratic about that. What do you think of my idea?