Comment by adammarkey | Hacker News Reader

Comment by adammarkey | Hacker News Reader

I live and work in the route 128 tech sector or the "Route 128 Technomafia" as we like to call it.

The biggest problem is it's image - it's full of large stuffy software / tech companies that cater to business and not the end consumer. These types of businesses are not likely to attract young hackers that will truly innovate. I get the feeling that (for the most part) route 128 is where good hackers go to settle down and live a "normal" life.

Another reason 128 doesn't attract the hacker crowd is the availability of public transportation. Its a pain in the ass to get to any of the major office parks / buildings out there without catching multiple busses or trains. Most young innovators don't have the desire or the money to pay for a car in Boston which is necessary to make it to the area.

So - fix public transportation first, and maybe some startups will decide to make a home out there. Hopefully that can slowly build the hacker brand east coast style :)

The problem isn't image, it's the actual location. Building a technology center along a ring road leads to a sterile and depressing office park wasteland. (I lived there for 5 years.) Cambridge or Somerville or even downtown Boston are good places to have tech companies, because you're part of an intellectual community. In a Route 128 office park there's nowhere you can walk to, so you never interact with people except in your building.

@robg: reconsider? Your life and work would be better if you were within walking distance of a university and other startups. Yes, it's cheaper in Lincoln, but you would be happier and more connected with half as much space in Central Square.

> Building a technology center along a ring road leads to a sterile and depressing office park wasteland.

You mean like the Shoreline/Charleston/Rengstorff loop in Mountain View?

Silicon Valley has its share of sterile office parks. Actually, Silicon Valley seems more like a suburban wasteland than the Route 128 belt - at least the streets are crooked in Massachusetts, and most of the towns have walkable town centers, and housing tends to follow old cowpaths instead of tract subdivisions.

BTW, I think the Sun/MITRE/Middlesex Turnpike/Burlington Mall area has a lot more going for it than the Google/Mozilla/Microsoft/Charleston area in Mountain View, except for the companies themselves. You've got like 5 restaurants just across the creek from Sun in Burlington, and the mall is a half mile away. The Mountain View office park has nothing but offices, movies, and marsh trails.

Oh yeah, make sure you come say hi next time you're visiting Mozilla.

I like the Shoreline/Charleston/Rengstorff loop. I live and work there so I often walk in to work. I pass 3 coffee shops on the way all of which are popular with startuppy people. I frequently bump into people I know. It's not as good as Cambridge for intellectual stimulation, but I do end having a lot of spontaneous meetings with relevant people.

Route 128 architecture reflects the Mercantilist view of companies. They all build big self-contained campuses to try to discourage their employees from fraternizing with other companies, lest information be exchanged. I think it's far more productive to have companies interact & share.

I'll take marsh trails over malls any day. A ride on the trail makes a wonderful mental break in the mid-afternoon. IMHO. YMMV.

I love those marsh trails. They're saving my life right now.

We found a small cottage on 22 acres (and surrounded by conservation land) that's 2 miles from the commuter station. Know anywhere like that less than 12 miles from Cambridge (or Silicon Valley)?

That was actually the part about the Bedford/Lexington/Lincoln/Concord area that I loved best: there's abundant open space that's still close to the downtown areas. My parents' house is on an acre of land, with maybe 5 acres of woods behind it, and is only a half mile walk from library/postoffice/bank/supermarket/schools.

Still, I feel obligated to point out that some of the foothill communities (Los Altos, Cupertino, Saratoga, Los Gatos) have houses that back up against the mountains, where I imagine you'd get lots of (vertical) open space. The difference is that houses like that go for $5M+ here, while in Lincoln you might be looking at the high hundred-Ks.

Yeah, that quality was really surprising to us. We weren't expecting to move so quickly, but when we found a place we could rent it moved very quickly.

We've wondered what it's like to live in the foothills. How long does it take to get to Palo Alto/Mountain View?

Depends a lot on traffic. With no traffic, it's 5 minutes down 85 to get from Mountain View to Cupertino, maybe 15 or 20 to Saratoga or Los Gatos. With traffic, you're looking at 15ish to Cupertino, maybe half an hour to Saratoga.

We're excited about moving that way at the end of the month. We followed the commuter rail out to Lincoln and Cambridge is only 12 miles away. By contrast, Silicon Valley is 30 miles long. There, cultures built and branched out. Hopefully we can all help Boston do the same! It's cheaper and the state government is semi-functional. :)

There's also a bikepath that runs through the downtowns of Bedford, Lexington, Arlington, and stops at Alewife. If you're pretty in-shape it can be a decent transportation route, though at 9 miles from Bedford to Alewife, it's quite a hike.

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