| Regarding your general thoughts, I concur — IMO, the immediate vicinity of the SF Union Square Hilton is less safe than it was last time we met there (IETF 74, 2009). I also feel that BART is much less safe than it was back then. Local SF Bay Area news regularly contains various BART “incidents.”
As for car travel from the Silicon Valley to the SF Union Square Hilton goes, perhaps one can do it in an hour from the northern part (Sunnyvale, Mountain View, North San José), especially if using HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes. However, I doubt it could be done in that short a time (on average) from deeper in the valley (Campbell, Los Gatos, Almaden Valley). My conclusions are based on SF Bay Area traffic reports and some sample trip plans using Google Maps. But that strengthens the argument that the SF Bay Area tech community doesn’t find the commute from the Silicon Valley to downtown SF appealing.
I know that there are concerns about the suitability of Silicon Valley hotels, conference centers, etc. for IETF meetings. However, I hope (at least for meetings after IETF 127, which has already been scheduled for SF) that the Silicon Valley will get some consideration.
Regards, Greg On Jul 27, 2023, at 5:12 PM, Kaliya Identity Woman <kaliya@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
There is the International Youth Hostel kity-corner from this venue (cost ~50 a night) - it could have been listed. I found a hotel 4 blocks away that has super small but sufficient rooms for $75 a night. I know I would be more inclined to attend future events if there was an effort to identify nearby low cost lodging options. There could even be an AirBnB share coordination of some kind for those who wanted to find alternatives to 300+ a night hotels.
Also there was a comment at the Plenary about how folks from the Bay Area Tech community don't really seem to be attending in the numbers that were expected. Downtown San Francisco has had a significant downturn and is not what it used to be. It is perceived as dangerous and not a place that people want to commute to either. It is an hour away by car from Silicon Valley in rush hour - It costs $50 a day to park here. More local knowledge - BART is unsafe to take late at night now (it was fine before the Pandemic) and transit in large American cities is incredibly limited and slow. So it is not like people have choices other than driving or staying downtown to really make the most of the event. I live in the East Bay and I chose to stay downtown to avoid late night BART commutes and drives home from the transit station on the other side that I felt would be unsafe.
Hopefully the next time this conference is in SF things will have turned around a bit on the "safety" front but I am not super optimistic. - Kaliya
At the plenary this evening there were many comments from the IETF leadership that they welcomed ideas on how to be more inclusive and diverse. Here’s four focusing on meeting attendance. They are rough ideas and need a great deal more
development. When having a meeting, try to get a low-cost housing option as well. Perhaps with limited capacity. Colleges often rent dorms out, or perhaps reserve an entire hostel – that kind of price scale. Discounted registration for a first-time attendee. Perhaps in coordination with a longer-term IETFer doing a “bring a newcomer” or some such. This might have short-term cost (although maybe not since they wouldn’t attend), but fund the
newcomer out of the D&I funding. Spend time and effort working to resurrect the “local hub” concept from a half-decade ago. Help them set up “viewing parties” that happen during IETF meetings. Make one of the meetings decentralized. Held simultaneously in multiple places around the globe. Getting the logistics and timezones equitable will be hard, but it would also greatly reduce our CO2 usage.
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