God how I miss being able to impulse-attend any of dozens of in-person meetups any Monday to Thursday evening. I miss organizing in-person meetups and workshops. I miss so many things about what being in SF had privileged me to give, and get, with it all. An incredible ecosystem.

Also, for many a struggling newcomer, free pizza 4+ nights per week was a helpful subsidy.

<though insert wistful wish that more than .0001% of them had also provided gluten free, kosher, or halal offerings>

With weekend hackathon and workshops, it was possible to get 6 free meals per wk at SF tech events. For folks who didn& #39;t have the big fancy tech jobs, it helped make it more viable to invest substantial time in opportunities for that kind of learning, growth, & network-building.

A lot of SV/SF startups owe their orgins to the local meetups/hack night/hackathons scene. A lot of people owe a job—maybe their first—to connections developed at local events. Loss of that scene has an economic impact on the industry as a whole, and for individual job hunters.