New York City has been trying to bring the tech industry to them for the last few decades. It has succeeded in gaining a Google and Facebook along with hundreds of other smaller firms, much to the delight of former mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg worked hard and fast to make NYC an appealing place for new companies, some of which he hoped would leave their valley on the other coast.

Silicon Valley has held a tight grip on tech firms and isn’t looking for them to go anywhere any time soon. The capital that these firms bring in is enormous and important to the state and region.

Tim D., a developer of a new start-up firm that created a photography application for smartphones has said, “I think its a culture [Silicon Valley] that’s proven to be resilient and adaptable to how things have changed over the last 40 years. It’s not perfect but I think it’s done a lot to shape how we as a society have gotten to where we are today.”

But New York City has been changing over the last 30 years and gentrification has taken hold in certain boroughs. Brooklyn in particular has had an industry change. During and post the World Wars Brooklyn served as an important port and industrial borough. Large factories lined the waterfront and it was mainly used to ferry various things into Manhattan.

The neighborhood of DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) started to change things around the turn of the millennium. Large real estate investors bought a bunch of property and old warehouse buildings and began to gentrify them. Jay Street in particular now serves over 30 different start-ups in converted open space warehouses. But the appeal is easily seen for creative for the small office spaces of NYC. The ability for young developers to create how they please is seemingly more appealing than joining some of the massive corporations in Palo Alto. It is a innovation atmosphere as oppose to being a cog in the machine.

“The Community for it [creative programming] in SV is way bigger, you can’t get a cup of coffee without overhearing a pitch happening or people talking shop…NY is cool because it’s a part of something much bigger, not just tech.” Jen M., a front end designer for a Brooklyn start-up.

It has yet to be determined if New York City’s push for technology firms to relocate will be entirely successful. The small firms can enclave themselves in the old warehouse but the room in which giant tech companies can spread may always give the west coast the upper hand.