Beantown VCs shorting Boston and going long NYC?

Has anyone noticed the increased interest that Boston VCs are taking in NYC these days?   It's not just Bijan from Spark anymore--Beantown investors are flocking to NYC in a big way, and being very public about it.

In addition to deals like .406's investment in EnergyHub, Boston firms have recently shown a penchant for participating in NYC community events and support--perhaps even more than NY firms have.

General Catalyst sponsored Alley Insider's Startup 2009.  More recently, a bunch of investors and entrepreneurs have gotten together to great a venture education and mentoring program called First Growth Venture Network right here in NYC, not Boston. 

Check out the Sawx-lovin' VC firms on the executive committee:

Flybridge Capital Partners

Polaris Venture Partners

North Bridge Venture Partners

Charles River Ventures

Battery Ventures

Highland Capital Partners

On top of that, there are a number of firms putting feet on the ground here.  Mo Koyfman of Spark is based out of NYC.  General Catalyst give Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes the nod to hangout in NYC and drum up some deals.  MIT MBA candidate Amanda Peyton is in NYC for the summer on behalf of New Atlantic Ventures--a recent backer of Brooklyn-based Pontiflex to go with their investment in NY's ContextWeb.

Claire Cain Miller asked whether or not Boston was dying as a VC hotbed, but positioned that it was being abandoned in favor of the valley after Greylock went out west.  It seems more logical to me that any Boston exodus would naturally lead down I-95 first before it jumped across the country.

Unfortunately, and typically, the continuing buzz (which is what... three years old now?) around NYC's surging startup economy seems to have escaped the WSJ's Scott Denne, who covered the First Growth story by leading with the following: 

"...start-up founders in New York City are a relatively solitary lot. With fewer firms and no particular geographic nexus, entrepreneurs rarely have the kinds of chance encounters that can jump-start a start-up."

Dear anyone who can't find the NYC tech scene or still doesn't know it exists...   You are cordially invited to join nextNY, the NY Tech Meetup, show up at a Digital Dumbo, the Entrepreneurs Roundtable, or follow @shakeshack.