Cultural Blog Week 4

There's a housing problem in San Francisco. Landlords and property management companies are making a concerted effort to evict, coerce and in some cases harass tenants into leaving so that they can rent to those that can afford a higher rent. This is not a new phenomenon, but it is becoming more common and more visible as the tech industry grows. When high-paying local companies demand more employees, more employees move to the Bay Area. Though many of the largest companies are located to the south, many of these employees opt to live in San Francisco and commute. The shuttles that ferry them from their city home to their campuses in the peninsula have now become a symbol of the tech industry's insolation from city life as a whole, and its perceived unwillingness to engage as part of the community.

As the economic environment of San Francisco changes, so does the city's culture, infrastructure, and politics. The backlash, while well-documented, still seems unfocused. Who are these citizens angry with? The people that ride the shiny shuttles to work? The people that organized the shuttles to block the stops of city bus routes? The companies that hired the employees that take the shuttles and drive up rent prices? For San Francisco residents, the debate can swing from amusing to infuriating. There's a turf war raging. Who ultimately deserves to live here? Working families? Community builders? Activists and artists? Innovators and entrepreneurs? Who deserves to keep their home and who deserves the space to be the game-changing newcomer? Who will ultimately make San Francisco a better city? Though it's safe to say that both sides must learn to compromise, I believe it falls on the tech industry, and the collective talents that pride themselves on adaptation, flexibility, innovation and adaptability. Tech must adjust to its surroundings in a way that doesn't flatten San Francisco's unique cultural topography.

The growing gap between the rich and poor of San Francisco is having a devastating impact on the middle class. When entry level tech positions can pay up to four times the salary of a service job, there is bound to be resentment. Skyrocketing rents and unfair evictions have soured attitudes of those who initially advocated that the San Francisco tech boom would be a welcome economic boost. Raising awareness of tenants rights, and opening a dialogue with both startups and established corporations to asses and respond to the effect of this tidal economic shift are two ways that we as a city can work to restore balance.

Many influential tech leaders are pushing for an increase in philanthropy and community involvement. While the shuttles are still running, there have been conciliatory gestures, most notably by Google, to reimburse the city for the use of its infrastructure. The tech industry is still far from gaining back the trust and good will of those who have been displaced, but as more tech workers settle in the community and begin to see San Francisco as home instead of a temporary nexus of business opportunity, the more we will see the extraordinary energy and innovation of the tech boom applied directly to building a San Francisco that embraces and inspires people of all economic classes.