There has been plenty written about the protests and vandalism involving Google's private buses which take employees from recently trendy and formerly lower class, ethnic neighborhoods in San Francisco and Oakland down the peninsula to the Google campus. Protesters have told Googlers to GTFO! of their neighborhood because they blame their presence for eviction notices, raised rents, and the exodus of lower class workers, creatives, and at this point, the middle class, too.
Some Googlers and Google itself seem a bit perplexed, annoyed, and inconvenienced. The idea to pay to use public bus stops they've been using for years now shows exactly the naivety about the issue that those vandalizing tech buses show with their choice of target.
The problem with the Google buses is not the buses, or the Google employees, or even Google. These are people working to make a living. The have an amazing employer who saw the desire of it's employees to live in vibrant cities and supported it by offering help with the long commute. Who wouldn't want to luck out and get a job like that? But therein lies the problem. Those jobs rarely come from luck alone. They often come from lives full of advantages and privilege. Specifically, the types of advantages rarely seen in the communities which are being forced out of San Francisco and Oakland due to rising rents and evictions. And that is why people are mad. Google employees represent a group who went to good schools, had educated parents, went to good colleges, had supportive family or friends, had money, had a network, were given opportunities, and now they seem to be given advantages that effectively take over the hometown of many less fortunate Bay Area residents.
It's not about the people, it's not about the employer, it's certainly not about the buses. There is a system in the US which continues to grant those with advantages more and more benefits. And those who receive those benefits can seem clueless about how their advantages are symbolic of a broken system to those with less fortune. The Google bus protests are in many ways a continuation of the anger left over from the failed Occupy movement. As many still struggle with low income jobs, unemployment, and debt, those who benefited from an American system which perpetuates inequalities are doing better and better. The Bay Area is doing great, says the economists! So long as you forget that the unemployment numbers don't include those who were already forced out.
But this isn't just a problem of an American system; not in the Bay Area. This is also a problem of lack of innovation and fear of change. Long time Bay Area residents partially miss the days of their quaint, undervalued cities to the north of Los Angeles and they certainly don't want to be as busy and dense as New York. While they visit the new de Young Museum, walk freely in the Mission neighborhood at night, and visit fancy new bars in the Tenderloin, they moan about new condos and high rises and the loss of 'their' San Francisco. Gridlock in the SF City Council and the ineptitude and corruption of Oakland government, means that it takes years to get new housing built in these trendy cities. The housing prices for renters and buyers alike have been inflated for a decade, but are almost unbearable now. Artists and the young gentrifiers which follow have moved into crime ridden areas. With them they bring new restaurants, bars, and eventually safety, yet, they continue to push the native residents further and further outside the main Bay Area hubs. Crime such as armed robberies and muggings, break-ins, car theft, rise as traditionally poor neighborhoods and newly rich residents attempt co-existence.
As the Economist recently wrote, the Bay Area is feeling 'growing pains.' It is an area in transition. I imagine that long ago residents of Chicago, New York, and cities outside the US, such as Paris, London, Tokyo, also complained as their small city began it's accent toward the sky. However, the bigger the city gets the less it will belong primarily to the wealthy and the less national policies that perpetuate income inequality will lead to local political unrest.
Until then it behooves all residents of the Bay Area, both advantaged and disadvantaged, to examine themselves and others with compassion for the problems that remain outside an individual's control. Those who've benefited from the biased American economic system would be right, however, in extending even more compassion to the less advantaged and privileged despite their misplaced anger. After all, some delay on one's commute and a reminder of all the benefits one enjoy's is a small life inconvenience in the grand scheme.
Some Googlers and Google itself seem a bit perplexed, annoyed, and inconvenienced. The idea to pay to use public bus stops they've been using for years now shows exactly the naivety about the issue that those vandalizing tech buses show with their choice of target.
The problem with the Google buses is not the buses, or the Google employees, or even Google. These are people working to make a living. The have an amazing employer who saw the desire of it's employees to live in vibrant cities and supported it by offering help with the long commute. Who wouldn't want to luck out and get a job like that? But therein lies the problem. Those jobs rarely come from luck alone. They often come from lives full of advantages and privilege. Specifically, the types of advantages rarely seen in the communities which are being forced out of San Francisco and Oakland due to rising rents and evictions. And that is why people are mad. Google employees represent a group who went to good schools, had educated parents, went to good colleges, had supportive family or friends, had money, had a network, were given opportunities, and now they seem to be given advantages that effectively take over the hometown of many less fortunate Bay Area residents.
It's not about the people, it's not about the employer, it's certainly not about the buses. There is a system in the US which continues to grant those with advantages more and more benefits. And those who receive those benefits can seem clueless about how their advantages are symbolic of a broken system to those with less fortune. The Google bus protests are in many ways a continuation of the anger left over from the failed Occupy movement. As many still struggle with low income jobs, unemployment, and debt, those who benefited from an American system which perpetuates inequalities are doing better and better. The Bay Area is doing great, says the economists! So long as you forget that the unemployment numbers don't include those who were already forced out.
But this isn't just a problem of an American system; not in the Bay Area. This is also a problem of lack of innovation and fear of change. Long time Bay Area residents partially miss the days of their quaint, undervalued cities to the north of Los Angeles and they certainly don't want to be as busy and dense as New York. While they visit the new de Young Museum, walk freely in the Mission neighborhood at night, and visit fancy new bars in the Tenderloin, they moan about new condos and high rises and the loss of 'their' San Francisco. Gridlock in the SF City Council and the ineptitude and corruption of Oakland government, means that it takes years to get new housing built in these trendy cities. The housing prices for renters and buyers alike have been inflated for a decade, but are almost unbearable now. Artists and the young gentrifiers which follow have moved into crime ridden areas. With them they bring new restaurants, bars, and eventually safety, yet, they continue to push the native residents further and further outside the main Bay Area hubs. Crime such as armed robberies and muggings, break-ins, car theft, rise as traditionally poor neighborhoods and newly rich residents attempt co-existence.
As the Economist recently wrote, the Bay Area is feeling 'growing pains.' It is an area in transition. I imagine that long ago residents of Chicago, New York, and cities outside the US, such as Paris, London, Tokyo, also complained as their small city began it's accent toward the sky. However, the bigger the city gets the less it will belong primarily to the wealthy and the less national policies that perpetuate income inequality will lead to local political unrest.
Until then it behooves all residents of the Bay Area, both advantaged and disadvantaged, to examine themselves and others with compassion for the problems that remain outside an individual's control. Those who've benefited from the biased American economic system would be right, however, in extending even more compassion to the less advantaged and privileged despite their misplaced anger. After all, some delay on one's commute and a reminder of all the benefits one enjoy's is a small life inconvenience in the grand scheme.
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