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Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

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Re: Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

#61

Post by baddox »

Crito wrote: post #50
k-mcgrady wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By providing free transportation from SF Google employees are encouraged to live there. Why not live closer to work? It would probably result in a few more cars on the road but a lot of the employees would move closer to Google freeing up apartments for people who actually work at businesses in SF and HAVE to live there. NB: I have no stake in this, I like in Ireland.

> Why not live closer to work? It is a bit funny to hear people say that the lives of Google employees do not revolve around their employer enough already.

Having a longer commute arguably makes workers' lives revolve more around their job.

Re: Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

#62

Post by dragontamer »

zrail wrote: post #7
angersock wrote: post #3

First against the wall, it would appear. All of us doing tech work should be paying very, very close attention to this sentiment. That said, why can't these folks find more constructive ways of trying to change the system and address their grievances?

The private buses are a very visible symbol of what's going on in their neighborhood. They're an obvious target.

They're an obvious soft-target. An easy target that they can attack without penalty.

The "obvious target" would be to do this in the middle of the city, to raise better awareness of their anger and their message. As it is, this is simply an unknown attack on a bus. Even the spin-propaganda blog post is very unclear on what the problem is...

Re: Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

#65

Post by etjossem »

jrockway wrote: post #4

It would be much better to have 100 more cars on the road during rush hour, right?

It's faster to damage a single bus than slash 100 tires.

The protesters don't care about the state of rush hour. They care about what the corporate buses represent: large tech corporations increasing the wealth gap and raising rent in SF/Oakland. It's a fact that each stalled bus will have a bottom-line impact on Google or one of its partners.

That said, smashing windows is not an effective way to win allies. It just makes it a little bit easier to dismiss opponents of gentrification as supporters of vandalism. These "activists" are alienating the very public officials who would otherwise support measures that favor existing residents (e.g. rent control and stabilization).

Re: Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

#66

Post by Crito »

baddox wrote: post #61
Crito wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why not live closer to work? It is a bit funny to hear people say that the lives of Google employees do not revolve around their employer enough already.

Having a longer commute arguably makes workers' lives revolve more around their job.

Far less so than having to live where you work, rather than being able to live where you want to live. Particularly since they have a bus to ride.

People get on the backs of companies like Foxconn for corporate housing, but that is essentially what they are proposing that Google employees endure. And why? Because as "non-natives", Google employees somehow become some sort of second class citizen in the minds of these fools. They have as much right to live in those neighborhoods as anybody else.

Re: Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

#67

Post by zach »

jessedhillon wrote: post #48

West Oakland is a traditionally black neighborhood that surrounds the Port of Oakland. It has been heavily gentrified, developed, and restructured over the past three decades. Now there is an upper class enclave that has been established near the West Oakland BART station, in Jack London, and in the city of Emeryville. Oh fuck you and your dreadlocks. There are only two photos on that page, so I don't definitively kn…

So it's hipsters versus nerds now? Has it come to this?

Re: Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

#68

Post by JimboOmega »

huu wrote: post #44
JimboOmega wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone tweeting a picture isn't exactly verification. There's no real way to tell if that picture has anything to do with the location or bus in question. I'd really like to see some more verification - especially after the way the last Google Bus "incident" turned out. (A guy who at first appeared to be an employee trying to shout down the protesters... was actually a guy there to support the protesters, and make a…

Here you go: https://twitter.com/craigsfrost/status/414074094578307072/ph... Edit: The SF Chronicle is currently reaching out to the witnesses to get a better feel for the story. I'd expect something to come out in the mainstream news real soon.

I'll be waiting for it. If I knew Craig Frost, I might be more willing... the stilted writing style of the original just leaves me wanting to see more viewpoints.

Re: Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

#69

Post by anigbrowl »

As a resident of Oakland who is sick to death of professional protesters slapping agit-prop posters on any available surface (not least community-financed public artwork), fuck these people and everything they stand for. And no, I don't work for some billion $ startup or even a million $ one, I'm the sort of starving artist that they claim to be fighting for, but aren't.

Re: Google Bus blocked, window smashed in West Oakland

#70

Post by PeterisP »

semiel wrote: post #29
PeterisP wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correction, 'affordable housing for some not all' is what's implied here - there's not enough housing for all, and the only way it's going to stay affordable, given the current housing policy, is if all the googlers get kicked out of the place for good.

The fact that there is not enough housing is a convention, not a domain constraint.

In any case, if they want affordable housing, the only proper way is to fight for increased supply of housing, not reduce demand of housing by using violence to drive people away.
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