Tech troops, not officers, sent to MTA in busing battle

Sara Shortt (left) from the Housing Rights committee of San Francisco and activist Erin McElroy (right) block a Facebook bus heading to Menlo Park on 8th at Market streets in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, January 22, 2014. The San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency votes on an 18-month pilot plan allowing Google buses to use designated Muni bus stops to pick up and drop off tech commuters to Silicon Valley. less Sara Shortt (left) from the Housing Rights committee of San Francisco and activist Erin McElroy (right) block a Facebook bus heading to Menlo Park on 8th at Market streets in San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday, ... more Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close Tech troops, not officers, sent to MTA in busing battle 1 / 10 Back to Gallery

As the sentiment against tech workers and the corporate shuttles they ride shows no sign of letting up - a couple more buses were blocked this week - Google sent some of its employees into the belly of the beast.

At Tuesday's San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency meeting, some of those tech workers insisted during public comment that they aren't rich, entitled, uncaring or evil.

"I am surprised and disappointed by this," said one speaker, who works for Google, of the continuing resentment they face from San Francisco residents who blame them for the steep increases in rent and housing prices. "I believe that we are the same people. The only difference is ..."

"Class," someone hissed from the gallery.

Except that the differences aren't that apparent. At the MTA meeting it was hard to tell the techies from the protesters. They seem to be roughly the same age, favor hoodies and T-shirts and, maybe, share progressive political views.

Andrea Longo, who was wearing a knit beanie, lives in the Mission and saw defeat of the 8 Washington condo project on the Embarcadero as a "political statement." She's also an independent software engineer who doesn't use the shuttles but is in favor of them.

"This is a huge issue of class," she said. "Which is very strange to me because I always tried not to buy into the stratified society I see in other areas. I am disappointed that this has gotten to the point of shouting."

But is anyone listening?

Virtually everyone, from Mayor Ed Lee down, agrees the real problem is housing affordability, not the buses - or the people using them. But solving housing problems is hard. Blockading a bus is easy. It falls into the now-that-we've-got-your-attention category.

OK, the whole nation is watching.

What have we gained? So far, nothing.

And there's plenty of blame to go around. For the protesters, demonizing tech workers is a losing proposition. The economy is booming, unemployment is down, and the city is experiencing a renaissance. Hard to argue with that.

And there are some stubborn facts about the tech buses that the protesters claim are "ruining the city":

For one, according to a 2012 MTA study, of 38,000 daily shuttle stops in the city, 80 percent were for trips within the city limits. (Hello, Academy of Art shuttles.) The despised tech buses, which pick up workers in San Francisco and shuttle them to the Peninsula, accounted for only 6,500 stops.

Second, if the real issues are affordable housing, rising rents and evictions, what about Twittertown in Mid-Market? Tech companies have been lured there with tax breaks, bringing thousands of employees to a really run-down part of town. Those workers are moving into market-rate apartments in the area, surely helping to drive up rents. But they're not riding a corporate shuttle - so there goes that symbol out the window.

Meanwhile, Google (and other tech companies) remain silent and unresponsive about evictions and skyrocketing costs. It was courageous of the employees to show up at the MTA meeting, but after they were booed and swarmed by reporters, I bet that's the last time they speak up. With no one from the company available to talk about the issue or answer questions, Google threw its own employees under the bus - so to speak.

Google isn't the only player not cooperating. Because despite the lunatic fringe that rants at anything corporate - "They should pay us a billion dollars," one man said. "They've got the money" - there are some reasonable people in the middle. Sara Shortt, executive director of the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco, is a thoughtful advocate. The League of Pissed Off Voters, despite its name, has an even-handed agenda.

Even Rebecca Gourevitch, spokesperson for the group organizing the blockades, is no zealot.

"I think the hope is not to create this us-vs.-them dynamic, which I think is happening," she said. "The huge problem is real estate speculators. Google is not evicting people."

But out-of-town tech companies like Google aren't helping either. Rather than sending a few foot soldiers out, I'd like to hear that Google (and other tech companies) are working with the mayor's office to promote ideas on fixing the housing problem. It might take money, or brain power or bodies, but it would be refreshing to hear they are working toward solutions rather than owning the problems.

It's a concept called collaboration, folks.

Google it.