The New York Times' Lawrence Downes writes: "The city's tech boom is certainly a mixed blessing. . The commercial-office vacancy rate is down, and rents are rising, so nonprofit agencies that help the poor are .
"The narrative lines are getting rigid: The tech caste is lording it over the suffering working class. Ungrateful unfortunates are ruining San Francisco for the skilled workers who deserve and can afford to live there.
"But who's really a drain on society? Who pays their way, and who are the parasites? These are good questions."We know class warfare has broken out, with "degenerates" and "grotesque," and taking to the San Francisco streets to block the private buses that shuttle tech workers out to the Valley. In its post featuring the , Valleywag points out that the poor there "haven't been uplifted so much as just here and there.
It's even more evident when you move down toward Facebookville." So this week, our themed reporting will zero in on San Francisco, Silicon Valley and the Bay Area generally. We have features coming in from our member stations there — KQED and KALW — and we'll explore the various fronts in the current class wars: transportation, housing, wages and more. If you want to guide us with some ideas or thoughts, we want to hear from you. or leave a comment. Granted, there are a lot more than a week's worth of stories to do on this topic, but we hope this burst of stories on these vintage light will seed a larger conversation that will continue on our airwaves and beyond.