Not a chance, if for no other reason than people working remotely. I spent part of my career working in the Financial District, 30 floors up in Embarcadero #4. My office overlooked the Hyatt Regency.
Scott
I saw a Waymo kinda force a lane change
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Scott
Some areas, like Market and SOMA may see less traffic that's true but others are just the same or worse. Van Ness, Oak, Fell, Geary, 19th and Park Presidio. and North Beach, are all very busy at times. And not only is the traffic back but the roads have gotten much worse. The time I spend stuck in traffic now is pretty much unchanged from 2019. Evenings are quieter because people go out less. The SF population dropped by a little over 30,000 to 842k in 2021. We were at 848k in 2023 which means the population has been increasing.
Can’t make an omlet without breaking an egg right?
I mean we’re sacrificing children for the LGTBQ++++++++++++++ mob, so what a few pedestrians?
I mean we’re sacrificing children for the LGTBQ++++++++++++++ mob, so what a few pedestrians?
Sounds like you are more familiar with current affairs in The City than I am. I'm good with that and believe what you say. I'm not being sarcastic or anything. In truth I haven't been in The City since 2018 or 2019.
From 1989-1991 I worked on the 30th floor of Embarcadero #4. We had the entire 30th floor of the building. The building was only 2 or 3 years old back then. I had a reserved parking spot under Embarcadero 3. That was a huge plus.
This was a computer company. It was referred to as a "sales office", but half the office were technical types like me. These were large mainframe, mission critical computers. The data centers for these customers were either in The City or in Concord. We technical folks provided on-site technical support to these customers. We're talking banks, stock exchanges, etc.
Back on our heyday in, say, 1990, something like 85% of the world's money touched one of our systems along its travels. These were mission critical systems. Outages were unacceptable. I have to say it was the most stressful job I ever had in my 28 year career.
Stress aside, that job in The City was one of the most exciting times in my life. I had my own 30th floor office, which was new and outfitted with truly amazing real wood office furniture. I had a huge desk with a gorgeous chair. I had a coffee table and two nice chairs for a visitors. We technical folks had two tall bookcases to store all the manuals we needed to do our job.
I had a window office that overlooked the Hyatt Regency Hotel. If I looked further left I could see the Bay Bridge. The window of my office was pretty much floor to ceiling. Visitors, be it customers or friends and family, whenever they came to see my office I have them put their cheek on the window and look down. But some people wouldn't get within 2 or 3 feet of the window and would instead stare at the The City's magnificence from a distance.
There were maybe 40 or 50 people in the office. A dozen or more were sales people, either primary sales reps or sales assistants. I was one of over a dozen technical people The remaining were general admin people that keep the office running.
As I said I was in my mid 30s and was at the top of my game. So was everyone else. Suits, ties, and polished shoes for men, nice dresses and high heels for woman. My Dad said it reminded him of a law office you'd see on a television series. God forbid you wore the same tie more than once a week! Seriously. There was a dress code.
Overall the office got along and co-mingled well. We technical folks had a tight bond because our jobs were the same, just different customers. Probably half the 12 to 15 person technical team were woman. These jobs were gender equalizers. Without question the women were just as capable as the men.
I had fantastic colleagues. All of us were at the top of our games. Most of us were in our mid 30s, maybe one or two in their mid 40s. We socialized frequently. A half dozen of us would go out to lunch at some Chinese place inside a 100 year old building nestled between the surrounding high rises. Or we'd go out for drinks after a long day and talk smack with each other. Or maybe even dinner at a nice Financial District restaurant. All on your expense account.
My point of all this is my time in The City back then were some of the best times of my life. It was the most difficult job I ever had, but it was the most exhilarating. And San Francisco back in the late '80s and early '90 was one of the world's great cities.
Scott
PS: I was in my office during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Because of the World Series there were only a dozen or so of us left in the office. I can honestly say that we thought we were going to die. Remember, 30 floors up...
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When's the book coming out?
They typically have a person monitoring a group of them remotely and alert them when they need help. The remote driver can see what the car sees thru its own cameras by swapping to it.
I'd would sympathize with the Waymo. Drivers are putzes and block other drivers from merging for "reasons" when they are trying too safely do so. Happens to me all the time.
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