14 DAY TRIAL // Those who are already upset about Google being present in San Francisco, alongside all other tech companies in the area, will not like to hear the news about the company’s next expansion. The world’s biggest Internet corporation is leasing another office tower and buying yet one.
According to Mercury News, Google is planning expand even more in San Francisco Bay, in the area around its corporate headquarters in Mountain View where it already has acquired more than 20 buildings in the past four years.
The latest leased office space is at One Market Street in San Francisco, while an eight-story building at 188 Embarcadero is currently in the final stages of being purchased by the giant corporation that seems to always add more employees.
“We are excited to expand in San Francisco, and we will continue to work hard to be a good neighbor in the communities where we work and live,” said a Google spokesperson, reminding everyone of the issues that the company has had with the citizens of San Francisco.
There are over 12,000 people working in Mountain View and most of them commute from San Francisco in the famous shuttle buses that have been the topic of many discussions over the past few months as protesters stopped them in the streets or, even worse, attacked them.
The issues stem from the growing living costs in the city, as well as several other issues. Frustrated with the situation, many have found that the tech companies located nearby and the workers living in the city and commuting to work every day are to blame for everything and have taken it out on the shuttle buses moving through.
Tech companies have agreed to pay a daily fee for their buses to use the same city bus stops as pick-up spots for the employees, thus contributing to the city hall’s funds for the environment and the upkeep for the roads, but not even this appeased the angry citizen.
Google took a step forward and started donating to local charities and even set up a $6.8 million (€5 million) grant that will help pay for transportation of low-income young people in the city. This, too, was an effort to get people to stop being so angry about Google, but it didn’t really win over everyone.
Even so, with the two new additions to Google’s portfolio, it’s clearer than ever that the tech giant is not going anywhere.