Google I/O is one of the hottest tickets in town, and gaining entry to today's keynote and the rest of the sessions that are going on this week is no small feat. Yet that didn't stop two protesters, who began screaming out their complaints against company officials at different times during the 2.5-hour long keynote before being dragged away by security. Both protesters were part of local tenants' rights activist groups, Eviction Free San Francisco and the Anti Eviction Mapping Project.
Wait, so this guy owns a building and doesn't want to rent it to anyone anymore? How dare he.... According to the Ellis Act which he is using as his legal impetus to do this, he can evict people from his property so long as he doesn't rent it again for a set amount of time. Basically, he can't turn around and rent it again. Makes sense to me, it's his building. What's the big deal here? Honest question.
It's just a weird story to me. Strange backlash against an unstoppable wave.
It's just odd that this is what they choose to protest. This is a private citizen that owns a building or is it Google that owns it? If it's his building, then I don't really see how it relates to Google? I agree that it's weird.
I think it's about throwing a rock where it makes the biggest splash. Google is a big fish, especially in Ms. Tirado's neighborhood. Who better to attack?
I think so, too. Same reasons they protested the Apple/Google buses that shuttle people to their campuses: it makes a big splash in the media which gets them attention to their cause.