Tech Workers Try to Take a Playground From Community Kids and Lose

When a group of tech workers from Dropbox tried to evict a group of youngsters from a community soccer field in San Francisco’s Mission district, they probably weren’t expecting to trigger a mini Occupy movement.

The Dropboxers, who have since apologized for the incident, reserved the field using a new permitting system.

The locals, who have for years shared the field using a different set of rules, resisted, refusing to leave the pitch. Eventually, they offered to share the field and that seems to be what ultimately happened, but not before a lot of whining from the mostly white, presumably well-paid, tech workers.

There’s a lot of tension in the Bay Area between tech companies and longtime residents. Rents and eviction rates are skyrocketing as upwardly mobile professionals compete for housing with the general population.

Here’s what Dropbox, quoted by SFGate, had to say about the incident: “We love San Francisco and are grateful to call it home. That’s why we were disappointed to learn that a couple of our employees weren’t respectful to this community. The employees involved are embarrassed and have apologized. We’re sorry, and we promise to do better.”

— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer