SAN FRANCISCO / Oracle stops traffic with convention
The power of Oracle is so mighty that the company was able to get the city to extend pedestrian countdown lights by 10 seconds in the South of Market area to accommodate the crowds.
Company spokesman Bob Wynn said Oracle OpenWorld, in its 10th year, had run out of room to expand. So the company is putting an enclosed catering tent in the street.
Oracle Corporation is about to get a public-relations black-eye when its upcoming San Francisco convention shuts down three important street blocks for 4-8 days next week and creates a huge mess in San Francisco. The reports have it that this convention is so large that they need to do this. To them “large” is estimated at 41,000 people. Nearby AT&T Park where the SF Giants play holds about 43,000 and nobody is shutting down streets to accommodate a baseball game. Also numerous other conventions such as the ADA Convention (50,000) and Semicon (50,000) are bigger than this and streets are not blocked off for those shows. I talked to the SF Convention Bureau and they said that Oracle plans to feed the showgoers in the big tents they will erect on the blocked-off streets. So essentially the City of San Francisco is allowing this potential mess while taking business away from the local restaurants at the same time. Charming. This is an example of corrupt city politics I can assure you.
The problem here is that one of the streets being blocked is 4th street which is an important access street from downtown to South of Market. Howard Street, also to be blocked (see map here) is an important street during both morning and afternoon commutes. Weirder still is the City’s pledge to change the traffic lights to accommodate the walking showgoers. This has never been done before. It’s ridiculous. This is how public servants operate today.
Eminent domain??
Yeah. Larry Ellison’s domain.
Power play
It’s been fifteen years since I was in San Francisco so it’s tough to get a feel for the area the map is showing. Don’t feel so bad, John, here in nyc when the president is in town and/or the United Nations is holding VIPs the streets get closed off completely as the motorcades passes by. Two years ago when Bush was in town I got to see the back of his head through the tiny rear window of his limousine because he was looking to the other side of the street. Gotta tell you, though, there are only three cities I would ever live in: New York, Rome or San Francisco. Runners up would be Amsterdam and Tokyo.
I’m actually glad to see someone is giving pedestrians priority over cars.
didn’t one of the other big silicon valley companies just hold their annual convention and didn’t warn the ciy….Mountain View I think(probably wrong) and it brought traffic to a stand still just by adding 6000 cars to the usual mix?
Just before Digital Equipment collapsed, they had a huge Dec World with the QE II as overflow hotel space. Is this the end for Oracle?
“Major Metropolis Sucks up to Large Corporation – Millions Struck Dumb With Surprise.”
Public-relations black-eye, yup.
A potential mess, yup.
Important access blocked, yup.
Taking business away, yup.
Corrupt city politics, yup.
Realizing this is how public servants operate today, priceless.
For all the rest, Oracle OpenWorld.
Poor babies! Boo hoo. The city gets to host a large convention that will fill the hotels and restaurants. That is terrible. I’m sure plenty of other cities will be more than happy to host the event in the future since it might block a street in a city that already has more cars than pavement.
I have seen a fair number of streets closed for conventions and the like in my time. This is all nothing new. If you are inconvenienced and there is nothing in it for you then yes, they are bastards !!! If you own a business that will gain then from the out of town crowd then sure, it’s a great idea.
When the Giants play, it is only for a few hours and the entire crowd is accommodated. For the other conventions, I guess the questions should be how much display area was used vs how much lecture space is needed. Also, consider the number of people from out of town, the length of stay, and how much the city will receive for renting the two streets.
An inconvenience, probably, but is the sky falling? I doubt it. The Mayor represents the whole city, not just one segment of the population. Something our President could learn.
Not necessarily a PR black eye. Though John assumes otherwise, I’ll wager that local restaurants are catering those events on the closed streets. And, providing security. And, cleanup. Entertainment. Parking. Etc. Not to mention the increases in hotel usage and shopping by convention attendees.
Most likely a balancing of interests took place, with the city deciding it was getting enough consideration to close those streets.
A public relations black eye? Noone’s going to hear about it outside of San Francisco. I guess the Democrats get a public relations black eye for their convention in Boston? The bigger black eye is every time the President goes to a game, the other fans tend to not be able to show up on time.
I remember about 20 yrs ago in Toronto. Pope John Paul II came to visit. I had an important meeting and knowing of the Popes arrival, left an hour early. They closed all the entire northern and western routes from the airport to downtown. And they closed them two hours before he arrived at the airport. It took me over four hours to travel less than 10 miles. I’m not Catholic and couldn’t give two poops but I did think the Pope on a Rope soap marketing thing was pretty nifty. I remember it was estimated his visit cost Toronto over $50 million in security, lost wages, extra fuel, and what not.
I was at Larry Ellison’s house once in San Mateo (Hillsborough?).
Delivering a bunch of suits from Wilkes Bashford’s.
It was pissing down rain. I parked my van in front of a wall near the front door. As I made a break for the front door, carrying the suits (which were quite heavy, befitting Ellison’s importance), some idiot pulled up behind my van and beeped at me. I ignored it and knocked on the door.
Once inside, as one of the maids signed for the suits, in came Larry.
“Didn’t you see me?” he asked. “Oh, sorry” I said, not adding “asshole”.
The maids cowered. I looked around. Arranged in the adjoining living room were a number of large, shallow grecian-looking urns. Inside each urn was a huge, hairy cat.
I went out and pulled away in my van. Looking back, I saw that the wall open – it was actually a secret James Bond-style door leading to a massive garage.
Love the picture, John.
4. Phew, I’m glad you didnt mention My city. We got enough crazies here.