Elon Musk REFUSES to move X's HQ from crime-ridden San Francisco

Elon Musk says he will keep X’s HQ in crime-ridden San Francisco despite admitting city is in a ‘doom spiral’ – while neighbors rage over flashing X atop tower

• Elon Musk has once again taunted critics wary of the new giant X at Twitter HQ 
•  In it, Musk, 52, also appeared to poke fun at the city’s current crime-ridden state
•  He’s claimed he’s been offered ‘rich incentives’ to move the office out of the city

Elon Musk has once again taunted critics wary of the new giant X illuminated atop the company’s San Francisco headquarters – by publicly refusing city officials’ supposed requests to relocate.

Referring to the site by its new, slow-to-catch-on new name, Musk aired the rejection in an impassioned tweet – or xeet – Sunday, in which he claimed he’s been offered ‘rich incentives’ to move the office out of San Francisco.

In it, the flippant mogul also appeared to poke fun at the city’s current crime-ridden state – doing so by citing the recent wave of store closures seen in the city’s Downtown, where the office of the firm formerly known as Twitter today resides.

Mentioning the mass pilgrimage of retailers like Old Navy, AmazonGo, Saks Off Fifth, and Office Depot, Musk made it clear he does not plan to follow those firms’ example – promising to not further ‘forsake’ San Francisco in a decidedly sarcastic post.

The apparent refusal comes less than two days after Musk – after rebranding Twitter to X – erected a massive, luminescent monument to the website’s new name right on the Market Street-set building’s roof. 

X CEO Elon Musk has once again taunted critics wary of the new giant X illuminated atop the company’s San Francisco headquarters – by publicly refusing city officials’ supposed requests to relocate in a decidedly sarcastic tweet that poked fun at the city’s crime woes

The apparent refusal comes less than two days after Musk – after rebranding Twitter to X – erected a massive, luminescent monument to the website’s new name right on the Market Street-set building’s roof, much to the chagrin of those living in the area

Mentioning the mass pilgrimage of retailers like Old Navy, AmazonGo, Saks Off Fifth, and Office Depot, Musk made it clear he does not plan to follow those firms out of the city Wednesday – promising to not further ‘forsake’ San Francisco

While work was underway, police showed up and the city has since issued a violation notice – but as of Sunday, the sign remains. 

For this, Musk – appearing to relish in the mass of complaints that have surfaced on social media of those who live in the area – offered a vague explanation on Wednesday.

‘Many have offered rich incentives for X [formerly known as Twitter] to move its HQ out of San Francisco,’ Musk, 52, began the now viral post, which has since been viewed more than 50million times. 

‘Moreover, the city is in a doom spiral with one company after another left or leaving,’ he added. ‘Therefore, they expect X will move too.’

To that, Musk said: ‘We will not.’

Calling attention the more than 95 stores to close down since the start of the COVID pandemic – and incoming closures for firms Nordstrom Rack, also on Market Street, and Banana Republic – Musk wrote: ‘You only know who your real friends are when the chips are down.

‘San Francisco, beautiful San Francisco, though others forsake you, we will always be your friend.’

Posted at 7:48pm, the post has already amassed some 200,000 likes, and a bevy of replies – most of which appeared to be positive.

‘This is fire ngl,’ one user wrote, seemingly relishing in Musk’s decision to do battle with officials and unhappy residents in the Bay Area city, which for years now has been grappling with a historic homelessness crisis exacerbated by the pandemic.

Others posted memes at the dubious reputation the city has earned since – for factors such as its high cost of living and continuing crime rate, which has forced some stores like Target, also in the city’s Downtown, to close before sundown to avoid mass theft.

The apparent rejection comes a week after Musk, 52, made waves when he announced he was rebranding Twitter effective immediately – changing the site’s name to ‘X’ and the platform’s iconic blue bird logo to the letter

Part of the change – the latest in a series of shake-ups to the platform since Musk purchased it for an astronomical $44billion late last year – saw the headquarters’ seminal vertical Twitter sign dismantled and replaced with the blinding installation. 

Residents are now reacting with disbelief to the pulsating, new sign – which city officials are now claiming could be a safety violation

An aerial view shows a newly constructed X sign on the roof of the headquarters of the social media platform previously known as Twitter

Feedback on the brand switch – as well as the office’s replaced seminal sign –  has been mixed 

‘This list of stores leaving (period) is growing like in no other city,’ noted one user of the predicament pointed out by Musk, who last week made waves when he announced in a series of tweets that he is rebranding Twitter effective immediately – changing the site’s name to ‘X’ and the platform’s iconic blue bird logo.

Part of the change – the latest in a series of shake-ups to the platform since Musk purchased it for an astronomical $44billion late last year – saw the headquarters’ seminal vertical Twitter sign dismantled and replaced with the blinding installation.

Since then officers with the LAPD reportedly showed up Friday while the sign work was underway, and the Department of Buildings Inspection issuing a violation notice for the installation of a ‘possibly unsafe sign’ without a permit.

As of Sunday, however, it remains unclear what exactly those safety concerns are – though it may be connected to the dazzling Batman-signal-esque beams of light it emanates after sundown.

‘This is fire ngl,’ one user wrote of Musk’s decision to do battle with officials and unhappy residents in the Bay Area city, which for years now has been grappling with a historic homelessness crisis exacerbated by the pandemic

Others posted memes at the dubious reputation the city has earned since – for factors such as its high cost of living and continuing crime rate, which has forced some stores like Target, also in the city’s Downtown, to close before sundown to avoid mass theft

Residents in the otherwise affluent area – which has been hit particularly hard by the city’s ongoing crime and homeless woes – were airing their distaste as soon as Friday night, not even 24 hours after the sign was installed.

‘Imagine this f**king X sign right across from your bedroom,’ one person posted, whereas a local, from his apartment on the 27th floor of the Fox Plaza building across the street, called the illuminated sign’s dazzlingly bright rays ‘monstrous.’  

Comments made to the San Francisco Standard by Jerry Royer, who is 78, described  his view of the X sign, which lights up every night.

‘It’s blindingly white, right? And the sign flashes on and off, in all kinds of patterns like strobe lights. It’s incredibly bad,’ said Royer, who’s lived there for 52 years. 

‘It’s truly gigantic.’

One resident, a local journalist named Christopher Beale, posted video of the new sign with a realization of what this means for locals.

He was responding to a user who had seen the sign and said ‘Imagine this f***ing X sign right across from your bedroom.’

‘Imagine no more. This is my life now,’ Beale posted to the social media giant on Saturday, with a full clip of the undulating X logo.

California residents are reacting with disbelief after Elon Musk’s X has officially installed a massive, pulsating new sign on top of the company’s headquarters in San Francisco

Fellow San Franciscan Riley Walz said that he actually was a bit wistful for the old Twitter logo.

‘You know, the sign is missing. So, a little sad. I guess it’s a new beginning for X, so that’s interesting,’ Walz told NBC Bay Area. 

On Sunday, for the third straight night, the X sign was illuminated – blasting brilliant white light into the windows of nearby buildings for hours on end. 

Speaking to the Standard Sunday afternoon, Royer revealed that he and other residents have reached out to San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey’s office hoping to get the sign taken down. 

‘You really don’t realize how big it is until you see a human next to it,’ said Royer. 

City officials, meanwhile, say replacing letters or symbols on buildings, or erecting a sign on top of one – as was the case with the X sign’s sudden installation – requires a permit for design and safety reasons. 

Any replacement letters or symbols would require a permit to ensure ‘consistency with the historic nature of the building’, Patrick Hannan, spokesperson for the Department of Building Inspection said earlier this week, and ‘to make sure additions are safely attached to the sign.’  

Complaints records available on the Department of Buildings Inspection website show that a complaint has been received, though no efforts have been made to remove the sign.

That said, apart from being repeatedly cited as an inconvenience, the sign – and Musk’s subsequent refusal to remove it – has cast both figurative and actual lights on the city’s embattled Downtown neighborhood.

Since the start of the pandemic – which for months left the Bay Area at the mercy of homeless-rife tent encampments and bands of career criminals – more than 95 retailers including Brooks Brothers, Ray Ban, Christian Louboutin, Lululemon and Marmot have packed up and left the city for greener pastures.

That’s more than half of the area’s entire retail demographic in total – an amount that will soon be bolstered by the already announced closures of Williams Sonoma, AT&T, Nordstrom, and Banana Republic in the coming months.

Meanwhile, remaining stores like Target have been reduced to locking up their entire stock behind glass to deter shoplifters

‘Decisions like this are never easy, and this one has been especially difficult,’ wrote Nordstrom in a statement announcing its decision to close this past May. 

‘But as many of you know, the dynamics of the downtown San Francisco market have changed dramatically over the past several years, impacting customer foot traffic to our stores and our ability to operate successfully.’

Westfield Mall was much more blunt in its statement to the Washington Post, pointing directly to rising crime running business out of town, which it referred to as ‘unsafe conditions for customers, retailers, and employees.’

Meanwhile, out of 203 retailers open in 2019 in the city’s Union Square area, just 107 are still operating, a drop of 47 percent in just a few pandemic-ravaged years

Among the heavy hitters, Brooks Brothers, Ray Ban, Christian Louboutin, Lululemon and Marmot have all packed it in

The Nordstrom Rack in downtown San Francisco which will be closing on July 1

Whole Foods previously closed a flagship store in downtown San Francisco

The Market Street Anthropologie (pictured) closed its doors permanently on May 13

Office Depot, located on Third Street (pictured) , also has closed

The mall said ‘these significant issues are preventing an economic recovery of the area.’

Nordstrom joins the growing list of stores that have abandoned the the coastal city, including H&M, Marshall’s, Gap, and Banana Republic, among others.

Despite official reports that San Francisco’s crime rate is on the way down, one former prosecutor said this month that the city’s liberal district attorney’s decision not to prosecute many crimes skewed those numbers.   

Gap was the first to announce its departure in August 2020, shortly followed by H&M and Marshall’s. As the years went on, more stores slowly pulled out. 

The Market Street Anthropologie, meanwhile, closed May 13. As a result, the brand no longer has a location in the city. 

Office Depot, located on Third Street, was also recently shuttered, but the exact closing date is unknown. The brand has a bigger store on Geary Boulevard, which will not close. 

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