(Photo from www.newstimes.com)
It’s funny how one can be in the middle of a happening—a protest or gathering of significance— and the people dispatched to report on it—writers and bloggers—get it wrong and backasswards even though they were there and saw everything in the flesh. Such is the case of certain coverage of the recent “Crappies—Truth in Tech Awards” that took place Monday February 10th. The Crappies coincided with the “Crunchies”--an award gala put on by the tech world to highlight the achievements of start-ups—a kind of academy awards of the digital kind.
The Crappies were just that, an award ceremony that took place outside Davies Symphony Hall—venue of the Crunchies. Our gala was touted as the Crappies to draw attention to the crappy deal San Francisco has gotten from tech, which includes massive tax breaks for companies such as Twitter, so-called community benefit agreements (CBA’s) with the city that benefit the tech sector, an eviction epidemic fueled by tech money that has accounted for a 178% increase in Ellis Act Evictions over the last 3 years and, of course, those luxury tech shuttles that have flooded the city streets, using public bus stops to scoop up their too delicate for public transportation workforce to their Silicon Valley jobs without contributing a dime towards the city’s transit system.
The idea for the Crappies was conceived by a coalition of tenants and advocates from groups such as SEIU 1021, SEIU USWW, Senior and Disability Action, SOMCAN, Jobs With Justice, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, The Gray Panthers, POWER and the anti-eviction mapping project. The event began 30 minutes before the Crunchies, whose gala was to be held inside Davies. Our event took place outside where participants, spectators and media converged on the corner of Van Ness and Grove Streets. After 7pm the crowd swelled to 50 or more.
I introduced the emcee for the event, housing advocate Tommi Avicolli-Mecca. Tommi came adorned with top hat, glittery bow tie and white gloves while I--the announcer for the evening--came in with a black shirt and white gloves. A woman who came in formal wear that included a cape, shed the cape and draped it over me to full effect. I looked like the duke of earl combined with count Dracula. Tommi got the crowd fired up, passionately speaking about the eviction crisis plaguing the city, fueled by real estate speculation and tech money. The crowd grew to about 50, made up of tenants, community activists and curious passersby.
The Crappies were organized to let the self-absorbed tech community in San Francisco know that they , contrary to what they have been told, are not the wonderful and selfless community they think they are. Many protests have taken place regarding the tech community’s lack of accountability in the city. Their obliviousness to the concerns of the community has been quite striking. Their standard response: Not a tweet, not a sound, not a peep.
So community members honored an elite group of the tech world’s finest with crappie awards:
*Tax Evader of the Year: Twitter
*The Tinted Glass/Eyes Wide Shut Transportation award: Google
*The Greg Gopman/Peter Shih Digital Diarrhea of the mouth award: Tom Perkins
*The Out of Control Enemy of Rent Control Award: Ron Conway
*CEO of the year: Marissa Mayer of Yahoo
*Biggest Fan of Tech Award: Mayor Lee
Community members accepted the awards—golden toilet brushes—on behalf of the winners.
The ceremony erupted in laughter and a feeling of community was felt under the night sky as several spotlights poked into the dark sky.
Many media outlets covered the Crappies. I found many of the media folk to be professional and gracious. In the midst of the festivities, I was approached by a man who identified himself as a reporter. He asked me what the purpose of the gathering was and what we expected the outcome to be. The man jotted on his pad rapidly. I mentioned that I was glad people took time to come to the event. He asked me my name and my organization—Senior and Disability Action. How do you spell “Action?” he asked. I looked at the man. He resembled the late Leslie Nielsen of those airplane movies—brilliant head of white, seemingly unbiased, well-adjusted hair. Truth be told, he looked like one of those models whose picture you find in an airplane catalog modeling bathrobes, neck pillows or golf putting sets designed for the bathroom.
I saw his article a day or two after the crappies. He described our awards event as threadbare, a flop, and quoted me as saying that I was glad people showed up—insinuating that I felt the whole affair were a losing proposition.
Then I remembered something that my uncle had told me; people see what they want to see, they hear what they want to hear.
I also read that during the Crunchies, John Oliver, former correspondent from the Daily show gave a keynote address. He asked the techies why, since they have so much money, they even need an awards ceremony at all? He added that they have succeeded in pissing off an entire city.
Kind of funny, they could have gotten the same message outside from us, community people trying to preserve what community we have left. They certainly wouldn’t have gotten it from that white-haired reporter. Maybe he’ll change careers. Maybe there’s an opening for a bathrobe model in an airplane catalog somewhere.
(To see the article in question, http://venturebeat.com/2014/02/10/protestors-stage-threadbare-crappies-awards-outside-crunchies-gala/)
© 2014 Tony Robles