Giant glowing ‘X’ sign atop Twitter office in San Francisco removed

 

Giant glowing ‘X’ sign atop Twitter office in San Francisco removed

 

The city building department had logged 24 complaints after the new logo went up, with neighbors upset over its intrusive lights

 

Guardian staff and agencies

Tue 1 Aug 2023 01.05 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/31/x-sign-lights-san-francisco-twitter-office-removed

 

It is gone. A giant, glowing X no longer marks the spot on the San Francisco high-rise that is headquarters to Elon Musk’s company X, formerly known as Twitter.

 

The city building department logged 24 complaints after a weekend of the big X, which on Friday was erected on the roof of the company’s downtown San Francisco headquarters, on Market Street, to the chagrin of neighbors who complained about intrusive lights.

 

The move followed a post from Musk, the billionaire who acquired the company in October2022 for $44bn, announcing the newly renamed firm would remain in San Francisco despite what he termed the city’s recent “doom spiral, with one company after another left or leaving”.

 

But the big X didn’t stay long.

 

“This morning, building inspectors observed the structure being dismantled,” a spokesperson from the city department of building inspection said by email on Monday. “The property owner will be assessed fees for the unpermitted installation of the illuminated structure.”

 

X said the removal was voluntary.

 

Over the weekend locals recorded video of the giant X glowing, pulsing and strobing, with some criticizing its intrusive lights.

 

Patricia Wallinga, who lives across from the headquarters, told CBS news it was “a danger” and “a clown show”. “I thought it was lightning, and I was very confused. I went to my window, I looked around, I didn’t see anything. I thought it was maybe a police siren.” Attorney George Wolf told the news outlet that residents were entitled to a chance to approve or reject such a development – “it’s very, very reckless [for Musk] to do things this way … It just sounds like it’s just his normal means of doing business. Break things and try and fix them later.”

 

Over the weekend a department of building inspection official wrote in a report that company representatives denied roof access, twice, to city officials seeking to inspect the logo.

 

The inspector noted one representative said the sign was temporary.

 

The company, and its owner, have become a growing headache for city officials, the Washington Post reported last week. City officials began investigating X last year after a complaint that it allegedly converted rooms in its headquarters to sleeping quarters. The San Francisco district attorney accused Musk of spreading misinformation following the high-profile killing of the tech founder Bob Lee.

 

“There are business leaders in the city who want to engage in solutions, and the mayor wants to work with them,” said Jeff Cretan, a spokesperson for Mayor London Breed, told the Post. “But to have one person who has a megaphone who creates all this tumult, it creates this perception of chaos.”