Sponsored link
Wednesday, August 5, 2026

Sponsored link

City Beat: $1 billion fine for Google?

 

I’ve always thought San Francisco could use a Displacement and Neighborhood Impact Agency. I’ve argued that every major development, tax break, etc. should require not just an Environmental Impact Report but a Displacement Impact Report: How many San Franciscans will lose their homes, and how many nonprofits and small businesses will be forced out by the project? That way we could look at the tradeoffs: Is the Twitter tax break worth a few hundred evictions and commercial displacements?

So now, at least on the web, we have one. And the folks who have created it estimate that the fines Google and the other companies with private buses don’t pay for stopping in Muni bus stops (at $271 a pop for ordinary folks) are equal to $1 billon: There are more than 200 Muni stops that get used a total of 7,100 times a day. Add that up over two years (2011-2013) and you get a lot of cash. (more after the jump)

Marke B.
Marke B.
Marke Bieschke is the publisher and arts and culture editor of 48 Hills. He co-owns the Stud bar in SoMa. Reach him at marke (at) 48hills.org, follow @supermarke on Twitter.

48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submit here. We also invite you to join the conversation on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Sponsored link

Sponsored link
Sponsored link

Latest

Charli XCX is the future of rock, in fact

The genre will be saved by outsiders—even highbrow-nodding hyperpop ones who know how to slay big festivals like Outside Lands.

Drama Masks: Forget AI, you’re in ‘Urinetown’ now

Ray of Light's latest triumph is awash with talent. Plus: 'In a Memory Palace' at Z Space used Noh to haunting effect.

Wiener’s racist, sexist Anthropic AI chatbot attacks Chan–and it’s weird and stupid and gross

Why is nobody in the Democratic Party establishment or the news media calling out Wiener on this?

Experimental sounds ring out from Adobe Books, for an eager community in the know

Promoter Tonko's unassuming series platforms local musicians with a genre-blurring bent.

You might also likeRELATED