San Francisco Doesn't Look So Bad

...compared to Oakland. Headline:

Oakland crime surge: This major employer is telling workers to eat lunch on site [bold added]

Kaiser Permanente, the city’s largest employer, sent out a memo last month asking employees to stay in their buildings for lunch and throughout the workday, according to a report from KTVU. The memo also directed workers from out of town not to hold meetings in downtown Oakland...

The new precautions come as Oakland residents reel from a 21% increase in violent crime last year over 2022. Robberies climbed 38%, and burglaries increased 23%. For the second consecutive year, the city logged 120 homicides.

Kaiser Center, where I spent many an evening safely 1975-78.

During the mid-1970's I worked more than half the time in Oakland as a junior auditor for a CPA firm. One of its major clients was the Kaiser family of companies, the most notable at the time being Kaiser Permanente, Kaiser Steel, Kaiser Industries, and Kaiser Engineers. All were headquartered in Oakland.

(Digression: it's impossible to overstate the importance of Henry J. Kaiser to the post-war development of Hawaii, to the shaping of health care in California, and even to the nation's history, when his mass production of Liberty ships helped win the War.)

Because of its large Oakland footprint, not to mention its origins in the East Bay, Kaiser is unlikely to depart that benighted city. Nevertheless, if employee safety continues to be a major concern, Kaiser has to be looking at alternatives.

One wonders if Blue Shield is having regrets about its move to Oakland:

A representative of Blue Shield, the health insurance provider that moved its corporate headquarters from San Francisco to Oakland in 2019, said Friday that the company would offer “various options” to keep employees safe when they come to the office. Among them: ride-hail services, secure parking and security guards.

Blue Shield asks most employees to come to the office at least twice a month, and for executives to show up once a week.

Within the past decade the Raiders, Warriors, and Athletics have abandoned Oakland. As businesses and workers flee, Gertrude Stein's famous 1937 quote is truer than ever.