Amidst the prevalent drug use and brazen thefts plaguing San Francisco, Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, discovered that the police do respond to citizen complaints. A seemingly routine sign removal process at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters faced a momentary interruption due to local law enforcement involvement, as reported by the NBC affiliate.
As part of the rebranding efforts initiated by Mr. Musk, workers were tasked with dismantling the iconic blue bird and the word “Twitter” from the company’s HQ on Market Street. They proceeded to take down the letters one by one, blocking a lane in the process. However, their work was briefly paused when San Francisco police intervened to verify whether they possessed the required permit for the street closure.
“People were pretty mad that that last lane was closed over there, but then the construction workers were also getting annoyed about the ongoing attention that people kept on coming,” Livaan Hussan said to the outlet.
Despite the SFPD officers’ assessment that the sign situation was not within their jurisdiction, the work crew decided to halt their efforts, leaving the “er” in “Twitter” and the bird logo still hanging on one side of the sign, according to the report.
Onlookers present at the scene mentioned that the crew responsible for removing the sign requested them to refrain from filming the process. However, when their requests went unheeded, the crew abandoned their task before fully completing the sign conversion to align with the company’s rebranding.
“It’s so very hostile,” Mr. Hussan added. “It just doesn’t make sense. Ever since Elon took over Twitter, it’s just been hostile and it looks like the downtaking of the Twitter sign is very hostile itself. It’s sad.”
Complaints received by San Francisco’s Department of Building Inspection created uncertainty about whether a permit was necessary for removing the Twitter signage.
As per a Fox Business report, the police confirmed that the issue was merely a misunderstanding regarding the required permits for the sign removal process.
Elon Musk, who now helms Twitter, emphasized that the rebranding signified more than just a name change. According to the Tesla mogul, it represents a significant step forward for the company. Among the planned changes are expanded user interaction features, allowing for longer posts and videos.
Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino, alongside Musk, also emphasized the importance of the logo switch, viewing it as a symbol of the platform’s limitless interactive future.
