San Francisco authorities have removed Elon Musk’s huge new, brightly-lit ‘X’ sign because it violated permit orders.
The social-media giant, formally known as Twitter, was under investigation after Musk had the blinding sign that aggravated neighbors installed without first obtaining permits from the San Francisco Department of Buildings.
Today, workers prepared to dismantle the large X logo on the roof of the headquarters in San Francisco, California – just over 48 hours after it was installed.
They were seen scaling the huge, luminous sign – which sat on top of the building – before removing it piece by piece.
Today, workers prepared to dismantle the large X logo on the roof of the headquarters in San Francisco, California – just over 48 hours after it was installed
Workers are seen getting rid of the X logo
The massive sign was dismantled just days after it was installed
Blinding: The X logo lit up the San Francisco sky at night, which irked neighbors
Investigators arrived on the scene shortly after the sign was put up Friday to notify the company it was in violation of the city’s building codes, and to request access to the roof to inspect it — declaring it ‘possibly unsafe.’
But a Twitter representative told the inspector the sign was a ‘temporary lighted sign for an event,’ according to a city complaint.
An inspector again tried to gain access on Saturday, but ‘upon arrival, access was denied by tenant.’
In a statement, San Francisco Department of Building Inspection spokesman Patrick Hannan explained: ‘A building permit is required to make sure the sign is structurally sound and installed safely.
‘Planning review and approval is also necessary for the installation of this sign.’
San Francisco Building Department officials say Elon Musk had the new ‘X’ sign placed atop the former Twitter headquarters Friday without first obtaining a permit
The brightly-lit sign has aggravated many residents in the affluential neighborhood
Musk poked fun at the building inspectors who showed up at the headquarters Friday night, saying the landlord called ‘police about our sign modifications’ with a clown emoji
He also told the Washington Post in order to maintain ‘consistency with the historic nature of the building, and to ensure new additions are safely attached to the sign,’ the city requires a permit to approve new letters or symbols on a sign.
Moreover, under X’s lease for the Market Street building, rooftop and exterior signs are banned — except for the ‘blade sign’ that previously read ‘@twitter,’ which Musk had taken down for his rebranding efforts.
The lease even stated the company would need permission from its landlord to modify that original sign, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
But thus far, Musk has seemed to take the building violations in stride, tweeting — or xing — Friday night that the landlord ‘keeps calling the police about our sign modifications’ with a clown emoji.
Musk, 52, made waves when he announced he was rebranding Twitter effective immediately – changing the site’s name to ‘X’ and the platform’s iconic blue bird logo to the letter
As part of Musk’s efforts to rebrand the social media company, he had the building’s ‘blade sign’ reading ‘@twitter’ removed, even though it was the only sign allowed under X’s lease of the Market Street building
But the sign has already irked residents in the otherwise affluent area.
‘Imagine this f**king X sign right across from your bedroom,’ one person posted, whereas a local, from his apartment on the 27th floor of the Fox Plaza building across the street, called the illuminated sign’s dazzlingly bright rays ‘monstrous.’
Jerry Royer, 78, also called the sign ‘incredibly bad’ in remarks to the San Francisco Standard over the weekend.
‘It’s blindingly white, right? And the sign flashes on and off, in all kinds of patterns like strobe lights. It’s incredibly bad,’ said Royer, who’s lived there for 52 years.
‘It’s truly gigantic.’
Another resident, a local journalist named Christopher Beale, posted video of the new sign with a realization of what this means for locals.
He was responding to a user who had seen the sign and said ‘Imagine this f***ing X sign right across from your bedroom.’
‘Imagine no more. This is my life now,’ Beale posted to the social media giant on Saturday, with a full clip of the undulating X logo.
Fellow San Franciscan Riley Walz said that he actually was a bit wistful for the old Twitter logo.
‘You know, the sign is missing. So, a little sad. I guess it’s a new beginning for X, so that’s interesting,’ Walz told NBC Bay Area.
The third was once again illuminated Sunday, for a third straight night – blasting brilliant white light into the windows of nearby buildings for hours on end.
Speaking to the Standard Sunday afternoon, Royer revealed that he and other residents have reached out to San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey’s office hoping to get the sign taken down.
‘You really don’t realize how big it is until you see a human next to it,’ said Royer.
Dorsey, however, told the New York Times he believes a peaceful solution could be rendered between the city and X.
‘I would sort of like to extend an olive branch,’ he said. ‘I think there’s a lot of people in city government who would welcome the opportunity to work with a large employer like X, and let’s figure out what we’re going to do with the sign, but we can have a good, productive partnership with a city employer.’
California residents are reacting with disbelief after Musk’s X has officially installed the massive, pulsating new sign on top of the company’s headquarters in San Francisco
Musk has vowed that X will stay in San Francisco — despite saying he has been offered ‘rich incentives’ to move the office out of the city.
In it, the flippant mogul also appeared to poke fun at the city’s current crime-ridden state – doing so by citing the recent wave of store closures seen in the city’s Downtown, where the office of the firm formerly known as Twitter today resides.
Mentioning the mass pilgrimage of retailers like Old Navy, AmazonGo, Saks Off Fifth, and Office Depot, Musk made it clear he does not plan to follow those firms’ example – promising to not further ‘forsake’ San Francisco in a decidedly sarcastic post.
‘Many have offered rich incentives for X [formerly known as Twitter] to move its HQ out of San Francisco,’ Musk began the now viral post.
‘Moreover, the city is in a doom spiral with one company after another left or leaving,’ he added. ‘Therefore, they expect X will move too.’
To that, Musk said: ‘We will not.’
Calling attention the more than 95 stores to close down since the start of the COVID pandemic – and incoming closures for firms Nordstrom Rack, also on Market Street, and Banana Republic – Musk wrote: ‘You only know who your real friends are when the chips are down.
‘San Francisco, beautiful San Francisco, though others forsake you, we will always be your friend.’
Musk publicly refused city officials’ supposed requests to relocate in a decidedly sarcastic tweet that poked fun at the city’s crime woes
He mentioned the mass pilgrimage of retailers like Old Navy, AmazonGo, Saks Off Fifth, and Office Depot
Since the start of the pandemic – which for months left the Bay Area at the mercy of homeless-rife tent encampments and bands of career criminals – more than 95 retailers including Brooks Brothers, Ray Ban, Christian Louboutin, Lululemon and Marmot have packed up and left the city for greener pastures.
That’s more than half of the area’s entire retail demographic in total – an amount that will soon be bolstered by the already announced closures of Williams Sonoma, AT&T, Nordstrom, and Banana Republic in the coming months.
Meanwhile, remaining stores like Target have been reduced to locking up their entire stock behind glass to deter shoplifters
‘Decisions like this are never easy, and this one has been especially difficult,’ wrote Nordstrom in a statement announcing its decision to close this past May.
‘But as many of you know, the dynamics of the downtown San Francisco market have changed dramatically over the past several years, impacting customer foot traffic to our stores and our ability to operate successfully.’
Westfield Mall was much more blunt in its statement to the Washington Post, pointing directly to rising crime running business out of town, which it referred to as ‘unsafe conditions for customers, retailers, and employees.’
The mall said ‘these significant issues are preventing an economic recovery of the area.’