The technology industry, and Google in particular, has been the target of community rage in the San Francisco area resulting from the economic and culture clash between well-moneyed tech workers and average, long-term residents. Google is seeking to lessen the strain - and perhaps the hard feelings -- by recently donating millions to provide low-income youth in the area free transportation.

Late this week, the Office of San Francisco's Mayor Edwin Lee announced a $6.8 million gift, given to the city for its "Free Muni for Low Income Youth" program. The program provides free mass transit passes for more than 31,000 young low-income San Franciscans aged five to 17. The city's Metropolitan Transportation Commission currently funds Free Muni, but as a pilot program, it's only funded through June of this year.

Google's millions for the program will effectively extend the free transportation program through at least two more years, lessening the strain on San Francisco's municipal transportation budget and leaving the city's taxpayers without any extra burden.

"Continuing to provide free Muni for thousands of young people from lower-income households will help make our City more affordable for working families," said Mayor Lee in the announcement. "With this unprecedented gift from Google, we can keep this successful pilot program running for at least two more years at no cost to taxpayers or Muni riders and free up critical funds for other vital Muni maintenance and services. Google is demonstrating with real action and real resources that they are a true partner in addressing our City's affordability crisis for lower and middle-income families. I want to thank Google for this enormous gift to the SFMTA, and I look forward to continuing to work with this great San Francisco employer towards improving our City for everyone."

Rising Tensions, Busses, and Low-Income Residents

The move from Google comes in the midst of increasing backlash by low-income and long-time residents in the Bay Area in response to an influx of tech industry money into the city.

As we've previously reported, Google and other tech giants continue to grow both outside and in the metropolitan area of San Francisco, causing housing and office prices and rents to increase by as much as double in a few years, which leads to more evictions and swelling anger by the less well-off -- many of whom are Latinos with deep ties to their communities. In fact, over the past decade the Latino population in the Mission District, where Google and other tech companies are now planning new offices, has dropped by at least 20 percent.

In the past year, community anger in the Bay Area has been directed primarily at Google, both deservedly so and not, depending on the case.

The gift by Google, however, could be seen as a direct response to community protests against its private bussing service, which picks up tech workers at city municipal bus stops for the 45-minute commute to the Googleplex, in nearby Mountain View.

Protestors already angry about income disparity and the negative effects of gentrification saw Google's use of San Francisco city bus stops as an example of the disconnect between the tech industry and the community, as well as a symbol of entitlement and arrogance -- especially because Google officially pays the city only $1 per stop for using the bus stops.

But in the case of bussing, according to Forbes, Google actually wants to pay the city more, but is prevented from doing so because of state laws preventing the city from collecting it. (As with the gentrification issue, responsibility for the Google bussing controversy is fairly divided between outdated public policy and heedless tech industry power.)

So the $6.8 million might be seen as a way around red tape, more than a PR stunt. "San Francisco residents are rightly frustrated that we don't pay more to use city bus stops," said a Google spokesperson to Forbes, "so we'll continue to work with the city on these fees, and in the meantime will fund Muni passes for low income students for the next two years." Why Google waited until nearly a decade after it began its shuttle service to make such a donation is still a fair question.