The Dreamforce conference had no shortage of notable headliners stopping by San Francisco Wednesday, including the Foo Fighters, Matthew McConaughey and Gov. Gavin Newsom.
And with more than 40,000 attendees at the conference, the largest of its kind in California since the pandemic, not all of them were able to cram into the event space for Newsom’s address.
Newsom spoke on-stage with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff mostly about the subject of the moment: artificial intelligence.
“I mean, I say we’re a state of dreamers-doers. This is a state that has long prided itself on being on the cutting edge. We have more scientists, engineers, more researchers, more Nobel laureates,” said Newsom.
But the pair’s conversation also touched on other topics about both California and San Francisco itself.
Newsom’s visit comes only a day after he said his administration will join San Francisco’s fight against a federal injunction that restricts how the city can remove homeless encampments from streets and sidewalks.
Per the court order, the city is currently only able to remove those tents once an offer of shelter is refused by the tent’s resident.
Newsom has also pledged more than a quarter of a million dollars to fight organized retail crime in the state. In San Francisco, many retailers have closed up shop, citing dangerous circumstances and major losses from rampant theft.
The Dreamforce convention has become a bit of a test for its host city after months of negative headlines about crime, an opioid epidemic, and tent encampments.
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As for the conference attendees, they mostly had positive reactions to both the event and being in the city.
“It seems pretty safe in this area with all of the Dreamforce things going on,” said Hadley Lindley, who works for Georgia-based Aditi Consulting. “I haven’t really been concerned about safety or anything like that.”
“Same things you deal with in any big city,” said Hampton Hill, an employee of Ohio-based Integra Connect. “But nothing where I feel like I can’t walk the streets or anything like that.”
One pair of conference-goers did tell NBC Bay Area they were surprised when their rental car agency told them not to leave anything in their car.
And despite police constantly patrolling the perimeter of the convention center, an NBC Bay Area crew did notice a telltale sign of a car burglary behind the Moscone Center: an SUV with two of its windows busted out.
