[Foundation-l] Relocation announcement

[geni]

On 22/09/2007, Sue Gardner <sgardner at wikimedia.org> wrote:
>Hi folks,

>I wanted to let you know that later this year, the Wikimedia Foundation
>will be relocating its headquarters to the San Francisco Bay area.

Well while you are still there
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:St._Petersburg%2C_Florida

needs more pics.

> In making this decision, we assessed five major cities: Boston, London,

If that assessment took more that say 20 seconds we have a problem.

> New York, San Francisco and Washington, DC - as well as St. Petersburg
> itself. The upshot: after a fairly detailed analysis, I recommended to
> the board that the Foundation relocate to San Francisco, and the board
> accepted that recommendation.

One of these days the board is going to make a decision that doesn't
increase costs.

> Why San Francisco? It's the centre of high-tech in the United States.

Wikipedia isn't really that high-tech any more.

> It's home to plenty of like-minded organizations and possible partners,
> top-tier universities like Stanford and UC Berkeley, world-class support
> services, and major media.

You want to go near the major media groups?

> And it will be more convenient - and cheaper
> - than St. Petersburg for international travel.
>
> There are also arguments for staying where we are. Moving will be
> expensive, and may be disruptive for the community. And St. Petersburg
> is less expensive than the Bay Area.
>
> But in the long run, San Francisco will suit us well, and will give the
> Foundation a solid base from which to grow.
>
> Here is what's planned at this point:
>
> - The new office will open sometime this winter. We'll probably start
> out in downtown San Francisco, until we get our bearings and choose a
> permanent location.
> - The St. Petersburg office will close late this winter, probably at the
> end of January.
> - We know that many people's personal circumstances will make it
> impossible for them to move, but we are hoping that some of the current
> staff will be able to come with us.
> - The servers will remain in Tampa indefinitely. If we do choose to move
> them, that would be a separate, subsequent decision. At this point, it's
> not under active consideration.

So we now have to worry about 2 sets of state law? While I understand
Californian law in the relevant areas is fairly liberal anyone know
any details?
Either way BLP is going to need updating. Again.



-- 
geni