This story is part of a CNET special report that examines the controversy gripping San Francisco as a massive influx of techies feeds an unprecedented economic boom -- and backlash.
SAN FRANCISCO -- On a sunny day in April, San Francisco's skyline offered a handy prop for Mayor Ed Lee, who seized on the can-you-believe-this view moment to ham it up for the news cameras.
"I know we're in the cloud, but there's nothing cloudy about what's being unveiled today," Lee told a room packed with civic and business representatives.
From their vantage point 25 stories above downtown, the crowd gathered at Salesforce.com's corporate offices watched as construction workers used cranes to lay girders for what will be the city's tallest building -- a 61-floor high skyscraper bearing Salesforce's name. The company, already San Francisco's biggest tech employer with 14,200 workers, will lease more than half of the 1.4 million square foot tower, creating even more private sector employment once the project is completed in 2017.
