Tech entry amplifies rich-poor gap in troubled area

San Francisco

LAST spring, Carlo Gascon's organisation took a chance on this city's extraordinary technology boom, paying US$1.4 million to turn a rundown single-family structure in the troubled Mid-Market area into its headquarters.

His neighbours are still an issue. "Tech people - they see a bunch of kids hanging out in front of the recreation centre, they call the police," said Mr Gascon, a 29-year-old lifelong neighbourhood resident. "They don't know; you live with 10 or 12 people in one apartment, you want to be outdoors until you sleep."

Mr Gascon belongs to United Playaz, an organisation in which former gang members try to…