IPOs are creating a burgeoning wealth crisis in San Francisco amid flush of tech cash

AT 12.30 Pacific time on a recent Friday afternoon, a small crowd gathered at the foot of San Francisco's tallest, shiniest office tower. Onlookers stared at a temporary stage decked out with a banner that read "Celebrating 20 Years of Salesforce!" Onstage, flanked by backup dancers, stood a man dressed in a full black suit singing a familiar tune: "They can't, they won't, they never will . . . stop the party." "Is this Pitbull?" I asked a man in a corporate-branded Patagonia vest.

He just nodded as he stared ahead. "Y'all having a good time out there?" Pitbull asked to silence.

A good time shouldn't be hard to come by in San Francisco, but don't blame us for being antsy. As if US$24 lunch salads, multiplying tent cities and two-hour commutes across the Bay Bridge weren't worrisome enough, the city at the heart of the global tech revolution is now at the breaking point - and bracing for another wave of wealth to hit. With Bay Area-based tech companies scheduled to hold initial public offerings (IPOs) this year, the city of instant millionaires is about to have thousands of even newer millionaires. And many residents of this city - secretly and not-so-secretly - fear that 2019 is the year San Francisco becomes a truly impossible place to live.