Officials in San Francisco removed Elon Musk’s enormous, recently installed, brightly lit “X” sign because it violated city regulations regarding permission.
After Musk posted the offensive sign without first getting permission from the San Francisco Department of Buildings, which led to complaints from nearby residents, the social media giant, formerly known as Twitter, was under investigation.
Workmen removed the enormous X logo from the company’s headquarters in San Francisco, California, just over 48 hours after it was put up.
They were observed scaling the illuminated sign that was perched atop the structure before tearing it apart piece by piece.
Investigators arrived at the scene Friday shortly after the sign was erected to notify the company that it was in violation of the city’s building regulations and to request access to the roof to evaluate it, deeming it to be “possibly unsafe.”
In response to a neighborhood complaint, a Twitter representative allegedly stated to the inspector that the sign was a “temporary lighted sign for an event.”
A second attempt to enter was made by an inspector on Saturday, but “access was denied by the tenant upon arrival.”
The San Francisco Department of Construction Inspection’s spokesman, Patrick Hannan, issued the following statement: “A construction permit is required to ensure that the sign is structurally sound and securely attached.”
According to the statement, the installation of this sign also needs to be reviewed and approved by the planning department.
The city needs permission to accept additional letters or symbols on a sign, he continued, in order to maintain “consistency with the historic nature of the building, and to ensure new additions are safely attached to the sign.”
The terms of X’s lease for the Market Street building also forbid rooftop and exterior signage, with the exception of the “blade sign” that read “@twitter,” which Musk had taken down as part of his rebranding efforts.
According to the lease’s reporting in the San Francisco Chronicle, even changing the original sign would require permission from the landlord.
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