The Standard’s Alex Mullaney answers a reader-submitted question about how much Salesforce is paying to close roads around the Moscone Center for its Dreamforce conference.
Closing a city street for construction or a block party can cost money, time, or both. And the closure of a major thoroughfare in San Francisco for a megaconference is no different.
Just as a developer sets aside a section of roadside for truck parking or a community group hosts a block party, Salesforce is partnering with City Hall to host its annual Dreamforce conference at the Moscone Center. That means working with city officials to apply for permits and organize resources — but on a much larger scale.
Salesforce partnered with the San Francisco Transportation Department, police and the city’s Moscone Center this week to host its star-studded three-day conference for 40,000 attendees. (According to Lori Lincoln of San Francisco Travel, Dreamforce is expected to generate $89.3 million for the city this year.)
The event ended late Thursday, but Howard Street between Third and Fourth streets is still closed and traffic is being rerouted through Sunday as workers dismantle all of the equipment used for the conference. So how much will it cost the city to maintain traffic around Moscone Center when Dreamforce is in full effect? Here’s the breakdown:
While city officials said the cost of this year’s conference won’t be known for several weeks, the numbers from the 2019 edition are revealing. According to the company, 171,000 people registered to attend over 2,700 lectures and workshops this year.
READ MORE: Dreamforce 2023: Is this the last time the tech conference will be held in San Francisco?
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency played the largest role, managing traffic control, road closures, detours, street light changes, and signage for the Moscone Center area.
“Dreamforce pays SFMTA cost recovery measures for application review, [parking control officers] Deployments, traffic management plan review and all necessary work by SFMTA workshops such as signal timing changes, re-striping, no parking signage, etc.,” said Transportation Authority spokesman Stephen Chun.
Traffic management planning for detours will be developed for Salesforce’s contractors, who will provide the signage and manage the installation, Chun added. Salesforce did not respond to a request for comment.
The Moscone Center was filled with thousands of people for Dreamforce in San Francisco on Tuesday. | Source: Justin Katigbak/The Standard
In 2019, labor costs for road closures totaled nearly $90,000, according to documents obtained by The Standard. Parking enforcement officers worked over 500 hours, traffic signal engineers and sign makers logged 100 hours, and painters worked over 50 hours.
But that’s not the total cost of traffic control. San Francisco Police Department officers will also be deployed to key intersections during the conference. They also take care of the security of the conference. According to a heavily redacted invoice obtained by The Standard, the 2019 bill totaled $400,000.
“For safety reasons, we do not disclose the number of officers we send to events,” SFPD Sgt. Kathryn Winters said.
Salesforce paid police $233,000 for security, $160,000 for traffic police to work on Howard Street and $7,000 for traffic control at an event.
Total cost of Dreamforce reimbursed by the city: $490,000.