Mon, Oct 15, 2001 page24

• Silicon Valley is learning the true meaning of crisis

  • NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
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  In early September, many things were about as normal as they could be in Silicon Valley.

  People communicated with their neighbors via e-mail. Public relations firms sent out the usual news releases saying that it was a "crisis" that not everyone had affordable wireless Internet access. Teachers, firefighters and police officers commuted 1.5 hours or more each day to towns like Palo Alto, where they could not afford housing, to teach the residents' children, put out fires and ticket improperly parked Saab Turbos.

  Then came Sept. 11. In its aftermath, this valley, where multitasking and goal orientation might be courses in nursery school, flew its sense of urgency at half-staff.

  Deal-making seemed less important. Day trading became something that could wait a day or two. E-mail took a back seat to hugs. Company hype dulled to the point that public relations rep-resentatives had open discourse about responsible representation.

  Now some people are viewing this as an opportunity to put longer-lasting change into effect, a challenging charge for a wealth-focused region.

  One issue that is clearly getting a new look is the way companies promote themselves. More than once since the terrorist attacks, a company spokesman has pitched a story with the preface, "Please let me know if this is a bad time." Classy.

  But not everyone has locked the hyperbole in the china cabinet. True story: On the day of the attacks, a public relations representative for an investment firm sent a note to a journalist that began: "Unfortunately, today's crisis in DC and New York is not the only crisis to hit American families. There is also a HUGE debt crisis in America." The message was leaked to other journalists by a less-than-impressed fellow public relations person who labeled his forwarded e-mail "Idiot."

  Maybe it's time to make it official: The word "crisis" should be retired from corporate press releases.

  While we're at it, perhaps we could take the time to change the way we use another word: "revolutionary." Look, a gadget isn't revolutionary if it locates the position of your car on Earth. It would be revolutionary if it located Osama bin Laden, then compiled a legal case against him.

  Housing is also receiving renewed interest in Silicon Valley. Some groups have been pushing the valley's affluent towns to change zoning rules, to pave the way for construction of more affordable housing for people who work in the area but can't afford to live there, said Christine Burroughs, executive director of InnVision, a nonprofit agency that operates homeless shelters in the valley.

  "This could raise awareness," Burroughs said, adding that it was important for the keepers of a community's infrastructure to live nearby, "especially when an emergency happens."

  It makes sense. If someone decides to dump anthrax into the supply of designer bottled water in the middle of the night, residents might be glad that the fire chief lives next door, not in a more affordable bedroom community -- somewhere outside Las Vegas.

  On a related note, Burroughs' organization will be sending out a plea in the next few weeks for help in caring for a growing homeless population in the area. These newly displaced people are casualties of a once-topless economy that was battered first by a dotcom bust and then by the effects of the terror strikes.

  Burroughs said that corporations and wealthy individuals, who in her experience often have a "narrow minded" world view focused on wealth creation, should be helping people who might not have been victimized on Sept. 11 but are hurting nonetheless.

  "There's been a great outpouring to support the disaster in New York from local corporations," Burroughs said. "I hope they will continue to support needs in their own community."

  All that said, the denizens of Silicon Valley point out that this region has many attributes that could help make it part of our national ground zero of the healing process.

  For instance, if you see a guy wearing a turban being accosted in Palo Alto, he's probably not the target of bigots or ruffians, but of job seekers. He may well be a vice president at a Fortune 500 company. This is a region, its promoters say, that takes rightful pride in its colorblindness -- hiring and promoting the best people, regardless of ethnic background.

  The promoters add that the global reach of technology, not to mention the business of technology, has brought the world together and forged a kind of worldwide economic diplomacy. It can set the stage for creating common interests among nations, making it tough for fanatics to attract potential followers.

  In the shorter term, perhaps Silicon Valley could put its incomparable collective intellect, innovation and goal orientation into pursuing a different end: holding onto a newfound perspective.
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