In an interview with the New York Times, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee all but french kisses the city's tech industry, the people in it, and all that it embodies. (Understandably so.) Which is good because technology is, inarguably, fantastic. And disconcerting because, you know, people are mad and stuff.

Let's dive in, yes?

Twitter gives out free promoted tweets to local nonprofits. Which is kind of them. Hardly Mother Teresa status, but sweet nonetheless. And the Lee Administration wants the city to give them, as well as other tech companies, credit for such benevolence. He says, "What I learned with tech companies is I gotta give people room to experiment, and also to make what might later on be a mistake. This is the attitude I want to build within San Francisco — give some time to the tech community. At the end of the day, tech workers are not robots: they feel, they think, they have values."

When it comes to questions that tech companies don't help local economies, Lee denies this myth, stating, "I feel the opposite. We have done two studies, and both verify every tech job that is created in San Francisco creates or sustains five other jobs. Yes, in the daytime, they get covered as much as they can, but at night these folks are going out, they’re shopping, they’re meeting people."

As to whether or not he uses Twitter, Lee admits, "Yeah, but I don’t have time to do everything." FWIW, Lee's follow list features a bevy of notables in local tech circles -- e.g., @ev, @alexia, @arrington, @sarahcuda, and @jack. He does NOT, we would like to egotistically point out, follow @sfist. (Rude.)

It's an interesting interview, one that's well worth your time.

(Aside: Ed, you should stop following @BrianWilson38. Bit of a knife to the heart at this point.)

[h/t: @upptiyfag]