Twitter employees who like to plan for the future might want to start researching the price of mace, tasers, and/or stab vests.  Rumors indicate that the mayor of San Francisco intends to offer Twitter a deal on office space, only the space is located in a less-than-pleasant part of town.

Matt Baume explained yesterday, "Ed Lee is expected to announce tax credits targeted specifically at companies like Twitter . . . .  Twitter has expressed interest in moving out of the city, since it’s prohibitively expensive to do business in San Francisco."

Then Baume continued, "[T]he tax incentives are centered in the Mid-Market area, a windswept no-mans-land with little on the street but pawn shops and people desperately in need of social services. . . .  It’s only a few blocks away from where a strongarm robbery was videotaped this weekend."

That makes the deal sound pretty questionable.  Since Twitter raised another $200 million in December, it shouldn’t be in such desperate need of money as to make employees’ lunch breaks into "mugging hour."

On the other hand, employees might appreciate not being asked to move their families or increase their commutes, and Twitter’s presence in the neighborhood could help revitalize it.

We’ll be sure to see what happens.  Twitter’s other option supposedly involves moving to Brisbane, by the way.