Seriously, I think this is all going to be a tempest in a teapot. What will likely happen is that new residents will think the patio is neat, then then over a short time it will never be used again, or at least only rarely. These sorts of things are never all that popular in practical use.

Business as usual in Mtn View. Take a project popular with city staff, but contrversial enough for the city council to want final say.
Make whatever promises needed to get the OK, then change it back when the spotlight is off. "sorry about that..."
The issue is not just the plusses and minuses of this particular roof deck. It's more about the city staff machine. Underhanded, unchecked and making irreversible decisions that degrade our quality of life.

Looking at the Evelyn precise plan, it appears that 150 square feet of useable outdoor space is required for each unit. That's over 30,000 square feet. Where is that on the property?

PARTY? WHAT PARTY? I can't hear it over the noise from the trains and Air National Guard C130/Helicopters.

This is an embarrassing misstep on the part of the City and Prometheus, regarding the plan check procedures in place. The City has opened their plan approval processes to scrutiny with this issue, as it is unacceptable that something as large and high profile as a roof top patio could have passed through without proper review and discussion by all stakeholders.

At best it was an innocent mistake which suggests incompetency on the part of the City. At worst it was an intentional effort to skirt open review, which suggests duplicity by the developer.

Based on my personal experience, I doubt this patio will be a problem for anyone.

Some years back I lived for half a decade in a high-rise apartment building that had a rooftop patio. It was a nice, large patio, wooden deck and all, covering the entire roof except for an exercise room and the building HVAC machinery.

Residents tended to use the patio (when they used it at all) almost exclusively for sunbathing. If anyone wanted to throw a party, they did it at the ground-level swimming pool area.

I expect a similar thing will happen here after the novelty of the patio wears off.

Rooftops decks are a nice feature to urban living, but done right should not be a problem. I hope the building of the 4 story apt building will take out the Big Screen TV and the speakers this just seems something that will be open to theft and damage, put in a sound fence to prevent unwanted nosie and prying eyes. We had one in the building I managed, had very little problems expect for a odd loud voice, people running up and down the stairs (kids), open flame, people going onto the roof and a nude sunbather or two Make it where the rules and guidelines to roofdecks are covered and addressed before it gets to this point. We had very strict rules on the use of the roofdeck with our tennants. Funnything was more complaints about parties in the units and on the patio.

I get it,
Gilli is really the Mayor and Moss is the constituency.
Finally some clarity , scales have fallen from my eyes,
Everything makes sense now.

@Steve and your questions about open space on the property -
If you've passed by the site you can see that each unit has an individual balcony or porch which makes up part of the required space. The development also has two courtyards, one inside each building... one has a pool, the other probably a BBQ area and other stuff. You can see these on the drawing on 455westevelyn.com under Development Details. I'm sure between the private and common outdoor space the development meets the requirement.

My inside sources tell me that Prometheus will remove the TV, sound system, and private massage tables from the deck. Also, Tsuda may be fired, but Gilli is protected by the union. Unfortunately this may not appease the whiners who will always object to something.

Also I hear from people in the neighborhood that several OMVNA leaders are being offered free membership by Prometheus to the "Roof Club".

Prometheus has an interesting delema. The firm followed the rules but in what is now well documented, avoided formal review. The safety of all users of the terrace may shift from City code to Prometheus. The first drunken 20-something who takes a swan dive from the sky deck may have a substantial claim against Prometheus. Given the publicity Prometheus' insurance carrier may leave Prometeus exposed on matters related to the deck.

Poor babies......... the Old Mountain View neighborhood people now know what it feels like to get screwed over on zoning issues, or to not get their way.

How does it feel? Feels like people don't listen to you? Like someone doesn't care how you feel?

Then you Old MV people know how the rest of us feel when you ramrod through what *you* always want to do and the rest of us MVers have to deal with it.

You'll live.

This overly dense eyesore should have never been approved, we don't want to turn Mountain View into canyon city. We need to elect city counsel members that are apposed to this kind of density. Remember this idea during the elections.

At least there will be no more drive throughs on El Camino & we won't be allowed to use plastic bags anymore. So everyone quit your whinning, can't you see the city is busy with important stuff?

Will smoking be allowed up on that deck? I'm worried about second hand smoke.

Pertaining to the immigration article, notice how they limit the comments, just only 2 ???, I think that the editing goes against Freedom of Speech!!!