If this were just one isolated event, I would not be as concerned. However, I see this as part of a disturbing trend that has "developed" (pun intended) where successful local businesses are literally having the ground sold out from under them to be used for apartments of office space.
One by one, we are losing the small businesses that help to give Mountain View and character that most of us as residents have appreciated and enjoyed for years.
Now we all know that we need more housing here in Mountain View to meet the high demand, but I think that there are opportunities with properties that are already vacant or with businesses that have failed or are failing.
Yesterday, I attended the rally in front of Rose Market and there were probably about 50 to 60 people or more there. One thing that everyone had in common is that we all want to save Rose Market. Rose Market, which has been part of our community since 1982, provides unique ethnic foods that are difficult if not impossible to find elsewhere. It is a great example of the diversity that makes Mountain View such as great city to live in, but unfortunately, we are losing that diversity to make way for the new homogeneous one-development-fits-all solutions we are seeing.
We need to save Rose Market so that we can finally see an end, or at least a slowdown in the mad rush to redevelop Mountain View into oblivion. We made a choice to live here instead of San Francisco because we don't want to live in homes and apartments that jam everyone together like sardines, or have to pay just to park in front of our own homes, or be restricted to shopping at only big box stores because all the small businesses have been run out of town.
We need to save Rose Market so that in the future, it will be our community that determines what we need and not outsiders. We need to save Rose Market so that in the future our voices will be heard loud and clear and so that when we speak, those who seek to radically change our communities will listen.
If we fail to do this, then expect your store, your block, your home to be next.
Jim Neal
Old Mountain View
