At least when it finally comes time to Eat The Rich here in the Valley of Heart's Delight, we'll know where to look first.

The Voice should profile the lucky 7 who get below-market rates at this Taj Mahal. Must have been quite a lottery to get those.

Questions:

1. how do they determine the number of "below market rate" units? Of 209 units just 7 are lower rent?

2. these two statements below, by the same person, seem to contradict each other. is he saying that luxury apartments cost less to build than affordable housing, yet building affordable market-rate housing is no longer possible? I'm confused, could someone please explain this?

"Moss said people often ask why Prometheus can't just build apartments without the frills and charge lower rents, but he claims that the luxury amenities equal only "1 percent" of the project's cost. He said he suspected that even with all the amenities, each unit cost less to build than the affordable housing project the city subsidized down the street at Evelyn Avenue and Franklin Street."

and

"Moss says that building market-rate affordable housing in Mountain View would be impossible today. "I think those days have passed us," he said..."

3. aside from the ridiculous cost, it sounds like a great place to live! walking distance of downtown, bike storage, pets allowed, I don't think the rooftop area will be used for loud wild drunken parties, etc.

Not to mention the passing freight trains blowing horns at 3 AM!
Hope they have dual pane windows installed.

There's your answer to the rising cost......"A number of the units are reserved by Google for Google employees". Google wanted to lock in some units so Promethius gouged them (the cost of the apartments, no matter WHAT the cost IS, is considered into the Googler salary. Google can afford to kick in an extra $10 - $20K to a new-hires annual salary).

The increase to the Google units raised the bar for all the others. What do you want to bet nearly all, if not 100%, of this properties occupants are affiliated with some type of tech company or silicon valley start up?

If not, fine, show us the actual percentage of residents that relocated to THIS community from within the city just because the place is pretty and has lot of amenities? Please show me an example of someone that moved here from another Mtn. View property, where they lived within their means, with no dishwasher or in-unit laundry. I'll bet the answer is "NO ONE LIKE THAT HERE".

If that person exists, but while living in a 'lower end' community could afford to live in this new one, they were not stuffing the cash under their mattress just so they could RENT someplace else at 3 x's the cost. They are hoping to buy.

well, the surrounding hotels charge upwards of $150 per day. So two bedrooms at $5K is a bargain for Google. I can't wait to see what the impact is when the economy take a deep dive on the downside. Demand and supply is a two sided coin. Let us all remember this craziness and greediness.

Easy answers, incognito...
How could it cost less per unit than the 'city-subsidized-below-market-rate' project at Franklin/Evelyn? Look no farther than the 'city-subsidized' part.
And lately, the terms 'affordable' and 'market rate' have become opposites.

Really... Seriously! I earn more than 100k a year and can barely afford the 2500 rent im paying now. What are these Googlers earning?! Dang. They are driving up rent prices making it difficult on the rest of us here.. After taxes and family health insurance and rent i have to shop at goodwill for clothes and buy groceries on special for my family.

We should rename Mountain View to Googleville... seems like if you don't work for Google, you SOL

^^ you're*

@Steve,

I'm a little slow, so you are saying that the cost of building luxury apartments is still less than what Prometheus pays (after city funding) to build affordable housing? I'm still confused, it cost LESS to build high-end housing than it does to build lower-end housing that is partly paid for by the city??

@Member,

Yes, good point. And the part that really bugs me is that the money jingling in the pockets of the Google-ites jack up the cost of everything else, why have a little ole' mom and pop bagel store when you can have an upscale fitness club? I sure miss the good old Leave It To Beaver days of the middle class instead of this big chasm between the mega rich and the working class poor.

Mountain View is going to be in serious trouble when Google has had its day, and that day will come. Might take 20 years but it will happen.

Ha. Krys. That is soooo funny. I was just thinking they should name it Google View...would see appropriate as you view their site for searches etc.

kh -once "Google has its day" someone else will take its place - Mountain View was home to Netscape (which has had its day..) long before Google. Mountain View will be fine.

Mountain View should not put all its eggs in one "Google basket" There will be a day of reckoning. The "Google View" name is right on though.

I applied to be one if the 7. And barely any applied - under 100. Guess who picked the tenants? Prometheus. I never so much as received a phone call saying they received my app (which was turned into the City and handed over) or where I was in the pool. Would love to know which 7 were hand picked. With children or without?

Prometheus must be making out like bandits. The wouldn't have proposed the project back in 2010 unless it would be profitable. Now the rents have already more than doubled. Their carrying cost and mortgage are extremely low because we have such cheap interest rates. It does look like a very nice apartment building, but $4600 for a two bedroom? At these interest rates (4%) that's the mortgage payment for borrowing $950,000 ! Hmmm, condo prices may be headed up.

Interesting that the Google Maps street view of 455 West Evelyn Ave is of a chainlink fenced Minton's Lumber & Supply.

Give me break what has happened to Mountain View this city is has lost it. I grew up in this city and it's all Bout Google. Change the name to Google. This used to be a nice small town not any more it's all about how much can we build. City Hall does not care about old MV they have sold there sole to Google. So long MountainView welcome to Googleville.

Sad to say, I had a hard time getting past the editor's misspelling "effects" in the very first sentence. Why is E vs A so hard for people?

As for the rents and luxury extras: ridiculous; yet another sign of the increasing polarization between the .01% and the other 99.99% of us here in the Bay Area.

The author of this bit has not gotten into the sociology of these pricy ..... Slum! Most of the techies here are single, unrelated, and live two to a bedroom. Their jobs are performed at burnout rates of 25/8 if possible. But still when dividing this hideous rent by four, there is no money left for cars,but faith, none is needed when the job is within bike riding distance ... Hence the bikes. Are these people gongi to get married and have families .. Are you kidding? But one techie marriing another, both working can do one of the bedrooms just fine ... But heaven forbid .. Don't have kids! No one now has kids in San Francisco now ... It just does not work!

[A tour of the complex -- named "Madera," the Spanish word for wood...]

Indeed, MAD ERA!

The Americana Apartments which were built with the luxury end in mind, young educated people before they get married. Heck not everyone wants to get married, have kids or even live in a ranch home.

If the building is well maintained, upgrades are done over a period of time this property will still be nice. Park Place and City Center over on Castro Street are well kept up.

Madera Apartments is on land that is owned by the family that use to own Minton's which closed due to the Great Recession of 2008. The land owners wanted to retain the property so leasing the land made sense.

If your a loser by nature go to a low rent area and live there. Mtn. View is an exclusive town.

Wow, is this really the first new apartment complex in more than 10 years? Mountain View's population has been going up and there's been a lot of construction. There have been new townhouses (Mondrian, Classics at Station 361) but I guess I can't think of any completed apartments. (I think some are in progress but don't know all the specifics.)

That helps explain the crazy prices. As for what Moss said: "Moss said rents could go down if a developer were allowed to build taller apartment buildings, but as soon as the city approves higher density zoning, the value of the land also goes up, which could also drive up rents and cause a sort of 'catch-22.'" I don't think that's a real problem. As DavidR pointed out, Prometheus built this apartment complex expecting half the rent they're actually getting now. Clearly the rent is not based on cost. Prometheus is making enormous profit charging what the market will bear. Surely other companies would love a piece of that, and competition would bring prices down. They just need available land, appropriate zoning, and time to build.

Some one please define loser in the renter, homeowner worker game. Why would any want to start a small business here.

Retail, retail service or any kind of non tech professional business.

Mountain View is unquestionably the nastiest and most narcissistic little town I've ever lived in. I'm going to enjoy watching you drown in red ink from a trailer in the New Jersey Pine Barrens just an hour's drive from NYC.

Wow, if I am going to pay that much rent, I would also like a theme park, a nice and clean beach. anyways, all these excesses have an end game and I hope i am still living around this area to see how much these apartments go when the economy goes bust. Good Luck, yuppies. I am not jealous but i certainly don't like all these show-offs and blatant excesses in the society.

By slum, I mean a heck of a lot of people living close to each other sharing their housing lack of affordability. Without appropriate furnishings, things can be dumpy.

Come Ikea, their stores have model housing units which show that entire families can live in tiny spaces if they buy their furnishings for efficient tidiness. Yes, by sharing bath and kitchen with others, an entire family of four can live in a bedroom. This brings the rent per family down to, only $2500/month. Nobody can afford a car, hence the bicycle rooms full of bicycles and every needful destination is nearby or available by transit.

The neighborhood and layout and usage would not be much different than the Moscow apartment during the Soviet era but the difference in the rent is that it was $15/month/family with no fear that it will go up or down. Why such a difference? Land speculation was forbidden so the land belongs to the people of the U.S.S.R.

Karl Marx warned us about the excesses of real estate speculation and we did not listen. Land appreciation works only for the 1%; for the rest of us no gain is achieved in terms of spending power. So our investment in land that we are encouraged to do is just for the 1% not the 99%.

"Google View" is too similar to Google Street View, it's bad SEO. How about "Google Homeworld"?

If your're at all concerned about what a big build does to a neighborhood, come to the community meeting Wednesday night (Aug. 14) outside Rose Market on South Castro Street at 6:30 PM. We are gathering there to hear the latest on the huge build planned for the corner of Castro and El Camino Real, 4+ stories, etc.

The incoming tenants of these buildings and others will need a store to buy goods and services. El Camino Real has plenty of other property with buildings that might not be developed for variety of reason. Maybe the city should allow owners to do improvements, better signage, improving the look of the buildings.

I think the idea of living near local stores and markets is a plus for these the young people who are most likely going to move in. Will give a much needed boost to the customer base of Rose Market.

A four-story apartment project could soon replace the County Social Services building at 100 Moffett Boulevard, and close Stierlin Road's entrance onto Central Expressway. Replacing the county building and two auto shops on Stierlin Road, it will have four stories fronting Central Expressway and Moffett Boulevard, sloping to three- and then two-story elevations near its residential neighbors. Prometheus proposes one- and two-bedroom units with outdoor patios and stoops, similar to its Madera project on Evelyn Avenue. I'd guess they will charge similar rents if not more.

There is a huge hiring wave going on in Mountain View and no where for people to live who have been hired. The quality of apartments in CA are horrible compared to what you can get elsewhere in the country. For example, in WA, I had a beautiful skyscraper apartment w/hardwood floors top-quality appliances, etc for $1800 a month. I came here a year ago and found that no apartments, even the crazy expensive ones, were nice. For 3k, I could get an apartment w/cardboard walls, cheap carpet, and appliances. I looked at the new apartments by the train station, and while they were a little better, all of the materials were low quality. I would have had to pay 5k for an apartment that was crap compared to the places available in WA for 1.8K I settled for a less-expensive place, but I can understand why some people moving here couldn't get over the poor-quality shock, and decided to pay the hefty price for a so-so apartment. It was very difficult for me to get used to living in an expensive cardboard box.

Quick search on Zillow shows $4900 for 3 bed 3.5 bath 1600 sq.ft townhome for rent in 15 min walk from Madera. Why would anybody want to pay $5263 for 2 bed?

I agree with you Amelia about the low quality of building found around Mountain View, at the same time we do have some high quality. Guess it depends on who is building/developer/investor who over the years build rental housing. Over years the owners have the properties have changed hands in which they either purchased low quality or high quality materials for each unit.

Looked at Craigslist and found 2 apartments with 2 bedrooms for under 2000 dollars, in Mt. View.

@ Garrett:

>"I think the idea of living near local stores and markets is a plus for these the young people who are most likely going to move in. Will give a much needed boost to the customer base of Rose Market.<"

It's going to be pretty hard to give Rose Market a boost in it's customer base, when Rose Market is just one of the small local business that will be losing it's home if Greystar's current development proposal is approved.

BTW, I just received a letter from Greystar inviting me to a community meeting "to review and discuss our development proposal for Castro Street and El Camino Real". Good on them for reaching out to the community, however Greystar has quite a hill to climb if they are hoping to avoid a large scale community backlash over their current development proposal.

Palo Alto residents have successfully gathered enough signatures requiring the city to hold a referendum vote (two actually) related to a development proposal.

Link to an recent article discussing the proposed project and the referendum:

Web Link



Snipped from the article:

"One petition seeks to overturn approval of a zone change that would enable the housing development. The other would undo a change in the city's Comprehensive Plan that the council approved to accommodate the project."

"Prometheus built this apartment complex expecting half the rent they're actually getting now."

Not true. Prometheus provided low estimates to the city in order to justify their business model. They didn't want to build sufficient parking for their residents, because the "economics wouldn't work out." Now, the parking problem in downtown is headed to disaster sooner.

They knew very well that with the large expansion of google and nearby tech that the rents were going to spike.

Also, they were able to tower over the neighborhood by building up... Have you taken a careful look at their rooftop party area? By putting a wall there, it really is just another story onto their apartment complex. So ugly...

I have lived in Mountain View my whole adult life. I do not come downtown anymore.
Trying to mail an important letter inside the post office on a Sunday morning at 8:30 am
was impossible as I could not find a parking place. Ended up using the drop in which doesn't get picked up until 5 pm the following day. Why not just close Castro and make it for bicycles and walkers. Restaurants are full every week night which is good but can't find parking so go to some other town. Bye bye my friendly happy little town.

@ Pat.

Most likely the owners of cars left them overnight so they don't run the risk of getting picked up for DUI or worse causing an accident. We use to leave the car also and found safer ways home after drinking.

Prometheus builds, manages and maintains apartment building that is the business. Yes they make a profit, so does most banks when they give you a loan.

If you own your home, do you have plans to sell anytime soon? Would you want sell it above what you paid for or take a lost.

Supply and Demand kind of stinks.

@Garrett:
>" Prometheus builds, manages and maintains apartment building that is the business. Yes they make a profit, so does most banks when they give you a loan."<

We're not talking about a bank making a loan, we're talking about altering neighborhoods and indeed the entire city for the benefit of who...the developers, the city coffers, in order to satisfy ABAG & Plan Bay Areas version of Agenda21 which is being foisted upon the residents of numerous cities including Mountain View? The Developers should NOT be making their profits at the expense of the immediate neighborhood and the community at large.

Imho, it's ridiculous to continue to erect massive residential developments (some with a token amount of space allotted for "businesses") unless/until the infrastructure required to support the additional people & cars that will be added to a neighborhood/community once these developments have been completed is IN PLACE = up and running. And by infrastructure, I am talking about transit (besides current VTA bus routes) parking, schools, parks & public open spaces, supermarkets, water, police & fire services, etc. etc.

To request zoning changes in order to continue to build high density apartment blocks - in this case a proposed four story PLUS rooftop "party patio", 200 unit apartment structure, which will sit literally right next door to and on top of, single family single story homes (R1 zoned neighborhood) and will displace several thriving local businesses - is NOT a good thing for the RESIDENTS of this city...not as this proposal currently stands. No way.

Now, about that "much needed boost to the customer base of Rose Market". You do realize that Rose Market has been a thriving business in it's current location, for decades, and that Rose Market is just one of the businesses that will lose it's home if Greystar's proposed development is approved?

@Pat: you wrote "why not just close Castro and make it for bicycles and walkers". That's a fantastic idea! It would encourage people to bike instead of drive downtown, greatly easing the parking problem. Much of Castro already is closed for festivals and such occasionally. I think it could be done permanently.

I grew up in Iowa City, IA, where long ago they closed off a few blocks for a pedestrian mall in the heart of downtown. Web Link It was a fun part of downtown for a long time. It eventually became more centered on bars than on restaurants and shops, but the University of Iowa's binge drinking problem is a tale for another day.

@Notreally: Unfortunate if what you wrote is true. I expect the City Council to be more skeptical of developers' claims of unaffordability in the future. Still, I'm not too upset Madera has fewer parking spaces than is common. I think the downtown parking problem is more about people going to downtown than living there, as Pat and Garrett suggested above. And surely if we can make living with fewer cars per person work anywhere, we can make it work downtown by the train station. The photo of the huge, well-used bike room is an encouraging sign that they are serious about it. I'd also be interested to know how full their car parking is, of course.

Scott:

The City Council takes it's direction from City Staff that just wants to turn downtown Mtn View into an ultra high-density urban center. They hate the single family houses that have been there forever--it is against the state and regional plans to pack in as many people in together close to transit lines.

How many of these apartment residents are walking across the street to take the train to work? I'm sure the answer is very close to zero. Why would you pay astronomic rents to live across from a noisy station just to commute to another community? I'm sure that many residents of that complex are actually working in Mountain View and most of those people are driving.

Garrett:
I agree with you. It is Prometheus's job to stretch the limits of their profitability, even if it destroys the livability of Mountain View. That's capitalism. Our elected officials ought to be working to preserve the character of the city, but instead have been co-opted by local, regional and state government initiatives to solve our population growth problems.

Can you imagine city staffers working hard to provide data to the council that actually supports having a beautiful and peaceful place for the existing residents? How could they move up the ladder to other more powerful cities? Where are their 'Smart Growth' awards?

If this keeps up, I predict that Mtn View will be one of the worst places to live in this area in under a decade...

Agree with MVresident67, who will address the infrastructure needs of the city? People will have to start saving gal upon gallons of water when the next water shortage happens, just so you can flush your toilet. I remember back in the 80s it was the in thing to conserve water and now it's not even mentioned.

@scott, your link shows a busy streets with lots of people back in 1970s, their picture of what it looks like today, well that pic shows the mall as being empty. No wonder houses in Iowa go for as little as 50k. I can't blame you for leaving.

@Notreally: I could turn that around: why would you pay astronomical rents to live next to a noisy train station if you don't intend to use it? I'm sure between biking, public transit, and Zipcar, these residents are hoping to do without a car of their own. But really I think we're both guessing at motives we don't understand. Paying that much more than other apartments (or the mortgage on the house I bought just last year) seems alien to me. I was eyeing Madera as they built it, but that was before I knew the rent (or found a house). None of the perks seem worth it.

@Infrastructure: Yeah, between the drinking, the giant shopping mall of an adjacent town, and the 2008 flood Web Link , Iowa City's downtown is not doing too well. The ped mall's lively time now is between 9pm and 3am during the school year. I think the ped mall concept is a good one, but city and university officials made some other bad choices, and now the University of Iowa is #1 on the Princeton Review's party school rankings. Iowa isn't exactly a high tech mecca, either, so here I am.

Pat, you can easily avoid parking problems downtown by riding your bicycle. Follow your own advice!

Not all pedestrian malls were successful, in fact some places reopened their streets to vehicle traffic. Central Expressway on ramp planned closing has generated a stink which I just can't til we even talk about closing Castro St.

Makes sense to put apartments in downtown, along transit or even where stores and services can thrive. When a number of housing is built, retail units will be in demand.

Been watching Madera go up and wondered if it would be good for Mountain View. When I saw the prices, I nearly puked. Web you reach that price point for rentals, basically you turn the, into dorm rooms. Most of the tech-bros may be ok with that, but still it's not healthy. Also, for those people who say this is good for downtown, have you walked through downtown recently? How many places are closed, boarded up?

Pishaab

@ Mountain View Voice - Daniel DeBolt

I think that this article is irresponsible reporting. If one family gets booted from their rental because the owner read this and though he/she could get more money it's your fault!!! You really didn't think about the consequences this could have our the community, did you Daniel DeBolt?

Taller, overpriced apartments near public transportation, is the very model of United Nations Agenda 21. Instead of living in real houses, we should all now live in comfy "kennels".

Maurice Strong, a Canadian with only an 11th grade education wrote the agenda for 'sustainability': "Current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middle class - involving high meat intake, the use of fossil fuels, electrical appliances, home and work-place air-conditioning, and suburban housing - are not sustainable.", "Licenses to have babies incidentally is something that I got in trouble for some years ago for suggesting even in Canada that this might be necessary at some point, at least some restriction on the right to have a child.",

We all must now follow his rules. Do you remember voting for this?

@Disappointed in MV Voice:

In fact, Daniel and the rest of the newsroom staff thought long and hard about the potential consequences of our "No Place Like Home" series, and worked very carefully with our sources, who were courageous enough to let their stories be told despite the risks.
That said, I don't think that local landlords are suddenly in danger of realizing they can increase rents dramatically as a result of reading our stories. It's going on all over town.

My partner and I made the mistake of moving into Mountain View seven years ago. Our rent has increased 25% in the last four years. Needless to say, our salaries have not. Requested repairs have not been made. The rent increase has made it extremely difficult to move, as we cannot save the money necessary to get out. Mountain View wants us to go to "mediation" with the greedy bully that manages this place. I intend to sue him and call the local California Code Inspector to get this rathole of an apartment red-taped.

When justice is impossible, seek revenge. I hate Mountain View more than any place I have ever lived.

I wouldn't blame Daniel Debolt on this problem. This problem has been going on for awhile and even up in San Francisco. These young people coming in from college, taking jobs and wanted a really nice place to live. New places to live, trendy and close to everything.

I don't support getting rid of single family home or that lifestyle but folks we just can't build more of this housing in already crowded area. Tell you the truth it is not even that crowded.

Electric cars, charged by solar panels, trump the stack & pack mandate by UN Agenda 21 that is trying to dictate with "sticks & carrots" all growth to be vertical all over the world, despite the geographical differences that make CA very sunny and moderate in climate, for example. We must begin the two year process to remove our city from cooperating any further with this spoiler of our community\!!! We are way ahead of the building curve required now, so why must every new apt. building sit on a noisy transit line? Because that "means everyone there will ride public transit" instead of driving! That's what the mayor says, as per UN Agenda 21! He also says we currently have too much parking in downtown MV! Well, you can't get everywhere on public transit. or fast enough. Doctors will always need cars, etc., for emergency work. etc. And the rich-enough-for-a-fleet-of-cars residents who live in the costly, new stacks with their "finishes" popular only right this minute will have to use their HVAC on their apts. around the clock, all year long, with no fresh air ever because of the exhaust and the noise. And they will still drive their cars, which aren't electric like they are in my building, that was built more horizontally so tons of solar panels run the place & our cars, and keep the air clean. But now we have many stories going up next to us so we'll need HVAC too so we won't have to hear the HVAC of the neighbors or all their noise as there'll be hundreds of them piled high up to the sky. Come tonight (Aug. 20, at 7 PM at MV Library) to hear us all be subjected to the Delphi Technique in the presentation of the new plan for the corner of Castro and El Camino run by a professional facilitator, with the owner of the property dis-invited so as to not allow the public to let their feelings, instead of those implanted on the owner, be heard tonight!

There are really only two areas of Mountain View that are considered neighborhoods with middle to nice homes...east of Grant Road and between Phyllis and Springer...the rest of it goes to the high tech serfs who answer to their vassal, Google...they are the three 'O' s...overrated, overvalued and overpayed...and these people actually think they're worth more...Google has ruined what used to be Mountain View...

Google has not ruined it: ABAG has (Association of Bay Area Governments=appointed dictators of our new regional government)with their nonsense mandates demanding all the high density infill growth as a way to purify the air!! This clogs the roadways even for their big solution: The stinky buses, and also for bikes and electric cars. Google has some good ideas for growth near to their location that would unclog our streets and be very healthy and pleasant for their employees, but the city council turned it down. Next council should be convinced to let them do as they planned and our situation would improve. There are lots of good ideas there that are not being publicized.

@ Andrea

"Daniel and the rest of the newsroom staff thought long and hard about the potential consequences ... let their stories be told despite the risks."

What?!? This shows a lack of concern for the renters of Mountain View.

"That said, I don't think that local landlords are suddenly in danger of realizing they can increase rents dramatically as a result of reading our stories. It's going on all over town."

Huh?!? The fact that it is going on all over town, still doesn't make it okay for MV Voice to blab it to the whole wide world of landlords. Why do you think this is "going on all over town?" Where else do you think landlords hear this info? They listen to and read the news, which plants the idea of raising the rent.

"Google has ruined what used to be Mountain View..."

What used to be Mountain View? Let's go to Wikipedia to find out:
- it was incorporated in 1902
- agriculture remained primary industry until 1950s
- population grew 370% between 1950 and 1960 (do you think it went unnoticed by the 6,563 residents living here in 1950?)
- Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory established in 1956

And you claim _Google_ 'ruined' it? Many Mountain View residents (including myself) probably 'ruined' it for those who were here first...

Landlords don't need to rely on the MV Voice for data on rents.

This is supply and demand folks. Lots of people want to live in Mountain View and are competing for places to rent.

Which drives the prices up.

That's called FREEDOM. Enjoy.

San Jose has some new apt starting at $2000 for studios and up to $3300 for the 2 bd. They are not selling out Guess the Cisco boom is over.

Where do the people live who make $15 per hour?

Pretty soon you'll be unable to staff your grocery stores, your coffee shops, your restaurants, your gas stations, all of your service positions. Who wants to commute to a low-wage job? Low-wage jobs are everywhere. The people who do that work are going to opt for the shortest commute possible.

I can't wait to see Mountain View after the Great Crash. That'll be fun, watching your pricey real estate drop through the floor...

The great crash---people have been waiting for that for decades. Good luck with waiting, hope the bitterness doesn't eat you alive while you are waiting. It's always been expensive here.

I grew up in the Bay Area. High density housing is what is needed along with good transit. Given the population, where do people against growth expect people to live?

It's amazing that Germany has over 80 million people yet it's filled with hiking, parks and farmland. California has less then 40 million and we can't figure out where to put them all because we only want to drive cars to and from our ranch homes.

Anyone who thinks that "affordable housing" is possible in Mountain View is seriously naive and deluded. I always gag when people start spouting off about affordable housing. They don't understand basic market economics.

"...where do people against growth expect people to live" Answer, where they can afford it. Why are you in Mt. View and not living in Los Altos hills?

"...because we only want to drive cars to and from....." Not everyone wants to push on bike pedals. Since you grew up here, you should know this is a car centric society that will not change anytime soon. If it does, then that would mean trains underneath all our grounds, similar to NYC. Lets hope our lovely town does not succumb to that.

"Since you grew up here, you should know this is a car centric society that will not change anytime soon. If it does, then that would mean trains underneath all our grounds, similar to NYC. Lets hope our lovely town does not succumb to that."

Perhaps your beloved car-centric society should change. How is someone who is unable to drive a car (someone with impaired eyesight, for example) supposed to live a full life in a community like yours?

Transit is open to *everyone*, but automobile infrastructure is open only to drivers. And these drivers are experts at offloading the external costs of their vehicles (pollution, parking lot space, etc.) onto all of society -- including people who can never drive a car!

I hope I never get sent to Mountain View if it's a car-centric as it seems to be.

The reason that these apartments are so expensive is because Prometheus owns a lot of the big apartment complexes in the area (Madera, Park Place, Central Park etc.). MV city officials need to [portion removed] allow more housing units to address demand before people exit to other neighborhoods. (It's not like downtown MV is a mecca of restaurants.)

There are already 10+ large apartment complexes going up in the Sunnyvale/San Jose (albeit all with cheapo interiors comparable to Madera) that should help the situation for people looking for affordable places.

Big cities figured this all out a long time ago. For being at the heart of the tech industry, it's amazing how backwards some of the city planning is. I don't understand why there aren't more units going up based on where the market rates are at. If you've always lived in the bay, it's probably hard to understand how bad the situation is since you're used to paying through the nose on rent.

No...those units are Prometheus's "showcase apartments". It allows the developer to get free press and justify a massive build-up in the area.

Let's have an independent auditor come in and look at their books and I'll bet we'll see the actual #'s are lower. (Corporate leasing of blocks of apartments may include discounted access to these units.)

Sam Y.--how many units would need to built up in Mountain View to keep prices of 1 BR apartments under $1500? The numbers I've seen are in the hundred-thousand range. Is it really reasonable to destroy our town?

Want to live in a concrete jungle? Then MOVE THERE!

"Affordable Housing" is just a myth perpetuated by ultra-lib bleeding hearts and by economically ignorant and desperate people. Affordable housing has been dead for 40 years in MV. Even when I moved here 1975 with a PhD in Semiconductor Physics and a great salary as a semiconductor physicist, I couldn't afford Menlo Park, Palo Alto, and Los Altos. I had settle for the best neighborhood in MV, Waverly Park. So all of you who are beating the drum for "affordable housing" are actually beating a long-dead horse. The only way such housing could be built and rented is with massive MV rent subsidies --- impossibly due to the insane salaries and pensions MV pays to and promises its employees. Some day in the not-so-distant future, Mountain View will be where Stockton is --- in bankruptcy court.