You know what would help? Having developers build more high density housing. There's gotta be plenty of land space left somewhere in Mtn. View.
Come on City Council. Do your part to approve more development of high priced apartments and retail stores.
Don't worry about the infrastructure. Let a new group of council members worry about that.

The MVCC got an F grade on this subject by rejecting the idea of the Pod Cars recently. We have innovative engineers with out of the box ideas but politicians won't let put their ideas into fruition.

Let's give the innovators a chance to be innovative.

It would be interesting to poll employees in the North Bayshore area, including Google, to see how many would want to live in MV if there *were* more high density housing. I imagine that a lot of employees would still want to live in other cities, like San Francisco, and not necessarily live in the same city in which they work.

There are some Google families living in the Wagon Wheel neighborhood where I am, but there are also many other employers and occupations represented here.

Here is a comment I posted on a similar topic in the Palo Alto Weekly. This is not a city by city problem, because people work in one city and live in another even if they have less than a 3 mile commute.

The real problem is that this is not a Palo Alto issue, but a regional problem. Mountain View and Menlo Park have traffic problems too. Piecemeal band aids will not fix the problem.

To do this well we have to look at it working with our neighbors to the north and to the south. Palo Alto residents work in Menlo Park and Mountain View just as much as they work in Palo Alto. Palo Alto workers live in Menlo Park and Mountain View, etc. Putting in shuttles that stop at the borders of Mountain View and Menlo Park will only frustrate those that live just a bit further away.

How about a shuttle that runs the length of Middlefield from Mary to downtown Redwood City? How about another that runs along the length of Central Expressway, along Alma and up Sand Hill (oops that means fixing the intersection with ECR - a bonus)? How about a shuttle that runs from the Page Mill/280 intersection to PA Airport? How about a luxury shuttle bus from Castro Street to both SFO and SJC - people drive to these places every day just to drop/off and pick someone up, a trip to Castro Street would be much more efficient and keep traffic off 101!


Rather than each City having its own Traffic Team - there should be one team for all this area. Unless these Cities work together, I strongly doubt anything worthwhile will occur. Commuters travel from one City to another - wake up and get the Cities to innovate some out of the box solutions

Pod cars again, and elevated ones, I can't beleave it. There are homes along Shoreline and also half a block away there are neighborhoods. First it was only concert traffic that made us feel like we are prisoners in our homes. Now it's an every day thing all morning long and afternoon. Also kids are trying to get to school with their bicycles in the bike lanes on Middlefield the same time when cars are using the very bikelane as a right turning lane. Nobody thinks about the young school children. It is time that the city ask the residents of the neighborhoods around Shoreline, Middlefield about all this planning. I would say it's about time for a new access to the north of Bayshore via the Moffet 101 off ramp.

Did the City reveal that San Antonio Phase II will put the San Antonio/El Camino to a permanent F level of service?

Resident of Stierlin Estates

It is actually the legal thing to do to use a bike lane (when the line is broken) to turn right. In this situation the bikes approaching cars in this lane should wait behind the vehicles waiting ahead. It would be dangerous for them to do anything else.

In other words, rubber stamp every development and do nothing.

PA Resident,

May be you should look at this situation, cars get into the bike lane way before the dashed line . They are backed up for a block, so it is safer for kids to use the sidewalk but oh they (small children) do have to cross Shoreline in the crosswalk and those car will turn in front of them. I bet that most of those drivers don't live in Mtn View and came off 85 and use Moffet/Middlefield to get around the long backup from the 101 Shoreline off ramp. That has been the case during concerts for years now and we do hear lots of horn blowing during those backups. Everyone is only thinking about themselves.

Resident - haven't been there so I don't know first hand but I have had my hood wrapped on while waiting legally in the broken lane while waiting to turn right.

Anyway, the problem of traffic is something that we do need to be concerned about I agree. Read my earlier post as I think that all neighboring cities should be working together to get shuttles and traffic solutions that work cooperatively rather than piecemeal. Google workers live in more cities than Mountain View and for Palo Alto residents (or Sunnyvale, or Menlo Park) who want to use public transit for work at Google they are all in the same situation.

All North Shoreline commuters do not work for Google.
When I have to visit clients in Redwood Shores, I take North Shoreline to 101 and wait in traffic.

Yes, we need a regional solution.

Stop building crap apartments in Mountain View. I can't believe the City Council is even complaining about this when they rubber stamp all of this crap.

One more example of VTA light rail failure. What an ideal opportunity! It terminates right at the MV Caltrain station. But alas, doesn't go where people need it to.
And Rod 'father of modern transportation' Diridon still thinks himself capable of directing us toward the righteous path.

City council, on behalf of many people that have lived in Mountain View for a very long time... you suck at building a bright, functional future for our city.

@ So and letsgetreal, ditto what you said. Additionally, our city council is a failure with no foresight. They keep allowing more and more people, buildings and businesses. What did they think would happen? It doesn't take a brain surgeon to know you can't put 10 lbs of "stuff" in a 5 lb. bag. We, the residents of MV, can't handle anymore of this over-crowding. Stop it now!!!

Years ago, Mountain View spent 20 million dollars to bring Light Rail to the train station. There already is Light Rail on the Moffett property at Ellis and 101. Why not build a new track through Moffett to the Shoreline area. The only bridge needed would be over Stevens Creek. Then, Shoreline workers could take a direct route to the CalTrain Station without adding to the traffic congestion. Plus, this Light Rail spur could be used by NASA and the new Google Moffett campus.

The Council cannot solve the long term overpopulation problem by more short term and crazy fixes. There is no hope to fix the problem and almost no one will ever address the overpopulation problem.

I completely agree with PA Resident. The solution must be regional. I don't think Mtn View should feel it needs high density housing for every job it has. Los Altos does not have a job for every sprawling house it has. Should Los Altos be forced to put in office buildings since it has so few? Again, the problem is regional? Very few people stay in the same job for their entire career any more, so unless we all live in rental units and never buy a house, the idea of everyone living near where they work is unrealistic. People will buy a home they will live in for 20-30 years unless they move out of the entire Bay Area, but they may commute to many different jobs during that timeframe. Regional interlocking solutions are critical, and each city should not be expected to solve the problem in its own little vacuum.

Google, thanks for comming to the party, we have enjoyed having you. Now it is time to leave, take your growth to San Francisco, where your works want to live, or some other urban area like San Jose. You have been great, but having you here causes ABAG to require our Mountain View being blocked by tall urban buildings mostly corporate owned housing consessions. Our Streets are grid locked, and we are too old to ride a bike.
We never built the trams for old folks because we thought we were as dense as we would ever get. So please, go now..... before the life style you came for is completely gone.

@ Tom,

Eureka!You've got it!

I have been a proponent of extending Light Rail to North Shoreline (Google, et. al.) Your idea of building a short extension from Moffett property at Ellis and 101 is brilliant!

However, the VTA is focused on BRT and the City Council is focused on bicycles (or doing nothing.

Tom, please write a letter to the editor with your suggestion.

Thanks!

If you think it is bad now, just wait till next year!

If Ken Rosenberg, Mike Kasperzak's hand picked candidate is elected to the city Council, there will be a coalition of four City Council members dedicated to more and more growth, perhaps even increasing the number of Mountain View rental properties by as much as 50%. Yes, I said 10,000 additional units, which is 50% of exiting rental units.

Mike Kasperzak, John Inks, Chris Clark (Mike's Clone #1), and Ken Rosenberg (Mike's Clone #2) will do as they and the out of town developers wish. Mountain View will become Developerville!

Is this caused by decisions of the city council, or their approval, being only part time workers and representatives without the time to understand the details of things, and depending on the decisions and arguments and presentations made by the city manager and the city staff including the planning department. Perhaps the city manager should be made an elected position by the city, and many also the head of the planning department also should be elected.

The council has no imagination or problem solving skills. I see more and more traffic lights and so called improvements by adding left turn lights to intersections while completely ignoring synchronization of said lights etc. WTF...if you want to add lights at least put some intelligence in the system. This is low hanging fruit. Look at shoreline. How many red lights do you hit? I asked the MV traffic engineer if he actually drove in mountain view during rush hour and all I got was a sarcastic response. These people are completely out of touch. They are so into new development and at the same time ignoring the infrastructure that needs to be in place. I saw this happen in San Diego in the 70-80's and now it is just an extension of LA. Stop new development until you provide the infrastructure to support it. Vote them all out!

@Gary - "Stop new development until you provide the infrastructure to support it. Vote them all out!"

You are absolutely right. However, here's what is happening in the next election: No incumbents will be running. Three present council members will be termed out, including Jac Siegel, who has been a voice of sanity. John McAlister has also been a voice of sanity, and will continue to serve on the council. There will be three open seats to vote on. If the right candidates materialize, we may be able to elect a decent council majority, that is oriented towards preserving quality of life, and is not a rubber stamp for developers.

We need to be very, very careful who we vote for. This is our future.

@Konrad - As far as I can tell, Ken Rosenberg is not a candidate who will bring the change we need, and is not a candidate I can support.

First Stop building high density office and housing. Second work with NASA Ames to allow buses to use Moffett Blvd and then onto the west edge of Ames property and cross over a NEW BUS ONLY BRIDGE over Stevens Creek to reach the North Bay Shore area which is mostly Google. Build the bridge not to far north of Higway 101 to avoid NASA and wildlife impact.

Is it all about Google n the Tech industry? I urge council members to attempt driving down Grant Road, either direction, 8-10 Am or 3:30-6pm on weekdays. With added radical offices, two day care facilities, two high schools, Huff school and a hospital/medical campus enroute, there are No OPTIONS except to sit waiting manyinutes in traffic.
Let us also note that a new housing development sits on land once the pumpkin patch which has added to the problem.
Ambulances n Fire engines respond to calls then are taking patients to the hospital.
It is obvious that solutions or forecasting remedies has never happened or we would not be in this terrible situation. If nothing else, where Grant Road meets Los Altos, as four lames are reduced to two, Los Altos needs to open up surface streets off of Grant that we're formerly open and provided better departure away from Grant.
Certainly, businesses, schools, shopping centers and the hospital need to meet and help w solutions such as alternate work schedules, earlier school hours, more traffic entering behind Grant Plaza etc. Mtn view is famous for harboring brainiacs so get going, use your brains to get this solved.
One thought, make rear entrances to stores n businesses off of Phyllus Ave?

How about opening a one way road access to Hospital Drive off of Cuesta Drive?

Has anyone else been concerned over all these white buses roaming the city? The rush hour drives must be getting to them an I see them taking side streets and making dangerous maneuvers to transport people. Are the drivers regulated?