Yo Rudy!

Trying to butter up Google so they fund your next half-million dollar boondoggle?
Web Link

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Ayindé Rudolph highlighted the "great partnership" his district has with Google, which rents out the Slater Elementary School campus for the company's employee daycare center. Rudolph pointed to nearly $1 million in donations from the company over the last 16 months toward the district's strategic plan and efforts to bridge the achievement gap.

Pretty sure the new MSFT campus on La Avenida will be the first thing people see off 101/85. It's supposed to be gorgeous.

Can anyone tell me what happened to any of the "long list of $200 million in public benefits that could be hard to turn down, including a new public safety building, two new parks and a new educational science center in North Bayshore, a major expansion of the city's shuttle system and $1.5 million in scholarships for high schoolers. Web Link with Google buying the land that LinkedIn had planned on using (and the city previously awarded), did Google basically get what they wanted all the while the city got what? Web Link

I guess everyone has forgotten all the AWFUL TRAFFIC!!! Only for Google to bring MORE..!!!!!!!!!!!!

Every time I read about this, I have trouble understanding the point. The weather is so mild here in the Bay Area (recent rains aside) that architecture usually emphasizes open-air designs. Why would you build a giant, expensive dome to enclose one of the most pleasant outdoor environments anywhere in the US? Is it just some kind of domed city fantasy? It strikes me as a more than a little childish.

@PaulC: Paul,read TheCircle (Eggers novel)& you'll understand

For Google to make Mountain View their home speaks volumes. Thanks to all the folks, (Eric, Larry, Sergey et al.) that brought this project to fruition. It may not be an Eichler with a wood burning fireplace for some, but it's incredible that Google HQ will be built in Mountain View. No more methane gas flair ups, no wood burning fireplaces in the design. Hopefully, we can all take a deep breath and relish the moment.

Living less than two miles from this new building, just how will the traffic issues be when this structure is up and running. The traffic now is a big mess in the morning, now past 10 am. On Thursday's the traffic into the North Bayshore area is even worse, backing up beyond Middlefield Rd. on Shoreline Blvd towards the Safeway Store. Now that is what I call a backup.

If the drawing of the roof is accurate, I wonder why it was architecturally approved. It's ugly---more like an overgrown cowpie than anything else.

Construction trucks will be coming and going...not gonna be pretty, but I support it. It's a great creative design but it will mandate a better system to get people into the area other than them staying in their cars up to the destination. I come in by bike so it's always been a breeze, but it will be interesting to see how the plans develop for alt modes in

Living in a neighborhood that is impacted by all the extra google traffic, I hope they have to do an environmental report. Also we might be out of the drought this year, but the population has doubled in California and no new water storage is planned.
The traffic is unreal right now, it last all morning long. The only good thing is that most none Google employees have to be at work a lot earlier and try to avoid the morning jam. But all the pollution stays around day and night.
Google still wants to build their company town apartments. A recent survey showed that 60% of millenias are buying homes in the suburbs. They are realizing that homeownership has a big advantage, you know what your monthly home payment is.

Greg Coladonato alluded to this during a candidates' forum at MV library. IIRC, he felt the city made a bad decision awarding the development rights to LinkIn and passing up these public benefits from Google. I agree. Google got over on us/them anyway, and ended up with the big prize, without ponying up for public benefits. Greg was worthy of consideration as a council member, imo, on the basis of that one comment!

"Can anyone tell me what happened to any of the "long list of $200 million in public benefits that could be hard to turn down, including a new public safety building, two new parks and a new educational science center in North Bayshore, a major expansion of the city's shuttle system and $1.5 million in scholarships for high schoolers. Web Link with Google buying the land that LinkedIn had planned on using (and the city previously awarded), did Google basically get what they wanted all the while the city got what?"

I vaguely remember that the East Charleston land is owned by the city and was leased (50 years?) to Google- including 'right to develop'. That right to develop was already pre-approved (before any swapping of other commercial properties). So I think that any development rights for East Charleston, that Google already had, were not derived from those recent property swaps mentioned above.

Please do not build that 10,000 apartments. Just imagine close to 20,000 voting block in favor of Google. Mountain View will become Googleville officially. Don't take me wrong I like Google as a neighbor. But we need good fences too.

What about the schools? Where will the residents of this new building send thier kids to school? The google school on Whisman is beautiful but It is only for google kids and very few of them can actually go there because it is so expensive. We are considering leaving mountainview because the schools are not as good as other cities and are so overcrowded. Google simply pays to use public school land and donates money but in my opinion they have do so much more to really collaborate with the school community. The superintendent sold out in my opinion.