So if it's a "disappointment" and "going backwards", then why approve it? This council is ridiculous!

What is happening to Mountain View! It should be renamed Mountain Views Blocked. It's so sad to see the greed ooze. Developers, please go to Atherton!!

It was unanimous? So what message does that send to the developers? That they can pay their way out of providing affordable housing? I think secretly the Council likes these expensive developments--they pour tons of tax dollars into the city. The problem is that the pay out method pushes the problem on someone else. Money is not the only thing that can create affordable housing--there has to be enough money to create it and space to make it, neither of which we have much of. I'm not saying the developers should be required to provide a substantial amount of below market rent housing, but there should be some magic number (even 15% sounds low, but it might be the best we can get) that the developers must provide, with no pay outs to avoid it.

By looking online, it appears that many of the newer "luxury" apartment developments - Montrose, Madera, Naya in Sunnyvale, etc. have plenty of available units. Some are even offering move-in incentives. By the time all the newly approved apartment buildings are completed, "below market" rents may be a moot point.

According to Bay Ares Census the median income in Mountain View was $88,244 in 2010.

Web Link

@let's get real... Developers don't 'develop' in Atheron, they live there. They certainly would not live in high density Mountain View. Another example, the huge hole in the ground surrounding 100+ year old St Joseph's church (downtown). Sobrato cut a deal with the Diocese,the parish gets very little of out the 'deal'. Billionaires cutting deals, that is what it is all about. Mountain View's suburban character has been completely destroyed, and there is no turning back. I wish we bought in Los Altos or Los Gatos years ago when we could have afforded it.

A downturn is inevitable, and when it happens it is not going to be pretty.

I can't imagine the level of zen I'd have to achieve in life to care about "mountain views" being blocked from my house, especially during a housing crunch where these high-density housing developments are sorely needed.