This is how we treat our locally owned and run (and beloved) businesses? The Milk Pail *just* went through a hellish process of fighting for their existence and now we're going to put them in jeopardy again? I'm so disgusted by their treatment at the hands of our city council. There is no reason they should get dragged into this ugly fight. Find another place for that office building! Soon that's going to be all that's left.

I no longer go to MilkPail since the new development.

The nearby high-rise buildings disconnect MilkPail from the rest of the area, making it isolated on a corner. The situation now is neither convenient nor pleasant.

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Why bother having a general plan if you are going to undermine it with TDR's

It's just going to keep getting worse, isn't it? Where's the breaking point where we all just give up and stop caring?

If these developments are approved, Milk Pail should be allowed to operate without any parking space.

Another building by Grier after the ugly fiasco in the San Antonio Center?
Please do not consider this proposal for the corner of San Antonio and California. I beg the City Council ... please don’t do it.

This is so awesome! This is exactly what we NEED! ...more office space! This will help our shortage of jobs.

I can't vote in Mountain View because I live in a neighboring town. However, it is astounding to me that voters continue to put into the city council the same people that you all complain about when they make decisions you don't approve of. It doesn't take genius to face the fact that Google runs Mountain View and the council will do whatever Google wants.

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I know what you mean, @swissik. Unfortunately, politicians do occasionally deviate from their campaign promises once they're in office...

If the new school doesn't serve the neighborhood, why do we care if it is there? I'd rather avoid the TDRs than place a private or charter school on that location.
Please, stand by the general plan.

As I posted in response to another article on this subject, and another thread on this article:

My off the cuff reply would be that not enough public input was received early on in the process -- during the study session -- when the whole TDR scheme was first brought forth as a way to facilitate the deal. Secondarily, perhaps council believes they are serving the "greater good" with their decision on Tuesday however, something that is going to have this large an impact on all Mountain View residents - forever - should have received substantial public notification and ability to give input prior to committing to any deals.

Mountain View residents have every right to "have a seat at the table" in the decision making process which involves $23 million of taxpayer dollars, especially when it comes to the giveaway of the TDRs which includes removing ALL FUTURE REQUIREMENTS OF PUBLIC BENEFITS on any of those development sites. The TDRs alone are worth an estimated $80 million dollars. The combined loss of public benefits on those sites is estimated at well over $12 million dollars. Look at the gatekeeper requests for the TDR sites, several are seeking multiple variances, including allowing additional height (from the allowed six to eight stories in height for one development in the San Antonio Precise Plan area) reduced setbacks, bonus FAR, removing retail and HOUSING requirements. All with no additional requirements for ANY public benefit for the residents of Mountain view from ANY of these developments. NOTHING.

The impact of these developments will be felt by ALL Mountain View residents -- it's MORE commercial development, with NO public benefits required, traded for NO guarantee of a neighborhood school in the San Antonio Precise Plan Area.

Mountain View Residents should be paying attention because this is NOT a good deal, instead it adds even MORE to our already egregiously bad jobs/housing imbalance, and this scheme will continue to drive up the housing costs and add significantly to traffic impacts across the city. And still, no guarantee of a public neighborhood school for Mountain View children in that area.

This is a bad deal for ALL RESIDENTS OF MOUNTAIN VIEW

Great, that's all we need, more offices and traffic. The San Antonio center development is a bust, those apartments are all empty and its a matter of time till the overpriced restaurant tenants fold. Thanks for keeping mountain view boring -- there are already enough schools. Maybe instead, we can provide the children of Mt View with a city they will want to live in someday, and perhaps even one they can hope to afford to live in.

Giving the green light to almost 1 million square feet of office space and only 250 housing units is absurd. Where are all those office workers supposed to live? And putting an EIGHT story tower next to the Milk Pail would be the finishing touch to the architectural eyesore that San Antonio Center has become. And there will be a school between that and the railroad tracks?!

Well, what a surprise.
Not only is it happening in Mountain View, but most surrounding towns. When will City Council members be obligated, either by conscience, or by "duty" to actually represent those people who elected them.
Time and time again we witness City Council members bending over backwards to accommodate the large developers' projects. A recent Mountain View City Council vote puts a long-time established, Community valued, small business at risk....again..THE MILK PAIL MARKET.
Many people in our community rely on THE MILK PAIL. The City Council should be making decisions that assure the continuation of small businesses that actually contribute tangilbly to our community.
I understand the "lure" of huge tax revenues resulting from the Council's approval of these large commercial projects, but there really needs to be a "balance."
I implore the Mountain View City Council to take this into cosideration when casting one's vote.

Recall the MV Council Members who do not insist on a neighborhood school.
All the NEC neighborhood will get from this is some extra office space and even more traffic congestion. LASD needs our kids at Covington, to keep that school open and out of the hands of BCS. They are using us. Way to go MV council!

If LASD actually built this a neighborhood school for the NEC, then Covington would be down below 400 students because the Crossings and Old Mill townhouses would no longer go there. (About 130 NEC students drive all the way to Covington everyday, passing two other schools on the way there) Less students makes it really easy to move the remaining students to Almond, Loyola and Gardner Bullis, because the first two schools are actually super close to Covington.

But LASD is not going to close it's top school. Three of the current board members live in that neighborhood. They do not support a neighborhood school for the NEC, it is directly against their own self interest of keeping BCS off of the Covington Campus. There is no way they are making this a NEC neighborhood school. Dream on.

Oh and, the park will not be accessible during school hours just watch.

There are alternatives to a recall campaign-----
Insist on a neighborhood school -- under 500 students.
or.......
Use the park funds to build a park some where in the shopping centers that are getting redone -- Kohl's site, target. Figure out, do not make a huge mistake

There are so many things wrong with this whole debacle. One is that the
city council never discussed the possibility that these TDR's might be
used across the street from the sending site, or anywhere in the San Antonio area. They discussed extensively how there would be development OUTSIDE the San
Antonio area. Then there was no public notice of the availability of these
TDR's for developers. The preferred list was developed in a way that did not
give every developer an equal shot, to say the least. The whole thing was
rushed because the goal of everyone was not a school, it was to simply stop
the Greystar project. The amount of public funds expended to do this is immense. LASD will end up paying over $50 Million for the property even with the park
funds.

Of course the park should be closed to the public during school hours. For this particular charter school, their school day lasts for 8am until 4:30pm and LASD is well aware. There's no room for any ball field on the property anyway. Perhaps a neighborhood school would work one day. But there is no need now. LASD has basically lied about how many kids are involved. The city was a sucker not to check the current enrollment and their opinion of LASD.