Here's what I circulated after watching the School Board video:

On March 7, 2019 the Mountain View Whisman School District Board of Trustees discussed Google’s proposal to provide 2 1/2 acres of land for an elementary school at Shoreline Blvd. and Plymouth Street. The half-hour discussion is available at Web Link The Board’s consensus was to ask Google for 10 acres of land in a different part of the planned North Bayshore residential area. The Board’s action may become a significant obstacle to North Bayshore residential development, or it may simply represent wishful thinking.

Four years ago, Google executives told me that they didn’t see a need for a school in North Bayshore, but as the city developed the Residential Update to the North Bayshore Precise Plan, Google agreed to partner in creation of an elementary school. Late last year Google proposed that the school be located near San Antonio Road, but city officials and the School Board said that the site was too far from the planned residential neighborhoods. Google responded in February by offering the Plymouth site. The initial response from the school district was positive.

However, last Thursday Trustees raised a number of questions. They were worried that the school would be sandwiched between high-rise buildings that would block sunlight. They were concerned about how students would cross Shoreline Blvd. on the way to or from school. Some thought that the Shorebird neighborhood, with its natural habitat areas, would be a better place for a school.

It would have been much more helpful if the school district had discussed those concerns with Google, Sywest (the owner of the property just south of the proposed site), and the city before expressing that preference - moving the school across Shoreline - because the details were far from finalized. Current proposals for the adjacent property don’t envision an urban canyon for the site, and the city has been considering a bike/ped bridge across Shoreline, as a way of moving vehicular traffic more efficiently. It would be great for students to have access to some of the habitat zones, but I don’t know that the nesting egrets would welcome hundreds of schoolchildren.

Viewing the video, I felt that the Trustees wanted more land simply because they felt Google could afford to provide it. The Trustees didn’t seem sure whether they wanted one site or two, or if they wanted a Middle School in North Bayshore. The proposed 2 1/2-acre multi-story school site could easily house the 700 elementary school students projected to eventually live in North Bayshore.

The bottom line is that at an estimated $15 million per acre, increasing the site to 10 acres would cost Google an additional $112.5 million. Even for Google, that’s real money, and it could be a deal-breaker for the area’s planned residential development.

As most people know, I was the architect of Measure P, dubbed the “Google tax” by the press. I want to make tech corporations pay their way in Mountain View and surrounding communities. But I’m concerned that excessive demands from the School District might simply be playing into the narrative of those who all along opposed residential development in North Bayshore because, in their words, it would be too expensive to build a school.

Many of the people who will work in North Bayshore will have kids, and it’s better for the economy, the environment, and their families if people have the option of living, working, shopping, and sending their kids to school in complete neighborhoods there. That is the promise of the Precise Plan, and people who understand the promise of “New Urbanism” may now have to stand up to fight for that vision.

Lenny

What's wrong with a school being surrounded by tall buildings? Is the council seriously going to be NIMBY for a school that's not even built yet?

Nothing wrong with tall buildings around a school. Is the council seriously being NIMBY for a school that's not even there yet?

The interest of students extends beyond just land and sunlight, on this specific issue, both student families and teachers are directly suffer from housing insecurity and scarcity. I hope families and teachers speak up loudly and soon for housing to the school board. Their vote on this touches so many beyond the schools.

There's a powerful news video from the eyes of a Mountain View child living on Crisanto Street:
Web Link

Google's new neighborhoods not only mean more housing for MV, the Google project will have the highest rates of affordable housing of any local project, and on a scale that means real security for working families and teachers. This single project doubles MV's affordable housing stock. Doubles! See Google's housing plans: Web Link

The district leadership says it doesn't want to be a pawn, but it has just handed itself as a tool for anti-housing advocates and for what in the end? Google is not an open wallet for the school district, and housing is for MV and the region's benefit, not Google alone. If this fails, Google will just build offices, Google loses little, but the children of MVWSD loose dearly.

Mr. Gutierrez is woefully unprepared and unqualified to take on Google and get any sort of deal. Please just sit down and don't say anything. Rudolph and the rest of the Board aren't any where close either. We need real negotiators on the school board with real experience.

Unfortunately, Trustee Gutierrez is a para-legal pit-bull who fancies himself a legal eagle.

sigh ....

I'm a bit confused here - Google is building more dense housing to help alleviate traffic / housing issues, bringing in more people into the city to pay taxes and spend money in the city - why is the city asking for Google to foot the bill for something that should be funded by the city that is benefitting from all of this?

Jose Gutierrez, on the top of...
- Google bringing more high paying jobs to the area
- Google paying property tax to the county
- Google employees paying their property and part of their income tax

...you dare to ask for financing school construction, and you're even picky about the sun exposure of the planned site. Please be reasonable sir.

First of all, the city gets none of anyone's income tax. They get a share of sales tax. Google employees get a lot of free services and food which otherwise would generate sales tax for the city, but they pay NOTHING in the way of sales tax for things done in their onsite cocoon. This is a marked change from practices for previous companies that had office in the North Bayshore area in decades past. It gets worse because Google benefits from the city and school district in numerous other ways. The regional park is used by Google employees who don't live in the area. The city polices homeless campers away from parking on streets near Google. Google leases 6 acres of school district land in the North Whisman area for employee child care because they don't want to keep their kids in the area near Google.

The city has every right to expect contributions from Google, but the school district is unrealistic in what they claim to expect. That doesn't mean though that a 2.5 acre site is enough for an elementary school in Mountain View. There needs to be parity between schools within the district. Now MVWSD owns about 13 acres of land on Easy street about 1.2 miles as the crow flies from the proposed location. It seems unnecessary to locate the school on new land when the district owns so much in the general area. There'd need to be buses, but it's a very short trip.

The district even owns buses that it used to transport residents of the Slater school area over to Huff, 1.7 miles away as the crow flies. Slater is the location where Google leases 6 acres of land for infant care in school district buildings. The district is building a new school on the adjacent 2.5 acres within the parcel of the now-closed Slater school. So, I wonder where Google got the idea that 2.5 acres was enough land? They are only building 2 story buildings on this site, but there is quiet neighbor, sleeping babies of Google employees on the other 6 acres of district land with 1 story buildings sparsely distributed on the leased land.
It's really close enough to just bus students from North Bayshore to the closed Slater school. But Google would lose the 6 acres and buildings it now leases for childcare, and the district would lose the lease payments and Google employees would lose a lot of land they use for their kids while they work, somewhat far away from the Googleplex but apparently close enough for them. So it's close enough for the residents moving into new housing to send THEIR kids to school.

Another thing: Google employees don't pay income tax on the value of the free breakfast lunch and dinner cooked from them at work, nor on the value of the free gym and trainers provided onsite. This costs the state and IRS a lot of revenue that would otherwise be taxed as income to Google employees.

So Google wants MVWSD to emulate Horace Mann in San Jose, eh? I took a look at this. It has got a terrible success record. In most grades, the standard was not met by 40%+ of the students, and for English Language, that is 56% not-met score.

On a percentile basis, Horace Mann ranks in the 20-30th percentile. The weighted average ranking is 27.55%.

Google should not HOLD this school up as an example to emulate. Very sloppy.

@Citizen Jane
"We need real negotiators on the school board with real experience. "

I don't recall YOUR name on the ballot in any past election!

In fact, very few people ever run for school board, sometimes they don't even need an election because nobody steps up to run but the incumbents.

Complain all you want about our ELECTED school board members, but until YOU get elected remember this FACT!!!

Decisions are ALWAYS made by the people who SHOW UP!