From the San Francisco Chronicle:
After more than three years of negotiations, San Jose officials voted late Tuesday to approve Google's plan for a sprawling downtown campus with thousands of new homes, millions of square feet of office space and a first-of-its kind $200 million community benefit agreement. It's a deal that business, labor and community groups say could signal a shift in Bay Area development politics -- particularly as San Jose, long overshadowed by neighboring San Francisco, looks to rebound from the pandemic with more active public spaces near transit. But in a region long accustomed to isolated suburban tech campuses and big-dollar affordable housing commitments, some still questioned how exactly a $155 million community fund will be spent, and whether it will be enough to offset familiar concerns about gentrification, homelessness and daily issues like parking.
With the vote on Tuesday, Google can move forward with an80-acre development plan near San Jose's central rail hub at Diridon Station, including 4,000 new homes, more than 7 million square feet of office space, 15 acres of parks and 500,000 square feet of retail and other space. Under a community benefit deal approved earlier this year, the company also agreed to create a $155 million community stabilization fund for job training, homelessness and affordable housing. It's unprecedented for a Bay Area tech campus -- and a stark contrast to tech peers like Amazon and Tesla, which have at times asked governments to compete for business by cutting costs -- as well as developers from other industries where community concessions are not the norm. Before the coronavirus upended daily commutes, Google planned for up to 25,000 workers to occupy the new San Jose office. The company has since announced that some of its global workforce will shift to remote roles, but the city hopes that the proposed "Downtown West" neighborhood around the new offices will help buoy lively public spaces.A Google spokewsman said the company will soon transfer land to the city for planned affordable housing development," the report says. "It aims to start construction work in 2022 and plans to transfer an initial $3 million to the city within 30 days of approval of the project, the spokesman said. In the meantime, the San Jose City Council will be tasked with appointing a new committee to oversee the $155 million community fund."
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/05/27/0058211/googles-san-jose-mega-campus-wins-city-approval
Interesting that this (the above) is the first email I read after passing through San Jose on my way to and from Santa Cruz, where I attended my grandson’s wedding.
I was telling my companion, who was traveling with me, about my 5 or so years living in San Jose, (having lived most of my life on the San Francisco peninsula) a little about how that valley, once commonly called the Santa Clara Valley, was a garden spot of California. Weather, water and soil conspired perfectly there, home to thousands of orchards of every kind of fruit and nut. Canneries dotted the valley where tomatoes, peaches, apricots, walnuts, prune plums, pears, and cherries grew in profusion. Summertime roadside fruit stands were everywhere. Townships like Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Saratoga, Campbell, Cupertino, were separated from each other by miles of orchards. Indeed, it was “The Valley of the Heart’s Delight,” as locals liked to proclaim.
Today, the new crop is houses. You would be hard pressed to find a single peach tree anywhere in Silicon Valley. Some of the richest soil in the world has been paved over or covered in houses, condos, apartments, shopping centers, strip malls. car dealers, etc. Streets, highways and freeways are choked with traffic 24/7.
I suppose that those us who remember just kind of shake our heads in wonder. The new people, those who have moved into the valley to take jobs in high tech, have no idea of what life was like in the San Jose area just 50 or 60 years ago. It is an amazing transformation and I question whether it’s a good or bad thing. Maybe a little of both. Maybe old age bestows a kind of absent-minded wistfulness of what once was—or seemed like—heaven on earth.
In any event, welcome to Googleville.
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