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The problem isn't Mountain View alone, it's balkanization. You can't just build housing in Mountain View unless you really believe "Alphabet" will be there fore
by scythe 11y ago
The problem isn't Mountain View alone, it's balkanization. You can't just build housing in Mountain View unless you really believe "Alphabet" will be there forever -- that's different from believing that tech will last a long time, because one company does not an industry make. It makes more sense to build 2000 units in each of Mountain View, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Redwood City, San Mateo, East Palo Alto, Cupertino, San Jose, and Los Altos, than to force any one of those to build 20000 units. But coordinating this is easier said than done, and it took a long time to type, at that.
Annexing the suburbs has been mentioned as a possibility for SF, but the real balkanization is worse further south, and it would actually be easier for San Jose to annex most of Silicon Valley -- for one thing, it doesn't cross county lines -- than for San Francisco to reach all the way down the peninsula. The end result is the same, if SJ city authorities recognize both the problem and the opportunity it represents.
But hopefully some useful public transit pops up in the area, too.
- knorby 11y agoFacebook took over Sun's old campus, and I imagine some corp would take over Google's campus if they left. Ultimately office space is office space, and planning for a mass regional exodus seems unwarranted. Most or all of the cities mentioned can accommodate new housing developments as easily as office parks now...it seems like a reasonable means of allocation. I don't even think crazy annexation schemes are needed...what would really change the region is a unified school system.
- beatpanda 11y agoSan Jose tried this in the 60s. Most of the little towns surrounding San Jose used to be San Jose. They were rebuked over and over again as town re-incorporated. I think you'd at least have to wait longer before trying that again.