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In San Jose, they tore down a bunch of restaurants, razed a bunch of houses that people were living in to build more office buildings, then decided "nah" and st
by Jasper_ 3y ago
In San Jose, they tore down a bunch of restaurants, razed a bunch of houses that people were living in to build more office buildings, then decided "nah" and stopped building the office buildings. So now we have a bunch of land that the city gave to Google for cheap that they're just sitting on, that can't be used to build houses again. The LendLease houses were an integral part of why city council approved the plan.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/21/googles-80-acre-san-jose-mega-campus-on-hold-amid-economic-slowdown-.html https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/21/googles-80-acre-san-jose-meg...
- greenie_beans 3y agothere should be some penalty for this.
- jeffbee 3y agoThe penalty is that Google now pays 2% of all taxes in Santa Clara County, whereas before Google bought the property it had been vacant and non-productive since 1849.
- greenie_beans 3y agofair point, but was it vacant and non-productive? i have no idea about this particular instance except for what the original commenter said, this particularly stuck out: > razed a bunch of houses that people were living in to build more office buildings that doesn't sound unproductive or vacant to me?
- anon84873628 3y agoThe project encompassed locations in San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Mountain View, so if people don't specify which place they are talking about the commentary is not very productive.
- jeffbee 3y agoA shit dive bar got demolished. Whoop-de-doo. https://www.google.com/maps/@37.3292089,-121.9010776,3a,70.8y,129.84h,89.66t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1siG0XS9vfxVjwIS7-Iz--UQ!2e0!5s20201101T000000!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en&entry=ttu https://www.google.com/maps/@37.3292089,-121.9010776,3a,70.8...
- Jasper_ 3y agoAnd a bunch of families got evicted, too. Strange how you forgot that part.
- gretch 3y agoDo you have a source on this? I'm genuine looking for one. I work at Google, but more importantly, I'm a citizen living in Santa Clara county and I really really don't support Govt forced evictions (maybe I'm next). I'm hoping it's either not true, or those families received generous sums of money as part of the deal.
- jeffbee 3y agoHe doesn't have a source for it because it's a lie. There is only 1 occupied house in the whole 80-acre site. Ref: Final EIR Table 3.11-1
- tqi 3y agoI don't see any residential buildings in that maps link, nor am I able to find any news articles indicating anyone being evicted. Do you have a source or are you just spreading rumors?
- flounder3 3y ago"Shit" or not, it was a fairly popular place to hang out while waiting for a train at Dirdon Station or an event at SAP Center. It was only a few steps away, and now there's nothing there (after existing for 88 years).
- 3y ago
- sseagull 3y agoRead up on Kelo v. City of New London if you want to get angry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London "Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005),[1] was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court held, 5–4, that the use of eminent domain to transfer land from one private owner to another private owner to further economic development does not violate the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment." ... "The final cost to the city and state for the purchase and bulldozing of the formerly privately held property was $78 million. The promised 3,169 new jobs and $1.2 million a year in tax revenues had not materialized. As of 2021, the area remains an empty lot."
- lost_tourist 3y agoThe key bad thing in what you said is "can't be used to build houses again". Zoning in SF and most of California is a joke.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- dehrmann 3y agoYou're not wrong, but you left out the pandemic and how it changed how people work. Google didn't just go "nah," the whole need for this got upended.