02/25/2014 Council Preview – PG&E Tree Removal

Mixed night.  We start the evening with two closed sessions, one involving ongoing negotiations with the Sunnyvale Managers Association, the other dealing with our efforts to hire a new City Manager.

The general meeting will run for a while before we get to general business.  First up is the ceremonial swearing-in of our new planning commissioners, heritage preservation commissioners, and housing and human services commissioner.  This is followed by a presentation from PG&E to go over their proposed tree removals on Homestead.  Normally, presentations don’t include public comment, but this one will.

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Google Announces Discussions To Bring 1 Gigabit Google Fiber to Sunnyvale

Google has posted a blog entry in which they’ve announced the next phase of their 1 gigabit fiber-optic network to the City of Sunnyvale, to provide residents with internet and TV services at 100 times the speed of most commercially-available networks.

As the heart of Silicon Valley, Sunnyvale has a culture of innovation and a community of early adopters that makes us a perfect fit for this initiative. Our residents need a cutting-edge technology infrastructure, and we welcome the opportunities that gigabit broadband could bring to Sunnyvale.

Official City of Sunnyvale press release here.

Landbank Wolfe/Central Project Artwork

The Business Insider has an article with conceptual art of a proposed campus to go on the south-east corner of Wolfe and Arques (kitty-corner from Fire Station 2).  It’s worth checking out.  The project has been submitted to the City and is going through staff review and environmental considerations now, and I have no information when it might reach the point of public hearings.

02/11/2014 Council Preview – Commission Appointments

Sorry for the lateness.  Pretty simple meeting.  We start the evening with a closed session to discuss the City Manager recruitment process.

The general meeting starts with a presentation from Fremont Union High School District Superintendent Polly Bove talking about the joint-use agreements between the District and the City.  The consent calendar is pretty big – a resolution to approve stop sign installation, new playground equipment for Las Palmas Park, a couple of contracts, a couple of tract map approvals, a HOME loan involving the Armory project, the quarterly investment report, and a couple of grants.

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BREAKING: NASA/GSA Picks Google for Moffett Lease, Hangar One Gets Re-Skinned

Just now, NASA and the US General Services Administration has issued the following press release, announcing that they have selected Planetary Ventures, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Google, as the preferred lessee of Moffett Federal Airfield.  The proposal includes an agreement that Hangar One will be re-skinned within 18 months of the agreement being finalized.

We’re very happy that the concerns for our community, including re-skinning Hangar One, featured so prominently in the winning proposal. This is a huge milestone for the project and a lot of credit goes to our congressional representatives who worked so closely with GSA and NASA. Sunnyvale extends its congratulations to Google, Planetary Ventures’ parent company, and we look forward to partnering with them to achieve the goals for Moffett Federal Airfield.

Feb. 10, 2014

GSA, NASA Competitively Select Planetary Ventures, LLC to Begin Lease Negotiations for Rehabilitation of Hangar One and Use of Moffett Federal Airfield

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and NASA have selected Planetary Ventures, LLC as the preferred lessee on a lease to rehabilitate historic Hangar One and to manage Moffett Federal Airfield, currently managed by NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. The lease will put Hangar One to new use and eliminate NASA’s management costs of the airfield.

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