The Merc is reporting that Google has leased the fifth and final office building in Technology Corners at Innovation Way and 11th Avenue in Moffett Park, for a total of just under one million square feet of office space in the complex.
FollowThis is both a complex and a simple night.
We start the evening with a very large joint study session with the Planning Commission regarding the Butcher’s Corner property, being held in Council chambers. The topic will be the property’s zoning. It’s currently unincorporated county land, and we’re looking to annex it, mostly because we can and we’re being encouraged to do so. But in doing so, it would automatically apply a housing density zoning that doesn’t currently exist. There are concerns that maybe that zoning isn’t correct, so we’ll be discussing it and our options. There is a lot of interest in this topic.
Normally, I try to keep council and campaign issues separate. But this issue warrants a larger audience, so I’m posting it here.
By now, you may have heard or read about the campaign prank I pulled a couple of weeks ago. I took advantage of an opponent’s oversight to spread my own message and tweak his tail at the same time. I did it openly, in my campaign’s name, with proper identification where appropriate. The end result was that if someone mistyped my opponent’s website address, they were directed to my campaign website instead of the standard “Page Not Found” notice. From the use logs, it appears that as many as three Sunnyvale residents may have seen the stunt before the emails started to circulate.
So after the 30-day mandatory ownership period ended on Saturday, I (repeatedly) offered them to my opponent, who (repeatedly) declined them. I have now transferred the URLs in question to a third party, and I no longer own them. My opponent can claim them from the third party whenever he desires, as he knows.
Unfortunately, this has grown into a distraction from more serious discussions about the issues we face. That’s not good for Sunnyvale. In the heat of the campaign, I lost sight of some important things. I forgot that perception can become reality, and that you expect me not just to be above reproach, but to also appear above reproach. I regret this, and I apologize.
I hope that we can put this matter behind us and move on with the business of governing Sunnyvale, running a clean campaign, and talking about real issues that we face – crime, the Downtown, the budget, replacing our City Manager, and the direction Sunnyvale should take as a city. It’s time for all of us to come together, and I hope this is the first step.
There’s a new burglary scheme hitting the Bay Area, with two instances in Fremont, one in Union City, and one in Sunnyvale (Ponderosa neighborhood). Passing on the alert from Shonda Ranson of the City of Sunnyvale:
Hello SNA’s,
I normally prefer to post the good news, but have been asked to get the word out wherever possible about something that creeps up every couple of years. Please share with friends and family. You can also share via:
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=621610281206691&set=a.212220462145677.59120.132586463442411&type=1&theater
Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/1/b/100461449216924031646/+cityofsunnyvale/posts
or if you’ve seen my post on Nextdoor under Nearby Neighborhoods > Encinal Park
CRIME PREVENTION ALERT: Check for IDs and call the agency before letting workers that you were not expecting into your home – even if they are in uniforms.
You’ve probably all been following the news about the Rim Fire near (and now in) Yosemite. There are some potential theoretical threats to us from this, although so far everything looks OK. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has had to make changes to its power generation, since two of the three power houses which power San Francisco are in the middle of the fire zone. There are also threats to the transmission wires in the area. So they’ve arranged for alternate power transmission to ensure the power supply remains.
Of more pressing concern to Sunnyvale is the threat to the water supply, but I’ll start by saying that there is no immediate threat to us. The northern half of Sunnyvale gets its water from the SFPUC and Hetch Hetchy. There is some concern that the fires may impact the quality of Hetch Hetchy water. The SFPUC has been testing the water “continuously” according to news reports, and there are no indications of any problems or changes to water quality. Note that Hetch Hetchy is famous for providing unusually pure water, so we’re starting out way ahead already. But the SFPUC has made arrangements with the Santa Clara Valley Water District and one other (East Bay Municipal Utilities District, I think) to make their water available to as a short-term alternative, should conditions near Yosemite change and negatively affect the Hetch Hetchy supply. So far, no problems. And water transmission is unaffected by this, since the pipes are all buried under ground.
I serve as Sunnyvale’s representative on the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency, which partners with the SFPUC to bring water to Sunnyvale. So I’m receiving daily updates on the status of things, and everything seems to be well under control right now. But let’s hope they can get this fire under control soon, because it’s a bad one.