Camp Connection A guide to summer camps for kids on the Pennisula
INSIDE THIS ISSUE MARCH 6, 2015 VOLUME 23, NO. 6
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MOVIES | 19
Google unveils new HQ plans with startling design By Daniel DeBolt
G
oogle has unveiled plans for an office campus that will undoubtedly be called extraordinary. Google last week gave theVoicea look at the plans for a 2.5 million-square-foot campus to accommodate 10,000 employees, the first buildings Google will have designed and built in Mountain View, despite the city’s being home to its headquarters since its inception. Google hired European architects Bjarke Ingels and Thomas Heatherwick to develop the design, and the result is an astounding proposal for a largely car-free campus that blurs the boundary between nature and offices. Perhaps the most usual aspect of the design is the changeable nature of the interior elements, made possible through the use of special crab- and crane-like robots to move furniture and
COURTESY OF GOOGLE
Google has proposed an eye-popping 2.5 million square foot expansion in North Bayshore.
“prefabricated units” around. Google has called them “crabots” and has already invested heavily in the technology through the 2013 purchase of robotics company Boston Dynamics. Designs show a lightweight, translucent canopy draped over
an open, multi-story office area, with meandering walking paths, parking hidden under picturesque green landscapes, and retail stores and cafes open to the public. The buildings would be LEED platinum, with water recycling on site to achieve “net
MOUNTAIN VIEW’S NEIGHBOR CITIES CRITICIZE WATER DISTRICT’S “UNFAIR” TAXES
C
alling it the most “severe drought in California’s history,” the Santa Clara Valley Water District is poised to increase water rates following a depletion of groundwater supplies and a growing need to buy water from other, more expensive sources. Last month, water district
board members sat down and mulled over the numbers. The groundwater production charge, based on the severity of the drought, is expected to grow by double-digit numbers later this year unless the Bay Area gets deluged with rain in March and April. Most of the county — everything north of Cottle Road in San Jose — could be looking at a 31.5
See GOOGLE, page 12
Mountain View’s Grand Central Station is in the works
Water district set for big rate increase, thanks to drought By Kevin Forestieri
zero” water usage — basically all water would be recycled on site. “We’re trying to re-create the qualities that were there (in North Bayshore) in the first place,” to transform it from a “sea of parking lots into a natural landscape with an abundance of
green, not only outside, but also inside,” Ingels says in a video about the project now posted on YouTube. Heatherwick added that “a humanistic spirit is something we feel is really important” in the design. The reach of the proposal extends beyond North Bayshore. Google proposes to help fund a new network of bike paths in Mountain View and surrounding cities, including a bike boulevard on Latham and Church streets. The proposal includes two new pedestrian bridges over Highway 101 (one at Shoreline Boulevard and another at Charleston Road). There’s a long list of $200 million-worth of public benefits that could be hard to turn down, including a new public safety building, two new parks and a new educational science center in North Bayshore, a major expan-
percent rate increase, according to the district website. That amounts to about $8 a month for each household. Increasing the rates has been a “very difficult” thing to do, according to water district CEO Beau Goldie. Goldie said at a board meeting last month that despite internal cuts, some of the See RATE INCREASE, page 6
COUNCIL MEMBERS LEAN TOWARDS CLOSING CASTRO STREET AT THE TRAIN TRACKS By Daniel DeBolt
T
he City Council began talking about a major new downtown transit center and Caltrain station on Tuesday, along with the big question of how to make the Castro Street train crossing safe. Among the many things that could be included in a new downtown transit station were shops and cafes, new bike lock-
ers, wider train platforms and an underground bus terminal. Train ridership at the station is now more than three times higher than the 1,000 morning riders it was designed for in the 1990s, the city reports, and the platforms are often packed with people. “I think this could be a worldclass center,” said Mayor John See TRANSIT STATION, page 8
Daylight Saving Time begins Set your clocks ahead one hour at 2 a.m. this Sunday.
INSIDE
VIEWPOINT 15 | GOINGS ON 21 | MARKETPLACE 22 | REAL ESTATE 24