Will Mountain View in California become a modern-day "Sombertown"? In this case, instead of outlawing toys, as in the popular holiday show Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, the powers-that-be could essentially outlaw residents who don't work for Google and become a town in which Google employees have complete control in political decision-making and housing projects.
That's the fear of many residents living in Mountain View, home to Google's headquarters, as Google puts the finishing touches on several proposals to expand its HQ. The search giant is also working hard at getting political support to build more housing for 5,000 employees.
In 1999, when Google opened its office, now called "Googleplex," it had just a few dozen employees. Now, 16 years later, there are 20,000 staff members and the number is growing each year. One report states that a quarter of the community's 80,000 residents now work for Google.
Housing, due to scarcity, is skyrocketing in price. Traffic jams are a constant aggravation, and those who don't work for Google believe that creating more housing for Google employees will, at some point, put political control squarely in Google's interests given the employee resident population.
"This last election we had maybe 12,000 voters," said Jac Siegel, a city councilman who left office this year. "If you brought 5,000 people in and they all work for Google and they said, 'We want you to vote for this candidate,' they can own the town."
According to reports, Google's new headquarters would include bike paths and walking paths, and structures featuring "canopy like" designs. Google has reportedly hired Heatherwick Studio, a British firm, as well as the Bjarke Ingels Group for the design and architecture work.
"Our problem is that we have too many good jobs," said Leonard Siegel, who is not related to Jac Siegel, and is newly elected to the city council. "Everyone else wishes they were in our situation, but it's a crisis for the people here," he said.
Google currently pays for 7.3 million square feet of office space, which equates to the space of three Empire State Buildings.
