Posted by Jane, a resident of the North Whisman neighborhood, on Jul 13, 2011 at 8:47 am

Mountain View is already such an awesome place to live - adding the historic Hangar One as part of what we offer to the community, the Bay Area and the country would continue our innovative and forward-thinking style. This is a great opprotunity to preserve the Hangar and to have a venue like no other. As the author of the letter points out, only two years ago our city officials were poised to invest $30 million on a hotel and convention center near Google in the Shoreline area. Hangar One would be unique as a convention center, seen from the air and from the hills all around the Bay Area. Also, adding Hangar One to the Shoreline tax district could help leverage the bond money to restore it, and the revenues from Hangar One could help fund city services. Sounds like Mountain View should be the leader in pursuing this chance for a landmark which would keep us on the map globally!

Posted by Mike Laursen, a resident of the Monta Loma neighborhood, on Jul 13, 2011 at 12:38 pm

I like the idea of the City of Mountain View (or would it have to be Mountain View and Sunnyvale?) taking over the underutilized Moffett area and facilitating development of commercial real estate, housing, etc.

I doubt, when the cost analysis is done, that it's going to pan out that saving Hangar One could be made profitable. If it could, that would be great. Be wary of anyone who proposes a "profitable" scheme based on projections of revenue streams such as convention bookings. Especially, if they're asking for investment of public funds.