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Letters to the Editor

Governor went off the deep end

Editor:

I never thought Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would go through with his crazy idea of holding our state workers hostage during the budget negotiations.

After he first proposed cutting the pay of our civil servants to below California's minimum wage, editorial boards across the state pointed out that cutting the workers' pay doesn't solve problems and that it simply invites lawsuits. I figured Arnold was just floating a trial balloon or engaging in some sort of political kabuki beyond my understanding.

I guess it's a good thing we have people like Controller John Chiang to keep Arnold in check and make sure we focus on getting things done and solving the very real problems we face in our state, not indulging in policy decisions that hurt people and help nobody.

Dave Anderson

Boranda Avenue

A word on CS zoning

Editor:

Regarding the articles over the past few weeks on the CS zoning on Old Middlefield Way: In 2007 our business was looking for a new location in Mountain View. We had been in the city for the past 12 years and wanted to stay. But between the city allowing CS zones to be taken away by other uses, and the high rents being asked for space in this city, the possibility of staying was almost zero.

The CS zone in Mountain View has been pared down to a very small area, so this drives the rent up. We also found a lot of buildings in the CS zone were no longer something a CS business could use, including the building that Larry's Auto Works used to occupy. Many other property owners were not allowing CS-type uses in their spaces.

If the city is going to continue to allow more office space to encroach into the CS zones then it needs to open more zones to allow CS-type businesses to operate. Areas such as Moffett Boulevard, Evelyn near Calderon and Terra Bella east of Shoreline all used to allow CS-type businesses at one time. Now it's down to a few blocks on Old Middlefield, and the owners of these properties want to allow more offices there too? Sorry, I have no sympathy for these property owners.

If the city allowed them to change to office space during the dot-com boom, then the city should make some time allowances to restore those spaces back to CS. If this is the only place left for CS businesses, then that's all that should be occupying the spaces in that zone.

Our business had to move from Mountain View to an affordable city. How many other small businesses are we going to drive out of this city?

Joe Cree

Morgan Street

Posted by Ned, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Aug 15, 2008 at 9:40 am

Joe:

Just go to work for Google. It seems to be the solution for everything these days.

Posted by Carlos, a resident of the Monta Loma neighborhood, on Aug 24, 2008 at 11:42 pm

Joe,

I'm sorry you can't compete. Maybe we ought to have a special program for you.

We need to subsidize your rent and those we trust the most: in the CS Zone

---Auto Sales

---Lawyers

---Auto Mechanics

After all the business Icons in our community like

Baji's

La Bamba

Dee Dees

Larry's Auto Repair ?????? (moved out right after lobbying for the zone change)

Aren't needed in a CS Zone ?

Good luck in your new location and remind the new owner to contribute to your new community by reducing your rent.

Carlos

That are/were located

Posted by mc, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Aug 26, 2008 at 10:04 am

Joe is right about one of the big problems with how the city manages the CS zone. City Hall assumes that, since there's a CS zone, all CS-appropriate businesses will find a home there. Doesnt work like that in the real world. The planning dept needs to have some flexibility in allowing CS uses elsewhere when appropriate, and in allowable uses in buildings within the CS zone that have already been improved.