{"id":15394,"date":"2023-02-21T10:21:26","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T17:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/?p=15394"},"modified":"2023-02-21T10:21:28","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T17:21:28","slug":"google-mega-campus-in-san-jose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/google-mega-campus-in-san-jose\/","title":{"rendered":"Google could delay millions in San Jose community funds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Google's
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By Sonia Herrera. San Jose Spotlight. Bay City News<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time is money, and in Silicon Valley, that saying is very true. So when news broke that Google's long-awaited megacampus in San Jose might be postponed, it was met with surprise and concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At stake are approximately 25,000 jobs and $155 million for a community fund that will be used to pay for education, job training and to try to prevent displacement following the construction of Downtown West. These benefits will only become apparent once Google employees occupy offices on the downtown San Jose campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOriginally, we all knew it was going to be a long-term plan,\u201d said San Jose Councilman Omar Torres, who represents downtown. \u201cBut yeah, it\u2019s definitely concerning that a lot of the money is coming when the cranes are up in the air.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nanci Klein, director of San Jose's economic development department, confirmed to San Jose Spotlight that the $155 million community fund will not be awarded until Google has completed its offices. The company is also not legally required to build its campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google has not yet said it plans to pause construction, however, and Klein said the company has already gone beyond what is typically required of companies building offices in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGoogle has continued to be an extremely dedicated and good partner to the city \u2013 they\u2019ve moved forward with the demolition and they\u2019ve already done what most developers don\u2019t do, which is give dollars up front before the development takes place,\u201d Klein said. \u201cSo Google is already doing more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regina Celestin Williams, executive director of the housing advocacy group SV@Home, sits on the 13-member commission that will decide how to distribute $155 million to the broader community. This fund is intended to offset the economic effects, including a sharp rise in rents, that will likely result from Downtown West. A delay in the project could give the city more time to protect residents from displacement, she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commission plans to hold its first meeting next month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce they implement that project and enact this tremendous expansion of downtown San Jose, it will reshape the city,\u201d he told San Jose Spotlight. \u201cWe, as advocates, are primarily concerned about how it affects the people who are already here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A city within a city<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Google has already paid San Jose $4.5 million and agreed to pay $15 million within 120 days of the start of construction, the remaining money promised by the tech titan won't arrive until Googlers are working on the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Progress on projects the size of Downtown West \u2014 which spans about 80 acres and has been called \u201ca city within a city\u201d \u2014 may slow or speed up as it reaches new phases of construction, an unnamed Google source told San Jose Spotlight. The company hasn\u2019t announced whether it plans to postpone construction, only that it\u2019s \u201creevaluating\u201d its timeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Jose Councilwoman Dev Davis said she was not surprised by Google's announcement. Her district encompasses the entire Downtown West project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe always knew there was uncertainty about community benefits and that community benefits were largely tied to the actual project,\u201d Davis explained to San Jose Spotlight. \u201cThe great thing is that we know Google is committed to San Jose, and they provided us with community benefits, and we have dollars available that we can use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The planned transformation of the Diridon Station area into the \u201cGrand Central Station of the West\u201d remains a major incentive for companies like Google to build campuses downtown, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith the state recently completing funding for Caltrain electrification and adding $375 million to the BART extension to Silicon Valley, the case for Google to invest in Downtown West is stronger than ever,\u201d Mahan added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RJ Ramsey, a homeless advocate who also sits on the commission, agreed that more time could allow Google to shape the project in a way that minimizes disruption to local communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While some residents remain nervous about Google's impending arrival downtown, the $155 million community fund will go a long way toward allaying concerns, Ramsey said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

"If the commission does its job, this should be a win-win for everyone in San Jose," he said. "Hey Google, take your time to get it right."<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To read the original note from Click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may be interested in: Wealth disparity in Silicon Valley deepens as poverty rises<\/a><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Por Sonia Herrera. San Jose Spotlight. Bay City News. El tiempo es dinero, y en Silicon Valley, ese dicho es muy cierto. Entonces, cuando se supo que se podr\u00eda posponer el muy esperado megacampus de Google en San Jos\u00e9, suscit\u00f3 sorpresa y preocupaci\u00f3n. Est\u00e1n en juego aproximadamente 25 mil puestos de trabajo y 155 millones […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":15396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15394","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-community","8":"category-cover"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15394"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15397,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15394\/revisions\/15397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}