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Uploaded: Friday, March 13, 2009, 12:50 PM

Education/research 'village' planned at Moffett
Foothill-De Anza part of collaboration, which will include classrooms, housing

by Chris Kenrick
Palo Alto Online Staff

Posted by Neal, a resident of the Community Center neighborhood, on Mar 14, 2009 at 6:11 pm

A "sustainable village"? What a crock. What does that mean anyway? There is nothing sustainable or green about developing another 75 acres. More housing, more people means more environmental degradation. Will they be self sufficient re water, electricity, sewer etc.?

Posted by qq, a resident of the Barron Park neighborhood, on Mar 14, 2009 at 10:39 pm

Exactly, I guess they have to build more buildings as that new company is soaking up all the real estate in the bay area. I have no idea what they do, but they are everywhere! The company name is "FOR LEASE". Someone in the know, fill us in!

qq

Posted by Walter_E_Wallis, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Mar 15, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Walter_E_Wallis is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online

If the village is sustainable that means they need no outside support. I approve of that. I did some back of the envelope calcs and I believe I would be sustainable, given a billion dollars seed money.

Posted by Bobby, a resident of another community, on Mar 15, 2009 at 3:29 pm

It looks it would take a lot of demolition and sending historic buildings to the landfill to make this possible. I like the NASA Ames campus just the way it is. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Posted by Hal Plotkin, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Mar 15, 2009 at 7:52 pm

By sustainable, we mean the village will be designed to evolve as a test bed for the most current environmental and green energy technologies, including those developed on site, with the overall goal of total self-sufficiency as that becomes practical. In this case, sustainability is also a metaphor for the sustainable nature of the venture itself, as the proceeds from the carefully negotiated land lease acquired in the public interest serve the public interest by supporting the academic partners that lead the venture. It's a creative new model that our staff, administrators and board have worked on diligently for many years now, with the active assistance of our local congressional delegation, to whom we are deeply indebted. What I find most exciting is that unlike previous tech revolutions in Silicon Valley that were centered around prestigious private institutions such as Stanford University (where Hewlett Packard, Cisco, Google and Yahoo! among others all got their start) at least one key center of the next revolution in Silicon Valley, The Green Revolution, will be fully accessible to the entire local public -- and to all motivated learners -- though our local community college district.

Hal Plotkin

Member

Foothill-De Anza Community College District Board of Trustees

Posted by MidtownMom, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Mar 16, 2009 at 6:32 am

What happens to the airport?

Posted by Walter_E_Wallis, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Mar 16, 2009 at 8:00 am
Walter_E_Wallis is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online

Hal, as I said, with a billion kicker I too would be sustainable. If you don't appreciate the absolute irony of a sustainable village with a billion dollar endowment then you don't belong on any college board.

If you believe, give them the land for a dollar a year and let them sink or swim. Or give me just 10% of the billion and I'll shut up - Except for a snicker once in a while.

Posted by Hal Plotkin, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Mar 16, 2009 at 8:50 am

Walter:

No one gave us a billion dollars. You've misread the report. And clearly, you have not read the project documents or description.

What we got was a long-term lease on the property from NASA under favorable terms. The most significant development funds will come from a private sector "master developer" who will develop parts of the site in coordination with our academic partners. You can read more details about how the project will be financed here: Web Link

In the future, I would respectfully suggest you be more careful about criticizing people and projects without having all the facts. If nothing else, it undermines your credibility.

Hal

Hal Plotkin

Member

Foothill-De Anza Community College District Governing Board of Trustees

Posted by Walter_E_Wallis, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Mar 16, 2009 at 9:44 am
Walter_E_Wallis is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online

I believe that every enterprise tries to be sustainable. When you appropriate a word, you neither own it nor the right to redefine it. It is irrelevant who puts the money in, it is still a dilettante's sustainable, not a hard scrabble prairie busting homesteader sustainable.

Please note I refrained from mentioning pod bay doors.

Posted by rem, a resident of the Adobe-Meadows neighborhood, on Mar 16, 2009 at 2:52 pm

At Moffett Field *The Bay Area Congressional Delegation (8th, PELOSI, NANCY/9th, LEE, BARBARA/12th, SPEIER, JACKIE/13th, STARK, PETE/14th, ESHOO, ANNA/15TH, HONDA, MICHAEL/16TH,LOFGREN, ZOE)* needs to make a Base Exchange/Commissary combination their FIRST priority.

The *Bay Area Congressional Delegation* needs to ask why is Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) not getting assistance in securing land on Moffett Field. The *Bay Area Congressional Delegation* needs to ask NASA, Army, Navy and Air Force – WHY?

NASA-AMES does not want the military around. In the last six years they have build NASA Lodge instead of supporting the NAVY Lodge. The NASA Lodge was a refurbish Office Building. It should be noted that there was a Navy Officer billeting facility that the NASA (and Navy) let become “run down”. They have built a Child Care facility instead of supporting the Air Force Child Care facility. The NASA Child Care facility was built from the ground up. All of this is a waste of our tax money. Why? Because NO ONE cares !!

It would be great if the *The Bay Area Congressional Delegation* learned a new word – NO or new phase – DISAPPROVED….

There is no sane reason for this except MONEY, MONEY, MONEY (OK egos too) and not caring about the MILITARY people of Palo Alto or ANY of the other communities …..