Monday, September 1, 2014

When is Google going to build a BART station in Mountain View?

I've said this aloud now a couple of places where it might have caught ears, so I just want to put it down here, in html, where I can point to it when I'm sixty years old and drunk and need to win an argument to prove to myself that I still have my marbles (which I won't).

When is Google going to sponsor a BART station in Mountain View?  I mean, right?

Easy basic bargaining positions: Google names a traditional, subterranean BART station anything it cares to put within fifteen characters (12 for hexi-symmetry??? What do I know?), to be followed by a slash and the municipal name, Mountain View.

Presumably there would be public space and space to let, which the parties could squabble for control of, and frankly, I'm seeing high-tech maintenance and service yards, a system hub for the South Bay.

Google throws some agreed on portion (80%) into the the service hub and station, and BART, the counties, municipalities and any other corporate partners (Stanford/Palo Alto, Facebook HQ/Menlo Park, Apple HQ/Cupertino, etc.) fund rails, other stations and ongoing BART operations for the future.

If the municipalities think its appropriate to declare a fixed period for the corporate naming to continue, they can do so, but I'd leave 'em permanent.  If the companies move or fall, the stations will remain as monuments to their opulence and splendor.

Ok, GO.