|
The Menlo Park, California, city council voted unanimously onTuesday to approve Facebook's plan to expand its headquarters in the city, pending a final procedural vote atits next meeting on June 5. Facebook has sought permission to house as many as 6,600 workers atits main campus in the former offices of Sun Microsystems andpotentially to make taller its west campus buildings, which wereonce home to Tyco Electronics. The company first presented itsexpansion plans in December 2011. Because the expansion will bring more traffic to the area andnecessitate the removal of some mature trees, Facebook will berequired to carry out environmental mitigation measures, includinga cap on the number of vehicles that can enter and exit the campusduring peak commute times. Facebook has also agreed to a number of economic sweeteners for the city. The thorniest issue facing the council was the matter of howtraffic patterns could be adapted to handle the influx of workers.Several residents of the Belle Haven neighborhood that abuts theFacebook campus voiced concerns that their neighborhood would beimpacted disproportionately as the company continues to grow. The affluent neighboring town of Atherton also brought newobjections related to traffic patterns at one intersection withinits city limits that planning estimates suggest will see at leastan 8 percent jump in traffic. Atherton city council member JimDobbie and interim city manager Theresa DellaSanta delivered theirconcerns in person, putting the Menlo Park council in the awkwardposition of seeming to benefit at the expense of their neighbors asthey approved Facebook's plans. "It's very hard to design an intersection from the dais," Mayor ProTem Peter Ohtaki said just before voting to approve Facebook'splan. "We've been trying to balance a lot of concerns." Local politics aside, all of the council members praised Facebookfor the economic benefits they believe it brings to Menlo Park. In closing the debate, Mayor Kirsten Keith said to the Facebookrepresentatives: "Welcome to Menlo Park; we're happy to have youhere. Please like our Facebook site for the city." Cameron Scott covers search, web services and privacy for The IDG News Service . Follow Cameron on Twitter at CScott_IDG . We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Anionic Softener Manufacturer , China Amino Silicone for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Nonionic Softener Flakes.
Related Articles -
Anionic Softener Manufacturer, China Amino Silicone,
|
