City, Santa Clara County
© McCormack's Guides
Zip Codes: 95037, 95038
One of
only two cities in Santa Clara County where apartments outnumber single homes.
Attracts many of the young and newcomers to the county. Some of best nightlife
of county. Headquarters for Google. Population 73,932. www.mccormacks.com
Key city
of Silicon Valley. Home to about 200 high-tech and manufacturing firms and a
space operation at an old airfield. Among major players: Silicon Graphics, Alza
pharmaceuticals, Verizon, Intuit, PayPal and Microsoft. Mountain View borders
Palo Alto and Stanford University.
In recent years,
Mountain View has been favoring apartments and mixed residential-retail in its
downtown, especially near its light-rail stations.
Click for regional or detailed map
Crime low.
School rankings fairly high. Voters have raised taxes to rebuild schools. With
enrollments dropping, some schools have been closed.
A city
that for years has been hand wringing over what could be one of the region's
biggest assets: Moffett Field, which borders Mountain View on land controlled
by the county government. The Navy in 1994 said good-bye to its air base in
Moffett, a landmark because of its tall hangars that used to house dirigibles.
NASA Ames
Research Center, which employs about 2,100, took over Moffett, about 2,000
choice acres. NASA is researching and helping with space exploration and hopes
to find private partners for its projects. Many people want to save at least one of the three hangars. The military employs about 1,300 at the base to run a variety of
operations, many having to do with the reserves. Google plans to build a large
research facility at NASA Ames. www.mccormacks.com
In an
advisory vote in 1996, Mountain View voters said no to opening Moffett to air
cargo flights but many power people in Silicon Valley would like to keep this
option open. The county's two other airports, San Jose and Reid-Hillview, are
crowded, and business leaders see air cargo from Moffett as important to the
county's prosperity. Check with city hall for more information.
Apartments
outnumber single homes two to one. Total housing units 33,475: single homes
9,318, single attached 4,038, multiple units 18,888 and 1,231 mobile homes
(2008 count).
Apartments are not everyone’s cup of tea but for the many
people starting out in the high-tech business, they are quite acceptable.
Most of
the single homes can be found west of El Camino Real; most of the apartments
east of El Camino Real but this section also has many single homes. New homes
and townhouses were opened in the late 1990s on Whisman Road, near the Central Expressway
and light-rail line. Innovative designs.
Many homes
were built in the Fifties and Sixties and in size and design reflect what
people wanted in those decades, generally three-bedroom units. In other Bay
Area cities, older neighborhoods serve as way stations for people going up the
scale or just marking time. www.mccormacks.com
Some homes
are well kept, some neglected. In Mountain View, high prices are encouraging
residents to remodel and expand or tear down and build something bigger.
Lawns are well tended, streets lined
with trees. Older, smaller (two-bedroom) homes can be found south of City Hall.
In the
1980s, Mountain View added 8,800 residents and 4,000 residential units. In the
1990s, it added about 3,300 people and 2,900 units and between 2000 and 2006
took on 1,287 residents and 736 units.
The 2000
census put the median age at 35. About 18 percent of the residents are under
age 18, which is low. Mountain View is more a singles town than a family town.
About 18 percent of the residents are over age 55 — also low.
Downtown
spruced up: brick sidewalks, kiosks, pedestrian lighting, loads of trees.
Choice of about 70 restaurants (Asian cuisine popular). Nice place to stroll.
Bookstore, monthly festivals, art. Ballet school. www.mccormacks.com
City hall
and Performing Arts Center (plays, musicals, dance, recitals). Community School
of Music and Arts. Annual art and wine festival draws 200,000. Obon (Buddhist)
Festival. Jewish Film Festival. Public art. Large library opened in 1997.
Many
activities. Tennis, swimming, boating, movies, theater, art and wine festival,
sports — the typical offerings of well-managed town with money in its
pocket. City and school districts have gone partners on playgrounds used by
kids and community. Competitive adult leagues: softball, basketball, flag
football, co-ed volleyball.
Big park
on Bay shore with golf course, 18 holes. Dog park. Skate park. 27 parks total,
many of them large. Swim centers. Movie complex. Palo Alto and Stanford, and
all they offer, are just up the road.
Shoreline
Theater, which seats 25,000 draws top performers in U.S. Samples past and
future: Judas Priest, John Mellencamp, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Oasis, Gwen
Stefani, San Francisco Symphony.
Shopping
centers off of El Camino Real on north side of town. They include Costco,
Wal-Mart, Sears, Mervyns and two In-N-Out Burgers. Also in town: Best Buy, REI, Trader Joe’s. Whole Foods in Los Altos, adjoining
city.
Home Depot wants to build a store on the site of Sears store that was supposed to close in 2007. Many people oppose the Home Depot project. While the arguing continues, Sears will stay open to about 2009. www.mccormacks.com
One
homicide each in 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002 and 2001, two in 2000, zero in 1999,
1998, one in 1997, zero in 1996, one in 1995, five in 1994, two in 1993 and
1992, zero in 1991, four in 1990, three in 1989 and 1988, and one in 1987 and
1986. See Crime.
Academic
rankings, in statewide comparisons, land mostly in the 70th to 90th percentile,
which reflects well on parents and schools. Mountain View High School and many
of the elementary schools have won awards for academic excellence. See Schools.
In 1995, a
$58 million bond measure passed. The money was used to remodel high-school
classrooms in the Mountain View-Los Altos High School District, repair heating
and plumbing and add security lights. In other jobs, high-speed wiring was
installed at Mountain View High and a theater-cafeteria added.
Whisman
elementary district, which served part of Mountain View, passed a $34 million
bond in 1996 to replace portable buildings with permanent and upgrade wiring,
plumbing and heating. Mountain View Elementary District in 1998 won a $36
million bond to renovate all its schools.
In 2000,
voters approved merging the two elementary districts. www.mccormacks.com
Faced with
cuts from the state, the Mountain View-Whisman district in 2004 passed a parcel
tax that supported electives and the curriculum. Because of declining
enrollments, the district in 2005 voted to close Slater Elementary School,
which in 2007 was converted into a Google child-care center.
About 1,200 students on the north side of town attend the schools of the Los Altos Elementary District. This district, to even out enrollments, is debating changes in the attendance zones, which has some parents upset.
Being in
the heart of Silicon Valley, Mountain View does much better in the commuting
department than many other cities in the county. Highways 101, 85 and 237 cross
the town and lead to other high-tech cities.
Bullet
trains to San Francisco, San Jose and other cities. The light-rail line
connects to many jobs in North San Jose, Santa Clara and Milpitas and to San
Jose International Airport. See commuting
Day
laborers congregate along El Camino Real near Los Altos looking for work. If
you are interested in hiring, try $15 an hour.
Chamber of
commerce (650) 968-8378.
• Mountain View several times has rode
the roller-coaster of Silicon Valley fortunes and might appear to be immune to
failures and successes. But almost by osmosis, the city, because of Google,
seems to be swelling in its own estimation. It’s hard not be proud. In late
2006, Mountain View was negotiating with Google about building another complex
that would employ about 1,000. www.mccormacks.com
•
Google and Microsoft go solar. To
cut their PG&E bill, the companies installed thousands of solar panels on
their Mountain View buildings.
• Google
perk: free wireless throughout Mountain View, maximum speed to 1 megabit per
second. Pretty fast, as these things go. With city’s permission, Google mounted
380 transceivers on light poles around town.
• Don’t
feed squirrels and watch out if you nibble in their presence. They bite. Advice
from city hall after squirrels bit three people at Cuesta Park.
• Mountain
View needed a reservoir (for emergency supplies), the school district wanted to
rebuild the playing fields at Graham Middle School. Deal struck; tank holding 8
million gallons built under fields, rent pays for new fields — baseball,
soccer-football, all-weather track. City kicked in some money so residents can
use fields when school is out.
•Cisco in 2006 threw its annual company
meeting at Shoreline Amphitheater. The firm expected 5,000 people arriving in
2,000 vehicles. Instead, it got 6,000 people in, it appears, 6,000 vehicles.
Massive traffic jam. Grumble, grumble, grumble. Cisco says it will do better
next time. www.mccormacks.com
• Opened
in 2006, Freestyle High, communications, digital literacy, film production and
web audio. For juniors and seniors. An alternate school sponsored by the Los
Altos-Mountain View school district.
• In 2001,
the seniors center was declared earthquake unsafe. Replacement opened in 2006,
cost $16 million. Fitness room, computer lab; yoga, tai chi, fitness, quilting,
watercolors, wood carving; hot lunches.
• Empty
parcels all but gone, Mountain View is tearing down to get land for housing. In
2007, city council approved 450 homes on site of former computer campus and 206 row houses
where old apartments stand. Many arguments on the larger project.
• Local
college district has campuses in Los Altos and Cupertino. Popular, many
activities. In 2006, district won big bond, $406 million, to renovate campuses
and buy land for campus in Mountain View.
• El
Camino, the largest hospital in Mountain View, is rebuilding itself. Some of
the money is coming from a bond approved by voters.
• Teen clinic, a rarety in the medical field. Mountain View has one, operated by Lucille Packard Children's Hospital. Staffed with eight doctors.www.mccormacks.com
• Moffett
Field was famous for its giant blimps. Three huge hangars were built to house
the flying machines. An effort is underway to convert the largest, Hangar One,
into a museum.
•Housing prices, circa mid 2007, were dropping in many parts of the Bay Area but not Mountain View. Local newspaper reported that median price of single home, compared to same period in 2006, was up 25 percent, to $1.1 million. Condos also up — $530,000 median in 2006 to $633,000 in 2007. Two big reasons: the booming Google and high-scoring schools. Sunnyvale and Palo Alto also up. Old story: if you work in Silicon Valley and seek “affordable” housing, you have to drive.
City web site:
www.ci.mtnview.ca.us
