Voters back Google village

53% say 20,000 jobs more important than new-resident housing

SAN JOSE >> South Bay voters overwhelmingly back Google’s plans to bring 20,000 jobs to downtown San Jose and consider those jobs — rather than the new housing that advocates want to add to the project — the most important part of the transit-oriented development, according to a new poll.

The project, which is expected to take years to develop, could reshape downtown and give San Jose an economic boost and tech star power.

“Residents are eager for the kind of transformation that a project like this can bring to our city center,” said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, a strong supporter of plans by Google to build offices and other amenities downtown. “It’s not just Google but also the surrounding retail, restaurants, housing and public spaces that can create a vibrant place that’s attractive to the whole community.”

When asked whether they “support or oppose Google’s plans to bring up to 20,000 jobs into downtown San Jose over a 10year period” rather than moving jobs out of the region or state, 79 percent said they supported the proposal, while 16 percent were opposed. Five percent of those surveyed expressed no opinion. The poll of 431 registered voters in Santa Clara County was conducted for the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and this news organization.

The strong support suggests that even amid a crippling regional housing shortage, local residents remain mostly enthusiastic about the sort of economic development that some critics blame for a deterioration in the Bay Area’s quality of life.

Mountain View-based Google and its development ally, Trammell Crow, have been buying up dozens of properties near the Diridon train station and SAP Center since December 2016.

Google’s plan to develop 6 million to 8 million square feet of offices, enough to accommodate 15,000 to 20,000 employees, already appears to have sparked a surge in commercial property values and activity in downtown San Jose.

In July 2017, an office tower at 303 S. Almaden Blvd. fetched $80.2 million, a record price for downtown office space of $500plus a square foot. A few weeks before that, a South Korea-based resorts operator grabbed the Westin San Jose, popularly known as the Sainte Claire, for a robust $64 million. In early January of this year, the landmark Fairmont San Jose was bought by East Bay investors for $223.5 million.

And in a sign of a longtime downtown powerhouse growing its presence in the city’s urban core, Adobe Systems paid $68 million for a lot on West San Fernando Street, where the tech giant plans a major expansion of its San Jose campus by adding a new office tower for 3,000 employees.

“Overwhelmingly, San Jose’s actual voters and taxpayers want Google in downtown San Jose,” said Carl Guardino, president of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, a public policy trade association whose 400 member companies include big employers such as Google, Cisco and Facebook as well as startups and midsize companies. “Families and workers want transit options close to jobs and especially options for jobs and transit close to their homes.”

Not everyone supports the idea. Protesters opposed to the project recently interrupted Liccardo’s State of the City address. And community activists led by Silicon Valley Rising have marched and held rallies, worried that Google’s downtown expansion might worsen the city’s affordable housing shortage, unleash more traffic and fail to provide enough jobs for people with modest incomes.

“Given the backroom nature of the Google deal, the public still does not know how this project will impact their neighborhoods,” said Maria Noel Fernandez, campaign director with Silicon Valley Rising. “This survey makes clear San Jose residents want affordable housing and commitments to quality, family-supporting jobs for local workers as a part of any deal, which is exactly what our coalition has been demanding from Google.

Of those polled, 53 percent said the 20,000 Google jobs were more important to them than housing for new residents, while 38 percent said providing housing was a higher priority. Nine percent had no opinion. Google has yet to reveal specific plans for any housing associated with the development.

“Downtown San Jose is exactly the right place to try to bring jobs, housing and transit together on a big scale,” said economist Stephen Levy, director of the Palo Altobased Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. “Diridon Station will be the center for Caltrain, BART, high-speed rail, light rail, the ACE Train. “San Jose has been trying to build up its tax base for some time, and this project will help greatly.”

Of those surveyed, 79 percent said they support development that combines jobs, housing and mass transit in an urban setting, while 16 percent oppose it and 5 percent had no opinion.

“You are talking about Google, a world-class company and employer, that is going to build a campus next to a major transit hub, not a suburban campus surrounded by thousands of parking spaces,” said Matthew Mahood, president of The Silicon Valley Organization, formerly the San JoseSilicon Valley Chamber of Commerce. “This is exactly what San Jose has been looking for: a major company, in addition to Adobe, that will have a big presence in downtown San Jose.”

J. Moore Methods Public Opinion Research conducted the poll of 431 Santa Clara County registered voters from Dec. 27 through Jan. 9 for the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and the Bay Area News Group. Silicon Valley Leadership Group provided funding for the poll with significant financial support from Facebook. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.8 percent.