Google It

During this quarter I didn't really feel that i wrote anything that resembled an exemplary final essay. So instead of pulling a final essay, i decided to post my midterm paper. Although it isn't my a super major essay, i felt that it resembles my writing the most. I enjoy writing about social problems, and trying to figure out ways to solve them, and i think my midterm paper represents that the most. I wrote about Google, and how it is taking control of its home, Mountain View, ushering out small businesses and local homeowners, and in this paper I talk about how we can press on all the while coexisting and sharing Mountain View.

“How do I fix this water heater”? “Just Google it”. When Google moved to Mountain View in 1999, it had only a handful of employees and a goal, to publicize their search engine.  Now Google has over 20,000 employees and has become the biggest employer in the city. In, Days of Destruction, Days of revolts, Hedges makes an argument that big corporations slowly exploits the city it is located in and profits of the bankruptcy of the city. Although Google hasn’t entirely bankrupt Mountain View, it has definitely complicated Mountain View. Although you can argue that, Google is making Mountain View tons of money and providing lots of jobs, but in reality, Google is causing Mountain View to payloads of tax dollars, increased unemployment rate, and increased housing prices, rendering Mountain View almost unlivable to some.

Google is a search engine located right off highway 101 near Mountain View. Their original head quarters cover as much land as the Empire State Building. The employees their have a great experience, because Google treats their employees with the best quality of service. From personal experience, I toured the Mountain View headquarters when I was a freshman, and what I experienced was magical. Their food was 5-star, there were sleeping pods located, free cars to drive, free bikes, company gas, and most importantly, a food station every 40 feet from any employee. What a beautiful place to work at. But little did I truly understand the how Google was slowing bankrupting the start-up companies, and the business around it. City council member, Leonard M. Siegel said, “Our Problem is that we have too many good jobs, everyone else wishes they were in our situation, but it’s a crisis for the people here”. Because of Google employing almost everyone, the small start-up companies such as OnLive, and other small companies cannot even step foot in the Silicon Valley. Isn’t growth the most important thing for a community, and currently we aren’t growing. Out of those bankrupted start-ups, maybe one of them could have been the next Google or Apple.  Another way Google has impacted this community is that its causing living to be more expensive. When asked, Wendee Crofoot, a community activist and resident for 20 years, said her rent went up $100 recently. "I have a feeling it's going to go up by about $300. This is terrifying and I'm not sure where I'll go," she said. Right by my house, new houses were built and sold out to Google employees before they were even finished. My aunt who was interested in purchasing those houses didn’t even have a chance to put in an offer.

My point so far is not kick Google out of Mountain View, but instead of expanding here, halt expansion in Mountain View and move to someplace like Richmond and Oakland and improve the living conditions there just like it did in Mountain View. Camden was once a booming city, much like Mountain View is today. The shipping ports brought all sorts of people into the city, increasing revenue, putting money back into the city. But then the shipping ports got bankrupt, and the city slowing dwindled down to almost nothing. So this raises the question, what if Google were to move out of Mountain View? What would happen to our city? Joe Balzino, in Days of Destruction explained his perspective of the bankruptcy of the sipping ports, “I think what stands out in my mind, HOW THE MAIN Driveway in Camden-Broadway- how it changed… From American “Graffiti” to almost a bleakness. Because of how much the shipping ports were a part of Camden’s economy I fear because of Google being so much of our economy, their expansion, and it’s unlikely, but possible downfall can destroy the city of Mountain View.

Google is a great company, which treats it’s employees and the community of Mountain view well, but I just hope they don’t overrun the city of Mountain View. My parents want to retire here, and I hope they don’t have to move because the cost of living here becomes too high. And also we become to reliant on Google to solve our problems, and when one day, when technology becomes irrelevant, we won’t suffer the same fate as Camden.

Dougherty, Conor. "Google Plans New Headquarters, and a City Fears Being Overrun." The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 Feb. 2015. Web. 27 Feb. 2015.

Hedges, Chris, and Joe Sacco. Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt. New York: Nation, 2012. Print.

Debolt, Daniel. "Renters Pour out Woes at Housing Event." Renters Pour out Woes at Housing Event. Mountain View Voice, 23 June 2014. Web. 27 Feb. 2015.