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Comment by Veratyr | Hacker News Reader

How about they build their office space on their existing land? Looking at Google HQ on Google Maps satellite view, it looks like their land is 30-50% parking, i.e. waste.

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You can't just build a skyscraper because you decide you want to. There are a crazy amount of rules/laws/zoning/permits that surround high density construction.

"40% of the buildings in Manhattan could not be built today."

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/05/19/upshot/forty-...

Yes, but it's the city council that makes the zoning rules, and it's the city council that also gives a comment that makes it sound like Google is keeping houses from people. If the city council allowed them to put up a 100 story tower, I bet they would.

They can't. Zoning laws restrict how much building they can actually build on lots they own.

State or city? Could the city let them?

Why is the law that way? A lot of places in the world have way higher density and they're doing just fine (maybe even better - you can't get anywhere in the valley without a car and it's really a nuisance).

See "the high cost of free parking" for a complete answer

Heavily oversimplified, back when cars first became available to the middle class city politicians had a rude awakening when street parking became congested.

Minimum parking space requirements were decided on with an overly simplistic formula focusing on providing for peak demand.

And it never really got better from there

With the incredible emergency we have, you would think, someone would be working hard to change the laws. It's an entirely man made emergency, that need not be. Perhaps it'll take a start up company of politicians to "change the world" to address these types of issues.

Google not being to develop more offices is by no means “an incredible emergency”. The fact that there’s not enough space for people to live, that may qualify as one.

I meant the housing situation overall in the bay area is an incredible emergency.

Growing property values isn't an emergency for homeowners who are the voters who keep these zoning laws in place. It's not that they aren't trying to solve the problem, it's that they are trying to make it "worse" and would fight anyone who tries to solve it. Tyranny of the majority. Politicians don't have that power - they'll be kicked out if they harm their constituents' interests.

You can thank planning rules that require large amounts of parking for that.

It's not just planning rules, but lack of viable alternative transit that force the parking. Taking a bus to Caltrain, Caltrain to Mountain View, then a bus from Caltrain to Google is not a viable alternative to driving.

Privately run buses help, but that's still not a transit solution.

It sounds like their land is where the planned housing was going to be.

yeah, fuck those employees who don't want to pay truly absurd prices to living with in walking distance.

There are methods of transportation other than cars and feet. Google has buses for example.

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