FWIW on #3, Google has been pushing for rezoning the North Bayshore area (the area by its campus, north of 101 around Shoreline) for mixed-use ground-level retail + high-rise apartments since I got here in 2009. This plan would create about 1100 housing units within walking distance of campus, taking that many cars (or more, including spouses) off of 101, off of Shoreline, and probably out of SF or Mountain View where they're currently driving up rents in existing housing. They have been consistently blocked by a 4-member voting bloc in the Mountain View City Council who don't want the character of Mountain View to change at all (even if the high-rises would go up north of 101, where it's all zoned industrial anyway). 3 of those members are retiring this year, so we'll see what happens.