May 30
0

Castro Street: Where It Came From, Why It Should Be Preserved

By | City Planning, Historic Buildings | No Comments
  • Red Rock: 201 Castro
  • Ames Building: 171 Castro

•  1852 The first Mountain View was a tiny settlement formed around the first stagecoach stop for the first stagecoach service originated by John W. Whisman near Grant Road and El Camino.  Richard Carr opened the first general merchandise store.

• I853 the Weilheimer brothers, Seligman and Samuel, German-Jewish immigrants, arrived from Germany and to take a shot at the American Dream. they opened the second general merchandise store. Competition and diversity had an early start in Mountain View.

• 1854 The settlement is named “Mountain View” by a local store shop keeper and post master, Jacob Shumway. 

•1856 The Weilheimer brothers established a general store, livery, and hotel in Mountain View.

•1860 The census listed Julius Weilheimer as being 9 months old. He will eventually run the family businesses, serve as town mayor, town trustee, help create and serve as  vice president of the local bank (now occupied by Red Rock Coffee) which eventually became Bank of America, built and resided in the Weilheimer House at 938 Villa in 1894 (currently occupied by Chez TJ), lead the effort to rebuild a shattered downtown after the 1906 earthquake, and serve as postmaster and Wells Fargo representative among other contributions to our city.

•1864 The railroad in the form of the Southern Pacific arrived and by locating its rail line in its present location, the Mountain View we know today grew and prospered.

•1865 The new Mountain View town grid was laid out and remains today with Castro as the main street.  The area was called Villa Lands.

•1867 Rengstorff House was built.

•1870-71 The Weilheimer brothers thrived and opened more businesses on and near Castro Street. Their 1874 Farmers Store at 124 Castro Street remains today and is occupied by Oren’s Hummus. It is believed to be the oldest building on Castro Street and perhaps the peninsula.  

•1880 The Weilheimer family built its home and opened a stable on what is now Evelyn Street with and another general merchandise store in the first block of Castro Street.

• 1902 Mountain View was incorporated, Mountain View High School opened. We had electric streetlights, telephone service and a municipal water system.

•1905 The Ames Building at 171 Castro Street, was built with its Spanish influenced tiled roofline and is one of Castro’s oldest commercial structures.  For decades it was occupied by the Jehning family lock business and Lock Museum.

•1906 The Mockbee Building at 191 Castro Street, occupied by Knapps, is an example of the Italiante Style of commercial buildings popular in Mountain View. It was originally a hardware store and meeting place for civic groups.

•1906 the San Francisco Earthquake destroyed many downtown businesses including the Ames Building which was quickly rebuilt.

•1913 The Jurian Building at 194 Castro Street, most recently a candy and pop shop, was a drug store and general merchandise building that had a hall upstairs for dances, civic gatherings and celebrations.

•1920 The Farmers and Merchants State Bank at 201 Castro Street, now occupied by Red Rock Coffee was built with the participation and investment of Julius Weilheimer and remains a distinguished building with Romanesque features and elaborate decoration.

•1933 U.S. Naval Air Station, Moffett Field was established with buildings in the Spanish Revival style then popular in California.  The Air Base Laundry, now occupied by Tied House, opened at 954 Villa Street to serve the needs of the Air Base and utilized the same Spanish Revival architecture, as do other buildings in Mountain View, Sunnyvale and Palo Alto.

Apr 19
0

Susan Kirsch, Founder of Livable California sends this message to take action around SB50.

By | Uncategorized | No Comments

Susan Kirsch, Founder of Livable California sends this message to take action around SB50.

Note that Livable Mountain View was formed before the other Livable orgs, and while we have different views on issues facing California, and want to promote building housing with planning for schools, parks, transit and infrastructure like sewers and water systems to support this new housing.

Mountain View put in 18% of housing built in Santa Clara County last year, and yet we are less than 1% of the land mass. We cannot ask people to live in density without parks, or provide schools for kids etc. So we must plan it locally, and the state bills that will remove local zoning are “one sized fits all”. But Mountain View isn’t like Modesto or even Fremont. We are different, and are managing getting a lot of housing in quickly without the State of California handcuffing our city and ruining our historic downtown.

Therefore we oppose these bills and suggest the state find other ways to encourage communities not putting in dense housing to do so, because MV is building in excess of the State standards for adding new housing.

Hi All –

We’ve had inquiries about advocacy, priorities and action during the next few weeks.  Here’s a guide.   

You’re not expected to do everything; only that you do one or two things–the ones that you’re good at! 

Resource for all bills: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/

ADVOCACY.  Livable CA, working closely with Coalition to Preserve LA, is focusing on legislative advocacy, especially opposing SB 50, SB 330, and AB 1487.

SB-50 (Wiener) Planning and zoning: housing development: incentives.

Schedule, Actions, Contacts 

Now –  Make calls, send email to Senate Governance & Finance Committee, recruit others to call and send emails

4/17 –  Deadline to email comments to Anton.Favorini-Csorba@sen.ca.gov.  Subject line: OPPOSE SB 50.

4/17 –  Deadline to email letters to the full committee: https://calegislation.lc.ca.gov/Advocates/

4/23 –  Livable CA, Coalition to Preserve LA Lobby Day.  Contact Rick Hall: Rick@LivableCA.

4/24 –  Governance & Finance Committee Hearing, Sacramento.  9:00 am, Room 112.  Get a sticker.

Resource: Please Share this Stop SB50 Link – Click Here

SENATE Governance & Finance Committee

Mike McGuire, Chair   (916) 651-4002           senator.mcguire@senate.ca.gov 

John Moorlach, VC      (916) 651-4037           https://moorlach.cssrc.us/content/my-offices

Jim Beall                      (916) 651-4015            https://sd15.senate.ca.gov/send-e-mail

Robert Hertzberg        (916) 651-4018           https://sd18.senate.ca.gov/contact/email

Melissa Hurtado         (916) 651-4014           https://sd14.senate.ca.gov/contact

Jim Nielsen                  (916) 651-4004           https://nielsen.cssrc.us/content/email-me

Scott Wiener               (916) 651-4011           https://sd11.senate.ca.gov/contact

SB-330 (Skinner) Housing Crisis Act of 2019.

Schedule, Actions, Contacts 

Now –  Make calls, send email to Senate Housing Committee, recruit others to call and send emails.  

Noon: Deadline to email comments to   Subject line: OPPOSE SB 330.  Sample:  Livable California letter attached

4/17 –  Deadline to email letters to the full committee: https://calegislation.lc.ca.gov/Advocates/

4/22 –  Housing Committee Hearing, 3:00 pm, Room 112. 

Issues with SB 330:  1) Restricts a local jurisdiction or ballot measure or initiative from downsizing or imposing building moratoria on land where housing is an allowable use; 2) Prohibits a city or county from conducting more than three hearings on an application for a housing development project; and 3) Prevails as a ten-year emergency statute.

Script:  I’m calling re: SB 330.  Me and my voting neighbors and friends OPPOSE this bill and urge Senator ___ to vote “No.”

  
SENATE Housing Committee

Scott Wiener, Chair     (916) 651-4011

Mike Morrell, VC          (916) 651-4023

Anna Caballero            (916) 651-4012

Maria Durazo               (916) 651-4024

Shannon Grove            (916) 651-4016

Mike McGuire            (916) 651-4002

John Moorlach             (916) 651-4037

Richard Roth                (916) 651-4031

Nancy Skinner             (916) 651-4009

Thomas Umberg          (916) 651-4034

Bob Wieckowski          (916) 651-4010

AB-1487 (Chiu) San Francisco Bay area: housing development: financing.

Schedule, Actions, Contacts 

Now –  Make calls, send email to Assembly Committee on Local Government, recruit others to call and send emails. 

4/18 – Letters due by 5 pm: https://alcl.assembly.ca.gov/   Go to “Submit Position Letter.”  Sample:  Livable California letter attached

4/24 –  Local Government Committee Hearing at 1:30, Room 127

Issues with AB 1487 (comes out of the flawed CASA Compact):  1) Establishes the Housing Alliance for the Bay Area (HABA), a new regional entity serving the 9-county Bay Area to fund affordable housing, preservation and tenant protection programs; 2) Authority to place unspecified revenue measures on the ballot, issue bonds, allocate funds, etc.;  3) Governed by a Board composed of members of MTC (9) and ABAG (9) and staffed by MTC; 4) A trial Trojan Horse rolled out in the Bay Area, and with success is likely to be rolled out around the state.

Script:  “I’m calling re: AB 1487.  Me and my voting neighbors and friends OPPOSE this bill and urge Assembly member ___ to vote “No.”

  
ASSEMBLY Committee on Local Government  

Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, Chair       (916) 319-2004

Tom Lackey, VC                        (916) 319-2036

Richard Bloom                           (916) 319-2050

Tasha Boerner Horvath          (916) 319-2076

James Ramos                           (916) 319-2040

Luz Rivas                                  (916) 319-2039

Robert Rivas                             (916) 319-2030

Randy Voepel                           (916) 319-2071

Don’t give up!!   This is a long-haul effort to stop SB 50 and the other bills that threaten communities. Sen. Wiener and his colleagues have had over a year to build momentum, relying on MTC, CASA, Bay Area Council network, Silicon Valley Leadership power, etc.  We are the David in this battle with Goliath.  Here’s what happens next.  

  1. April 11-April 21 -Legislators are on Spring Recess. They’re likely home.  Make an appointment for you and 1-2 others to meet with your local representatives. If you can’t get a face-to-face meeting, convey your concerns by phone.
  2. May 31 – Last day for bills to pass on their floor of origin (Senate Bills on the Senate Floor; Assembly Bills on the Assembly Floor.  We’ll continue to lobby between 4/24 and 5/31 with a goal to defeat the bills.
  3. July 12 –  If SB 50 and SB 330 are still alive, they will be heard in Assembly Committee before 7/12.  We’ll lobby to defeat and are told our chances might be better in the Assembly
  4. August 6 – Last day for Assembly to make amendments on the floor.
  5. September 13 – Last day or any bill to be passed to go to the Governor
  6. October 13 – Last day for governor to sign or veto SB 50 and all other bills

What does your imagination and creativity nudge you to do?  

THANKS for all your efforts! Sometimes success comes from the most unlikely source, strategy, person or idea.  

Hold the vision: SB 50, SB 330, AB 1487 and others – go down to defeat!  We change the narrative.  

Best wishes, 

Susan

Susan Kirsch, Founder

Livable California

www.LivableCalifornia.org

Apr 19
0

What’s the latest on saving Chez TJ and Tied House?

By | Historic Buildings, Livability | One Comment
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Livable Mountain View is pleased to inform you that the 1894 Weilheimer House (Chez TJ’s) and the 1931 Air Base Laundry (Tied House) now qualify for consideration to be included on the National Register of Historic Places!

On February 1, 2019 the State Historic Preservation Commission (SHRC) in Sacramento met to consider a decision (details at this link). This is the culmination of more than a year of research, signature gathering and filings in LMV’s efforts to preserve the historic core of our city. This decision is our opportunity to inform city leaders, planners and developers that preservation of these historic buildings is crucial to maintaining the welcoming, unique sense of place that is vital to our downtown, to encourage walkability and to lend a rich texture to the fabric of our community.

You can find more detailed information about these buildings, their significance, history and the effort to save them here a our archive history link.

Mar 15
0

History Of Castro Street And Its Buildings

By | Historic Buildings, MV Council | No Comments

CASTRO STREET: WHERE IT CAME FROM, WHY IT SHOULD BE PRESERVED.

•  1852 The first Mountain View was a tiny settlement formed around the first stagecoach stop for the first stagecoach service originated by John W. Whisman near Grant Road and El Camino.  Richard Carr opened the first general merchandise store.

• 1853 The Weilheimer brothers, Seligman and Samuel, German-Jewish immigrants, arrived from Germany and take a shot at the American Dream. They opened the second general merchandise store. Competition and diversity had an early start in Mountain View.

• 1854 The settlement is named “Mountain View” by a local store shop keeper and post master, Jacob Shumway. 

• 1856 The Weilheimer brothers established a general store, livery, and hotel in Mountain View.

• 1860 The census listed Julius Weilheimer as being 9 months old. He would eventually run the family businesses, serve as town mayor, town trustee, help create and serve as co-founder and vice president of the local Farmers & Merchants bank (now occupied by Red Rock Coffee) which eventually became Bank of America. He also built and resided in the Weilheimer House at 938 Villa in 1894 (whose living room served as the city council meeting chambers and is currently occupied by Chez TJ), led the effort to rebuild a shattered downtown after the 1906 earthquake, and served as postmaster and Wells Fargo representative among other contributions to our city.

• 1864 The railroad in the form of the Southern Pacific arrived and by locating its rail line in its present location, the Mountain View we know today grew and prospered.

• 1865 The new Mountain View town grid was laid out and remains today with Castro as the main street.  The area was called Villa Lands.

• 1867 Henry Rengstorff built his house near Rengstorff Landing where he operated a ferry between Mountain View and San Francisco.

• 1870-71 The Weilheimer brothers thrived and opened more businesses on and near Castro Street. Their 1874 Farmers Store at 124 Castro Street remains today and is occupied by Oren’s Hummus. It is believed to be the oldest building on Castro Street and perhaps the peninsula.  

• 1880 The Weilheimer family built its home and opened a stable on what is now Evelyn Street with and another general merchandise store in the first block of Castro Street.

• 1902 Mountain View was incorporated and Mountain View High School opened. We had electric streetlights, telephone service and a municipal water system.

• 1905 The Ames Building at 171 Castro Street, was built with its Spanish influenced tiled roofline and is one of Castro’s oldest commercial structures.  For decades it was occupied by the Jehning family lock business and Lock Museum.

• 1906 The Mockbee Building at 191 Castro Street, occupied by Knapps, is an example of the Italianate Style of commercial buildings popular in Mountain View. It was originally a hardware store and meeting place for civic groups.

• 1906 the San Francisco Earthquake destroyed many downtown businesses including the Ames Building which was quickly rebuilt.

• 1913 The Jurian Building at 194 Castro Street, most recently a candy and pop shop, was a drug store and general merchandise building that had a hall upstairs for dances, civic gatherings and celebrations.

• 1920 The Farmers and Merchants State Bank at 201 Castro Street, now occupied by Red Rock Coffee was built with the participation and investment of Julius Weilheimer and remains a distinguished building with Romanesque features and elaborate decoration.

• 1933 U.S. Naval Air Station, Moffett Field was established with buildings in the Spanish Revival style then popular in California.  The Air Base Laundry, now occupied by Tied House, opened at 954 Villa Street to serve the needs of the Air Base and utilized the same Spanish Revival architecture, as do other buildings in Mountain View, Sunnyvale and Palo Alto.

Jan 13
0

New Council Recognizes Livable Mountain and Commits Toward our Goals

By | Livability, MV Council | No Comments

Tuesday, January 8, 2019 was a landmark day for Livable Mountain View and its supporters.  In her inauguration speech, newly elected Mayor Lisa Matichak pointed out the need for the council to address the livability concerns of Mountain View residents.  Here is a quote from her speech:

We, your city council, need to address issues residents have been asking us to address, especially in the area of quality of life.  We know that residents want us to address the public health and safety issues that come with vehicles used as primary living spaces, they want us to improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists, they want us to preserve the character of our downtown, they want us to address airplane noise, preserve Heritage trees, and more.  I’m hoping we can make significant progress on quality of life issues in 2019.    

Livable Mountain View particularly welcome’s our new mayor’s recognition of the need to preserve our downtown’s character.

We would also like to thank newly elected council member and Livable Mountain View co-founder Alison Hicks, who acknowledged our support of her campaign, who noted:

When we are tackling those huge global and regional problems, in the end, we need to remember that Mountain View is home to a lot of people, and we need to make sure that as we grow, we keep Mountain View a truly great place to live.

It will be an exciting year as we work with the new council to promote all that is best in our city.

Jan 09
0

New MV City Council Sworn In: Congratulations to Alison Hicks, Ellen Kamei & Lucas Ramirez

By | MV Council | No Comments

Congratulation to the three new council members sworn into the Mountain View City Council last night at a ceremony held in Council Chambers. Alison Hicks, Ellen Kamei and Lucas Ramirez became members of the council last night.

Alison Hicks, Ellen Kamei and Lucas Ramirez (R to L) being sworn into the MV City Council

Additionally, for the 2019 year, Lisa Matichak was voted into the position of mayor and Margaret Abe-Koga was voted into the position of Vice-Major. Congratulations to both!

Many citizens turned out to witness the evening and support democracy in action. In fact it was packed and the room was hot due to all the folks there. But it was fun and exciting to see it all happen.

Livable Mountain View looks forward to working with all the Council, both newly elected and those already in office, to make our city the most livable on the peninsula!

Oct 11
0

LIVABLE MOUNTAIN VIEW ENDORSES ALISON HICKS & ELLEN KAMEI

By | Affordable Housing, City Planning, Design, Historic Buildings, Livability, Walk Appeal | One Comment

Below are our endorsements for City Council, after a written question and answer period, where some candidates asked for in-person interviews. Following are links to their written statements, if they submitted them:

LivMV Council Endorsements 2018See written answers from:  Alison Hicks (pdf), Ellen Kamei (pdf),  Pat Showalter (pdf), Lenny Siegel (pdf), Lucas Ramirez (pdf).  NOTE: Candidate John Inks elected not return the questionnaire or respond.

Based on a 5 questionnaire form and interviews (optional) the current Council Candidates received the following scores: Alison Hicks (5), Ellen Kamei (4), Pat Showalter (3), Lenny Siegel (1.5), Lucas Ramirez (1), John Inks (0).

Our questions were focused on topics that greatly affect livability and quality of life in Mountain View.

Scoring was based on one point for each signed response and comments were considered which were provided by the candidates. Partial credit was given to those who supported the spirit of the question both through comments and their voting records.

 

 

Sep 01
0

What is a Deadzone?

By | City Planning, Design, Walk Appeal | No Comments

There are an alarming amount of “deadzones” in Mtn View. This is a planning term used for areas that have no public interaction or service to the community. Here in black are the areas people are barred from entering in our downtown:Deadzones in black: Mountain View's downtown

 

    Deadzones harm the remaining businesses trying to survive because they hurt foot traffic numbers and the remaining businesses feel less interesting. Less retail concentration in proximity leads to less vibrancy and sustainability for the remaining businesses. Deadzones come in many forms:
    • Permanently closed shops
    • offices allowed on our main walking streets that block out the windows and don’t allow interactive use
    • buildings with blank walls feet from our main sidewalks on Castro,
    • buildings with temporary closures for remodels or even, as we found out interviewing shopkeeps, from lack of traffic that simply means they stay open very few hours.
    • Out of town developers come to make money on land they deem most profitable: office space, but contribute to the deterioration of our downtown by putting office buildings which are not interactive, closed to the street, and contain commercial kitchens that feed their employees for free, starving our downtown restaurants. A triple threat to our downtown.
      Quora offices at 605 Castro

      Quora’s office use creates a deadzone on Castro Street.

Here is an example, right on Castro: The Quora Building at 605. Note the closed shades, right on our main street, in the middle of the day. Surrounding retail businesses struggle when some areas on the main street are closed. Foot traffic decreases in these deadzone areas.

Aug 31
0

Combining Density and Livability

By | City Planning, Design, Historic Buildings, Livability, Walk Appeal | No Comments

Urban Grain and Vibrancy of Older Neighborhoods: Metrics and Measures is a new paper by Kathryn Rogers Merlino at University of Washington. It speaks to what Livable Mountain View has been saying we need for Mountain View’s downtown, which is to create density but with livability that includes a sense of place that is unique to Mountain View. One of the things we hear from Sunnyvale folks, both residents and their leaders, is that it was a huge mistake to tear out their historic downtown (all but two blocks). The 5 story boxy steel and glass buildings have tenants who live in them above, but the retail shops below aren’t all filled, and the sidewalks are deserted after 5pm. It’s not a place that is special or that people want to be. And we’ve heard that Sunnyvale is now looking to recreate that as an extension to the 2 blocks of Murphy Street so they can get it back.

We don’t want to see Mountain View lose our first three blocks (See our analysis of our Downtown Precise Plan which shows that every building, even ones that might one day be on the historic register, can be removed and bulldozed the next.) And frankly, we are concerned that without the preservation of the buildings that give us character we could end up just like Sunnyvale. Regretting it and not having the new development used as a downtown like it should be. We want density, but we want to use the lots and areas without special buildings to make it and leave the special buildings in tact and protected.

Current trends of urbanization across the country are focusing on increased density in our cities. While the idea of living at higher densities can combat sprawl, how does this affect existing, older neighborhoods? Many new buildings built for high density lack a sense of historic character and uniqueness of place, and cover entire blocks that don’t lend themselves to a quality pedestrian experience. Density must be combined with livability if we are to make quality cities that make successful places for people. This paper presents a study that suggests that a variety of age, texture and scale in buildings inherently assert a degree of richness in neighborhoods. Preliminary results of the study suggest that fine grain buildings in a block correlate with increased pedestrian activity and therefore urban vibrancy.

The study’s conclusion:

…preliminary results of the study provide quantifiable data that suggest a finer grain block with older building ages corresponds to increased pedestrian activity and street vibrancy. Higher ratings were found on blocks that had shorter average building widths that corresponded with older buildings and more durable materials. Blocks that had long, continuous building facades appeared to provide no interest or engagement for the pedestrian, nor did blocks that had open, empty lots, or buildings with poor material quality.

As the Merlino team at UW continues the study collecting data and analyzing the ways people react in different urban environments, we will keep you updated.