“At the end of Nightingale Avenue, a tall yellow brick facade now blocks the view of the Santa Cruz Mountains to the south. Residents call it the ‘prison wall,'” Seung Lee reports for The Mercury News. “For Apple, the facade is part of the 100,000-square-foot wellness center at its brand-new ‘spaceship’ campus. But for some of the Nightingale residents, the prison wall — nicknamed for its drab color — symbolizes four years of pent-up frustration living next door to Apple’s huge construction project.”
“As Apple puts the finishing touches on its $5 billion campus set on 175 acres, Sunnyvale’s Birdland neighborhood has become a microcosm of the tensions that can erupt as tech expands and residents deal with clogged streets, fewer parking spaces and higher housing costs. ‘We feel neglected,’ said Bonnie Lieberman, who is raising two children in the neighborhood. “’I feel like because we’re on the fringe of the city, we don’t get as much concern,'” Lee reports. “Residents complain of drivers cutting through the neighborhood to avoid heavy traffic; constant construction noise, sometimes lasting past midnight; a halo of light above Apple Park at night; dirt and dust pollution, which occasionally cakes their cars; and sharp objects on Homestead and nearby streets puncturing car tires. Apple says it has been quick to respond to complaints, even providing coupons for car washes.”
“‘My life has been a constant hell since October 2013,’ said IrisAnn Nelson, who has lived on Nightingale Avenue since 1996. “’We get treated like we don’t matter. Cupertino doesn’t care because we’re not in Cupertino. Sunnyvale doesn’t seem to care either,'” Lee reports. “Housing values in the neighborhood have doubled since 2011, according to Art Maryon of Intero Real Estate Services. And in the first six months of 2017, 24 houses in Birdland sold on average at $1,690,350, according to Maryon. The increase in property values mirrors what has happened in the rest of Sunnyvale, and across the Bay Area, but Birdland’s proximity to Apple Park makes it even more desirable.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If it’s too much for you, sell your house and move.
Only in the land of fruits and nuts would they piss and moan about some dust, noise, and free car washes as their property values rocket from $800K to $1.69 million in 72 months.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “David G.” for the heads up.]
