Apple’s new 2.8million-square-foot ‘spaceship’ campus is reportedly making life a living hell for residents of Sunnyvale, California.
Those who live under the shadow of the hulking $5billion building have complained of blocked streets, fewer parking spaces and rocketing housing costs since Apple started construction in 2014.
Officially known as Apple Park, the UFO-like building will house 12,000 employees when it is completely at the end of 2017.
But residents whose quiet town in Cupertino has been disrupted by the Goliath construction project say they feel neglected,Mercury News reports.
Apple’s new 2.8million-square-foot ‘spaceship’ campus is making life a living hell for residents of Sunnyvale, California
Those who live under the shadow of the hulking $5billion building have complained of blocked streets, fewer parking spaces and rocketing housing costs
Officially known as Apple Park, the UFO-like building will house 12,000 employees when it is completely at the end of 2017
Its critics include mother-of-two Bonnie Lieberman who says: ‘I feel like because we’re on the fringe of the city, we don’t get as much concern.’
Just some of their complaints include heavy traffic, constant and untimely construction noise, dust which covers their cars, sharp objects on nearby streets and the disturbing glow of the Apple ‘halo’ at night time.
Apple claims it has responded to complaints, and even gifted residents with coupons for car washes, but locals now demand intervention from city officials.
‘My life has been a constant hell since October 2013,’ says Iris-Ann Nelson, who has lived just outside Cupertino’s limits for 11 years.
She added: ‘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.’
Nelson claims the three tire punctures she has suffered in as many years are because of the construction taking place on the road she drives on every day.
Apple held more than 100 meetings with local organisations over the last five years, according to its vice president of real estate and development Dan Whisenhunt.
Just some of their complaints include heavy traffic, constant and untimely construction noise, dust which covers their cars, sharp objects on nearby streets
Apple claims it has responded to complaints, and even gifted residents with coupons for car washes
Residents whose quiet town in Cupertino has been disrupted by the goliath construction project say they feel neglected
Apple held more than 100 meetings with local organisations over the last five years, according to its vice president of real estate
He says Apple banned trucks and company buses driving on streets in Birdland, which lies on the Cupertino-Sunnyvale border.
The company also claims to have given $4.8million to the Santa Clara Valley Water District for a pipeline to provide Apple, as well as other local businesses, with recycled water.
It is also planning to donate Apple plans to donate up to $500,000 to Sunnyvale to monitor potential traffic impact.