May 13th, 2009
Steve Jobs headed toward victory in Town Hall fight
Steve Jobs appears headed toward victory in a Town Hall fight that’s been going on for about a decade. Yesterday, the town council in Woodside, California - an affluent community in the hills just west of Stanford University - voted 6-1 to move forward with a permit process that would allow Jobs to demolish a historic 14-room mansion.
Previous coverage: Is Steve Jobs too frail for even a Town Hall fight?
One of the reasons the council voted the way it did was because the house had never been added to a historical registry. In the absence of such a designation, “we can’t force somebody to feel they have to preserve something,” council member Susan Boynton said, according to a report in the San Jose Mercury News.
When the matter appeared on the agenda for the small town council meeting, people spent hours addressing the council - some calling for preservation, others arguing for Jobs’ rights as a property owner. Steve Jobs did not attend that meeting.
Town staff will now updated an environmental impact report and draft a demolition permit. The matter will appear before the town council again on June 9.
Also see: CNET’s gallery of the home that Jobs wants to demolish
Sam Diaz is a senior editor at ZDNet. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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