Google's official unofficial motto is "Don't Be Evil". Apparently they don't extend that to urban design. The NY Times today ran an article called "Hiding in Plain Sight" that talks about Google's new activities in The Dalles, Oregon.
This massive windowless concrete-and-parking monster located on the banks of the Columbia is ... evil. Each of the buildings in the photo is roughly the size of a football field. Roughly the same amount in parking. Goodbye livability.
The tone of the article is evil as well. Google is moving into The Dalles secretly. No one will talk about it. No one mentions Google. This is not the mark of a good neighbor.
Rather than focusing on how fast google is growing, computing as a utility, or available fiber, which are all true and interesting, we could ask - how can Google be "not evil" and antisocial at the same time?
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