I was here for that vote, and &quot;preservation&quot; was not an issue. The lot in question had been unoccupied for about 20 years at that point. People were eager to have it replaced with something useful.<p>&gt;It was forced to the ballot and defeated<p>Home Depot voluntary withdrew their application for a zoning variance before it ever received a hearing with the City, and then filed the ballot initiative instead. This unwillingness to even try to work with the city council was seen by voters as arrogance, and led to the measure&#x27;s defeat.<p>&gt;A residential care facility went in there instead.<p>Actually, a (large) medical center went there:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pamf.org&#x2F;mountainview&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pamf.org&#x2F;mountainview&#x2F;</a><p>&gt;The subsequent reduction in commercial traffic there...<p>Note that since the lot had been unoccupied prior, the construction of the medical center led to an increase, not decrease, in commercial traffic.<p>&gt;...resulted in the supermarket next door also closing.<p>The ballot measure was defeated on March 5, 2002. The supermarket closed on November 8, 2014. It seems unlikely the two events are connected.<p>This level of inaccuracy when arguing against &quot;NIMBYism&quot; is unfortunately common here in Mountain View. Indeed, I&#x27;ve seen worse.  Which is why I encourage to people to understand historical context and try to engage with people they think of as NIMBYs rather than just dismiss them out of hand. Even in San Francisco.