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Google "Evicted" the Berlin Wall From Property It Bought
theodp writes Sunday marks the 25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, which Google commemorates in today's Doodle. "Seeking inspiration for this doodle," notes the Google Doodle Team, "we took a short bike ride from our Mountain View, California headquarters to our local public library to study an actual piece of the Berlin Wall" (the Berlin Wall segments are featured in the Doodle). Interestingly, the post doesn't mention Google's connection to how the two sections of the Berlin Wall wound up at the library. After Google bought the Bayside Business Plaza in 2012, where the 12-foot-tall remnants had been kept for decades by German-born businessman Frank Golzen before his death, it reportedly gave the Golzen family until summer 2013 to get the Berlin Wall off its lawn. "Although the donating family has until next summer to remove the installation from the current location," reads a 2012 City of Mountain View Staff Report, "their preference (and the preference of the new owner of the property) is to remove it sooner." A recommendation to relocate the seven ton concrete slabs to remote Charleston Park, adjacent to the Googleplex, was nixed by the City Council, who voted instead to move the Berlin Wall sections to its current home in front of a downtown public library.
"Something" in this case isn't an old Camaro on blocks, it's a piece of historical construction with the blood of citizens on it.
None the less, it didn't come with the purchase of the building. Thus, Google is correct in asserting that a proper home not in Google's building is appropriate.
This has exactly nothing to do with if or not Google has, as a company, any opinion about this valuable and note-worthy artifact.
By the way, I own a "vintage" and pristine Trabant (really!) ... May I store it in your garage for an undetermined amount of time rent free? You don't really need that space, right?
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.