Students complain that Cupertino is a small town where nothing ever happens. We do not live in a big city, like our neighbors in San Jose or San Francisco, and our limited scandals are usually academic. However, the millions of iPhone users who launch the weather app find our “small town” as the default location. Apple put us on the map, and they are in the news again for their new “spaceship” campus.

Cupertino City Council unanimously approved of the new headquarters on Oct. 15. They will hold a final vote on Nov. 16, but Apple has received permission to begin building. Though the campus might cause inconveniences, we should tolerate them and appreciate the benefits to our local economy that the new landmark will provide.

The campus will be 2.82 million square feet and developed in “the area bounded by I-280 to the south, Wolfe Road to the west, Homestead Road to the north and North Tantau Avenue to the east,” Cupertino City Services reported. This already busy location is approximately four miles from our school, and the new campus will add to the I-280 traffic, but Apple is taking measures to reduce this issue. The company reports that more than one-third of its employees will be using public buses or employee shuttles for the commute to minimize blockage. Apple is also providing $60 million in funding towards traffic and roadway improvements in the area.

Although the massive structure could potentially affect the environment, the architectural team remained focused on protecting the area.

“We’re maximizing the natural resources of the area,” Lisa Jackson, VP of Environmental Initiatives at Apple, said in the proposal video. According to Jackson, Campus 2 will run on 100 percent renewable energy. The company will take every effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by planting over 700 trees and covering the building with solar panels.

At the Oct. 15 meeting, Apple’s Senior Director of Real Estate & Facilities, Dan Whisenhunt, emphasized the “unmatched” community benefits the new campus will provide. Today, there are 16,000 Apple employees across Cupertino. When Campus 2 is completed, they will employ a total of 24,000 employees in Cupertino and 41,000 in the county. While the campus is being built, Apple will be creating 9,000 additional construction jobs, most of which will be “high paying union jobs”. When the campus is completed, Apple’s revenue for local business will be increased from last year’s $5.9 billion to over $8 billion. Beginning next year, the new campus will also be giving $45 million back to Cupertino in property sale and construction fees, and an additional $73 million for public improvements including parklands and affordable housing.

Apple’s proposal document states that the primary objective of the new campus is to “promote shared creativity and collaboration, and spur invention of the next several generations of Apple products” and to “achieve the security and privacy required for the invention of new products.” Considering the amount of Apple products MVHS students own, from phones and iPods to the iMacs at school, the traffic increase is an annoying but fair consequence of the new headquarters.

“Cupertino is Apple’s home,” CFO Peter Oppenheimer said during the City of Cupertino press conference on Oct. 16. “We love Cupertino, we’re very proud to be here, and we were thrilled that Apple Campus 2 will be a part of Cupertino.”

The nearby campus might affect our commute to school, but we are no strangers to construction, and the potential benefits outweigh the inconvenience.