Two days after unveiling iCloud at WWDC in San Francisco, Steve Jobs made an appearance at the Cupertino City Council. During the 20 minute presentation he revealed his plans for Apple’s new mothership: a four-story circle of glass big enough to house 13,000 employees.

“It a little like a spaceship has landed,” he told Cupertino’s star-struck city council.

His 20-minute presentation mixed carrots (150 landscaped acres where now there are concrete parking lots) and one big stick (taking the city’s largest tax base to nearby Mountain View). By the end it was clear that his project would sail through. Groundbreaking would begin in 2012 for occupancy in 2015.