Report after One Year on the Mountain View Council

December, 2015

My first year on the Mountain View City Council is nearly over. It has been challenging, exciting, time-consuming, and rewarding. Mountain View has successfully completed plans and projects initiated by the previous Council. We are continuing others. And we are plowing new ground in addressing the jobs-housing imbalance, serving – I hope – as a model for our neighbors. Our Council is a collegial, congenial group. We have many split votes, but the alliances change. At times I have voted with every other Council member on significant issues. At times I am on the short end of a six-to-one vote.

Mountain View councilmembers have no individual staff. So we all meet and correspond directly with constituents: individual residents, advocacy organizations, developers, etc. While we don’t always do what people suggest – indeed, we often hear conflicting advice – I believe we all listen. And we appreciate the time people take to inform us and offer their personal perspectives.
This year we continued the work of our predecessors and carry-overs by, among other things, raising the minimum wage, moving forward on Community Choice Energy, and adopting Tree, Parks, Climate Action, and Bike plans. We are building more housing than regional agencies have asked us to, and we opened two “affordable” housing projects.

We are aggressively addressing the jobs-housing imbalance, the issue that prompted me to organize and run for Council in the first place. We have initiated a planning process that is likely to crease an urban, mixed-use neighborhood in the North Bayshore area, including thousands of new housing units, of which one tenth or more are expected to be “affordable.” Though slowed by our planning staff shortfall, we are considering major new housing proposals in the South Bayshore area. However, it should come as no surprise that a majority of council members is usually unwilling to reject proposals for new office construction.

We continue to make improvements in our roadways, bike routes, and walkways, but more important, the Council has asked city staff to develop a workplan for constructing a fixed transit system between downtown and North Bayshore. We support the Google- funded study to link North Bayshore to the NASA-Bayshore light rail station. And we are backing the expansion of CalTrain service with plans for a grade separation at Rengstorff and redevelopment of our downtown transit center. We are also working with elected officials from neighboring cities to lay the groundwork for mass and advanced transit systems to provide alternatives to the single-occupancy auto for people who commute to and from our cities.

Perhaps the most controversial issue we faced this year was renter displacement. Hundreds of people appeared before the council to ask for rent control and just cause
eviction legislation. A smaller number, primarily rental property owners, argued against those proposals. In December, the Council adopted a “right-to-lease” ordinance, modeled after Palo Alto’s, and we provided more money for emergency housing assistance. We asked city staff to develop a “safe parking” program for the growing number of vehicle dwellers in our community.

We also asked city staff to draft a “mandatory mediation” ordinance to address apartment rent increases, evictions, and other rental issues. I was one of the majority of four council members who voted to include a binding step in that process, many details remain unresolved and enactment is not a done deal.

I think that my colleagues and I are making a difference, and I appreciate the opportunity to serve. I urge you to feel free to contact me not only about the issues I’ve discussed above, but anything where the city of Mountain View touches your lives.