Yes In My Back Yard

We are Mountain View YIMBY, advocating for more housing in our city and beyond. We are pro-housing activists fighting for more inclusive housing policies and a future of abundant housing in Mountain View. We drive policy change to increase the supply of housing at all levels and bring down the cost of living in our thriving city.

The San Francisco Bay Area is not “full” of too many people. It is full of opportunity to create a dynamic economy and housing market that work for everyone. The housing shortage is a political problem: Zoning and other restrictions have prevented construction of enough places for people to live. We want to fix this and make our community more welcoming and inclusive. Let’s legalize housing.

Letter to EPC regarding 555 West Middlefield Road Residential Project

 Posted on January 5, 2022  |  Raiza Singh

Re: Item 5.2 555 West Middlefield Road Residential Project To the Environmental Planning Commission: Mountain View YIMBY, a local volunteer advocacy group, expresses enthusiastic support for the proposed project at 555 West Middlefield. We like this project because: It is a no-displacement project that adds 323 new homes in place of surface parking! It includes 15% on-site below market rate homes! Walking distance to downtown, Caltrain, a grocery store, and Stevens Creek trail. [Read More]

Letter to council RE North Bayshore Circulation Study

 Posted on December 7, 2021  |  Kevin Ma

To Mayor Kamei and members of the City Council, MV YIMBY writes in support of the staff recommendations on the North Bayshore Circulation Study. We believe in Fixing Incentives to create the groundwork for more housing. As such, we support prioritizing transit and active transportation over cars in order to increase the number of homes in our community by addressing traffic concerns upfront for the whole project, in addition to the quality of life and environmental benefits. [Read More]

Letter to the Editor on Homekey projects

 Posted on November 23, 2021  |  Pablo Hernandez

This letter was originally published in the Mercury News I walk daily through our city of Mountain View, and daily I look into the eyes of a less fortunate human being who’s homeless. My mind gets foggy thinking about the time I had depleted my bank account at the height of the pandemic. Not a single cent was left on the day I signed a job offer that allowed me to pay for rent and stay in Mountain View. [Read More]

Comment on Mountain View City Council Item 3.1 Housing Element

 Posted on November 16, 2021  |  Salim Damerdji

Dear Mayor Kamei and Members of the City Council, Mountain View YIMBY would like to provide comments for Item 3.1 Housing Element. Planning the next decade of our city’s growth is no small undertaking, and staff deserves a huge ‘thank you’ for their conscientious work. While we know the city is still early in this process, we’d like to be proactive in identifying areas of opportunity, including addressing: Our over-reliance on the North Bayshore and East Whisman plan areas, which we do not believe will be built quickly enough to satisfy our housing targets. [Read More]

Comment on Mountain View City Council Item 3.1 Castro Pedestrian Mall

 Posted on October 12, 2021  |  Ilya Gurin

To Mayor Kamei and the members of the City Council: MV YIMBY writes in support of the proposed Castro pedestrian mall, specifically options B or C presented in the feasibility study, in accordance with staff recommendations. The closure of Castro to vehicles that was implemented as an ad hoc response to COVID has been overwhelmingly popular, and allayed many of the concerns heard when pedestrianization was first discussed in 2019. We note that car access will remain on Bryant and Villa streets, and (one-way) Blossom and Wild Cherry lanes, whereas Castro alone will be reserved for pedestrians and bicyclists, who have always constituted the large majority of traffic on Castro during the evening peak hours. [Read More]

4.2 - Urgency Ordinance Extending Residential Eviction Protections

 Posted on June 21, 2021  |  Salim Damerdji

To Mayor Kamei and members of the City Council At the start of the pandemic, the Mountain View city council passed an eviction moratorium to protect its residents from COVID-19. As time went on, the state legislature passed laws to extend the moratorium and provide relief for rent debt. As we approach the deadline of the state moratorium, we urge the council to pass an urgency ordinance to extend the residential eviction protections. [Read More]

6.1 - Charities Housing NOFA Proposal

 Posted on June 21, 2021  |  David Watson

To Mayor Kamei and members of the City Council Mountain View YIMBY is a chapter of South Bay YIMBY. We are a group of people who live or work in the city of Mountain View and believe in increasing equitable access to the opportunities offered by this amazing city, and combating global warming through urbanization. We do so by advocating for construction of homes at all income levels from supportive housing to market rate! [Read More]