January 12, 2021 Regular Meeting of Mountain View City Council

Video

Transcript

[00:01:02] (archive recording) Unknown Speaker: Okay, go ahead.

[00:00:00] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the Mountain View City Council's annual reorganization meeting. Um, I would like to call this meeting to order at 6.33 PM and um, wanted to make an announcement before we begin, uh, that our this evening's uh, meeting will be translated into both Spanish and Mandarin, um, and please use your Zoom prompts. We will have the translators to give directions in both languages. They'll welcome Elena and Ivy.

[00:00:33] Elena: Gracias, a todos, para compañanos, estate, uh, vamos at the mer, et tradución en Español, disponigle, si esque occupa, interpretación en Español, una besque comiente, paver un icono, al inferior de supplantaria, que tine unglobolo, lutine que selectionar, esco gedelidio español. Gracias.

[00:00:56] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: And Ivy? [non-English speech not transcribed] Um, normally, in a normal year, we would be doing this in person in our city council chambers, but unfortunately, we're not in a normal year, and so, um, we are doing this virtually for the 1st time, uh, it's always fun to do something for the 1st time. Um, um, and so at least I'm glad that we are able to gather um, online to um, have this reorganization meeting. Last night, we had a wonderful virtual celebration for our outgoing council members, and former mayors of both Chris Clark and John McAllister. And I just want to thank members of the community who and our legislators from all levels of government who joined us last night to, um, say our thanks and farewell to, um, these 2 wonderful council members who've dedicated 8 years, the last 8 years, um, to serving our our community. . So thank you to Council member McAllister and Council member Clark for your incredible leadership and service over the years. Um, I, I, I think what I'll do is, I'll just go ahead and start the meeting with the legends and so forth and then, um, I'd like to recognize, um, our elected officials who have doing this this evening. So, if I may, uh, could we go ahead and um, we will have the pledge of allegiance. And this evening, we are lucky to have, uh, by video, Girl Scout Troop number 60846 from the Gabriella Mistral Elementary School, leading us in the pledge.

[00:03:06] Girl Scout Troop 60846: In City Council, we are go scrap troop 60846. We are 4th graders from the mountain listening school district. Please join us for the pledge of allegiance. So your right hand over your heart. Ready? Begin. I pledge the allegiance to the flag. For the United States of America. And to the Republic. Or with it stands. One nation under god, indivisible with liberty, and justice for all.

[00:03:47] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you so much to our Girl Scout Troop 60846. Very well done. Um, we also have a special presentation of the National Anthem, um, courtesy of the Mountain View High School Madrizals, um, course, and so we would like to draw that video too.

[00:04:11] Mountain View High School Madrigals: Oh, say, can you see by the bonds early lights? What's so proudly we hail that the twilight's last leading? Who's but stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight? Oh, the roundless we watch whistle gallantly streaming. And the dark, it's right, the dark, the singing, the blue, through the night. That was still there. Oh, say, that's our spangle, that way. For the land...

[00:05:24] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you to our Mountain View High School Madrigals for that wonderful presentation of our national anthem. I would now like to, um, welcome, uh, some special guests, um, in addition to our outgoing council members and our uh, current council members, uh, we do have our council members elect, Sally Labor and Pat Shoalter with us. You'll be seeing them shortly as we do the changing of the guard. We also have, I believe, former mayors, Roanate Bryant, Mike Casper Zack, Ken Rosenberg, and Jack Siegel. welcome. And we have our legislators representing Congresswoman Anna Eshu's office, Karen Chapman, Chief of Staff, and Nicholas Hargis, field representative. And from the office of state senator Josh Becker. I see Alex Kobayashi. Also, actually, I saw assembly member, Evan Lowe, welcome, and supervisor, county supervisor, Joe Samidian. I'll try to scroll through the attendee box and try to catch others as they come in, but thank you all very much for being here. Um, I should also mention that we do have some uh, colleagues from neighboring cities, um, as well as other, um, organizations. We have, uh, Saratoga Mayor, Yan Zao, and a former Cupertino council member and current foothill Dianza Community College district trustee, Gilbert Wong. We also have our chamber CEO, Peter Katz, and members of our advisory bodies and staff. And, uh, so thank you so much for the, uh, it's quite, it's literally, um, heartwarming to see so much, uh, attendance and, and so thank you for joining us this evening. I would now like to go to Rofal, if the city 1st will conduct a will call, but I will call, please.

[00:07:25] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Council member Clark.

[00:07:27] Councilmember Chris Clark: Here.

[00:07:28] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Council member Hicks?

[00:07:30] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Here.

[00:07:31] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Council member Metachek. Council member, McAllister. One more time. Coun member Ramirez.

[00:07:43] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Here.

[00:07:44] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Vice Mayor, Kamei,

[00:07:46] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: here,

[00:07:47] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Mayor Abikoga.

[00:07:49] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Here. Thank you.

[00:07:51] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Thank you. All members are present.

[00:07:54] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: We will go to item 3 presentations, and as is tradition at this 1st meeting of the year. We, um, also conduct the ceremonial oath of office for our advisory body and commission members who are newly joining those bodies. And today, as we are doing this by virtually, there's a little bit of technicality that we have to go through. So please bear with us. And we also have quite a few members participating, which is wonderful to see. So, um, please, yes, again, bear with us as we try to get through this. Um, And, um, we have newly appointed members of the bicycle pedestrian advisory committee, the downtown committee, the Human Relations Commission, Investment Review Committee, Library Board, Parks and Recreation Commission, Performing Arts Committee, and Visual Arts Committee. And because we have such a large number, and we can only fit so many boxes on the Zoom screen. We're going to break this up into 2 groups. And so as I call your name, um, we will uh, move you into the panel and then, um, we will have to conduct the oath of office. Uh, we will all be muted. So we'll just watch your mouth to make sure you're mouthing the oath. Um, and then um, once we finish with the 1st group, we'll do the same with the 2nd group. So for the 1st group. I'd like to welcome Nicole Watts, board of library, our library, um, library board. Uh, sorry, uh, Hank Dempsey with the environmental planning commission, an Atlanta from the Human Relations Commission, in addition to Nirvana Nakudo, Nakidu. Apologies if I, um, mispronounce your name, Fernando Romero. Xavier Webb, and then from the Parks and Recreation Commission, we have some of the Summer. Um, from the performing arts committee. We have Ryan Lewis and from our investment review committee. We have Doug Radke. So welcome, and we will have the city clerk conduct the oath of office for all of you. Please.

[00:10:40] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I state your names. Do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of California, against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Then I will bear true faith and allegiance, to the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of California. That I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. And then I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I'm about to enter.

[00:11:25] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Congratulations.

[00:11:26] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Congratulations to all of you and thank you so much for your, the service that you will be providing to our community. We will now call the 2nd group up, and the 2nd group is comprised of Terry Barton from our bike ped advisory committee.

[00:11:47] Unknown Speaker: Excuse me, can you hold on to the 2nd so I can move the group up?

[00:11:50] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I'm sorry.

[00:11:51] Unknown Speaker: We'll move every line from group line out.

[00:13:14] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Great. Is that everyone?

[00:13:19] Unknown Speaker: Like it.

[00:13:20] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: So if I may now, I'd like to call the 2nd group up. They are from the bike and advisory committee, Terry Barton. Valerie Fenwick, and James Cosmel. From the downtown committee, we have Pamela Baird. And Eric Cormier, Cormier, and as well as Mike Kastersack. Oh, and also Jamil Shake. And then from our visual arts committee, we have Susie, Marhar, and Dawn Whitebread. So I don't see Valerie, am I missing someone else?

[00:15:36] Unknown Speaker: I did see Valerie in the attendee box she has her hand raised.

[00:15:40] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Oh, okay. Mm, let's see. Yeah.

[00:15:55] Unknown Speaker: Oh, and Jameel.

[00:15:56] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: What's the other one?

[00:16:09] Unknown Speaker: See Chameal in the penny box, however.

[00:16:15] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I think that's it.

[00:16:25] Unknown Speaker: Mm-hmm.

[00:16:27] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yeah. 467. I see 7 and Jameel and Valerie.

[00:16:39] Unknown Speaker: Okay, start.

[00:16:41] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, please start. Thank you.

[00:16:43] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I state your name. To solely swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the state of California, against all enemies, formed in domestic. There will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States. That the constitution of the state of California. But I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. And that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties on which I'm about to enter.

[00:17:25] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Congratulations.

[00:17:28] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Congratulations to all of you, and again, thank you for, um, your willingness to serve our community. look forward to working with you. So we will now, um, ask or have you all exit before we move on to the next item? Thank you all for being here. And while we are doing that, I'd like to welcome some other electives. We have Patrick Aarons from the Foothills Yangza Community College Board, Nancy Noe, former Mountain View Vice Neer, a Rosemary Camet from the Santa Clara County Board of Education, Sergio Lopez, newly elected to the Campbell City Council, and from our Mountain View Lisman, Elementary School district, Chris Chang, Devin Connolly, and Laura Blakely. Thank you all for being here this evening. And I think we have everyone. Back. So um, I think there's a few others. will be moving. Um, but why don't we go ahead and move on to item 4 the consent calendar? Um, There's only one item this evening and that's the approval of meeting minutes. Um, I'm sorry, city court. Which meeting date is that from?

[00:19:14] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Certainly, Mayor. It's for the meeting of December 8th, 2020.

[00:19:18] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Are there any corrections or changes to the minutes? There were some that were provided to us for minor corrections. So the motion would include those changes. Um, I will open this up to members of the public. Are there any members of the public wishing to comment on the meeting minutes of December 8th? If so, please raise your blue hand. Don't see any, so I'll bring it back to council for um, discussion and emotion to prove. Uh, yes, let's see. Count, so member, Clark.

[00:20:01] Councilmember Chris Clark: I'll move the consent calendar with the, um, with the revisions as suggested by the city clerk.

[00:20:08] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. And cancel member Medicheck. Is that a 2nd?

[00:20:11] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: It is, I'll 2nd the motion.

[00:20:13] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Great. Thank you very much. Are there is there any more discussion? If not, city clerk? Would you mind fighting roll call vote, please?

[00:20:21] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Certainly. Council member Clark?

[00:20:24] Councilmember Chris Clark: Yes.

[00:20:25] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Council member Hicks?

[00:20:27] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes.

[00:20:28] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Kelso member Metachek?

[00:20:31] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Yes.

[00:20:33] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Council member McAllister.

[00:20:34] Councilmember John McAlister: Yes.

[00:20:36] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Council member Ramirez.

[00:20:38] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[00:20:39] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Hi, it's Mayor Kame.

[00:20:40] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: Yes.

[00:20:41] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Mayor Abi Koga.

[00:20:43] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Hi.

[00:20:44] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Thank you, emotion carries unanimously.

[00:20:46] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you very much. We'll go on to item 5 oral communications. This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the council on any matter not on the agenda. Speakers are allowed to speak on any topic for up to 3 minutes um, during this section, and um, the mayor will decide on the length based on the number of speakers. Speaking time may be reduced to no less than one. 5 minutes. State law prohibits the council from acting on nonagenda items. Are there any members of the public wishing to speak on a non-agendized item? Um, if so, please raise your blue hand. If you're in the Tendee box, and if you're on the phone, please hit star 9, and we'll start, um, we will go for the a minute and a half and we'll start with Tim McKenzie. Please unmute yourself to speak.

[00:21:38] Tim Mackenzie: Hi, uh, my name's Tim Mackenzie. I use he him pronouns and have lived in the Monteloma neighborhood since 2015. Um, there's been a lot of division in Not View recently, but I'm sure all of us were united in being appalled at seeing the disruption of our centuries long tradition of peaceful transition of power during last week's insurrection. And it's my view that the best way to combat national divisiveness is to fully commit ourselves to building up our local community with inclusiveness and equity, and by supporting each other through mutual aid. So to that end, I'm once again asking counsel about something I've brought up several times over the past year and a half . Mountain View should provide period products in all municipal bathrooms. Back at the envelope, calculation shows, a reasonable estimate would be about $130,000 or so, which is an order of magnitude less expensive than implementing measure C, which council decided to do last month. In summer of 2019, there was a staff report that recommended against taking this action because no other cities in the Bay Area had done so. I reject the philosophy that says we should compare ourselves to other cities to make sure we aren't doing anything more than anyone else. We should be comparing where we are to where we could be. And when we look to other cities. It should be defined good practices to adopt, so we can become the best version of Mountain View we can be, not to justify our own inaction by pointing to the inaction of others. We can't be leaders if we limit ourselves to only what's been done before. Ellen's already pushed for this in city hall. Lucas has indicated a willingness to support this. And once again asking for your support on this issue and hope with the changing composition of council, Mountain View will take action and be a leader. We have toilet paper and paper towels in public bathrooms. It's well past time to add menstrual products. And I also want to support my neighbors in Coloma about a fencing issue that people will support. Thank you.

[00:23:31] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: We'll go on to Robin L. Please unmute yourself, just speak. You're welcome.

[00:23:37] Robin L.: Hi there. Thank you so much for the opportunity. As with any issues that impact a large and diverse swath of people. It is hard to get things right the 1st time, 2nd time, 3rd time. It takes a community to come together, listen to each other, and see where we can find thoughtful solutions that has the support of all in the community. The Mountain View Whisman school district owns 66% of what the city considers neighborhood parks. This includes the park spaces known as Monteloma Park, Huff Park, Landos Park and Castro Park. The district is planning to erect fences, install floodlighting, and install surveillance cameras around all those parks. While I support the district's intention to ensure the safety of its staff and students, I believe these changes would greatly impact all residents of mountain view. The joint use agreement between the city and district indicates that the city should be consulted before the district engages in any facilities constructions. Well, the district has consulted with the parks department. I believe these changes merit input from a more cross-functional group of the city. That includes 4 things. Number one, evaluating the implications of having surveillance technologies in city parks. For example, who would have access to these videos? How could the data be used in the future? Number two, the livability and environmental impacts of having floodlighting in the neighborhood. Number three, physical health and mental health aspects of restricting community access to neighborhood parks, and number four, socioeconomic and equality impacts to erecting barriers to open community spaces, especially in communities and mountain view that are not blessed with large park space.

[00:25:10] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Here. We will go to Tim Larson, please unmute yourself to speak.

[00:25:18] Tim Larson: Good evening everyone. This is Tim Larson, president of the Mountain View Mobile Home Alliance. I just wanted to welcome all of the new members of our city council and say that we look forward to working with the city council to, um, finally provide protections for mobile homes. Uh, it's been a long path forward, but, um, a lot of the barriers to getting mobile home protections, we think, have been overcome, and we are looking forward to meeting with you all individually and discussing with the council as a group. Um, to um, find a path forward finally, to protect our mobile home residents. Um, so we'll be extending uh, invitations to you all individually to meet with us so that we can figure out how best to move forward. Uh, thank you. I yield my time.

[00:26:06] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Well, go now to Bruce England, please send it yourself to speak. Should be on, Bruce.

[00:26:22] Bruce England: Oh Hello,

[00:26:23] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I think I hear you.

[00:26:25] Bruce England: Do you hear me now?

[00:26:25] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: There you go. Yes.

[00:26:27] Bruce England: Okay. Very quickly. I just want to also speak in support of making necessary improvements to the school district's fencing plans and the lighting. Lighting is also a problem, but it's not talked about very much as there's impacts on wildlife and human health. I'll leave it at that. Thank you.

[00:26:46] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: You. We'll go next to Jim. They or skate. You could unmute yourself to please, uh, please speak.

[00:26:53] Jim Zaorski: Well, thank you very much. Thank you, madam mayor. Madam Vice Mayor and other members of the council and the many esteemed board members. I've been a resident of Mona Loma for 30 years and a resident of Mounting View for 35 years and I've been involved with both the school and the districts as my kids both, my children both went there. Um, Bartluma Park is adjacent to the um, school site and it's has a sign in front. is a city of Mountain View, Milomo Park. For many, many years, over 60, it's been soon to be a park. As of lately, the school district is as, as, made us realize that it is actually part, uh, school property, and then as such, it needs to be fenced as a, as, as all school campuses are. There's a sign now that says that it's from 730 to 4 o'clock that nobody should be on the campus, the campus being, not only the school campus, but the park. Today the sun rose, I think, at 723 and then it sets at around 515 giving us 779 minutes to use the park. I would implore the council to look to work for the district to find solutions, is this is a problem not just for the community of Mauna Loma, but for all the communities, as a previous speaker, has noted, over 60% of the park space outside of shoreline and mountain views owned by the district, and we need to find a better way to assure our quality of life. Thank you all.

[00:28:17] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you very much. Thank you. We will now go to Jessica Chohan. You could unmute yourself to speak, please. Oh, let's see it. It says, not available. Um, could we promote Jessica to panelists to allow her to speak? Oh, actually, I think I can do that. Oh, I, I think I lost you. Um. I think I mean.

[00:28:51] Jessica Chohan: Can you hear me?

[00:28:52] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Oh, hi there, yes.

[00:28:54] Jessica Chohan: Hi there. Okay, great. Um, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I'm speaking to you with regards to the Montaloma Park fencing proposal. Um, the current park perimeter control proposal. We'll have a significant negative impact on the monoloma community. By changing access hours and instituting new usage and movement limitations based on the current park signage and usage. leaving the neighborhood effectively without any open green space accessible, and having potentially socioeconomic ability and racial equity impacts. Um, The joint use agreement between the city and the district state that the district should obtain comments from the city and all parties should come to mutual agreements as to modifications of applicable supplemental agreements. I'm fully in support of the district's intention to ensure school safety for the students in the community. I come from Parkland, Florida. I understand all too well on how important school safety is. However, the current fencing proposal is inadequate to address the broader needs of students, parents, and the community at large. I urge the city council to agendize this critical and urgent topic through item 8 prior to city representation at the district's working group. This will allow for council discussion and community input to this shared park space. Um, And to help inform the city's commerce in the district and any future discussion and supplemental joint use agreements. Thank you very much.

[00:30:20] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Look at the ED Keating. Please unmute yourself to speak. Hello.

[00:30:32] Edie Keating: Hello, I would like to speak in support of period products and public restrooms. Most community members will continue to choose purchasing their own period products as they choose and prefer. The community members who take advantage of period products in public restrooms will be those who truly will benefit and appreciate this service this opportunity. Um. I think it's a great way to target uh, city resources. And I'd also like to let you know of one other entity that I'm aware of that does provide free period products in their bathroom. And that is the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto. And I attend there. I wasn't even aware of this for a long time, but then when I realized that, uh, this was offered. I was proud of my church for doing that. And I think one of the times when it's especially utilized is when our church is host to a rotating woman's shelter for a month. I hope you'll consider providing period products. Thank you.

[00:31:41] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. We'll go to Kevin Ma. Please unmute yourself to speak.

[00:31:46] Kevin Ma: Evening city council. My name's Kimma, he him. I would like to echo some of to Mackenzie's points that in our time of national score. We must look to our local community provide an inclusive environment, where that means we need to be addressing high-level items such as police reform or policing in general, or housing affordability, or economic inequalities that this pandemic has brought, that the city council and the city must act. in order to advance a more equal and just future for all of our citizens, and all of our non-citizens and the future members. Of our community as a whole. And we, I also support that, uh, Tim's idea that, and Edie's idea that we must provide some menstrual products. It is a quote unquote small task, but it provides an impact that is, uh, noticeable by many, and with these small actions, we can continue to create not a view that is welcoming to everyone and not, um, unnecessarily neglecting members of our population that have been unfairly, uh, biased against due to our general societal changes. Thank you.

[00:32:53] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, well, go to Alex Brown, please unmute yourself to speak.

[00:32:58] Alex Brown: All right. I would like to wholeheartedly echo the sentiments of Tim Mackenzie and all the other speakers. The 1st question we should ask as the city is, what can we do to support our residents? And period products in all public bathrooms just make sense. If you're away from your house and realize I forgot to bring an extra tampon and need one. Getting something in a time of need from the city fosters goodwill. People who need them deserve the support, period. Uh, also, how are the residents of the city supported by further enclosure of green space with intrusive fences, lighting, and creepy ass security cameras? A better focus would be on increasing the amount of publicly accessible green space available for the enjoyment of all of Mountain View. If the district wants to fence all their property, cool, let them gift the green property to the city. Also, John, I like your tie.

[00:33:43] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I think you will go to Shawnee Kleinhouse, please unmit yourself to speak.

[00:33:51] Shani Kleinhaus: Good evening, Mayor Abikoga and council member. It's been a pleasure working with you over the past few years. Um, uh, speaking in support of the community members that spoke about the school district plans for fencing and floodlighting. The response to light is significantly adverse in all living things, and I'm not exaggerating, saying that it's all living things from worms to elephants and trees. Like pollution, has been shown to interfere with gene expression and with metabolism, and because of that, it causes learning disorders. It's been linked as a causing element in breast in prostate cancer, uh, myriad of different, um, phenomena like obesity and diabetes and other uh, diseases that we see so common now and linked to light pollution. Some cities are now looking to prohibit, uh, um, troll lighting and flood lighting. One of them working on that and there is a, um, Cupertino right now. So I hope the city can influence the school district to come up with better plans. Thank you and yeah.

[00:35:08] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thanks. Thank you. Any other members of the public wishing to contact on a non-agenda? Item? Don't see any more hands? Oh, actually I do. Bill Lambert. Uh, please don't get yourself to speak.

[00:35:25] Bill Lambert: Thank you. I'll begin by thanking um uh, Chris Clark and uh, Mr. McAllister for their great service to the community. Um, I'm asking you to begin, uh, uh, my name is Bill Ambert. I a resident of the Mauna Loma neighborhood. I'm asking you to begin the process of working with the community to ensure that all residents in Mountain View have unrestricted access to parks within walking distance of where they live. Right now, much of the park area in Mountain View is only a park on paper. It is time that the residents be able to actually use these areas as parks. A case in point is Mauna Loma Park, which is centrally located within Mauna Loma neighborhood. And so it's in within walking distance of over 1000 households. As you've heard this evening, residents are not allowed to use the park during school hours, even when the school is closed during the COVID pandemic. pandemic. During the evenings and weekends, the fields are heavily used by sports leagues, to the extent that the fields get damaged and need to be coordined off for 3 or 4 months during the winter to allow the fields to recover. Overall, Mona Loma residents can only use the park for a few hours each day. This is not what Mountain View should aspire to. I urge the city council to start working with all stakeholders in the community to ensure that all residents throughout Mountain View have unrestricted access during all hours of the day to public parks within walking distance of where they live. Thank you very much.

[00:36:47] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Any other members of the public wishing to speak on a nonagendized item? I don't see any more hands, so I will close this item and we will move on to the next item. Uh, you know, 6 public hearings. We actually have none. So we will go onto item 7 new business and um, see, before we do that. I also want to welcome Laura Ramirez Berman, newly elected to the Mountain View Lisman school district, board of trustees, and Fiona Walter, uh, Mountain View, Los Altos high school district board of trustees member. Thank you both for being here. For a new business. Since this is mostly ceremonial, I would like to open this up for public comment on the entirety of this item. Um, so if you would like to speak on any of the items under new business, uh, please, uh, raise your blue hand. I know that we have some legislators who have kindly joined us and would like to speak. Um, I'm told. So if you can indulge me, allow me to call upon them 1st and then if there are any other members of the public wishing to comment, please raise your blue hand. So we'll start with county supervisor, Josemitean. Thank you so much for being here. And let's see if I can. You can unmute yourself to speak, please.

[00:38:19] Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian: There we go.

[00:38:20] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: There we go. Welcome.

[00:38:22] Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian: Thanks. Thanks so much, Madam Mayor. I want to take the opportunity to, congratulate and thank once again, outgoing members council member, McAllister and Chris Clark, who I had the opportunity to say a few words about last night. Uh, I want as well to uh, congratulate the incoming uh, mayor and vice mayor, whoever they may be uh, and to thank you and your vice mayor for your good work over the past year. But, uh, most, uh, particularly, I want to thank the, uh, for folks who have been reelected, and I use the word thanks quite deliberately because they have chosen to step up. Uh, yet again, uh, and offer themselves in public service at an extraordinarily difficult time in our state and our nation, and, uh, I think, um, if ever there was a time, we needed good people to step up. This is it. So, uh, Council member Matichak, congratulations, but also thank you. Council member Margaret Abbe Kogo, Madam Mayor, thank you as well and congratulations. And I hope that, uh, the newly arriving, uh, or I should say, returning council members, uh, Sally Lieber and Pat Shilwalter will take no umbrage if I congratulate them as the recycled council members, uh, because I say that with uh, affection and some empathy uh, by virtue of being a recycled county supervisor myself. I came back to the board of supervisors after 12 years away. And I know that both Sally and Pat have previously served and are coming back after some years. And I just want to say, I think you will find that the time in other venues doing other good works in other ways will serve you well, who will serve your colleagues well, and perhaps most importantly, it will serve your city and your constituents well. So, uh, thank you to all 4 and congratulations to all 4 of you who are, um, about to be sworn in for a 4 year term. Uh, as I say, I really do, uh, think thanks are due for those who are willing to step up during challenging times and, uh, you've put yourselves out there at a time when others have perhaps been inclined to shrink from the call to service. So much appreciated. best of luck. And I look forward to partnering with you all as we have over the last many years. Mountain View's just been a marvelous partner in all sorts of good works and it makes me smile to say that. So thank you again, madam mayor and all of you for letting me participate tonight.

[00:40:52] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you so much, Supervisor Samidian, for joining us through 2 evenings in a row and and for all of your service and leadership on behalf of all of us, and we look forward to continuing to work with you. Thank you.

[00:41:05] Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian: And I should tell you that years ago, council member McAllister probably doesn't remember, but he told me there were only 2 kinds of people in the world. Those who lived in Mountain View and those who wish they did. So it's been a pleasure to be with you both nights. Take care.

[00:41:16] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, you too. We'll go to Nicholas Harkis from Congresswoman Esher's office. Please unmute yourself to speak and welcome. Thanks for being here.

[00:41:27] Nicholas Hargis: Thank you, mayor. On behalf. Half of Congresswoman Eshu and her office, I would like to say that it was an honor to participate in the farewell ceremony for council member McAllister and council member Clark last night. And to council member, Abbe Koga, to council member, Show Walter, to council member, Mattachak, and to council member, Lieber. I would like to congratulate y'all on winning an incredibly close election that we were all following very closely. And we wish you all. Both the newly elected council members and the returning council members. Good luck in the year to come. We look forward to continuing our work together to help the city of Mountain View.

[00:42:18] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you so much and thank you and also for joining us 2 evenings in a row, Nick. And please give our best, um, to Congresswoman issue. Well, now go to Alex Kobayashi from Senator Becker's office. Alex, if you can unmute yourself, please. Welcome. Oh, there you should be on, Alex.

[00:43:08] State Senator Josh Becker: Can you hear me?

[00:43:09] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Oh, hi there. Oh, is this Senator Becker?

[00:43:11] State Senator Josh Becker: Yes.

[00:43:12] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Oh yes, welcome.

[00:43:15] State Senator Josh Becker: Okay. Thank you. Right, yeah, maybe I was in under Alex's name to you register. So, I just want to say thank you for having me. Um, you know, if anyone needs inspiration about public service, they should come and listen to these council reorganization meetings. And I'm kind of sad. This is the last one of the session for me of the season. And, you know, you get to hear people who truly love and care about their community. And I so loved hearing the accomplishments and tributes and camaraderie last night. And the excitement tonight of new members joining and the peaceful transfer of power, as was mentioned, you know, the voters amount, you pick the council with a whole, uh, you know, a whole lot of experience, um, to a really extraordinary group and lots of useful wisdom going forward. I want to congratulate Margaret and Lisa for returning, so happy you'll be continuing. Um, you both led the city through big progress. And lots of things like the North Bay Shore development planning and funding. And Margaret, thank you for your leadership as mayor doing this difficult time. I'm sure your previous experiences mayor during the great recession helped guide you, but programs like the 2500000 and rent relief were greatly helpful to the residents of Mountain View. I just want to say if I can trust the new incoming member. Sally, you have so much experience at the local and state level. You've been a true champion for social justice for such a long time from the minimum wage, to advocating for incarcerated women, to improving health services, and organizing supply and book donations locally and internationally, for those in need, that have been fortunate to contribute a small amount towards. I'm excited to see what kind of initiatives you will advocate on the council, and for Pat, lucky to have you, you know, your background as a civil engineer, your focus on sea level rise, your experience on BCDC, your previous advocacy for affordable housing, and a member of carbon free Mountain View. Um, Really lucky to have you. It's a great group joining. I was on last name for a lot of the tributes. I wasn't able to stay and speak, so I can see, is it okay to say one moment about the outgoing council members. Thank you. Chris is great. We got to bond on a, I think, an SVLG trip to DC, uh, many years ago, and very appreciative of your service while you had a demanding day job, you were able to uh, contribute uh, mightily to the council. That was evidence last night. You were actually involved in National League of Cities. Um, you were the youngest council member, uh, and mayor involved, uh, as a rep to Plan Bay Area 2040. Uh, many other strong regional efforts, uh, to John, again, fun to hear the stories, and thank you for your advocacy of regional transportation, as a founding board member of Silicon Valley, Clean Energy, and you work on VTA and and helping um, and advocate for professionalizing that board. So, um, really, uh, congratulations to the outgoing folks. Congratulating the ingoing folks and the new mayor and vice mayor. I'm really excited to continue to look uh, and work with the great city of Mountain View going forward.

[00:46:22] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, and congratulations to you again, Senator Becker, for your election, and we look forward to working with you, and thank you also for being here 2 nights in a row. I appreciate it. Well, now go to Devin Connolly. If you could, please, and get yourself to speak. Welcome. President of our mountain business school board.

[00:46:44] Devon Conley: Good evening, Mayor Abi Koga, and good evening, city council. I want to thank our outgoing council members, Clark and McAllister for their service as well. I would also like to congratulate our future mayor and vice mayor, as well as thanking our current mayor and vice mayor for their service. I also wanted to congratulate our 4 reelected city council members as Super Spizor Simitian, so aptly pointed out, um, as president of the Mountain View Wizman School Board. I speak for our entire board when I say how much we value our partnership with the city council in serving our students, our families, and our community. These are not times. Well, these times are not for the faint of heart. And the leadership shown by our outgoing and incoming council members is truly heroic. As a woman serving in public office, I also can't thank you enough for the example you set not just for myself, as an elected leader, but for our community, as inspiring, strong female leaders, all of you new members. Well, reelected members who are continuing to serve. Thank you.

[00:47:56] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you and congratulations on your appointment as president of the school board. Look forward to working with you. Uh, we will go to Shawnee Kleinhouse. Please limit yourself to speak.

[00:48:10] Shani Kleinhaus: Evening again, Mayor Abit Koga and council members. I want to do thank, praise Lord, and council member McAllister, without a council member, McAllister. The uh, meetings would be a lot less, um, amusing. Your humor is greatly appreciated. And I wanted to, uh, congratulate all the incoming, uh, city council members, um, all women. That's really impressive. And I know you'll do a great job. And Vice Mayor Kameh. I think you'll have a great challenge and I'm comfort to know that you'll be at the home. Thank you.

[00:48:51] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. I'll go to Alex Brown if you can unmit yourself to speak, please.

[00:48:57] Alex Brown: I did not expect to go so quickly. Yeah, John, I'm going to miss your outfits and backgrounds. I hope that the mayor will consider promoting you to a panelist when you visit so we can continue to appreciate your style. Uh, no need to give you the ability to unmute, but, you know, at least the visual. Uh, and I want to welcome back all the the fresh crop of council members. I look forward to working with all of you. And, uh, congratulations to Lucas. You got your wish.

[00:49:23] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: All right. I'll have to ask what that wish was. Well, thank you. We'll go to Peter Katz if you could unmute yourself to speak, please. There we go.

[00:49:37] Peter Katz: Can you hear me?

[00:49:38] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, welcome.

[00:49:39] Peter Katz: Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Adam Kroger, and I too want to add my great thanks to council member McAllister to council member Clark for their years of service. I, um, I was lucky enough to be able to, um, work with you all, um, and meet you before the pandemic hit, uh, in person, but then unlucky that, uh, I've only had one year, uh, to work with you rather than the many, many years of service that you've demonstrated, uh, to our great city and to our region. So thank you so much. Also for being, you know, gentle on the newbie, if you will. But for all that you've done. Thank you so very much. And I want to congratulate the incoming members, uh, and as well as the, um, incoming uh, mayor and vice mayor, and to just say that it's been a great pleasure uh, this last year to work with the council on issues that affect our business community and our community at large. It's so important that we continue to balance those 2 forces because they do work together to make our city great. So thank you all very much and looking forward to a much better year.

[00:50:59] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you for your leadership, Peter, on behalf of our business community. Uh, we will now go to Emily Ramos, please send me yourself to speak and welcome.

[00:51:11] Emily Ramos: Hi, um, I just wanted to wish, congratulate uh, council member Clark and council member McAllister on, on fulfilling their terms. I logged in as another person, but that's okay. That's why the picture is a little bit weird. Um, But I did want to wish um, congratulate. I'm being redundant, but congratulate, uh, in, in honor of McAllister's final day on council, I dropped by the Baskin Robbins on Miramonte and Shoreline. or Miramonte and El Camino, and oh, and behold, he was actually behind the counter himself. So I got to see you and got myself a pint of ice cream. Um, I did want to congratulate Chris Clark. Um, You were very young when you ran for office and won, which led the way for a lot of young dems to get elected in this past 8 years, you led the way for many council members, not just council member Ramirez and council member Kame, um, who, who are now serving with you, but council members from Palo Alto, uh, Campbell, even San Jose, young Democrats stepped up, um, led by your, um, efforts to take a chance on leading your city. Um, and that is something that's a very good legacy to leave office with. And I think a lot of young Dems are very grateful for you taking the lead on that. Thank you so much.

[00:52:37] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. We'll go to Marcia, the world. If you could, Marcia, if you could please unmute yourself to speak.

[00:52:46] Marsha Deslauriers: Thank you, Mayor Abby Tova. Um, this is Marcia DeLaurier, executive director of track. Um, 1st I, of course, want to congratulate all the incoming, uh, for the council members and our vice mayor, May, um, and thank you all for your services because, indeed, uh, supervisor submitting was spot on that this is not an easy time. But I would like to just take a moment to thank councilman McAllister and council um number Clark. Um, for their support of the residents and those that work in the city, who have benefited from mental health services for themselves and their families and their children. You know, we've heard about their humor tonight. Um, their intellect and and much. I wasn't available last night, but heard about it last night. But I just wanted to emphasize the councilman's compassion and support, um, of the quiet and painful and often unseen journey, uh, that many experience, and they understand that and supported, um, our work to help. So we're very grateful that we've had leaders like this that understood the needs in our community, uh, with both compassion and thoughtful pragmatic solutions as council member Clark and McAllister have done. Uh, and I know I speak for many, um, when I thank you, um, just making, just the help that's available, that's so important for a safe and, um, uh, safe and compassionate and caring community that mountain view is, so thank you.

[00:54:14] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. And uh, next Tim McKenzie, please uh, mute yourself to speak.

[00:54:21] Tim McKenzie: All right, thanks. I just wanted to congratulate. Margaret, Lisa, congratulations on getting reelected, and then coming for a 2nd term. Pat and Sally, congratulations for welcome back to council. I'm looking forward to working with all of you and I wanted to thank Chris and John for your service. Council member McAllister. I, when I 1st started coming to council meetings. I actually thought, you were a little bit abrasive, but as I started showing up more, I really came, you, you became much more endearing to me, and it'll be, uh, well, miss you on the, on the council, even though you and I have very different political views. I think, uh, you brought a character to the council meetings and and just also some, uh, even though we often have different views, policy thing that you often brought up, uh, that I hope doesn't leave as you leave the council too, was constantly proposing the city buying housing and running housing, uh, not for profit so that we can provide shelter to our our neighbors. I hope that idea does not leave when you leave the council. And I hope that when health conditions are a little bit better, I can come by and get some ice cream and learn from your wealth of experience having lived in Mountain View for so long and learn how to best advocate at the municipal county state and federal levels to enact that policy. Thank you.

[00:55:52] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Any other members of the public wishing to speak? You don't see any more blue hands. Uh, so I will close the public comment section and move on to, um, this is a always a, a difficult time when we have to say goodbye to our outgoing council members. Um, as we mentioned last night. We had a great uh, celebration of gratitude for both of them. Um, and at, at, um, last night, we, uh, part of the program was to, um, have a great video. I saw it on Chris's Facebook site, but today, um, a video of the highlights from both of their, 8 years of service, and, as I mentioned last night, my biggest, um, Envy is that Chris was able to, um, meet President Obama when he came to visit us in Mountain View, and got a shout out from the president, and so, I think that was like, I would say, one of the most memorable moments. Um, but, um, we wanted to, um, thank you again this evening for your many, many years of service. We did present a very long proclamation, as you can imagine, 8 years of many accomplishments took a while to read. So, I'm not going to read it again this evening. If you don't mind. Um, but I did want to offer some highlights of uh, Chris's accomplishments over his, uh, his terms. And, um, as we, as we all know, um, as he concludes his, uh, 2nd term of office, uh, here. He was 1st elected in 2012 and then reelected in 2016, served as our vice mayor in 2012 and mayor in 2014. Um, and he engaged in the with the community through his coffee with Chris program. Um, during Chris's service. He's been a champion of using technology technology to improve city services. Also, he supported environmental sustainability, transportation, housing, youth engagement, and diversity. Chris represented Mountain View on many regional and city communities, including, most recently, the city's environmental and sustainability ad hoc subcommittee, and the county of Santa Clara Expressway Plan 2040 policy advisory board. During his public service, the city has made an impact. He made an impact on the city. Including the adopting the transit center master plan and extension of the free Mountain View community shuttle operations. Chris has been a strong advocate champion, I'd say, for LGBTQ plus Diversity and inclusion and champion, a city policy to annually recognize June as Pride Month, and to raise the rainbow flag over Civic Center Plaza. During his 8 years of service, the city council approved 7819 new housing units with more than half of them already built, 851 affordable housing units with nearly half already built, and adopted 4 precise plans, which increased the planned capacity for housing in mountain view by more than 17,000 units. And as 2020 was a year, we won't soon forget, your leadership has been tremendous as the city pivoted and effectively responded during a very challenging time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Um, I just want to offer my, on behalf of my colleagues, our sincerest congratulations to you. Thank you. Uh, it was um, shared last night by many of us, that you've been a real voice of reason and a consensus builder and a real collaborator. And so it's been a true honor to work to serve with you. And um, I'm just really um, pleased to be able to call you a friend. Uh, wish you all the best and I'm sure um, you'll continue to make an impact on our community and I look forward to seeing you do that. Um, so congratulations and thank you again for your service. And if you'd like to provide some remarks. Welcome that.

[01:00:24] Councilmember Chris Clark: Thank you. Thank you, mayor, and thank you for your service, um, in such a trying and challenging year. And, um, not just this year, but you had a very, um, challenging year, the last time you were mayor, um, in, in the great recession. And so, we've really appreciated your leadership during, um, the challenging times, um, over the years and in various capacity. So thank you for that. Um, as the mayor mentioned, for those who couldn't join us last night. We had a really great farewell event, and I want to thank everyone again, especially Mayor Abbe Koga and former mayor, Renee Bryant, and staff for the kind words and memories that were shared. Um, The mayor highlighted a number of, of items, and as I mentioned last night, you know, all of those were, were accomplished, you know, every council and as a team, and, and, um, you know, one, no one person accomplishes, um, things like that on their own. So I just want to thank, um, counsel's past and present, my current former colleagues and everyone for, for all the, the work that was put into that and for helping accomplish those things during the last 8 years. Um, Tonight, if it's okay, I just want to take a moment as we look ahead, um, uh, to call attention to the unique moment in time that we're, we're witnessing. Um, less than a week ago, one of the deaths that I spent the better part of a year sitting behind is a 16 year old page on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Was used by Capitol Police to say if we barricade the main doorway of the house chamber. As insurrection is violently disrupted one of the most sacred rituals in a democracy. The simple county and certification of votes, and the resulting peaceful transfer of power. It is something that I certainly never thought that I would see in my lifetime. And it should be a wake up call for all of us. Even with our country. has become more polarized over the last several years. Things have remained largely civil in mountain view. We've mostly been able to engage in civil discourse and debate, work together to find solutions to our challenges. And even if we haven't always liked the outcome. We've moved forward with mutual respect that allows us to act as a cohesive counsel. Um, and that is the cohesive counsel that our residents expect and deserve. It is imperative that we jealously guard mountain view's tradition of civility against broader trends in the other direction. Over the last few years. I've noticed signs that we need to be ever more vigilant. Most commonly I've witnessed our fellow community members automatically assuming malintent, simply because they don't agree with someone's opinion, or only accepting information and ideas from those who think the same way that they do. Most worrisome, I've seen people assume they're entitled to their own set of facts. And then believe the only valid solution is their solution. And that anyone who believes otherwise and doesn't do what they demand when they demand it, isn't doing their duty. My friends, we must remember that those who serve, swear an oath, to uphold a system of government, that values input from all residents, and collective decision making based on that input, rather than simply implementing what the loudest and most persistent voices in the room tell us is the solution. What our supporters tell us is the right answer. We're only listening to those who have the time, energy and resources to participate. We're elected to listen to and serve all of our residents, spend the time to research the best solutions to our problems, debate those solutions, and do what we think is best for the community at large, both today and for generations to come. We don't always get the right answer the 1st time. But the tradition has served as well. I've tried to honor that tradition. Prior councils have honored it. And I know this next council composed of members with impressive records of public service will as well. Our city is in good hands. It's been an incredible honor to serve my community. And though tonight is bittersweet, and being downgraded from Zoom panelists to participant at the end of all this instead of stepping down from the dais will be rather awkward. I'm passing the baton to a thoughtful carrying and experienced new council. Supported by a dedicated staff that is 2nd to none. We have come so far in the last 8 years and accomplished so much, even when faced with some of the most significant challenges of our lifetime. Our future is bright. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to our city manager, Kimber McCarthy, who, along with former city manager Dan Rich, has studied the ship over the last 8 years in both calm and turbulent waters. To city staff, for their expertise, guidance, and ensuring councils didn't damage the ship or veer it too far off course. And to my current former colleagues for their camaraderie dedication. Uh, camaraderie and dedication to our community, to my supporters for getting me across the finish line. To my family for their love support and patience. And most of all, to the people of Mountain View for the honor of a lifetime. I'm a better person for having served you, and I hope our community is somewhat better to my service. May we use 2021 as an opportunity to come together as a community and nation to overcome the unprecedented challenges of our time. Thank you again. I stand with you. Ready to assist as a private citizen. in any way I can. Thank you, mayor.

[01:05:46] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you so much and I'd just like to pause for a moment for a round of applause. And yes, I think our community is a much better place because of your leadership and service. So thank you, again, council member Clark. Uh, we will now go to our esteemed other uh, outgoing council member, uh, council member, John McAllister, and again, um, I don't have the proclamations with me today. We did present the full proclamations last night. Um, but I would like to meet some uh, highlights from council member McAllister's, uh, 8 years of service. And, um, Council member McAllister was also uh, elected to the city council in 2012, uh, reelected in 2016. Uh, he served as vice mayor in 2014 and mayor in 2015, uh, where he connected with the community through his get the scoop from the mayor program. And he continued to maintain an in-person presence by serving on the council neighborhood committee for all of his 8 years. Um, he represented the city of Mountain View on matters of rational transportation by serving on various committees, including the League of California City's Transportation Communications and Public Policy Committee, the VTA board of directors, and the city council transportation committee. Through his leadership, the city launched a multi phase study of improving transportation along the shoreline corridor, championed a citywide connectivity plan, and launched a free community shuttle in partnership with Google. He continued to support active transportation measures from participating invite to workday to the Silicon Valley bike summit. Um, he also advocated for building stronger relations with local veteran and military organizations, which was the impetus for Mountain View to be recognized as City of the Year from the California Veterans Association, and I believe it was under his mayorship that we uh, unveiled the, um, the veterans memorial in Eagle Park. Council member McAllister has been a longtime champion of parks, recreation, and youth sports. He supported various efforts, including a partnership with Google for use of Garfield Park athletic fields and tennis courts. And I wanted to mention that we did, um, add uh, to your proclamation after last night. Um, you're championing the, um, the dog, um, off leash dog areas in our various parts. So that is included in the new version of your proclamation. Um, and then under your leadership, the city has expanded outdoor public services ranging from the free downtown public Wi-Fi to the expansion of the multicultural fair. During this global pandemic. Council member McAllister has been a steady hand and kept us saying, and our cities responded to this public health emergency. He is full-heartedly joined the city council colleagues in supporting the city's relief efforts to the community from COVID-19 impacts. Councilman McAllister. Um, it was mentioned last night by many folks about your sense of humor, um, your love of this community and your, um, many, many decades of, of being a resident of Mountain View, putting uh, residents 1st. And, um, you have definitely shown that in during your 8 years of service on the city council. Thank you for everything that you have done. Thank you for, yeah, bringing levity to our council meetings when we most needed it. And, um, it's been an honor and pleasure to serve with you. And I'm also, um, honored to be able to call you, a dear friend and we'll miss you as well. If you'd like to say a few words. Please. Welcome to.

[01:09:53] Councilmember John McAlister: Well, thank you. Thank you. I will. Brevity was never associated with my name. So, um, I will not speak as eloquently, as my younger council member, uh, even though when I start speaking, he will say that we had many of the same concerns as we go forward. Uh, you say ears was a finalization of many years of working with the community, starting out with school site councils and school PTA boards and coaching all those. So, It's sort of a, uh, roadmap for others as we go forward that people want to look at joining public service. It's a great reward. And even though you're starting at a school site and being PTA member or coaching over at the Y, you'd be amazed at the connections you make and the impact that you have. And All of that is so important to start your public service that you're doing it without even thinking about it. So, uh, this looks, you know, I've had a great run, and I've enjoyed so much of it, and as, as, as I said, it's an honor of a lifetime. Um, I never thought, I wanted to, uh, thought of running for city council, and it just, it's sort of evolved, and it's sort of Margaret's fault if you, if I go back at it. Uh, I started, yeah, I started, uh, doing fundraising for the fire department, and we had local officials and VIPs come, and Margaret would keep coming and say, shut up, John, get involved, and don't be, you know, griping to me. And so that was the start of it, and, You know, the EPC and it's just evolved. So, All of those were great training steps for me. But just working with people day in and day out was, uh, tremendous. And I have a short list of people I want to thank. And, you know, as everybody says, you can't do it alone, and this is really, to be accomplished, accomplish your goals. You need to have teamwork. And that's one of the 1st things that I learned about being on a council. You have to have people buying into what you're trying to do and get them to agree and compromise and get their thoughts included to be successful. But no, elected official, can go without Drumroll Pearlies, thanking your family first. And my wife, Catherine Gwen McAllister, I couldn't have done it without her. She was always there supporting me, helping me, IT, printing, driving, picking, Commenting. All the time. And it's, it's one of those things that, they're the unsung hero of any campaign, that they're always, they're supporting you. Sometimes they say a lot that you don't like to hear, but it's there, it needs to be said. I've mentioned many times that there's 3 phase of a public servant's life with their spouse. It's, yeah, 1st phase is, yeah, go do it. Second phases. When the hell's it over? In the 1st phase is never again. And so I'm in that 3rd phase of never again. So I will, I, Others will appreciate that as we go for it. But, I, to abbreviate, and I will start saying these people's names that these people all were involved in getting me started. Greg Gearon, high school friend, go out and do anything you want. Be amazed at what if you try, you will do it. John Kessler, a lot of people, you know him. He was one of my 1st backers in my political advisor and he helped me a lot. Uh, Kathy Thibodeau, Robert Cox, Dave Schmidt, uh, Jack Siegel, all these people help me campaign, help me gather my thoughts together, help distribute it stuff. I mean, one person can't do it alone. And a lot of my success, uh, politically, was building a consensus, uh, you may have heard that I did worked a lot on getting measure B. And that was a group, a collective group, and they elected officials, a broad sink from Cupertino, Howard Miller from Saratoga. Jeannie Bru from Los Altos. Mayor Pat Scholwalter, that carried on a call, is Mayor Lenny Siegel that helped out. And of course, Joe Saminian, that was right there, helping us champion something that we were working on 5 years ago, and today it's coming back about the applications of Major Bay money. So these are my things that could not have been done unless we had support of all these people. And then one other group of people that a lot of people don't think about, but I do. And it's not always the people that agree with you. It's the people that always sometimes disagree with you and they're advocates. And you, some people will be surprised. Joan McDonald, Don Lecher, Don Ball, Serge Bonte, Bruce Carney. They were always keeping me challenged and honest. And and that's one of the 1st important things that I learned is if you don't have character and you don't keep your word, you don't have much trust and you really got to build trust. Now, I admit I've done a couple of bone hit things that sort of blew the trust. But, uh, you know, I'm working. I've learned from them, and it did give me insight to how to do things better. So, Chris and I know we've learned so much and now we're gone, so now we pass on this knowledge, but Those were the type of things that I would go and work harder on. But it was a great learning deal. I want to thank all the public people that have applied to our city committees and commissions. You are also a big part of the Mountain View government and a part of the family because, and with all your help, we couldn't have done a lot of this. Without you helping us, because we are one small group of 7 people, but you sort of multiply us by 10 and we can hear your voices in the community voices. And so I really encourage everybody that wants to get into the step, to take a look at getting on a committee, getting involved on one of the commissions, that is so helpful for the community, and we appreciate your feedback. I've been on another, uh, regional board where the committees were basically, thank you, but no, thank you. But mount use committees and commissions, they're included in our staff reports. And so I thank you for that because your input is so valuable to us. Now, Chris was mentioned about the general plan. He was the city, uh, Mayor at the time. But, you know, we will, who would have thought back then, that the city would take so many twist and turns as a general plan goes along. It's been modified. been tweaked, it's been reviewed. And it's very interesting. How everything is a living organism on these things of, uh, the, the, the, general plans. I got to thank Arnold Solerberg. He was one of my 1st guys on APC. A voice, you don't do hear much about, but he was always saying, what are we going to look like in 2025. And I still put that out to the city council and the new ones. What are we gonna look like at 2025? Because if you ask me in 2012 what we looked at, I would, I would, I thought something totally different. And to the city staff. Again, they're part of that collaborative formula that unless you have the city staff to help you go along and guide you and give you resources and behind the scenes give you the support of the city resources, you couldn't have done it. Martin, Icar, when I was on the EPC, we were going that. And doing the general plan, and he was a great help. Uh, mentioned Dan Rich, his leadership helped get the mayors and all the other uh, city managers evolved with it. And Kimber is going to do a great job too, because she understands that the city succeeds if she helps her council members succeed in their adventures. And she's already proven that. Uh, I also like to find, Jenny Quinn and Christian Copa. I had the distinction, when I was talking about some of my bonehills things, of having the most conflict of interest issues come across their deaths. I was a poster child for their, and it wasn't anything I did. It was just what I owned, where I lived. And and my room, my business was. And yet, it sort of goes on to the thing of people and crisp point of mentioned something about people are so cynical that they hear something and they assume that you are guilty or you're wrong and they don't take the time to listen. I'll get into it. I would like publicly to say that I was cleared from the FPPC of a conflict of interest with the city and the city of Los Alto school district way back length. I never mentioned it before because I just thought it was just one of those things that it took care of itself, but I was cleared of no conflict, no evidence was ever found of my having a conflict of interest. And that carries over to another part of was, Chris was, and I both agree on, is that people see you, if you do something, you know, campaign money, if you take money from a particular group of people, you are labeled as in their pocket. Now, I challenged some people called me out and challenged me and I sat down with those folks and I said, Show me an example of where I ever caved in to developers or any group. And they never could come up with an example. And so that's why, the elected take a lot, but give them the benefit of the doubt that they are doing their best they can for you, and their honest and integrity is so important. And in all my years at the public service, This council has never showed anything less than total integrity and commitment and compassion to this city. There has never been, in my mind, or any example of anybody ever doing anything that wasn't in the best interest. And please give those people that opportunity. Um, You know, I also get a kick out of Juan Diaz, our fire chief, and he's not here tonight, but I was able to promote him. So I'm in a police chief and fire chief, and so I always got a kick out of that. And so did he, but, uh, Maxwell said he wanted the, uh, uh, our former police chief always said Max wanted to be part of the police department. So that was it. I had a lot of great experiences. You know, I see King Castro there, and I remember going to Washington, DC to accept the award for the city of Mountain View. And that was great. So I'm about to, I'm loining down and I said brevity wasn't one of my things. But I do, as I said before, a cranky old man and I have a few observations. And, and it's amazing that Chris slipped my script, but it is. People are so quick to judge without listening. I could remember back in June last year, when we were having, there was a national debate about how police forces were going. And local people took the national narrative without taking time to listen to their council maps, to go out and educate them about exactly what was happening in Mountain View. And that is so important, but the bottom line of everything that's going on is communication. Communication, communication. You need, we as a city council and city government have to communicate to people the facts and so they know the truth. And the people that are advocating, which are so important, they need to listen to our side. And I mentioned yesterday that, that you, uh, Oh, see, sorry, I got carried away, I'm sorry, to get a little emotional myself about what was going on, is that Lucas Ramirez was talking about how, we differed on many issues, and I told him, the bottom line is, we recognized the same problem. We just had different approaches to solving it. And so that's what I see through going on now is give us the chance to go through it. I will still look always to continue to advocate for transportation, for parks. Open space is so important as the city continues to build the current council, please make sure that we're new, that that developer comes in, that you maintain the parks and make sure that you get the money to support it. Because as the city grows, people will need areas to relax and unwind and we need the parks. You know, this COVID-19 was so important about when it came to fiber and smart cities, house people and the lower incomes are not enjoying, uh, going to school and doing work because they don't have the fiber connection. So, to wrap it off. Again, thank you so much. Thank you, all my members, my fellow members, thank you for the city council and the city residents for trusting me with your, your hopes, your dreams, your money, and, and that what I could do was do the best interest of city and mountains. And I noticed, Kevin, 1st Ferrari is here. And I think one of the nicest things he ever said to me was, John's pragmatic, and that's what I am. I may not be agreeing, I might not be the smartest guy, but I'm always what I say. not the smartest guy in the room, but I'm the most persistent. And this was a lifelong, uh, Dream come true with me and all this stuff. I'll finish that. Uh, let's get to the new people because it's more important because I'm a has been, and as Chris says, we're going to be jumped off into the pile, and uh, we'll have some fun, and all it's now, it's night for the new people. Congratulations to Margaret, uh, our, uh, Sufflon, Margaret, uh, to Lisa Mattachek, and to Pat Sholter, and Sally Labor, you have a great staff, you have a great foundation. Continue the great work. And thank you all. God bless you all and God bless Mountain View residents. Thank you so much

[01:23:45] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: and have a round of applause for council member, John McAllister. We're not gonna junk you into the pile, by the way. We'll leave. I'm sure will be calling upon you for your advice. Thank you, John. Um, before we go on to the next item. I wanted to welcome a former mayor, Matt Pair, and from the San Jose Evergreen Community College, uh, board of trustees, Wendy Ho, who is also a chief of staff for county supervisor, newly elected county supervisor, Otto Lee. So thank you so much for being here. And for the next item, I'd like to actually hand it over to our vice mayor.

[01:24:27] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you, Mayor. I have the honor of doing the presentation of the proclamation. Um, to our, our mayor, um, Mayor Abi Koga. So I have quite a long, I don't know if you'll be able to see the, no, you can't. I have a quite long proclamation to read. So if you don't mind, this was not read yesterday. Um, so I will be um, reading it. Uh, whereas Margaret Abbe Coba was selected by her fellow council members to serve as mayor of Mountain View, California in 2020. And whereas Mayor Avicoda began her 2nd 10 year as mayor with an emphasis on the importance of community engagement through her meetup with Mac, which provided informal drop in opportunities for residents to meet with the mayor. And whereas Mayor Abu Kobra championed diversity and inclusion, by bringing her ideas to the Human Relations Commission, supported Mountain View's efforts to be a human rights city and Freedom City. Issued a resolution to denounce, synophobia, and anti-Asian sentiment due to COVID-19 pandemic, and a proclamation that black oats matter. Appointed an ad hoc council subcommittee on race, equity, and inclusion on which she also served, developed a race equity and inclusion action plan, and participated in multiple community outreach events on the topic. And whereas in performing her duties as mayor, she represented the city through leadership in regional organizations, including serving on the city's association of Santa Clara County Board of Directors, the legislative action committee, and selection committee. The Bay Area, Air quality management district board, and the Silicon Valley Clean Energy board of directors, and the VTA policy advisory committee. And whereas Mayor Abbe Koga also served on several council subcommittees, such as chair of the council appointments review committee, a member of the council finance committee, slash investment review committee, a member of the council use services committee, and a member of the council neighborhoods committee. And whereas Mayor Abi Koga represented the city of Mountain View, in opening ceremonies from the Cali Athletic Fields, Schafer Park, Blind Park, and Evandale Park, delivered several video messages to the community, and were resided over the virtual annual holiday tree lighting ceremony. And whereas during her time in office, there Albert Koker showed her continued commitment to affordable housing by approving 956 new housing units, 113 of which are affordable units. And whereas in the 1st quarter of 2020 and her turn as mayor, she faced an unprecedented challenge in the form of a global pandemic due to the coronavirus, known as COVID-19. Where she led the community through quick and decisive actions that provided support, relief, and leveraged regional resources for the benefit of the city. And represented Mountain View and regional and state emergency relief efforts. And whereas throughout 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic required quick, decisive and emergency actions from the city council, in the where community of the week, staff report, and reinventing how the city provides services while complying with state and county public health orders. And responding to frequent changes in regional policies and guidelines. Whereas to provide much needed relief from the impacts of COVID-19. Mayor Abricoga, along with her colleagues, approved 4.470000 in relief, including 400,000 in no interest small business loans, $100,000 for owners of small housing complexes, and nearly 4000000 in rent relief to help keep people in their homes and prevents homelessness. And whereas in response to the worldwide pandemic, Mayor Abbe Kova joined her colleagues to provide more relief for the community, from COVID-19 impacts, by receiving private relief donations from local companies and residents, extending eviction protections for local residents and businesses, and approving small business resiliency, and programs such as Castro streets. Outdoor mountain view, and citywide outreach to business to better understand their needs and challenges. And whereas the pandemic exacerbated existing socioeconomic divisions and community protests form to express support for the Black Lives Matter movement, greater accountability for police actions, and a call for more city policies that support race, equity, and inclusion, and to which Mayor Abbe Kogo responded with community messages, the formation of the council subcommittee, multiple community outreach events on diversity and inclusion in multiple languages, and an action plan focus on policing, practices, policies and accountability. Celebration, and recognition of community diversity, and a review of city operations and policies. And whereas Mayor Abbe Koda rose to the occasion at every turn. I led the community through an onslaught of comparative challenges. Whereas Mayor Abbe Kobo led the city's resiliency round table to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. And she coordinated complex county right efforts with elective leadership in Santa Clara County. In the most difficult period of the COVID crisis. Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the Mountain View City Council, and behalf of its members, city, staff, and community, does hereby express sincere, and overwhelming appreciation, to Margaret Abbe Koga, for her year of dedicated service to the community as mayor. Thank you, Mayor Abi Koga. I think that deserves a round of applause. I see that Council member McAllister has the cheers for you. And I also have a ceremonial plaque for you. Oh yes, this one comes in a little bit here. Oh. There we go, for your ceremonial plaque. And I will be, hopefully, leaving this for you so you can pick that up in person. And I wanted to turn it over to you, Mayor Abbe Koga, uh, for any remarks that you may have for our community and sincerest and heartfelt thanks. I think I'm going to have to grab a sip of water for all the amazing accomplishes that you did. You got us through the 2009 recession and now through 2020 and uh, we're forever in your debt. Thank you.

[01:31:05] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you so much, Vice Mayor. Um, It's trying really hard not to get emotional today. It's been a pretty emotional day. I really am going to miss um, both of council member Clark and council member McAllister, who I've had the honor of serving with for 6 years and um, really have um, built a friendship with, well, with both of them. and so, it's been sad for me to have to say goodbye. Um, I know well, you'll still be around the community and I'll visit your ice cream shop, John, but, um, thank you both for, for your many years of service and it's really been an honor. Um, but yes, and and yeah, I apologize for getting a little teary eyed here. Um, I've been thinking that today, reflecting on on the year, um, and, you know, what can I say about 2020? Um, I think it's fair to say that this year has been the most challenging, exhausting, grueling, and life changing year that we have all experienced in generations. Um, is, is getting ready, um, for the mayorship last year, it was mentioned, um, Uh, reporter had asked me, you know, whether I expected this turn in 2020 as mayor to be easier or harder, and then my 1st time in 2009 during the Great Recession, and my response at that time was that it would probably be different. Um, we were actually in a, um, time of economic boom a year ago, uh, before COVID hit, um, and we had a different set of, of, um, of, um, challenges. But, um, I can now say, I think that, um, this year was harder and, um, it's actually become somewhat of a joke now, um, amongst folks that I tend to become mayor during crisis and I apologize to the community for that. But, um, and I'm grateful for my experience in 2009 as mayor, um, as well as my years on council, I think, I was able to draw upon that experience and knowledge to get us, um, to respond to all that has happened in 2020. Um, and I was thinking about, um, I think it was March 17th and the shelter in place order came down and just watching the clock hit midnight at night. Or I think it was at midnight when the orc came into place. And um, just feeling this, um, just this frankly dread as to what was going to come about. And, um, immediately, the emails and the calls, uh, price for help started pouring in. And, um, and yet, I believe, I'm really proud of our community. I believe that the community came together and rose up to respond successfully and effectively to all of the needs and concerns of our community. Um, I want to thank my colleagues, uh, all of you on city council, as well as our city staff who've worked hard. We've worked together hard to address each issue as they arose and come up with creative, immediate and impactful solutions to the challenges at hand. Um, I think we really have a lot to be proud of. Our mid-sized city, managed to provide one of the largest rent relief programs in the Bay Area, a small business loan program within weeks of the shelter in place order, and open the largest safe parking lot program for vehicle dwellers in the Bay Area next to Oakland. And a supervisor submitting and often has described Mountain View. I believe we really are indeed a caring community with a can do spirit. Um, in particular, I'd like to recognize our city manager, Kimber McCarthy, who joined our organization in early March, and then within a week or so, I had to declare the COVID emergency order, um, with her proactiveness, creativity, and her can-do attitude and lineace to try new things. She has been really the perfect person to lead our city organization in these unprecedented times. And I also want to acknowledge our department heads, and frankly, all of our employees who had to quickly adapt to a different work environment, with 400 out of the 600 or so employees having to work from home, and who have continued to dedicate themselves to serving our community. I know it's not been easy to keep spirits up, but our staff has not skipped a beat in continuing to provide much needed services to our community in a kind and caring manner. Matter, manner. It confirms my belief that we have the best municipal organization around. Um, I also, again, want to thank my colleagues on the city council who, over these past 2 years, um, we've had, I've been remarkable in their desire to collaborate with a shared vision of doing what's best for the community 1st, um, compromising when needed and working with compassion. Not all councils are this way. We heard that last night from a neighboring city council member. And so I've really cherished our unique working relationship. Um, and, um, I think again, Council member Clark and McAllister really embody that spirit of collaboration. So thank you. It's really been an honor to serve with you. And I'd like to welcome, um, shortly, the incoming council members, Lieber and Show Walter, and hope that we can continue in the same vein of teamwork. Um, given the nature of this crisis where time is of the essence, there are times when I had to make some quick decisions with our city managers. So I appreciate the support and trust of my colleagues, um, in enabling us to act in an expedient way on such initiatives that is rent relief and project home key, the transitional housing program, uh, project for the homeless. Um, the sense that we are in this together, also permeated throughout our city with our residents, businesses, and community organizations. I'm grateful to some of our large businesses, such as Google and LinkedIn, Microsoft, who provided early support to our relief efforts to small businesses, into our nonprofits and providing basic need, such as food assistance. Thank you to the chamber and downtown business association for their assistance in transitioning Castro Street to an outdoor dining retail experience, working on our small business action plan, and maintaining continuous communication to keep everyone posted as things progressed. Thanks also goes out to our community nonprofits. Our schools, our neighborhood associations are pitching in where needed. Having had the chance to volunteer at the grab and go lunch distribution for seniors offered by CSA, and at Hope's Corner as well as reach potential movement, and hearing from neighborhoods that organized food and clothing drives for the disadvantaged, warm my heart and reaffirm my love for this community. One of my initiatives as was mentioned was forming a resiliency round table consisting of representatives from the various sectors. We met once a month and shared updates on the activities of each of the organization in hopes that there might be areas of collaboration. And sure enough, that happened with one example being El Camino Health, offering of COVID testing for our school personnel and students. And so I want to, again, thank all of our community partners for that collaborative spirit. Um, I cannot neglect to mention the strong partnership, we, as a city, were able to forge with our neighboring cities, and the county is Santa Clara. I credit my dear friend, former Palo Alto mayor Liz, who, with her public health nurse background, persisted in emphasizing the need for COVID testing. When we were not getting testing in North County, she called me, called me, and kept calling me until I'd agreed to join her in asking the county for testing in North County, and thanks to further collaboration with all cities in the county, and the responsiveness of county supervisors, Cindy Chavez, and Joe Samidian. We were successful in getting test sites and up in Mountain View and then at the other North County cities. In my 12 years. I've never seen this collaboration and cooperation among cities and let the county be stronger. And I also credit the cities association of Santa Clara County for building that team at work. Amidst all the work around COVID relief and response, which was a lot. We also managed to conduct our regular business through city council meetings on Zoom. We continued to approve housing projects and affordable housing projects, make progress in some of our council goals, such as youth wellness, open new parks, swore in a new police chief, and maintained strong city finances. Where other cities had to deal with major budget deficits, we actually came out with a small surplus this past a school year. However, as we move forward, I know we will need to be more mindful of city resources, as the recession continues, and we'll need to address the challenge of limited staffing with an incredible workload for them, as we see a changing of the guard in our staff. There's still a lot of work to do, but I'm confident that we'll be able to continue to navigate through these challenges together with everyone pitching in, um, just as our hashtag together in the states. Um, as both John and Chris mentioned, admittedly, this past year has tested my strength and endurance, and at times my patience, with certain heated issues that brought out loud, caustic voices in the debates, specifically on the issue of race, equity, and inclusion. It was a challenge to listen to people question my qualifications. When I've lived my life as a woman of color, daughter of immigrant, working class parents, who had to deal with discrimination all their lives. Despite the loud voices wanting us to act on esoteric and expedient initiatives. I knew that in order for real change to happen, we needed to take the time and effort to delve deeper, to examine and genuinely dialogue and build trusting relationships, to eliminate systemic racism. I'm proud of the work we did with the council subcommittee on race equity and inclusion, and look forward to the formation of the new public safety advisory board to further the work of our police department, which has begun doing the data analysis, to examine further reforms, and strengthen police community relations. There are certainly other issues that it tested the cohesion of our community, um, as the council members mention, um, at some seek to frame issues as black or white, right or wrong, good or evil. Um, and we see that definitely at the national level. The culture that now seems now exists is toxic and really goes against the grain of collaboration, which is what has gotten us through these challenges of COVID. Now more than ever, as mentioned, as our nation's democracy is being challenged. We need to show compassion for one another, regardless of our background or philosophies, open our hearts, our minds, and our ears to listen to one another, reach across ideological and political lines in order to build common ground in a more perfect union. The November elections give me hope, but the new federal administration just stays away from taking office, and it was also most gratifying to me to receive such overwhelming support from the residents of Mountain View for my reelection to serve a 4th term on the city council with what I believe is the highest vote total in Mountain View history. Um, I'm not going to be speaking again after we take our oath. So if I could take this moment to make some acknowledgements, um, from this past uh, campaign, I would like to do that. Um, I will say that, um, it was with social distancing, it was obviously difficult to interact with our residents. And I certainly missed, um, this year as mayor, our community events that we had to cancel due to COVID, such as the spring parade, the outdoor movie nights in the summer, in our holiday tree lighting event. My big plans for a meetup with Mac sessions came to an end after 3 sessions. Um, and then during the campaign, I had to refrain from knocking on doors and instead, um, looked to run into people outside. It was definitely, therefore, difficult to get a pulse on the community without being able to have that interaction. Um, But we, you know, continued to walk the city, and um, to see the support of the silent but overwhelming majority that I've always counted on over the years, come out strong, was genuinely gratifying and validating to me. And also a reminder that our job as council members is to represent all of our residents. I want to thank the residents of Mountain View for giving me the opportunity to do what I love for the community that I love. I appreciate your consistent support over a decade, and I vow to continue to work hard to make the city the best place that it can be. I have to thank my core campaign team that got me over the finish line. Campaign manager, Monica Tong, Julie Park, Andrew Connect, Berrytell, Patrick Aarons, Chen Wang, Ting, Ting, Jang, and Rachel Thai, as well as the dozens of volunteers who helped me walk the city 3 times over, phone, email, and text to get a message out. I could not have done this without you. And to my family and friends, thank you for your unwavering support and love throughout the years. I'm especially grateful to my husband, Yoto, who has stood by me for now over 25 years, and to my girls, Eileen Aina. Thank you for reminding me every day why I do what I do, the hope that I can make a difference in building a brighter future for you, your generation and future generations. Thank you to the 3 of them. They're actually in the other room right now, for your patients, understanding and sacrifices that you've made to allow me to serve this community. Admittedly, uh, tonight is bittersweet, as it's always difficult to have to move out of the mayor's seat. But to be completely honest, this year has been exhausting, and I'm looking forward to a break from the 40 plus hour, 7 days a week schedule this year has required. It also makes me happy to know that I'll most likely be handling over the gavel to someone who has become like a sister to me by smear Ellen Kame, and that we are in good hands. We made history together as the 1st Japanese American female mayor and vice mayor duo in the mainland United States, and I look forward to her now taking the home. Looking ahead, I'm excited by what is in store for us with visioning, strategic planning, and reimagining the way we provide city services in light of all the adjustments we've had to make this past year. And I also look forward to enhancing my work at the regional level with my recent appointment to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, um, which also, uh, enables me to serve as an ex officio member of the VTA to hopefully continue John's tradition, uh, John's legacy, and I would continue on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, as well as serving as 2nd vice president for the city's association of Santa Clara County. Among other regional appointments. So rest assured that I'll be keeping busy. And I look forward to broadening my horizons and representing Mountain View on these regional boards. Thank you again to everyone for this opportunity, opportunity now, twice in my lifetime to serve as mayor of this amazing community. It's been a true honor and pleasure, and I really thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you,

[01:47:25] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: Mayor. I think I'll turn it back over to you.

[01:47:27] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, I swear. We will now go to um, the presentation. I'm sorry, the administration of the oath of office to the newly elected council members, uh, Lieber, Mattachek, show Walter, and myself. And um, these oaths of office, again, because we're in a virtual setting were um, done earlier and pre-recorded um, videos of um, the oaths are available and will be shown now.

[01:48:13] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Please raise your right hand and repeat after me.

[01:48:17] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I,

[01:48:18] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: I, state your name.

[01:48:20] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Margaret Abbe Koga.

[01:48:22] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Do solemnly swear.

[01:48:24] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Just solemnly swear,

[01:48:25] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: that I will support and defend,

[01:48:27] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: that I will support and defend,

[01:48:29] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: the Constitution of the United States,

[01:48:32] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: the Constitution of the United States,

[01:48:34] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: and the Constitution of the State of California,

[01:48:37] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: and the Constitution of the State of California,

[01:48:40] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: against all enemies.

[01:48:43] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Against all enemies,

[01:48:44] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: foreign and domestic,

[01:48:46] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: foreign and domestic,

[01:48:47] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: there will bear true faith.

[01:48:50] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: And then I will bear true faith,

[01:48:51] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: and allegiance,

[01:48:53] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: and allegiance

[01:48:54] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: to the Constitution of the United States,

[01:48:56] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: to the Constitution of the United States,

[01:48:59] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: and the Constitution of the State of California,

[01:49:01] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: and the Constitution of the State of California,

[01:49:04] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: that I take this obligation freely.

[01:49:07] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: That I take this obligation freely,

[01:49:09] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: without any mental reservation,

[01:49:11] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: without any mental reservation,

[01:49:14] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: or purpose of evasion,

[01:49:18] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: and that I will well and faithfully.

[01:49:21] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: And that I will well and faithfully

[01:49:23] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: discharge the duties,

[01:49:25] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: discharge the duties

[01:49:27] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: upon which I'm about to enter,

[01:49:29] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: upon which I'm about to enter.

[01:49:32] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Congratulations.

[01:49:33] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you.

[01:49:42] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Please raise your right hand and repeat after me.

[01:49:46] Councilmember Sally Lieber: I,

[01:49:47] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: I, state your name,

[01:49:50] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Sally Lieber,

[01:49:51] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: do solemnly swear.

[01:49:53] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Do solemnly swear,

[01:49:55] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: and I will support and defend,

[01:49:57] Councilmember Sally Lieber: that I will support and defend

[01:49:59] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: the Constitution of the United States,

[01:50:02] Councilmember Sally Lieber: the Constitution of the United States.

[01:50:06] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: And the Constitution of the State of California,

[01:50:09] Councilmember Sally Lieber: and the Constitution of the State of California,

[01:50:12] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: against all enemies.

[01:50:15] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Against all enemies,

[01:50:17] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: foreign and domestic,

[01:50:19] Councilmember Sally Lieber: foreign and domestic,

[01:50:21] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: that I will bear true faith.

[01:50:24] Councilmember Sally Lieber: That I will bear true faith,

[01:50:25] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: and allegiance,

[01:50:27] Councilmember Sally Lieber: and allegiance

[01:50:28] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: to the Constitution of the United States,

[01:50:31] Councilmember Sally Lieber: to the Constitution of the United States,

[01:50:34] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: and the Constitution of the State of California,

[01:50:36] Councilmember Sally Lieber: and the Constitution of the State of California.

[01:50:40] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: I take this obligation freely.

[01:50:43] Councilmember Sally Lieber: That I take this obligation freely.

[01:50:46] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Without any mental reservation.

[01:50:49] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion,

[01:50:52] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: or purpose of evasion. And that I will well and faithfully.

[01:50:58] Councilmember Sally Lieber: And then I will well and faithfully,

[01:51:00] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: discharge the duties,

[01:51:02] Councilmember Sally Lieber: discharge the duties

[01:51:03] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: upon which I'm about to enter,

[01:51:05] Councilmember Sally Lieber: upon which I'm about to enter.

[01:51:08] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Congratulations.

[01:51:10] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Thank you.

[01:51:13] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Please raise your right hand and repeat after me.

[01:51:17] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: I,

[01:51:18] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: State your name.

[01:51:21] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Make some that a check.

[01:51:23] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Do solemnly swear.

[01:51:25] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Do solemnly swear,

[01:51:26] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: that I will support and defend,

[01:51:28] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States,

[01:51:32] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: the Constitution of the United States,

[01:51:35] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: and the Constitution of the State of California,

[01:51:38] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: and the Constitution of the State of California.

[01:51:42] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: against all enemies.

[01:51:44] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Against all enemies,

[01:51:45] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: foreign and domestic,

[01:51:47] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: foreign and domestic,

[01:51:48] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: that I will bear true faith,

[01:51:50] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: And I will bear truth, faith,

[01:51:53] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: and allegiance,

[01:51:54] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: And allegiance

[01:51:56] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: to the Constitution of the United States.

[01:51:59] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: to the Constitution of the United States,

[01:52:00] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: and the Constitution of the State of California,

[01:52:03] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: and the Constitution of the State of California.

[01:52:07] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: I take this obligation freely.

[01:52:10] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: That I take this obligation freely,

[01:52:12] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: without any mental reservation,

[01:52:14] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: without any mental reservation,

[01:52:17] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: or purpose of evasion,

[01:52:18] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: or purpose of evasion,

[01:52:20] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: and that I will well and faithfully,

[01:52:23] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: and that I will well and faithfully,

[01:52:25] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: discharge the duties.

[01:52:28] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Discharge the duties,

[01:52:29] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: upon which I am about to enter,

[01:52:31] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: upon which I am about to enter.

[01:52:34] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Congratulations.

[01:52:36] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Thank you.

[01:52:38] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, I,

[01:52:45] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: state your shame.

[01:52:47] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Patricia Showalter.

[01:52:49] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Do solemnly swear,

[01:52:50] Councilmember Pat Showalter: do solemnly swear,

[01:52:53] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: that I will support and defend,

[01:52:54] Councilmember Pat Showalter: that I will support and defend

[01:52:57] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: the Constitution of the United States,

[01:52:59] Councilmember Pat Showalter: the Constitution of the United States,

[01:53:02] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: and the Constitution of the State of California,

[01:53:05] Councilmember Pat Showalter: and the Constitution of the State of California,

[01:53:09] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

[01:53:15] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Foreign and domestic.

[01:53:17] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: There will bear true faith.

[01:53:20] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And I will bear true faith

[01:53:21] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: and allegiance,

[01:53:23] Councilmember Pat Showalter: and allegiance

[01:53:24] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: to the Constitution of the United States,

[01:53:27] Councilmember Pat Showalter: to the Constitution of the United States,

[01:53:30] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: and the Constitution of the State of California,

[01:53:33] Councilmember Pat Showalter: and the Constitution of the State of California.

[01:53:37] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: I take this obligation freely.

[01:53:40] Councilmember Pat Showalter: I take this obligation freely,

[01:53:41] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: without a mental reservation,

[01:53:44] Councilmember Pat Showalter: without any mental reservation,

[01:53:46] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully.

[01:53:55] Councilmember Pat Showalter: And that I will well and faithfully

[01:53:57] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: discharge the duties,

[01:53:59] Councilmember Pat Showalter: discharge the duties

[01:54:00] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: upon which I'm about to enter.

[01:54:03] Councilmember Pat Showalter: upon which I'm about to enter.

[01:54:06] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Congratulations.

[01:54:08] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Thank you very much. It's an honor.

[01:54:17] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Great. I, uh, leave that concludes all of our oaths. Those words are much more meaningful at this time, um, than, um, given what's going on in the country. But congratulations to all of the newly reelected council members. And unfortunately, um, this is our time to say, farewell to our outgoing members, council member Clark and council member McAllister. We will be, um, moving you over to the attendee box and welcome Council member Leeper and council member Shel Walter. It's great to have both of you on board. Um, and with that, I know there's a little bit of technical, uh, pause to make those changes. But as we do that, I'd like to go ahead and ask our newly elected council members if they'd like to make remarks and we'll do it by alphabetic order. And again, I've spoken so I don't need to speak again. So we'll go to council member labor. Welcome.

[01:55:21] Councilmember Sally Lieber: Well, thank you so much, Mayor. I want to 1st express my appreciation for the people of our community who voted in such outstanding numbers in this historical election. The people, all of the people in our community are at the top of our city's organizational chart, and that fact is integral to everything that we do. I am mindful and thankful for the service provided to our community every day by those people who step up to volunteer. Including our unhoused neighbors, our daily labor community, activists and organizers, our faith community, everyday people who help others, our healthcare workers, our education community, and our valued city staff. I'm also thankful for everything that the previous council, staff, and our community services agency, and other nonprofits have done to hold our community together through COVID-19. And I look forward with the deepest expectation to opportunities that the new council has to work for the good of the community. I hope that our former council members, Clark and McAllister, as well as the other candidates who step forward for council service won't go too far. We need you and your expertise. As I walked our neighborhoods this summer and fall. often in the smoke of wildfires. I found the real face of grief and need among our neighbors. Our elderly are profoundly impacted by loneliness. Families are struggling, and feeling that their children's lives have been changed forever. People fear for their jobs, and the money to pay rent or mortgage, and too many in our community lack a home to go to, or live every day with the fear of displacement. Our roots are strong in mountain view and based in resilience. And we will need to call on that resilience as we move forward. In the next year, in the next 4 years, we must focus on delivering the basics at a high level of competence. On supporting our community and our small businesses. On depoliticizing and depolarizing the issues that we grapple with. And bringing respect and empathy to our engagement with all members of our community. We must bring public health principles to everything that we do. Work closely with our schools, our sustainability organizations, and our county government that provides so much to meet basic human needs. We must bring help to those who need it the most. Those who have lost jobs. The owners of small businesses, renters, people living in our mobile home parks. Families dealing with the pressure of the sandwich generation. People living with disabilities, and those who have suffered so much in recent years, even before COVID. We can and we will insist on transparency. Respect for all and compassionate mutual support. We can and we will take on the issues that impact us the most. The need for affordable housing, support for child care, home care, and mental health services. Disability access and empowerment. Respect and honor of labor. And the need to work consistently and aggressively to prevent further climate collapse and to offer new opportunities for every family in Mountain View to have easy access to quality parkland and healthy recreation. We will also reinforce our sense of belonging. Whether you were born in Mountain View or it's your adopted hometown, you belong here. And we will take steps to ensure that this is our town. By putting forward new campaign finance reforms. To the people of our city who have lost faith, faith in engaging in the process. I want to say this. We need your ideas. We need to know the issues that you see in the community. And you will find help here. Everybody is in and no one is left out. And when we ask ourselves if we can do these things, In the eternal question that was posed by Caesar Chavez and Dolores Fuerto... We will answer with one voice. See, Sipade. Yes, we can. Thank you so much.

[02:00:35] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, council number, labor. We'll now go to council member Medachek.

[02:00:43] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Thank you. I am very grateful to have been reelected to the city council. The continued support from residents throughout the city. Really means a lot to me. It is very, reassuring to know that so many residents share my perspectives on key issues and continue to place their trust in me to represent them. The past 4 years on the council have been challenging. But also very rewarding. Great deal was accomplished, but there's always more work to be done. Obviously, COVID changed everything last March. And in response, we on the city council turned our attention to help our residents and our small businesses. And we counted on the city manager, uh, to do a great job of pivoting the city's operations to deal with these unprecedented times, and she did a great job. I'm very proud of our response to the pandemic. And while hope is on the horizon, um, we're still right out of the woods yet, and there is still a lot of work to be done. Mountain View is one of the best cities in the world. I do say so myself. And it is a recognized leader in the Bay Area and a leader in many ways. And we're all very fortunate to live here. But as I said, we do have some challenges to address. And I want residents to know that I hear their concerns, and I will do my best to address them. Well, I'm sure they'll be working on issues that we've been working on for quite some time and making progress, housing, transportation, and the environment. Other areas that are always top of mind for me are issues that impact our neighborhoods and the quality of life here in Mountain View. Thank you to the many people who worked on my reelection campaign. It would take quite some time to miss them all individually, but I do want to give a quick shout out to some folks who went above and beyond for me. Uh, 1st Matt Fitter. He has been a constant support for me throughout my involvement with the city, and I appreciate all the work he has done on my campaigns. My sister. Joe Matachek, who is attending here tonight. Louise Katz, Robert Cox. Lisa Moore. Kelly Ketchmark, Mercedes Salem, Jack Segal, DJ Ball, and his family. Denley Rafferty, Albert Jeans, Arnold and Carmen Leon, Piggy Pendergast, Kurt Conroy, Ting Ting Zen, and Rachel Tai. And really that's just a few. Um, you know, that I specifically named, but there were so many others who worked on my campaign, and I want to thank all of you. It really is a lot of work to do campaign. And um, it's grateful when people, you know, take time out of their busy days to help you. And I really appreciate that. I'm really looking forward to the next 4 years on council. And as always, I want to hear from our residents and our small businesses on the issues that are important to them. And above all, I want to build great neighborhoods and assure a vibrant economy. As I've said before, our residents are the experts on their neighborhoods, and they are the in the best position to share their concerns and solutions with the council. Again, thank you all for your support. And welcome to the new council members. And John and Chris. I will miss the 2 of you dearly. Thank you.

[02:04:47] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, Kathy. Uh, we will now get a Counselor Michelle Walter. Welcome.

[02:04:54] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Well, hello everyone. I am delighted to have been reelected to the Mountain View City Council. Many people helped me with my campaign. Um, I'm just going to mention a few of them primarily my family. My daughter, Abby, stepped up to be my campaign manager. My husband was my sign distributor, and my, uh, my son texted, During a time when he was developing a COVID-19 test at work, so very, very busy. I had a wonderful campaign team and I hope that they are going to morph into some advisors for the rest of the 4 years. Um, I also want to thank all the people who helped me distribute literature. Um, I think all of us with COVID thought maybe we wouldn't be able to do that at all, but we were. We just couldn't knock on doors. And, um, that was a wonderful experience, um, and very helpful. When I was on the campaign trail this time, I was pleased to learn that I have a reputation for at least 3 things that are really important to me. First, I'm known as a good listener and treating people with respect. Second, as a housing advocate, and 3rd as an environmental advocate. I'm treating, treating people with respect is really foundational. We've heard that talked about a lot this evening. And um, now that I've been elected, I, I want just to, to, um, state again that we are the council for the entire community. Of course, the 1st people we consider as part of our community or the residents. But it's also people who work here and have businesses here. It's every resident of the city of Mountain View, whether you're a voter or you're not a voter. And also whether you voted for me or whether you didn't. Um, Our 1st order of business, of course, is going to get through the pandemic safely and with as little economic damage as possible. I really think that the preceding council has done a fabulous job and I look forward to, um, uh, uh, continuing with the things that, um, have, you know, have been started tweaking some and um, starting some more. During this emergency, though, we've learned that the long term issues of housing, homelessness, racial justice, and climate change are even more obvious than they were before. Um, not enough housing is still a huge issue in our region and our city. On Mountain View has a great track record for producing housing. Um, but we all, but but we still need to build more. We've got lots zoned and we need to make sure that it gets constructed. Like I've said many times, nobody can sleep in a plan. We've got to do develop housing that's appropriate and find ways to assist those that are living in RVs or unsheltered on our streets. We've also got to continue work on climate change protections. Both sea levelized protections and greenhouse gas reductions. When I left council 2 years ago, I asked that the work on emergency protections, particularly with respect to sea level wise protection and fixing soft story buildings that were vulnerable to earthquakes, move forward. They are still needed, and of course, we also know now that we need to plan not just short term, but long term for pandemics. Um, racial justice and police reform are huge issues. I support the recently become, race, equity, and inclusion efforts, and the establishment of the public safety advisory board. It's so important that we do this right. Mountain View, like every community, is obligated to take an honest look at our practices, our policies, and their outcomes, to make sure that we are doing all that we can to provide a safe and just environment for everyone. In addressing the pandemic and the ongoing major issues, we've all had to be so much more flexible. I think any of us thought we could be. Um, and we know we're not out of the woods yet. The city has put in great place, great programs, and I look forward to helping strengthen them and make changes as needed. And as we've seen in recent days, civility, and the ability to work with people who have different opinions, has really never been more important. Throughout my professional career. I've worked with lots of city councils. Um, Ours in Mountain View, we have a long tradition of civility. And it's not just something that we talk about to each other. Other city councils talk about how we have this tradition too. Sometimes I've described this as being excruciatingly polite, but it pays off. I'm going to work hard to maintain that tradition of stability. Um, not only does it make our job more pleasant, which is important, but it also allows us to be more effective and more efficient. We all need to understand that there are things that intelligent people disagree on, and that that disagreement can be healthy. It's often productive because of daylights, different perspectives that can suggest new solutions. I'm looking forward to working with my new colleagues here. And with all the members of the community. In order to do as good job as a council member, I need to know what you're thinking. So I hope that the community will reach out to me through my website and my city email so that I can hear your issues, concerns, and hopefully suggestions. And thank you again to everyone that helped me get reelected. I hope to make you proud. Stay safe, everybody.

[02:10:35] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, council members, show Walter, and congratulations again to all of our newly elected council members. We will now go into our next item, which is the election of our mayor and vice mayor, and um, I will conduct the election for the mayor. Um, first. So, um, Are there any nominations, uh, for mayor, council number Ramirez?

[02:11:04] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, mayor. Uh, I am proud and honored to nominate Ellen Kameta served as our mayor. In addition to our leadership as vice mayor. Ellen has significant land use experience from the 6 years. She has served on the environmental planning commission, playing the key role in the development of the North Bay Shore, San Antonio, and El Camino Reop precise plans. As chair of the council, youth services committee, and the ad hoc subcommittee on race, equity, and inclusion, and as an active member of the community health awareness council or chat board, she has contributed substantially both in policy work and community engagement. Regionally, she has been a leader in working to ensure the success of the Decennial National Census. I'm particularly pleased to have worked with Ellen to improve language access, strengthen the multilingual community outreach program, fight for inclusionary housing and market rate development proposals, and increase permanent supportive housing and safe parking opportunities for unhoused people. As fellow leadership, Mountain View alumni, former former planning commissioners, and 3rd generation residents, Ellen and I have a lot in common, and I'm grateful to be I'm grateful to be able to cover a colleague and friend. Please join me in supporting Ellen Premier.

[02:12:19] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, Council member Ramirez, and is there a 2nd on this nomination, Council member Medichak?

[02:12:25] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: I enthusiastically 2nd that motion.

[02:12:30] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Uh, so there's a motion and a 2nd to elect uh, vice mayor Kamei as our next mayor. Are there any other nominations? If not, I will close the nominations and could we get a roll call vote, please, city clerk.

[02:12:47] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Certainly. Um, council member, Hicks.

[02:12:53] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes.

[02:12:56] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Council member, meta check.

[02:12:58] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Yes.

[02:13:00] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Council member Lieber.

[02:13:01] Councilmember Sally Lieber: I,

[02:13:02] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Council member, Schorn Walter.

[02:13:05] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes.

[02:13:06] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Council member Ramirez.

[02:13:09] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[02:13:10] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Vice Spareka May.

[02:13:12] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: Yes?

[02:13:13] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: May I be Koga?

[02:13:14] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Hi.

[02:13:16] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Ocean carried unanimously.

[02:13:17] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Thank you and congratulations. Mayor Kamei, and we would, if we were in city council chambers. I would be doing this, handing over the gavel to you, but we will do it virtually. So here you go. And congratulations again. If you would like to, um, actually, then I'm going to hand this over to you now to conduct the, um, the next part.

[02:13:46] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Thank you. 8. I'll have to get used to calling you council member. But thank you very much. Um, so I'll move on to um, the election of the uh, vice mayor. There are any nominations for Vice Mayor. Customer Mattachek, I I see your hand. Thank you.

[02:14:10] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: So it is a real pleasure to nominate council member, Lucas Ramirez for vice mayor. Lucas has been a great addition to the council since being elected 2 years ago. Um, we sometimes have different perspectives on the solutions to issues as, oh, former council member, McAllister would say. But, Lucas is always well prepared for meetings and has very, and is very thoughtful with his comments. He actively participates in council meetings. He's collaborative, and works very well with his colleagues on the council. He listens to input from the public, from staff and from his colleagues. And he brings a lot of new ideas for the council to consider. And he's demonstrated his readiness to be in a leadership role on the council. So I'd sum up Lucas, as a really great person. I'm honored to have him as a colleague, and I'll know he'll do a great job as vice mayor.

[02:15:23] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Wait, thank you, Council Mayor Mata Check. Thank you. As a member, Abby Koka, I see your hand.

[02:15:29] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. I'm sorry, I don't have the blue hand button, so I just wanted to jump that being able to wholeheartedly 2nd the nomination.

[02:15:40] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you so much. Uh, city clerk, can we have a roll call boat, please?

[02:15:45] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Certainly. Council member Abi Koga.

[02:15:50] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Hi.

[02:15:51] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Council member Hicks.

[02:15:53] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Hi.

[02:15:53] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Council member reliever.

[02:15:55] Councilmember Sally Lieber: I,

[02:15:56] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Council member, another check.

[02:15:58] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Yes.

[02:16:00] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Council member show Walter.

[02:16:02] Councilmember Pat Showalter: Yes.

[02:16:03] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Calcuma Maria.

[02:16:05] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[02:16:06] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: Mayor come in.

[02:16:08] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Yes.

[02:16:09] Interim City Clerk Silvia Vonderlinden: The motion passes unanimously.

[02:16:12] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Congratulations, Vice Mayor Ramirez. Yes, that definitely calls for a virtual applause. Uh, with Casamarave Kobe, I got to serve as a, uh, Asian Pacific Islander duo, and now with Vice Mayor Ramirez, I get to serve with my other half, which is our, my Latino side. So we're looking forward to the diversity that our council brings vice mayor Ramirez. Would you like to share some brief remarks to follow us?

[02:16:43] Vice Mayor Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Mayor Comay. I'll have any prepared remarks, but hopefully quickly. I just wanted to acknowledge uh, several people 1st the outgoing council members, uh, Chris Clark and John McAllister. It was a true pleasure to serve with both of you, uh, and, uh, as I mentioned last night, trying to observe, uh, the full 8 years of your service, uh, you know, sitting in the back of the room. Um, you know, and uh, watching your uh, contributions, and I think we, we all had uh, uh, you know, wonderful things to, to share about the many things you've done in your 8 years up here. I also want to congratulate, um uh, incoming council members, uh, uh, Pat show Walter and Sally Lieber for your, uh, election, a very difficult campaign cycle. You know better than I, um, but, uh, well deserved and also, uh, to, uh, council member, Abe Koga, and council member, Mattachek, and congratulations on your reelection, similarly, um, you know, a remarkable showing, and, and I can only imagine how difficult it was to, to campaign during a pandemic. Um, I want to, uh, thank you in particular, uh, chance of number, manage check for your, uh, nomination, uh, and uh, for your 2nd as well, it comes in the robotic, it's uh, greatly appreciated. Um, it's uh, it's been a pleasure serving with, with both of you, uh, during, uh, what has been a, uh, sort of a trial by fire. The past 2 years have been hard. Um, you know, it's a lot easier to be a critic sitting, you know, in in the audience. Uh, and part of me kind of misses that. Um, and uh, American May, uh, I, uh, very much looking forward to, to serving with you in a leadership role, uh, you know, outgoing mayor, Abikoga has done a phenomenal job, uh, leading us through, uh, a very difficult year, and I have all of the confidence in the world that people do, uh, just as phenomenal a job, uh, guiding us through our recovery. Um, the only, I think, other thing I want to speak to is uh, the elephants of the, in the room of what the heck was Alex Brown referring to about my wish or however he put it. Um. During the campaign, I always thought, uh, it was pretty cool that there was a possibility we could end up with, um, more women on the council than we've ever had. And that happened. Um, but he's wrong on one count, and that's, it would be even better to have a truly historic council, uh, with all women. And I regret somewhat being the obstacle to that. Uh, but the voters have an opportunity in 2022 to rectify their error. Uh, and perhaps we could have 7 women serving on our council uh, for the 1st time in our history. Uh, thank you very much for uh, this opportunity to serve as as vice mayor, and I look forward to working with you uh, during the next 2 years.

[02:19:51] Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you so much, Vice Mayor Ramirez. So, uh, I have a um, few remarks that I'd love to share with everyone as well. Um, I know it's been a long night, so hopefully you are all hanging in there. So, uh, 1st I just like to start by saying thank you. I wish so much that we could all be together in person. Um, but I know that rather than being stuck at home. That for those of us who are able, we are safe at home. So, uh, I'm the, I'm the granddaughter of a former Mountain View small business owner, um, who met as field workers cutting flowers in what is now current Waymo. Though they were both 2nd generation Americans. My grandparents were interned at Heart Mountain in Wyoming, where my father was born. And they returned to the city. Something I attribute to the uniqueness and openness of our community. Mountain View is truly a special place. I'm honored and humbled to be your mayor. It is my grandparents roots in this city that enabled a future for me. And now as a newly wed. The future 4th generation of our family in Mountain View. I'd like to thank Vice Mayor Ramirez for his nomination tonight, as well as council member Mattachek. I served with both on the environmental planning commission for years, and now have the privilege to serve with both of them on the city council. I'd also like to thank my colleagues for their support tonight. Thank you, council members, Hicks, Showalter, Leaper, and Api Koca. I'd also like to thank the Girl Scout Troupe, 60846 from Mistral Elementary School, and the Mountain View High School, Madrigals, for their participation in making tonight so special. Most of all, I want to thank you. Our community. I'm humbled by your perseverance in the face of extremely difficult circumstances. And the great resiliency shown, especially through these last 10 months. During the coronavirus pandemic, the pandemic has brought challenges and hardships for everyone, coupled with so much uncertainty. And I moved by your compassion for our neighbors. Our essential and frontline workers, our small businesses and our 1st responders. You have shown us what the spirit of Together Mountain View is really all about. My call to serve you on the city council has never run louder than it did after last week's tragedy in our nation's capital. I serve all of you to create opportunities for residents and cultivate our diverse community. I believe in public service to build a better future for everyone. Over the last 2 years since joining council, Mountain View continues as a regional leader. The city council approved 100s of new all affordable housing units, adopted a comprehensive environmental sustainability action plan too, and increased our multilingual outreach program capacity just to name a few things. Despite the difficulties of 2020. We had historic citywide participation in the 2020 census, which is critical to our ability to get resources from the federal government. We added short term and long term city efforts related to youth mental health, which will soon be expanded to be called youth wellness. And we adopted a citywide school strategy after years of collaborative efforts, which supports our local school districts, through voluntary strategies, related to shared open space, financial assistance through an offsite transfer, of development program, and lend dedication. I must also take a moment to give a big thank you to our city staff. The committed public servants of this city have pivoted to remote work, virtual meetings and socially distanced services. To quickly implement COVID-19 assistance programs. These programs include 3.100000 in city funding for rent relief, as well as $50,000 for a food gift card program, $100,000 in landlord relief programs, and $100,000 in utility bill relief. The city also launched a small business resiliency program to help our struggling local businesses by providing 0 interest loans. The city is also close to completing phase 2 of this program. And in partnership with the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce, the city launched the Mountain View Marketplace, where you can shop safe and shop local online. Another key to our continued pulse progress has been our partnership with Santa Clara County and the state legislature. With help of the county and nonprofit partners like Move Mountain View and the Community Services Agency, the city now has 101 state parking spaces available through its current programs on 5 lots. During COVID 19, the lots have consistently served an average of 150 people, which operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Santa Clara County, through the support of the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce and the city, also recently adopted a cap on fees on local businesses by food delivery services. Through collaboration with the state, the city has been able to prioritize our most press thing policy issue. Housing instability. Thanks to a state grant, the city and our nonprofit partner, life moves, were able to secure a total of 14.350000 in funding for capital expenses and operations. And at this time, the county anticipates matching the city's contributions towards project home key, which provide interim housing for the most vulnerable residents in our community. This project aims to be completed in just a few months. Top of mind is the state eviction moratorium, especially with over 60% of our city as renters. Keeping people housed and in their homes is of the utmost importance. Thanks to assembly member Mark Berman and state senator Josh Becker. We have legislators that share my common goal keeping all residents housed. Looking forward to the year ahead as your mayor, and guided by our commitment to our council goal. Of promoting a community for all, with a focus on strategies to protect vulnerable populations and preserve Mountain View's socioeconomic and cultural diversity. Mountain View is a welcoming place. And I wanted to continue for all our kids. Like it was for me growing up here, and when I returned after graduate school to live with my grandfather. I seek to expand community outreach and prioritize accessibility as an organization. That is why it was important for me to tonight have translation translation services. The voice of our community is critical, and I am heartened that through equity-based budgeting, a policy idea I brought forward last year, we will assess and share how city department budget requests benefit the entire community. I believe in innovating and collaborating, especially when it comes to meeting the varying needs, housing needs of our community. I'm excited to announce a 1st of its kind project in Mountain View, with alta housing and the foothill Dianza community college district. Thanks to the unique location of our city, in the hub of Silicon Valley, and the passage of bond measures, G and H, the foothills and community college district will have the ability to construct affordable units for their students and administration. Special thanks to Dr. Judy Minor, Board Tristy Patrick Erins and Alta Housing CEO Randy Suda for working with me to bring this project to fruition. The call to end systemic racism, and to stand up against injustices is not over. I am committed to progress in the city and protecting all residents from varying backgrounds and socioeconomic status. Actions towards racial justice and equity and mountain view, and in law enforcement, remain of the utmost importance. The city will also build diversity from within. Led by our city's 1st female city manager, Kimber McCarthy. And our department head team, of which there's 5050 gender parity. I feel we need hope for 2021. Because of our community. The road ahead is still long, and there's much work to be done. No doubt there will be difficult times. It will take us time to recover, to heal, and make continued progress. Yet I am heartened by what we can get done and the change that we can bring together. Mountain view is a special place. It's a place where a person. This person, Before tonight, used to have to check the other box to identify themselves. But can call the city home. It's a place where the daughter of a Japanese American father, born in an interment camp in Wyoming, and a Chinese and Puerto Rican mother from Harlem, New York, is able to serve as your mayor. Thank you for the honor of serving all of you. Thank you. All right, so uh, I'd like to move on to item 8 council staff and committee reports. Does anyone have anything to share? Counselor, I'm at a check.

[02:31:04] (archive recording) Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Thank you. I'll just report on my attendance like we usually do between council meetings. Um, so since the last cancellating, I attended the Santa Clara County Airport Land use commission, being, um, on a commissioner on that. And then also, um, I held a legislative committee meeting of the Santa Clara, Santa Cruz County band table on airplane noise, just so people know what that is. Thanks.

[02:31:34] (archive recording) Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you, Counselor Mattachek. Anyone else? All right. Seeing none. City Attorney Chopa is a city attorney report tonight.

[02:31:43] (archive recording) City Attorney Krishan Chopra: There's no closed session report tonight.

[02:31:46] (archive recording) Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you. Well, thanks everyone for hanging in. It's my pleasure to adjourn this meeting at 9:04 PM, but before you sign off, we are adjourning this meeting in memory of the passing of Mountain View's 1st female council member and mayor, Judy Moss. She was the 1st woman to serve on the Mountain Vee City Council and the 1st woman mayor of this city serving 2 terms from 1972 to 1980. Her leadership in statistics work for several major companies, and she paved away for women in a field once dominated by men. As a council member, she advocated for more openness about what? And where the city council meetings would have be held. She also helped increase the participation of apartment dwellers and civic affairs by making sure they received meeting notices. She advocated for the development of Castro Street downtown area for cultural activities, and urged creativity in the development of the North Bay Shore. She was also a trustee at the Foothill Dianza community college district, and served on other community college boards. And on November 7, 2017. Then Mayor Rosenberg honored her. When she accepted her reward, she said, I'm very impressed by me. Which got a big laugh and a round of applause, and photos who knew her knew she had quite a spirit, and tonight we adjourn in her memory and in her honor. So, thank you very much. And I believe our next meeting is January 26. So we'll see you all then. All right. Thank you all. The meeting is adjourned.

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