January 9, 2024 Regular Meeting of Mountain View City Council

Video

Transcript

[00:00:00] Mayor Alison Hicks: To city council of January 9, 2024. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We're now on item number 3 on our agenda, which is roll call, the assistant city clerk will take attendance by roll call.

[00:00:37] Unknown Speaker: I'll council members are present.

[00:00:39] Mayor Alison Hicks: Thank you. In recent weeks, several of our neighboring elected decision making bodies have been subjected to disruptive, racist verbal attacks by anonymous callers during virtual public comments. The city of Mountain View is fully committed to racial, religious, and cultural equity and justice, as we strive to create a welcoming, safe, and inclusive community for all. The council welcomes respectful and non threatening public comments regarding matters over which the council has jurisdiction. Comments deemed otherwise, pursuant to the council code of conduct, and the government code may be grounds for terminating a speaker's comment period. We're now on item number four on your agenda, which is oral communications. This part of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the council on matters not on the agenda. Speakers are allowed to speak on any topic within the city's subject matter, jurisdiction for up to three minutes during this section. State law prohibits the council from acting on non agenda items. If you'd like to speak on an item, on this item, or the next item, in person, please submit a blue speaker card to the assistant city clerk now. So, um, I see two, uh, two in person speakers at this point. First, Laura Macias.

[00:02:25] Laura Macias: Evening council members, I just wanted to offer my compliments to the council. It's such a tough job, and I know what you do. Did a little bit myself, and there's just, there's no getting around how tough it is. I had the privilege of working with Alison, I'm sorry, Mayor Hicks. And, and, and council member, Abe Koga, and Council member, Lisa Matachek. And I just wanted to say, you know, I know you give it your all, and I know the rest of you do too. So I'm here for compliments, and that's all I wanted to do. Good luck to everybody.

[00:03:06] Mayor Alison Hicks: Thank you very much. Next is Catherine Alexander.

[00:03:15] Catherine Alexander: Hi, everyone. My name is Catherine. I'm from County Supervisor, Joe Smidian's office. Supervisor Spinning Regrets, he can't be here with you all this evening, but he asks that I convey his thanks to Mayor Hicks, and to the entire council, and city staff and community for all your hard work this past year. There was really a lot to celebrate, including multiple groundbreakings and kickoffs for affordable housing developments and a new all-inclusive playground, just to name a few. We appreciate your continued partnership to tackle important issues affecting our region. And look forward to working you more in the coming year. Thank you.

[00:03:50] Mayor Alison Hicks: Thank you. So, do we have more in person speakers, one more? Nicholas Hargis?

[00:04:06] Nicholas Hargis: Good evening, counsel. My name is Nicholas. I am a field representative for Congresswoman Eshu, and it's my pleasure to be here today to congratulate the incoming mayor and vice mayor for next year, and, of course, to celebrate Mayor Alison Hicks for completing her term as mayor. Mayor Hicks. Your leadership has left a mark of growth and improvements in livability, which will be felt for years to come in the city of Mountain View. The housing element was completed with an inclusive and robust public participation process, which will prepare the city for growth over the next eight years. The city made important progress in its vision zero action plan. The council's thoughtful effort. prepared us to welcome new neighbors in the shoreline and North Bay Shore communities. And, of course, we opened the first of many new parks at Fayette Parks. So on behalf of Congresswoman Eshu and her office, It's my honor to present this certificate of congressional recognition to Mayor Alison Hicks.

[00:05:26] Mayor Alison Hicks: Thank you. Now, now that you've summed it up, I don't have to make my speech. We also have Devon Connolly.

[00:05:41] Devin Connolly: Good evening, council members. My name is Devin Connolly. I am the president of the Mountain View Wisman School Board. I wasn't sure if this was the right moment to comment. I was going to comment on each individual election, but since my colleagues from other elected organizations are speaking, I thought now would be a good time. I want to thank Mayor Allison Hicks for all of her work and service this past year. Your work on behalf of children and families and our communicated, and our community is very much appreciated. I'd also like to congratulate incoming mayor, Pat Showalter, and vice mayor, Lisa Matachek. Oh, I have that wrong. We're just not sure. We haven't voted yet. Mayor, I'm sorry.

[00:06:19] Mayor Alison Hicks: Mary, yeah. You may be clairvoyant, but we are...

[00:06:22] Devin Connolly: I would like to congratulate whoever serves, in those positions, if there is, um, you know, some upheaval in this voting, but our school board very much appreciates the partnership of the city and the city council, and all of your work, and each of your staff members as well. And we look forward to another year of continued partnership and working together to solve some really hard problems. So thank you for your work.

[00:06:50] Mayor Alison Hicks: Thank you. So I see no virtual speakers. So this is the last call. Anybody in person or virtual? Otherwise, we will move on to the next item on our agenda, which is 5.1 presentation of proclamation in recognition of the outgoing mayor, which will be presented by the vice mayor. So let's go to the podium.

[00:07:43] Unknown Speaker: Do we have to sit on this like?

[00:07:44] Unknown Speaker: No, you go on.

[00:07:46] Vice Mayor Pat Showalter: Yeah, All right. Well, Allison doesn't really like long, um, resolutions. Well... Mayor Hicks doesn't really like long proclamations. One of the things that she has done this year is to, um, summarize many of them. But on this occasion, I really think it's appropriate to read the vast majority of it. So, um, whereas Alison Hicks was selected by her fellow council members to serve as the mayor of Mountain View and took her oath of office on January 10th, 2023, whereas Mayor Hicks is strongly committed to intentional development and green walkable neighborhoods, enhancing our natural environment, expanding access to parks and open spaces, addressing affordable housing, building a more sustainable and resilient community, and helping to make local government more accessible and responsive to residents. And whereas, while serving as mayor in 2023, the largest proposed development, and mountain views history. The Google North Bayshore Master Plan, along with the Google Middlefield Park Master Plan, were approved by the city council. The state of California certified the city's 2023, 2031 housing element, a 15 year parks and recreation strategic plan is now under development, and in line with strategic goals of intentional development and housing option, Mayor Hicks helped kick off the adaptive reuse of the Crestview Hotel for permanent, affordable and supportive housing in Mountain View, and supported the expansion of the city's safe the largest in Santa Clara County. Whereas, as mayor, Alison Hicks celebrated the 40th anniversary of the shoreline at Mountain View Regional Park, a 750 acre wildlife refuge and recreational area, that is a treasured place in the middle of Silicon Valley, and champion the protection of shoreline and surrounding communities from sea level rise and climate change, while supporting the expansion of housing opportunities, and new, walkable, complete communities, and whereas Alison Hicks, has an advocate for sustainability and climate resilience efforts, and during her time as mayor, the city of Mountain View was one of only 119 cities, states and regions across the globe to get an A score for its sustainability efforts and commitment to environmental transparency. And whereas Mayor Hicks participated in serval community events, and projects, aims at bringing the community together, and inclusivity with such highlights as the city's Lunar New Year celebration, the 2023 City Annual Update, Earth Day Celebration, Technology Showcast, Memorial Day, Raising of the Pride Flag over Civic City Plaza, opening of Fayette Park, the fifth season of the Spanish language, Civic Leadership, Veterans Day, German Holiday and community lighting celebration. She was very busy. Whereas Mayor Hicks represented her constituents locally by serving on the council appointments review committee, and many others. And whereas, Mayor Hicks has represented the city of Mountain View regionally by serving on Avenidos, Calmod, local policymakers group, the community health awareness as an alternate, the Grand Boulevard, Task Force Committee, Rancho San Antonio, working group, Santa Clara Valley Water District, Joint Recycle Water Policy Committee, East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Silicon Valley Animal Control Authority, the South Basaw Pawn Restoration Project 400, Stakeholder Forum, and the Santa Santa Clara County mayor's group. There's... And this is just indicative of what mayors do. It's a very time consuming job, and we really appreciate the time and effort that you put into it. Whereas, as a representative, the city of Mountain View and supporter of economic fatality. Mayor Hicks presided over the Google Visitor System Visitor Experience Ribbon Cutting, supported the city sister city program, and attended many local businesses' grand openings. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Mountain View City Council, on behalf of all its members, the city staff, and the community, does hereby express sincere and overwhelming appreciation to Alison Hicks for her service as the 2023 Mayor of the City of Mountain View. So should we go back? And here we have your proclamation, which you can keep reverend put on your wall, and this wonderful momentum of being the mayor.

[00:12:53] Mayor Alison Hicks: Thank you so much. And I will, um, make my remarks from the diets.

[00:13:14] Vice Mayor Pat Showalter: Before Mayor Hicks makes a few remarks, I'd like to ask if there are any members of the council who would like to make some comments. Council member Ramirez.

[00:13:24] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Vice Mayor. Very briefly, I want to congratulate you, Mayor Hicks, on a successful term as mayor. It's hard to believe that you are the first mayor to preside over in person meetings following the pandemic. I'm having trouble fathoming that in this moment, that we had, what was it, 3 years, I think, of meetings virtually, and the transition was smooth and successful. And I think it's a testament to your stable leadership and your promotion of civility that we've been able to make that transition smoothly, flawlessly, and I think very successfully. I also want to congratulate you on your work to raise attention to issues that I think all of us recognize as high priorities for you, so the Moffat Boulevard precise plan comes to mind. I know you've spoken very frequently about the biodiversity strategy, economic vitality, the 15 minute city concept. And that's, I think, one of the privileges that the mayor gets to enjoy to really talk about the things that are important to them in that ear. And I appreciate you focusing on each of those things. And also, just as a final note, restoring order after the disastrous year of your predecessor.

[00:14:49] Vice Mayor Pat Showalter: Councilman Ramos.

[00:14:52] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Thank you, Vice Mayor. Like council member Ramirez mentioned, I actually was rewatching the changeover from last year to remind me how this all went down. Um, and it did remind me that you, it was the first, you became mayor of the first meeting we were back in Chambers. Um, and I wasn't even here yet. So, um, one of the things I do want to to thank you for being the 1st mayor I get to serve with. Um, that was, um, that was great. I got to learn a lot from your leadership and I'm grateful to still be able to work with you because even though you're no longer mayor, you're still 11 of us. Um, and I'm very happy to have been able to learn from you and see how you were, um, how you led us. And that was great. Thank you.

[00:15:45] Vice Mayor Pat Showalter: Council member Kameh?

[00:15:46] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you. Well, I am excited to be in a meeting where we, it's just a celebration meeting. I think often when we're in chambers, we are straight to business working on, you know, tough issues in our community, but tonight we get to, I think, say what, um, former Mayor Messias mentioned, which is just thank you. We don't always get an opportunity to express that gratitude. And so I want to thank you, Mayor Hicks. I know that your tenure as mayor. There are things that have come up that we, um, we don't always expect when we run for office or get elected in the last 5 years serving with you since 2019 has been a great pleasure and honor. I think that you are always bringing your perspective and trying to push the envelope when we're talking about city planning, architecture, sustainability, talking about livability, which I know is very important for Mountain View. And I think that has really correlated with our, you know, I would say, like our tenant as a city, which is that we're a community for all. And you've really stuck to that. And I just want to also thank you for being the front facing individual, as mayor, you often get the brunt of a lot of community comments, or you're at events. And so you really are, I would say, leading the team. And I'm really grateful for that. And I know that you're looking forward to being a regular council member again, but want to just thank you for an outstanding job in 2023. Thank you.

[00:17:22] Vice Mayor Pat Showalter: Council member Avoco.

[00:17:26] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. And Aladdin has already been said, so I don't want to repeat anything. I just want to offer my thanks to you, Mayor Hicks for your service and your leadership this year. As mentioned, coming back and transitioning back to in person. It took some effort. And, um, you know, we had to remember and learn new things about how this all works. And I think you led us quite smoothly in that transition back. I appreciate that. I noticed that you've always been calm. Like, we've talked about grace under pressure, and I think you are a great example of that. So, um, and I appreciate just our, your, um, leading us to have very in-depth conversations and deliberations on some pretty meaty issues. And I appreciate that collegiality and collaboration that I think we've been able to see this past year. So thank you so much for your leadership. I know it's a bittersweet time. There's, um, the excitement of being able to go back to a more normal schedule, but also I think a little bit of, um, you know, I would imagine, well, I know that you might be feeling a little bit of that bittersweetness, but, um, I appreciate, I'm glad that we'll be able to continue to work together. And I just wanted to recognize, we were on this circuit, yesterday, the Palo Alto, the reorganization meeting, but I just wanted to recognize a council member from Los Altos Hills, Linda Swan, and former mayor, who's in our audience. So thank you for being here. Thanks.

[00:19:05] Vice Mayor Pat Showalter: Council member Manachek.

[00:19:06] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Thank you. And thank you, Mayor Hicks, for a good year. I appreciate your focus on things that are also important to me. Quality of life, sustainability, historic preservation, walkability, uh, the greening, rewilding of mountain view. Um, I look forward to continuing that into 2024, and thanks again.

[00:19:31] Vice Mayor Pat Showalter: Well I'll pass it back to you.

[00:19:32] Mayor Alison Hicks: Thank you. Well, thank you all of you. As you can see, this is a counsel that takes our work seriously. And I feel like after hearing everything you've said, I almost don't need to make my speech, but because you've said many of the things in it. But, um, I want to say this is a good news, bad news speech. The good news is, as council member Ramirez said, this, tonight, actually marks the one year anniversary of council coming back in person, after almost three years meeting only versus virtually. So, three of us here on the dais have been, um, virtual council members. Um, even though we're in our second year, second term, we've still served longer on Zoom than here with you. Um, so, um, I'm so glad to be back with you here in person. With that, with the opening here, uh, in the council chambers. We also reopened for public events and did lots of exciting things this year, some, a few of which are pictured up behind us on the dais. So you can see, I'm after, um, That's lengthy proclamation. I'm not going to mention everything we went out and did, but you can see here, we did opening and groundbreaking for several parks, including the magical bridge, fully accessible playground in Fayette Park. We celebrated the Google Event Center opening, and, frankly, lots of other small businesses all around Mountain View, openings and expansions of business. We celebrated the 40th anniversary of Shoreline Park. And I think we'll have video clips of that playing at some other time. Many of us on council visited the giant airship, designed and built by the local firm, LTA Research, which you can see behind us, and will soon be flying over the bay. So, um, go outside and look up, not tonight, but in the future, and you can see that. So, I'll say, I've been honored to serve as mayor for such a fine city with thoughtful voters, active and involved residents, and dedicated staff and council members. Being mayor has led me to respect our democracy more than ever before, and that leads us to the bad news. If you've been reading the papers or the news feed on your phone, our democracy is facing unparalleled dangers, something that growing up, I thought I'd never say. I took it for granted, which apparently we can no longer do. So my outgoing request as mayor is to ask each and every one of you to do something in our national election this year, to try and make sure our democracy survives and thrives. I'll leave it up to you what you do, what you choose to do. And then, more bad news, I'm sorry, because this is a celebration. Our world has become a hotter and more violent over the past year, and I don't have a quick solution, although I hope that all of you do. I just want to make one observation. I think our current really big problems, for example, the climate crisis, this is the hottest year, or 23, has been the hottest year on record, and violence in the Middle East. I believe these giant problems are more intractable and difficult to solve, because we've let them fester. And so, my request to all the elected officials in the room, and my reminder to myself is to tackle hard problems before they become nearly impossible problems. And with that challenge, it's time for counsel to select Mountain View's next chief problem solvers, who can tackle the hard problems. That will be our next mayor and vice mayor. Let's see. So, we will, we are now on 5.3 of your agenda, which is nomination and election of the mayor, we'll now open the public comment period for those wishing to speak about the nomination of mayor or vice mayor. So, would anybody joining us virtually or in person like to provide comment? I'm not seeing anyone. So in that case, we will now, we will now take nominations from the council member commit.

[00:24:37] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Great. Thank you, Mayor Hicks. I'm going to just move into the nominations then. That's right. Great. So tonight, I'm honored to nominate Pat Shoalter for mayor. She proudly calls herself a water geek and is champion for our environment and housing. Over the last two years, I've had the pleasure of serving on the Mountain View City Council with council member Show Walter. And this past year in particular, I've been able to see her collaborative nature directly as she served as vice mayor for our city for the second time. I've known Pat for 10 years and know that she has served the city of Mountain View in several capacities for decades. She was very active in the community, through school activities, including the PTA, and serving on the Mountain Views Environmental and Planning Commission from 1994 to 2002. And like many of us on council, Pat took a graduate of leadership, Mountain View. She's also served as mayor once before during her first term in public office. In 2016, with her as mayor, the city increased programs to help homeless residents and continue to move the plans for housing in North Bay Shore forward, something we were able to accomplish together on this council. And I know that she's particularly proud of that in her 1st term because over 2,400 housing units were built, with 258 units of those being affordable housing. She's dedicated both her career and her professional life to public service, protecting and advocating for our environment in the Bay Area. As she likes to tell us, She's our civil engineer on council, who started her career as a hydrologist on the with the USGS. She served as a director for the nonprofit San Francisco Creek Watershed Council, and she retired after 15 years with the Santa Clara Valley Water District. She specialized in multiagency projects, like our Valley Habitat Plan, and the South Bay Salt Pawn Restoration. She was also an active member in her union, IFPTE local 21. Pat has been active in regional issues through the Santa Clara County Cities Association, serves on our Bay, Conservation and Development Commission, and is also active nationally with the National League of Cities, serving on the policy and a committee for our environment. I think all of that to say through and through Pat is a public servant and believes in participatory leadership. She's always thinking about how to get more people involved and engaged. And I believe that this is the spirit that Mountain View also embodies. We're often described as a community for all with a can do spirit. And I feel strongly that Pat will continue this tradition in the city of Mountain View and encourage my colleagues tonight to join me in supporting Pat Shoelter for mayor. Thank you.

[00:27:43] Mayor Alison Hicks: Thank you. Um, I see we have a motion by council member command, a 2nd by council member Ramirez. Okay, um, then we, if there are no other comments, we can take a vote.

[00:27:59] Unknown Speaker: Mayor, I'll be doing the vote by roll call.

[00:28:00] Mayor Alison Hicks: Oh, okay. In that case.

[00:28:03] Unknown Speaker: Council member Abbe Koga?

[00:28:04] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Aye.

[00:28:05] Unknown Speaker: Council member Kame?

[00:28:06] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Yes.

[00:28:07] Unknown Speaker: Council member Mattachek?

[00:28:08] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Yes.

[00:28:08] Unknown Speaker: Council member Ramirez?

[00:28:10] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[00:28:10] Unknown Speaker: Council member Ramos?

[00:28:12] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Yes.

[00:28:12] Unknown Speaker: Vice Mayor Shal Walter?

[00:28:13] Vice Mayor Pat Showalter: Yes.

[00:28:14] Unknown Speaker: Mayor Hicks?

[00:28:15] Mayor Alison Hicks: Yes.

[00:28:15] Unknown Speaker: Motion passes unanimously.

[00:28:24] Alison Hicks: Congratulations. And before you, before you take over, I would like to bestow you with this giant gift.

[00:28:34] Pat Showalter: Okay. Wait, open that?

[00:28:36] Alison Hicks: You have to open it right now.

[00:28:38] Pat Showalter: Okay.

[00:28:39] Alison Hicks: And if it's too hard I have scissors. All right, well, you can see that it is big, and it's also hefty, I can attest to. But I'd love to rip presents. To rip presents open, so that's always fun. Good. I had to drive to bring it in. I usually walk. Drive through this. Because it's heavy. Do you want scissors?

[00:29:06] Pat Showalter: Uh. Yes. Well, wait a minute. No, what's coming on? As is her, as is she's known for, Mayor Hicks is meticulous about doing things thoroughly.

[00:29:35] Alison Hicks: Okay, this is... Take it out. All right. Or just show it, everyone. This is a 1980s or 1990s emergency phone, because, apparently, when the emergency happens, our cell phones will go down, and you and our city manager will be in charge of all of us, and you from now on, you have to, or over the next year. You have to carry this with you everywhere. And it has... This is a new thing. You didn't experience this when you were made before mayor before. It has a handy carrying case. And if you've, yeah, see? And if you've streamed The Crown on Netflix, you'll know that Lady Diana also carried one with her back in the day, so you can have your lady die moment.

[00:30:33] Pat Showalter: Okay. Well, thank you. I will treasure this. And I sincerely hope there's never a need for me to use it.

[00:30:44] Alison Hicks: So do I.

[00:30:46] Pat Showalter: All right. Where did you get this?

[00:30:49] Alison Hicks: The city gave it to me. Oh, okay. All right. I purchased it for you at Nordstrom's.

[00:30:58] Pat Showalter: Okay. Where Lady Die might have left it, right? Okay. Okay.

[00:31:07] Alison Hicks: So, now I believe you're presiding.

[00:31:09] Mayor Pat Showalter: All right. Well, I think the next order of business is to have the nomination and election of vice mayor. And so I would like to ask, um, for nominations for Vice Mayor.

[00:31:31] Mayor Pat Showalter: Council member Abbe Koga.

[00:31:34] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, Mayor. Congratulations to you, and I am pleased and honored to be nominating our colleague, council member Lisa Medichek, for vice mayor. And I've had the privilege of knowing Lisa for, I want to say over 15 years now, or aging ourselves. And I remember meeting her. She was a leader with the wagon wheel neighborhood association. Still active with that association. I hear. So I really appreciate her dedication. And that's really where her heart is, and where she comes from is our neighborhoods, and it's been one of her priorities to ensure that we have strong neighborhoods, and the neighborhoods are represented, and she's really done a fabulous job in that role. And then I would also say that her other moniker would be ensuring that we maintain our high quality of life in our city. And I think she's been very successful in representing those concerns and issues, and, um, and so I appreciate that. Lisa moved from the neighborhood association or added to that, a role on our planning commission. And I believe you did 7 years or 8 years there. And then we ran together in 2016. And that's where we really got to know each other quite well. Walk precincts together. I was amazed because she walked 5 or 6 hours a day. And I was recovering from chemo that year, so I could do maybe 2 hours and then I would be out, but Lisa walked that you could say she really walked the entire city. And I think that really is a great way to get to know our community well and she does really know it. She became vice mayor in 2018, so this would be her 2nd tour of duty. And then I had the honor of being her vice mayor when she was mayor in 2019. So, um, really got to work with her along very closely and know her well. And, um, and then in 2020. We ran for reelection together, and that was the year of the pandemic and sheltering in place. So, you know, we had to do things a little differently when we were campaigning. But again, we were out there walking precincts and couldn't necessarily knock, but we ran into people who were outside. So again, you know, just having a pulse of our community is something that Lisa has really been strong at doing, she cares about, as I mentioned, our neighborhoods, our quality of life, the environment. She's been a strong advocate for protecting our wildlife habitats out in shoreline. And then she's been on our investment review committee, I think, the entire time. And so I've been impressed and appreciate her financial acumen and keeping our city financially strong at the end of the day. That's really what, you know, keeps us afloat, is having a strong financials, and Lisa has really been a leader there. And then I have to say, one of the her strongest talents is her attention to detail. And I'm so grateful that she does that because I tend to be more like, let's, you know, having big ideas and I'm not as great at that, but she is takes copious notes of every meeting. And so whenever I need to remember something, oh, what did we do, that meeting, what was the vote? I call Lisa, and she has exactly the notes on each meeting that we've had. So that is just amazing. But to me, it just shows how much she really cares about this community, about the work on the city council, and, you know, her being a leader here in Mountain View. And so, it's really been a great honor, privilege to be a colleague, to Lisa. You're a fantastic ally. And frankly, though the most important thing, to me, has been that you've become a dear friend. And as you know, oftentimes, we spend a lot of time together as council members, and we don't, you know, pick who we're going to serve with, um, but we, uh, because sometimes we spend more time with each other than our family. It's really important to build those relationships. And so I'm just too deeply, deeply grateful to be able to call Lisa a dear friend. So thank you for that. And with that, I'm pleased to make the nomination for vice mayor.

[00:36:43] Unknown Speaker: And I would like to second, um, that nomination, I have served with Lisa for several years, and many of the things that, um, council member Abikoga said I can concur with, particularly Lisa's, um, uh, uh, just diligence in preparing for every meeting. It's wonderful to be in a brown act with her, because she has, to put it my, mildly, she has grasped all the material involved. And that can be exceedingly helpful, and trying to figure out what we should do moving forward. So with that. I think it's time for a vote.

[00:37:30] Unknown Speaker: Council member Abbe Koga?

[00:37:31] Councilmember Margaret Abe-Koga: Aye.

[00:37:32] Unknown Speaker: Council member Hicks.

[00:37:34] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes?

[00:37:34] Unknown Speaker: Council member Kame?

[00:37:36] Councilmember Ellen Kamei: Yes.

[00:37:36] Unknown Speaker: Council member Mattachek?

[00:37:38] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Yes.

[00:37:38] Unknown Speaker: Council member Ramirez?

[00:37:39] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[00:37:40] Unknown Speaker: Council member Ramos?

[00:37:41] Councilmember Emily Ramos: Yes.

[00:37:41] Unknown Speaker: Mayor Show Walter?

[00:37:42] Mayor Pat Showalter: Yes.

[00:37:43] Unknown Speaker: Motion passes unanimously.

[00:37:52] Mayor Pat Showalter: So, um, Vice Mayor, uh, Matachek, would you like to make some remarks?

[00:37:57] Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak: I would, and thank you both for the nomination in the 2nd and the kind words. I appreciate that. It's been a pleasure working with, actually, all of you, but I've known Margaret and Pat, probably the longest. Um, I do appreciate you all supporting me for the vice mayor position. As was mentioned, I was vice mayor in 2018. And, you know, thinking back, um, you know, we've accomplished a lot since 2018. And, um, a lot has changed since 2018. I can't possibly list all of our accomplishments. But I do want to acknowledge one big one. I want to thank all of the city employees. for their heroic efforts to manage the city's response to the COVID pandemic. You all should feel really good about yourselves and your contributions, and the positive impact you had, and continue to have on the city. Each and every department was involved in the response. For example, the IT department. They needed to enable virtual meetings, and provide the capabilities for employees to work remotely, but keep in mind not all employees can work remotely. You know, think about police and fire. And they needed to take extra precautions to keep themselves safe, as well as their families safe. The fire department did house calls to reach individuals who couldn't get to vaccination center, and they gave them vaccinations in their homes. I really appreciate the sort of creativity and the thoughtfulness of that program. Public works, took the lead on creation of the pedestrian mall on Castro, so businesses could open up outside, as well as working with other businesses throughout the city, so they could have outside operations. The library, developed a grab and go program, so people could still have access to books in a safe manner. Um, you know, this list goes on and on. And I really appreciate that each and every department was so involved and so creative in coming up with a response to COVID, to keep the city running and helping our residents and our businesses. Once the COVID restrictions started to ease, you know, our community service department just knocked it out of the park with the activities that they arranged, I probably attended all of them, as did many other people, because we set record numbers for the number of people who were at these events. So great job there. So, again, thank you to every single employee for really rising to the challenge, and coming up with creative ways to keep the city running and helping our community. I also want to thank the residents who all stepped up as well to help each other. Um, that was really great to see. And thank you to the business community for working with the city on ways to keep their businesses operating. They all had to pivot as well. You know, that was just one of the things we've accomplished since 2018. There are so many others, and you've heard some of them here. I couldn't be more proud to be part of this city. And I feel like everyone else should feel really good about this city, and all the great things we do and the great quality of life we have here. We don't know what the future holds. Some of the changes that we have experienced are permanent, but I'm sure there will be other changes that come about, but we're flexible, resilient, and caring. So I know the city will be okay. And I look forward to another great productive year with my colleagues here on the council. Thank you.

[00:42:11] Mayor Pat Showalter: Thank you, and now I would like to make a few remarks, too. I'm very pleased. Vice Mayor, Matt, check that you thank the staff. I always kind of think that the staff does all the work, and we get all the glory. And that's not really fair. So, for you to mention all of those things, and, um, there were, undoubtedly, many you left off the list, because there were so many of them. But I'm really glad that you brought all that up. It's just so important. I'd like to thank Allison. We've all thanked you, but I'm gonna thank you, we'll keep thanking you, probably. But anyway, in particular, I think we all got, we've all learned from the information that you share with us from time to time, about what you know as a planner. So don't be shy about that. Please continue to do it. It helps us to make better decisions. And I also really want to thank you for the meticulous care that you took during our study sessions. I made a list of what we did in the last year. And there were a lot of study sessions. We had a lot of study sessions, and you developed this methodology of taking meticulous notes, and getting the points that we had all made down, and then going through straw poles to help make that make the idea soup that we had gone through as clear as possible. So I really appreciate that. That was very helpful. I want to thank all my fellow council members for this honor. I'm really, I can't tell you how much fun it was to be Mayor in 2016. It was just one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. And so, I never expected to be able to do it a second time, but I'm looking forward to it with Great Gus Go. I, you know, I really admire the tradition of civility that this community has had for really many decades, and it serves as very well, and I intend to do whatever I can to make sure that we continue with that. I think there are mayor rotation, which we have, where everyone gets to serve as mayor, is contributes to that significantly. And also, we all have one vote. And so we are all equal in terms of making decisions about what happens. One thing that the mayor does that I'm not sure is as obvious to everyone as it is when you do the job, mayor, is you're the city's ambassador, or you're the chief welcomer. I know from experience that the ambassador role is a huge one, and it's great fun. In 2016, President Obama was at the top of the list of the people I got to welcome to Mountain View. He came twice. But I really look forward the most to welcoming residents to countless meetings and events that the city will hold. It's always a wonderful opportunity to find out what people are thinking about the various topics that are being celebrated or talked about at the time. The mayor also spreads the word about Mountain View's accomplishments through panel discussions and talking with the press. So let me know if there's a group I should be talking to, or have them contact me. I have a particularly strong interest, as everybody's mentioned, in housing and climate resilience, and I will, you know, I would like to get that word out as much as possible. Thinking about being the mayor for the second time has really been a trip down memory lane for me. And, um, I've really given thought about, kind of, what's different now and what's the same. So I'm just going to mention a couple of things, because I know we all want to get to the fun. One is, we value our economic and social diversity. That's been something that Mountain View cared about for many, many years, and we still care a lot about it. We value innovation, but not just scientific innovation. We also value social innovation. And you can see that in our programs to assist unsheltered residents and our extensive affordable housing program, among other things. As our council goal state, and people have mentioned, pretty much repeatedly tonight, we work to be a community for all. We take that very seriously. And even though Mountain View is a small city and population, we have a big place on the world stage because of the famous corporations that are headquarters here. And that means that the examples that we provide the good governance, our affordable housing program, sustainability efforts, our parks program, these things get noticed. And, um, I think it's... it's something to remember that, um, we do serve as an important example. There were a lot of changes with the pandemic. And in 2016. I don't think any of us had a clue what was to come. But we should be very proud of how we adapted as a community and as a city. As you went through in such detail. But we're still adjusting, and we're still adapting to the changes that the pandemic caused. In particular, I don't think any of us really know yet how much office space we're going to be needing because people are working at home now, and we just don't know how that's really going to play out. Another thing that's happened is that COVID is still with us, the disease is still with us. But fortunately, um, uh, the deaths are very few now. And, um, uh, and it's, uh, we can just thank the people who developed the vaccines, the people who gave us the vaccines, and all of us, I think, personally, should continue to go and get those vaccines. It's very important for your personal health and our community's health. Another thing, I think, that's really kind of changed with the pandemic, is how important we view parks. I mean, I don't think there was ever a time in Mountain View that people didn't love our parks. But during the pandemic, our 45 parks were used more than ever before. Park use is still much higher than it was before the pandemic. Parks really are the social focus of our neighborhoods. We've added nine parks since I got elected in 2014, and more are in the pipeline, and we need them. They're very important. So we're going to continue working on that. We're working on a strategic parks planning process to make sure that our parks meet our current needs, and also that they meet the needs of our residents in the future, and the climate conditions of the future. So, um, that's a very serious effort that's going on, and I hope many of you will be involved in it. I, uh, I think we've all talked a little bit about how do we approach things, and I kind of, I was gonna cross this out, but since people have mentioned it, I'm gonna bring it up, too. Ever since my days on the planning commission, I've asked two questions of myself about every item. One is, how is this going to impact the local environment? And then the other one is, what will this do to the quality of life for the people of Mountain View? Now fortunately, most of the time, those two things are not at odds at all. Most of the time, they point you in the same direction. But when they are at odds, I really have a tough time figuring out what the proper balance is, because it is always a balance. Anyway, before closing, I just want to talk a little bit about climate resilience. As a community, we recognize climate change as a real threat for many years. We've taken mint actions to slow climate change by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, and these actions typically have added the benefit of being more efficient and saving energy costs, even though it sometimes takes quite a while to realize those savings. We're also taking adjectives to protect ourselves from the impacts that climate change will have to our city. The most imminent threat is sea level rise. We developed a plan in 2012, which was really early as these things go, and it's something we should be very proud of. But even more proud than developing this plan, is that we are implementing this plan. And that is something that is vitally important for us to protect the people of Mountain View today and in the future. As a civil engineer, if I leave a legacy to Mountain View, I hope it will be that I took the leadership that was needed to make sure that our community is protected from sea level rise. And on that less serious note, I just want to give advanced thanks to all the people that I know are going to have to help me make sure that I get to all of the events at the proper time, the proper place, with all the proper speaking points, information, first of all, my husband, he is going to have to pick up the, he's just going to have to do everything at home. And... And when I was the mayor in 2016, I was working full time, and he did that, and I knew that, hopefully, it won't be quite as extensive as time, but it'll be a lot. And the staff of Mountain View, you just always come through for me, thank you. The friends who helped me talk through issues, as many of you know, I'm a talker, and so I like to work through issues verbally. My fellow council members, who are always willing to listen to all the various perspectives that we have on Council and take them seriously. I think that's really vital. And also, for all the people in Mountain View, who share their desires and concerns with me, which makes me able to do a much better job as council member, and, of course, as a mayor. So thank you again for this wonderful honor. I look forward to working with you all. And with that, I think that our meeting is adjourned to a reception downstairs. Thank you very much. Our next... Oh, do you have our next meeting will be held on January 23rd. Please join us right now in the Rotunda for refreshments, and this meeting is adjourned at 725. Thank you.

• ← Previous
• Next →