Mountain View City Council Candidate Forum - August 23, 2024

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Transcript

Segment 1

[00:01:40] Moderator Peter Katz: Good evening everyone. And welcome to the 2024 Mountain View City Council Candidate Forum, hosted by the Chamber of Commerce. Thank you, thank you for that rouse of an applause. Um, I'm Peter Katz, President and CEO of the Chamber. As you know, the Chamber is the voice of business, helping our local storefronts, large corporations, and community at large grow and thrive together. We advocate on behalf of businesses, host public forums such as tonight, provide tools and services to help our local economy, and put on major events such as, hmm, that small little party we're throwing in a week and a half called the Art and Wine Festival. By the way, shameless plug, uh, we still need volunteers, so bring your family, friends, and anyone else. As you may know, four seats are open in November for our City Council. Tonight, the Chamber is pleased to welcome all nine candidates to the forum. I want to thank the entire table here for your active participation tonight and for your ongoing service to our community.

[00:02:57] Moderator Peter Katz: We also want to thank KMVT for filming this event. It is being live-streamed tonight and taped for later viewing on our website chambermv.org. So, we want to be equitable as well as efficient with nine people at the table, um, in our use of the next 90 minutes. So the format will be as follows. Each of our candidates will have three minutes for an opening statement. And we're going to go right down the table alphabetically. I will be reversing the order later. Um, we'll have a moderated Q&A and I'd like you to keep your answers to one minute, and yes I will have a timer here. Gee, just like a City Council meeting, right? We will also do a lightning round where there are going to be some quick questions that you'll be able to answer yes, no, or yes with reservations or no with reservations. We want to, or no comment. Um, and finally you'll have a minute and a half for a closing statement. So I think if we stay efficient here, you'll have a lot to share with, with everybody. And before we go too much further, let me introduce our panelists tonight.

[00:04:15] Moderator Peter Katz: Our candidates are Chris Clark, Devon Conley, Jose Gutierrez, Nicholas Hargis, John McAlister, Erik Poicon, Emily Ann Ramos, Pat Showalter, and IdaRose Sylvester. So just a reminder that the questions were submitted in advance by our members, and given the Chamber's role, the questions have a decided economic and business focus to them. Areas to be covered will include small business support, housing, development, and economic vitality. A few ground rules before we get started. First of all, please honor the time limits. And I'm going to talk quickly so that we can get to them. Please stay on topic. And third, this is a forum, not a debate. So no fighting, no biting. And with that, let's get started. As I mentioned, everyone will have a chance to give a three-minute, uh, opening. So I'm setting the timer for three minutes, and we will start with Chris.

[00:05:40] Chris Clark: Right, well, good evening everyone and thank you to Peter and the Chamber for hosting this forum tonight. I'm Chris Clark, I've lived in Mountain View for nearly 17 years now, and um, I've spent 15 of those years serving my community here in Mountain View. Um, that includes eight years on the City Council as Mayor and on several or a couple of the commissions, the Human Relations Commission and the Environmental Planning Commission, the latter of which I currently serve on. Um, I termed out of Council in 2021 after eight years and am um, I'm hoping to to do it one more time. The the Chamber has um thankfully endorsed my last two campaigns and I'm hoping to earn their endorsement again this year. My civic activities however, um, don't really pay the bills. So my uh my day job, the first one when I moved to Mountain View was at a small tech startup in downtown on El Camino Real, um between View and Bush streets where um the check building is now. After that I ran a large tech company in San Francisco, um and I can talk for hours about um how Mountain View is better than San Francisco with the red tape and taxes, fees, permitting and all those things that I had to deal with when I was um in part handling real estate for that company.

[00:06:51] Chris Clark: I'm running because I deeply miss contributing to Mountain View at the at the council level and policymaking, and I believe we need continuity as our city evolves over the next four years. Um, one thing I think at a macro level to keep in mind is that we'll have at least two new faces this cycle, um, and with two long-term council members terming out, and three new faces two years from now as three other long-serving council members term out. I believe we need a good mix of both new blood and experience on the City Council. And the good news is that you can vote for up to up to four of us. Um, you don't just have to pick one or two, and you can mix things up with you know, voting for both continuity and new blood which I think is healthy. My reputation on council was as a consensus builder. Um, when you're on council you quickly realize that you're just one of seven votes. And no matter um how strongly you might feel about a particular issue, you need at least four other or three other people and four votes to get things done. I'm known as a pragmatic middle-of-the-road policymaker. Someone once described me as the glue that held our councils together as the council makeup and the issues of the day changed over time. I'm very proud of that, um, and it's something that I hope to continue uh if I'm uh if I'm lucky enough to serve again.

[00:08:09] Chris Clark: In addition to my experience, one thing that sets me apart is my breadth of support. It ranges from several former Mayors and Council members to our Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, state legislators, and the support I'm most proud of, local residents and businesses who span the political spectrum. It's important to me that we avoid letting the divisive politics that we see at other levels of government spread to our city-level policymaking. I've served during deep recessions, rapid growth, and a pandemic, and I'm eager to use my knowledge and experience to help Mountain View navigate the next four years of challenges. I look forward to your questions tonight and hopefully earning your vote and support.

[00:08:46] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. And that was perfect, you had 10 seconds left. With that, let me in uh introduce Devon.

[00:08:54] Devon Conley: Hi, my name is Devon Conley and I'm the President of Mountain View Whisman School Board. I'm also an 18-year resident of Mountain View, and I'm running for City Council because I believe that family-friendly city planning is good not just for children and families, but for all of Mountain View. I moved to Mountain View 18 years ago, and I like to joke that I fell in love with, or not joke, but just to really, you know, share that I fell in love with the City of Mountain View and my husband at the same time. I was at Berkeley earning my Master's in City Planning, and I was driving down on the weekends because I was dating my now husband, and I had to study the general plan for a specific city for an entire semester. Of course, it was a no-brainer to choose Mountain View because I was driving back and forth. And it was just fantastic, um, to look at the thought and care that went into developing the city that we have today really inspired me. And I moved here shortly after graduating and never left.

[00:09:54] Devon Conley: I have volunteered and taught in our public schools. I helped reboot my neighborhood association, Sylvan Park West, um almost a decade ago now, and it's thriving. We just had a huge block party with a few hundred people come out. And I also served on the Parks and Recreation Commission from 2017 until the end of 2018 when I was elected to the Mountain View Whisman School Board. I've served on the school board for almost six years now, and one thing that I can say definitively is that the needs of our students extend far beyond the classroom, and they're really tied to our community's well-being. I've been able to bring my background in city planning as well as my background in education together for the last 22 years throughout my career. There's a real overlap between city policy and school policy, and when we talk about housing, transportation, public safety, all of these different topics, small businesses and a thriving downtown, these are things that um impact the the lives of our children every day as well. From you when we look at downtown, when we lose businesses, we lose jobs, and when we lose jobs, some of our students lose their homes, um because they can't afford the rents that they were paying. So it's all interconnected. I'm really thrilled to be here tonight with all of you, and I look forward to earning your vote. Thank you for hosting this forum as well, and letting us have a public discussion about the future of Mountain View.

[00:11:26] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. Jose.

[00:11:29] Jose Gutierrez: Thank you very much. Can you hear me? All right, awesome. I'm Jose Gutierrez Jr. I have been a part of the community since 1999. I moved to Mountain View because it reminded me of where I grew up, in San Diego. It reminded me because of the men and women that were in the armed forces here at Moffett Field, and I was used to that, that was my vibe. Wherever the jobs were, my dad had to go there because that's what he did. He was a construction guy working for a company, Union one, that built military housing. So when I saw that here, I thought, hey, this is my spot. Once I graduated from Santa Clara University, I came over here and I've been here since then.

[00:12:00] Jose Gutierrez: In 2015, I was lucky enough to be appointed to the Mountain View Whisman School District Board of Trustees. At that time, it was a chaotic situation, many of you know that, if you don't, look it up. It's a long story, interesting one though, because in the end though, all of us worked together as a team to be effective leaders of the community, to bring the district back to the point where we had trust in the community, in our leadership abilities, the superintendent, our strategic plan, our vision for how we looked at the school district, our community, and different neighborhoods. We built many different campuses, we had equity as an issue, so what did that mean? Well, some places didn't have an MUR. With our bond money, we made sure that we spent that money to build that MUR in those places that were lacking. We reclassified our English language learner students at a record number, they were able to compete in mainstream classes but also be successful. And the pride and joy of my term when I was on the board from 2015 to 2020, partnering up, working as civilized adults from one elected group with another, with City Council, to get teacher housing done. You go by Bailey Park across the way, you'll see this big, beautiful yellow building, that's the spot. Over 120 plus units for teachers, because we looked at affordable housing as an important issue for us to be able to tackle. Not just as a school board, but as members of the community working in partnership with the City Council.

[00:13:13] Jose Gutierrez: When I look at that, that inspired me to then go on to the EPC. I got lucky, I got appointed, I'm the vice chair right now. Last year, we went through the housing element process, we did the heavy lifting, we also figured out that if we get community input and letters of support for our plan and suggestions along the way, we can figure out where is housing going to be. What will that look like? How can we get community participation to give their support to our ideas to look at a better vision for Mountain View? And how does that affect us all, whether we're renters or homeowners. And on top of that, homeownership. What about that subject matter? Well, that's where we brought in the issue of the CLTs, the Community Land Trusts, so that we can look at that as an option for a pathway for homeownership as well. And I am proud to say that because of those events and that ability to bring folks together to try and problem-solve issues that we all look at as important issues that affect us all, whether we're in one neck of the woods of Mountain View or another, whether we rent homes or we own homes, whether we're rich or poor, brown or black, it doesn't matter. We're still here in this city together. We share the same social space. We have the same concerns, and we're looking forward towards a brighter future. Four years ago, you all gave me your support. Thank you. This year, I hope to gain that as well, looking forward to respecting your trust, we'll move forward again. Thank you very much.

[00:14:24] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. Nicholas.

[00:14:27] Nicholas Hargis: Good evening, everyone. My name is Nicholas Hargis and I am proud to be a candidate for Mountain View City Council. Thank you to the Chamber for hosting us tonight. The diversity I see in this room is spectacular. Across every sector, Mountain View is making a global impact. And the theme that brings us all together tonight is hard work. I see our city working hard every day. One of my neighbors starts his commute at 6:45 a.m., and his big truck serves as my alarm clock. When I pull out of my apartment's driveway, I see tech employees waiting on company shuttles that support them as they shape the future of innovation. And when I come home, I see city staff putting on fantastic community events like concerts on the plaza, where Mayor Showalter and I got to dance together last Friday. Next week we'll be out there again.

[00:15:32] Nicholas Hargis: As a City Council member, I will make sure that we match your hard work with responsiveness and innovation. You can count on me because I've been working on business issues for Congresswoman Anna Eshoo for the last four and a half years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I worked closely with the SBA to make sure that local businesses had access to the capital that they needed. I was listening in on City Council meetings when we decided to transform our downtown into a beautiful pedestrian mall. I recognize that our business community is a highly interconnected ecosystem that depends on sound public policy from City Council. Critically, we must cut red tape and empower businesses to make Mountain View a prosperous community for everyone. I look forward to tonight's conversation.

[00:16:29] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. John.

[00:16:34] John McAlister: Well, let me, let me put on my reading glasses here, so. Good evening. My name is John McAlister, and you know me as a purveyor of premium ice cream, and no, there will be no ice cream served tonight. I know, come visit me. I am a long-time resident, a 22-year-old, a 22-year-old, I wish... 22-year local successful businessman. In fact, I am the only true local business person running for Council. I have seen firsthand the unique challenges and opportunities that our business community faces. Just today there was an article in the Voice about the challenges of opening up a business in Mountain View and all the red tape. I am proud to be honored as the Mountain View Chamber Business Person of the Year. I believe I was given this distinction for my philosophy of supporting those that make Mountain View a better place to live.

[00:17:28] John McAlister: I've had the privilege of serving our residents in various capacities: Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council member, five years on Environmental Planning, a board member of Valley Transportation Authority, and a founding member of Silicon Valley Clean Energy. I was the first chair and I helped spearhead that Mountain View would be the first city to go carbon free. I'm running again as I believe the business owner's perspective is not being heard. Mountain View has always been a hub of innovation and growth, but with that comes the responsibility to balance the economic success with the quality of life. We need to invest in workforce housing. Right now, I have four of my employees are living in subsidized housing, and I'm lucky. We need to work on our broadband infrastructure that keeps pace with a growing population. A permitting process that is effective and user friendly, and a well-funded public safety. People aren't going to go out unless they feel safe.

[00:18:25] John McAlister: My experience as a local business owner gives me a unique perspective on the importance of navigating regulations and finding affordable commercial space. I am committed to making Mountain View a place where businesses, no matter where they are located, to thrive, where new ideas are nurtured, and where the main character that makes our city so special. I am pragmatic in my approach for finding common sense solutions that reflect the values of our community, whether it's through innovative housing policies, smarter transportation solutions, or fostering a thriving local economy. I am committed to ensuring that Mountain View remains a place where everybody has the opportunity to succeed.

[00:19:07] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. We'll turn now down to Erik.

[00:19:10] Erik Poicon: Good afternoon everyone. My name is Erik Poicon, not Poison, just in case. My apologies. It's a pleasure to be with y'all tonight, thank you Chamber for putting this on. Um, a little bit about me and why I'm even running. So my encouragement for even wanting to participate in this public sphere was because of a single mother of four. Someone who gave up their life due to the battle of cancer fighting for us to remain housed, that there was food in the table, and that we were well provided for, so that we didn't need more than what we had. Now at this age, having lost my mom to breast cancer, I see the same struggles that many families face, still trying to uh fight for a paycheck to be able to continue to live here in the city they've called home for multiple years.

[00:19:58] Erik Poicon: I've had the privilege of working with the Community Service Agency back in 2021, leading our COVID-19 response team, feeding multiple families, over 100 families who had a lack of access to food, nutrition, and even hygiene kits for that matter. I have also worked with our city staff on urging and imploring our landlords to be able to apply to a state program so that our families remain housed. Why I'm running is to ensure that our city becomes much more inclusive and emboldened to fight for our families who are in need today. So I hope to count on your support and look forward to answering your questions today.

[00:20:39] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you Erik. And again my apologies. Okay, let's go over to Emily.

[00:20:46] Emily Ann Ramos: Hi everyone. Um, my name is Emily Ann Ramos. I'm actually currently a council member, I was uh uh I was honored to be appointed last year uh when a vacancy occurred. Um, I grew up in the Bay Area after my parents, uh, born and raised, um, after my parents uh immigrated from the Philippines to escape uh political and economic turmoil. Um, and I've always had this deep belief of the American dream and the Silicon Valley area. I grew up uh taking apart things, sometimes not being able to put them back together, but um I've always had an interest in how things work and how can we make them better. Um, when I moved to Mountain View, uh I got involved with many groups um to work on our housing crisis. And then subsequently I was appointed to our Rental Housing Committee where I served until I uh was appointed to Council.

[00:21:46] Emily Ann Ramos: Um, I I believe that Mountain View is home, and it's home whether you lived here for only a few years, or if you even if you just moved here, or if you lived here, if your family has been here for generations. It is home and I believe in the activism of our community to come together and and make things better, to build up on the best things that Mountain View has, our wonderful parks, our wonderful infrastructure, um how we take care of each other. I think about all the stuff we did during the pandemic to ensure that people were not displaced from their homes. I think about how we rose together to work on housing solutions like tenant protections um throughout this area and our city. Um, and so I I love working with really anyone. I'm excited to see what solutions people can come forth with. Um, I I joked on on the dais a few months ago that there's nothing I believe more than the activism of our community. And I look forward to uh working with everyone, working with the members of Chamber, working for those who are are trying to build their businesses here, who are trying to innovate here. And it's an exciting prospect. So I hope that we could um come and build more ideas, I'm excited to hear from uh my fellow candidates on their ideas, share my own ideas, and share um our hopes and dreams with you. So thank you so much for this opportunity, I hope to earn your support.

[00:23:28] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you Emily. I think I may have lost the mic. Um, let's move to Pat.

[00:23:36] Pat Showalter: Hi everybody. It's a pleasure to be here tonight with you, and I think this is such a great opportunity for the community to see us all together and hear our responses all together. Um, I'm the Mayor this year, and I've served on Council for eight years. Before that I served on the EPC um for nine years, so um, I have kind of schooled myself in uh how Mountain View works and um it's it's just a great source of fascination for me. I've um, Mountain View's been my home for over 40 years, and um as an environmental engineer, I'm a civil engineer, I'm the only civil engineer who's on Council or running. And I'm the only environmental professional who's on Council or running. And I think that that gives me a special um uh edge in evaluating infrastructure issues which are one of the things that is just integral to city services. You know our water system, our roads, our um our trash, our climate change protection, um housing, all of that stuff it's uh it's it's part of our infrastructure system and it's something that civil engineers um work on.

[00:24:55] Pat Showalter: I um, I've specialized during my career in water, and so I'm kind of known locally as the water nerd, and that's great, I'm happy to be that, and uh I um particularly am concerned with making sure that my community is protected from sea level rise, that we are very responsible and careful about um providing climate resilience, um and that we uh we have a water supply that we can depend on for generations to come. Um, I know that safety, good government services, and fiscal responsibility are all crucial to a good functioning city. And I am um really devoted to making all of those things happen. And fortunately we have um, we're blessed with all of those things, but it's not an accident. It takes a lot of work to keep that going.

[00:25:57] Pat Showalter: Um, I'm known as a good listener, and I really try and treat people with respect, because I want to be treated with respect. And I find that if you listen and um and are empathetic, people respond in kind and you can get a lot more understood and accomplished. Um, I've spent my career as a civil servant. I worked for the US Geological Survey, I worked for Valley Water, and so um, I uh I got schooled in how to get things done sort of in the patchwork of government that we have here in Santa Clara County. And it's it's really a pleasure to get to continue that um for my community as a Council member. Is that time? Okay, thank you very much, I'm looking forward to answering your questions.

[00:26:52] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you Pat. And last but not least, IdaRose.

[00:26:56] Idarose Sylvester: Good evening. I'm IdaRose Sylvester, a 25-year resident of Mountain View, and I'm actually honored to be here tonight. I want to send a huge thanks to the Chamber of Commerce for hosting this special event, and for all the work that you do to support our diverse and very important businesses that are the heartbeat of our economic vitality. And thank you all for being here tonight or for tuning in and giving us part of your Friday. I believe in our ambitious, innovative city with its small-town heart, its diverse compassionate community, a vibrant history, and commitment to solving the biggest issues. I am running for City Council to continue to lift up the voices of everyone in my community. I love it here, and I want to build upon the work I've already done.

[00:27:42] Idarose Sylvester: I have worked for years in my community to build a thriving Mountain View that supports residents, organizations, and businesses. I've been a leader on two advisory bodies, the Human Relations Commission and the Environmental Sustainability Task Force. I'm a leader in my neighborhood association, I'm a City of Mountain View mediator, and I sit on the board of several nonprofits, including leading safety net organization CSA, and other organizations focused on mental health, environmental sustainability, history, and smart planning. I also founded my own nonprofit, the award-winning Appetite for Good, that provided much needed support to dozens of restaurants in town and to hundreds of our families during the pandemic. I raised funds for restaurants to buy full price meal vouchers which were then given to our families in need. It was a win-win for both, and I won the Chamber's Athena Award this year. The skills, community knowledge, and subject area expertise I have, and the relationships that I have forged, make me an effective leader from day one. I have the experience, leadership we need, a proven track record of getting very big things done, and some new perspective to make a big impact on Mountain View.

[00:29:00] Idarose Sylvester: I am ready to work on our most pressing issues, including creating a sustainable future working on climate, housing, and our infrastructure, economic vitality for all including our small businesses and workforce development, and ensuring a just and inclusive community. I fight hard for what I believe in, and for everyone in our community. As the daughter of a single mom, I was shaped by witnessing her perseverance to raise me while running multiple businesses. Her pride in economic self-reliance and her entrepreneurship instilled the value and passion for entrepreneurship and hard work that I carry to this day. With this inspiration, I own my own successful business, helping other small businesses succeed, as well as educating youth and adults in leadership. I have helped literally thousands of entrepreneurs create economic success around the world in dozens of countries. I inspire them with the ideals of Silicon Valley innovation which happen to be largely created here in Mountain View, and continues to this day with hundreds of startups and companies creating our future. I'm committed to seeing this innovation continue in our businesses and in all other aspects. Thank you again.

[00:30:13] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you, IdaRose. Alright. Well, I think now you've uh you've heard from all of our candidates and gotten a sample of uh what what their platforms are and what they are standing for. Now we're going to get into some more specific questions. Um, I think it's rather convenient that uh the uh Mountain View Voice actually had an article this morning on small business. And um, one of the things that uh you know we at the Chamber have said that uh and reported is that Mountain View is often considered as a hard place to do business. So the real question is the flip of that, which is what does it mean to be a pro-business city? So with that question, I'm going to start kind of in the middle instead of going all the way down. So Nicholas, I'm going to start with you.

[00:31:01] Nicholas Hargis: Okay. Thanks very much, that's a great question. I think that being a pro-business city is having a growth mindset. Uh, the City Council has an opportunity to establish a culture of collaboration. And that means focusing on the fundamentals that business owners bring to us as being priorities for them. So, things like public safety. Making sure that our streets are clean, um and we have a responsive city government that addresses the concerns that people bring to us in a timely fashion. I also think that that means looking at our public policy very carefully and seeing how we can intentionally help our businesses. One of the most important things that City Council does is land use and planning, and I think that we need to facilitate ways for our city permitting process to be streamlined in order to facilitate new development, renovation, and the continued support of of landmark businesses here in our city.

[00:32:13] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. And thank you also, I forgot to mention that this is the one-minute response round and you made it under the wire. Thank you for that. Um, I'm going to move now to Jose.

[00:32:25] Jose Gutierrez: Thank you very much. So, the article was awesome because it pointed out to the specific weaknesses that the city has, and there's two things that we have to look at when we, when we read that article. One, how long did it take to that point, get to that point, and two, how quickly can we resolve it? I know the city has been doing everything they can to try and modernize their uh systems to have a permitting process that's more streamlined and efficient. That's great, we could have done that a while ago. And one of the things that I'd like to bring to City Council is accountability so that we can work with our staff to be able to get this taken care of in a much faster, streamlined approach as opposed to taking some time, three, four, five years to get something done, I don't think that's very very efficient. And if I'm a small business owner, I don't have that much time to make a profit. I need to do it now, I need to do it quickly, and I need to be efficient, and I need to know that someone in City Council is on my side looking out for me.

[00:33:08] Jose Gutierrez: So when I look at the permitting process, I'm glad that we're taking those steps. One thing that they also mentioned was that they would take the time uh, I thought, to be able to then answer questions for those folks who are wanting to get up into the business small business community here in Mountain View. And I read that in one of their vitality reports and I thought to myself, well, if we're investing money for that type of approach to help people before they begin the process to try and figure out if this city is for them, that's not what I'm looking for. I want to know that the city is for them. And for that to happen, the folks at City Council and the city staff need to be able to answer these questions along the way even after the submission of a uh of a permit has been submitted for the new business community to be welcomed in, I'm sorry, for the new businesses to then understand what that welcoming process is and then what to expect from the city if there should be some sort of lag or delay with the permit process. The last thing that I'd like to add though too is parking fees are still an issue. I brought that up four years ago, everyone knows that, I'm still bringing that up. If you're a business from City Hall that way, you still have to pay those fees. We need to figure out how that should be uh revised so it's more advantageous for them and those businesses in that community to have a business here in Mountain View.

[00:34:19] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you very much. Devon.

[00:34:23] Devon Conley: Sure, I'm kind of missing the Zoom tim- like I'm used to people cutting me off on Zoom, so I'll listen for the bell. Um, it is a challenge sometimes. Where we work, where we eat, where we shop, where we play has all changed since COVID, and we want all of our businesses in Mountain View to thrive. So when we talk about being a pro-business community, I think that that means addressing the needs of everything from a small mom-and-pop shop to some of our larger companies that have moved to a hybrid workforce. It's a really complicated problem, and we need to update our business infrastructure to meet the needs of this change. When we look at the foot traffic in downtown Mountain View, it shifted, and we're going to have to help our businesses figure out a way to bring people here as a destination. And when we look at the changes in our larger companies, we're not seeing our office units fill up the way they used to, we have empty office units, so what are we going to do to bring other innovative companies here who want to be a part of Silicon Valley and of the story of Mountain View. Thank you.

[00:35:30] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you very much. Chris.

[00:35:33] Chris Clark: Yes, so I think the the key test for me when you're looking at whether uh a community is is pro-business or not is, you know, do you have advocates? If you're starting uh if you're starting a small business or whether you're a large company that's looking to expand your footprint and you approach the you look at the processes that you need to go through and you start to think about how you're going to do that, when you approach the city do you have someone who is an advocate and an ambassador who says let's figure out how we can make this work, we really value and want you here. Or is it more um well here's all the red tape that you need to go-- like you know there are reasons for certain aspects of red tape, but you know is the person or is the is the community and spe- specifically the city there to help you help enable you to do what you need to do or are they there to simply check boxes? And you know there have been examples in the past where you know if you wanted to start a business license, you'd have you couldn't do it online. All those things are little things that add up, and I think especially bringing back the ambassador program and having city staff who are there to help um hold your hand along the way is really what's what will what will help.

[00:36:44] Moderator Peter Katz: Clearly, perfect timing. Okay, and as I mentioned, we'll start in the middle and go outward. So, John.

[00:36:52] John McAlister: Again, being the only business person on the council, what I look for is a city that is actively recruiting for businesses to come down downtown. Now we have a lot of turnover either because of high rents or that the product that they decided on was just wasn't going to make it here. But that's one uh example of saying hey, we want you to come here, we're gonna work with you. Another part is that working in conjunction with the Chamber. They are supposed to know, they are there to help advocate for businesses, and hopefully they will give you a conduit to say okay this will make sense and this doesn't. One part to making sure that we're a pro city is the infrastructure and a lot of people are talking about the permitting process, that's very important. But a business wants to come where they can have open space, where their employees can walk around, that they have a broadband, that they have broad band that's sufficient sufficient to handle their power. I remember one business over in uh north of East Whisman, that they had Mount View didn't have the broadband for them to actually uh do work. And so they spent thousands of dollars drawing digging a trench to the next city Sunnyvale and bringing it in. So that's one aspect. We need to make sure our public safety uh is out there making the streets safe for them or those businesses feel secure from any type of um hacking or so forth like that. So those are important too.

[00:38:12] Moderator Peter Katz: You, you have used up your minute. Let's move down to Erik.

[00:38:24] Erik Poicon: Thank you for the question. So when I think about being a pro-business city, I think about when a business is coming in, how seamless are we making this process to uh for them? If you read the paper, part of the process is that they're going for a permit that they're not sure they're going to get and yet they're paying the property owner a serious amount of cash, they're losing money. They may not get that permit and they're losing out on business which means that our local uh our local residents aren't probably going to get employed in that place of location. So what I think uh when we are talking about a pro-business city is how are we making how are we ensuring that we have enough uh staff employed to make the permi- permiting pro- process much more simpler. Not just uh advocating for e-permit MV, I think that's great, but I would like a model similar to the Eviction Help Center, such as a small business resource center where they are able to talk to a per- a live person and walk them through a process that uh would be much more um I think uh palatable than just trying to search on the internet what resources you can work with. And also making sure that our employees like part of our safety net structure are adequately paid so that they see that this is a vibrant location that they would want to be a part of.

[00:39:39] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. Emily.

[00:39:42] Emily Ann Ramos: Um, I think that any interaction with government should be easy and accessible, no matter what function you are trying to work with it. And that includes with our businesses. We we pride ourselves in Mountain View of being collaborative, but I think we also need to understand the limits of that collaboration and be very open about it. I hate for our busines- I hate to hear stories of our businesses uh interacting with staff and they they they're saying they're trying to be collaborative but they're kind of stuck in this death loop. Um, and so those are the things that we need to be clear. There needs to be clear processes to break through that, whether it is just a hard no and who does that escalate to. So I think having clear guidelines um on what we do allow, what we don't allow, will be very helpful in making sure that our our um what is that word... our expectations are met. Um, that that's how I view that.

[00:40:44] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. Pat.

[00:40:47] Pat Showalter: Well a lot of good things have been said um that I agree with, but I just wanted to add a couple. Um, first of all all the talk about making the um permitting process easier, we can't emphasize that enough, there is a lot of work going on to make that happen, but um it's a it's a subject that the the city needs to improve on. But in addition to that, I think that we also need to have some zoning flexibility. I've supported um uh starting up the gatekeeper process again which allows us to have um innovative uh and new uses in places that maybe weren't um considered for that use initially. Another thing I think is um we want to celebrate our businesses. We really have an incredible mix of companies, so something like the Tech Showcase I think is um is a wonderful thing. And then I think that, you know when you deal with government it's much much easier if you have a single point of contact. And so we have started with the economic um vitality program to and people who are coming in for permits to um to try and give them a single point of contact from various uh departments that that helps them through the process.

[00:42:05] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. IdaRose.

[00:42:08] Idarose Sylvester: The number one thing we need to do is to get out of the way of what business- and so- and let our businesses do what they do best which is run a business. Before the pandemic we did have a one-stop shop permitting for our businesses where you could go in, have your permit reviewed, get feedback, fix things and move on much more quickly, so we need to bring that back. And then later once a business is established, we need to let them do business. Uh right now I've heard countless stories from business owners I've talked to that they can't sell coffee alongside of their bakery business because it's a permitting process that is too onerous and they're told no. So we need to be able to say yes when our businesses want to grow and expand. Um we also need to encourage a community that is good for workers that work in these businesses, which include making sure we have adequate housing that they can afford and transportation. And that also helps us retain our businesses large and small. Um we need more workforce development, like the recent Mompreneurs program which helped train and create uh whole new businesses for uh workers in our city which created vitality. Um, and lastly I think a pro-business city really needs to create business hubs throughout the city and not just in one area.

[00:43:23] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. And thank you all for uh your your very concise answers. Um, we're going to move to a topic that um is rather a passion point for many people here, uh myself included. Um, and so we're going to do um a minute and 20 for this one. Um, and this has to do with downtown. Uh downtown is often seen as our crown jewel, and granted um all of what we're talking about here is about business in general, but downtown is a special place. What is your opinion of the current state of downtown and what if anything do you feel needs to be done? And I'm going to, as I mentioned, reset the clock to a minute 20, and I'm going to start at the far end and actually IdaRose, you get the mic again, so if you'd like to continue your thought or if you want to introduce a new one, go for it.

[00:44:17] Idarose Sylvester: It's not unrelated. Um, I will focus on the downtown with a new thought though. Um, we have since the pandemic and even before that struggled with reimagining our downtown, trying to bring businesses back the way it used to be. Um and to some degree we've had a lot of success, uh we have attracted some new businesses, we've certainly attracted new community supported uses in the downtown, but I think we might be trying too hard to bring back the downtown that used to be. Um, historically our downtown has actually gone through several changes um up and down. Uh before we had a major mall in town move in, I believe it was the Mayfield mall, that caused all of downtown businesses to flee...

Segment 2

[00:45:00] Idarose Sylvester: Um and then we went through years and years before we had a revised economy. So I think we need to look at the ideas that help us utilize our downtown for today's uses. Uh and that could be um having things like miniature, mini festivals, historic pop-ups, uh temporary art museums, small-scale art museums. I would also like to see things like business incubators that help us with our innovation, co-working spaces that help people bring community, especially those of us working at home. And even recreation opportunities uh for people of all ages so they could come together in community and use some of those vacant storefronts.

[00:45:40] Moderator Peter Katz: I think that extra few seconds worked. Let's go to Pat.

[00:45:46] Pat Showalter: All right. Well, what do I think about the current um uh situation in downtown? I really love the um three blocks that we've closed off to be a pedestrian mall. I think um we've been talking about that for decades in Mountain View, and COVID um really pushed us over the um the edge to do that. And and that's been a great addition.

[00:46:08] Pat Showalter: We are um uh going through our process of making that permanent. And um we're doing a lot of research to make sure it's done properly. But I go down there now, and there are so many people, um so much business, I think that's wonderful.

[00:46:24] Pat Showalter: But what needs to be done? Well, I think one thing that needs to be done is we need to connect our downtown with um uh the other side of the railroad tracks with an undercrossing. That that's um going to be very important for the downtown itself and also for that neighborhood on the other side. It will make it much safer to get across.

[00:46:43] Pat Showalter: Um we need to but we need to do a whole series of things to make sure that there are plenty of customers. One of the things I'm really enjoying is the programming that Parks and Rec is doing um to to have music so that people come downtown and listen to the music and then hopefully they go out to dinner. Um so those are some things I think about downtown. And also we're formally um about to take up an update of the downtown precise plan. And there are all sorts of technical issues associated with that that I can't wait to dive into.

[00:47:14] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. Thank you very much. Emily.

[00:47:21] Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you. Um I I I really enjoy placemaking as a way to encourage people to make a vibrant downtown. Is the downtown an area that people just want to go in? Can they hang out? Then regardless of ages, whether you're young or older or whether you're coming out of school and you're just hanging out with friends.

[00:47:42] Emily Ann Ramos: I think in terms of trying to work on our improve our downtown, we really need to fix the vacancies. And this is a conversation that we need to have not only with the businesses that we hope to fill those vacancies, but also the property owners of those vacancies. It's a very interesting thing comparing uh downtown with the San Antonio Shopping Center.

[00:48:00] Emily Ann Ramos: I spend a lot of time whenever I go to a new business and I get an opportunity to talk to someone who's worked on essentially uh making sure that that business is there, like a manager or or whatnot. And I'm like, how is the permitting process? How is this all working out? And there there's actually different answers if you talk with someone who's in downtown versus someone who is in uh San Antonio.

[00:48:22] Emily Ann Ramos: Um I think about when we opened Limon, which was a great ribbon cutting, and then shortly after that we did Il Fornaio. And those were two very different stories on how they went through their permitting process. And I think a lot of it has to do with um San Antonio has some um advantages of being a newer property.

[00:48:39] Emily Ann Ramos: Um downtown, we have a lot of historic properties and we have to figure out how to essentially update that within um that thing. And I'm running out of time, aren't I?

[00:48:49] Moderator Peter Katz: Uh, two, one. Okay. With that, Eric.

[00:48:58] Moderator Peter Katz: I sure can. Thank you. Um to simplify it a bit, downtown is a is really a city crown jewel. And we'd like to know what your opinion is of of downtown currently and what if anything needs to be done.

[00:49:12] Erik Poicon: Thank you for the question. So I love I love our downtown. Honestly, I remember during pandemic, uh one of my first experiences uh being a downtown was uh Ben from Food Law Movement treating me to a dim sum dish, and now I consider it the best dim sum in the entire county. And now it's a spot that my family and I like to go to where he sees my nephew and treats him to a mango pudding. It's amazing.

[00:49:34] Erik Poicon: That being said, with the uh climate crisis that we're all facing and as the city is moving towards a much more greener space, I think that I would like to intr- and we're doing the facade program too, which is investing in our businesses to be able to retrofit themselves or do any necessary changes within their business so that they can adjust with with the growing times.

[00:49:55] Erik Poicon: Let alone as we're seeing that many of our bu- businesses are being hit by these uh fake ADA compliant uh lawsuits, which is been a huge uh issue with many of our businesses trying to just even paying to fight those kind of uh uh claims.

[00:50:12] Erik Poicon: So I think that there's not only a need for protections for small businesses, but also a way that we can encourage our small businesses to be much more greener. And maybe that is introducing a uh with like the facade program uh a sort of grant where they're be able to uh improve their current conditions and we can recognize that, advocate for them at a such a higher level so that people are aware of what's being done within our local city. Thank you.

[00:50:39] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. John.

[00:50:41] John McAlister: When I walk downtown Mountain View, I'm disappointed in what I see. Uh their furniture, the exterior uh layout is mismatched. There's no continuity, no invitingness. You walk down there and you go, what's this, what's that? Uh everybody's talked about they've been here a long time. Well, I remember going to JC Penney's downtown Mountain View. So there. Um not bad for a 22-year-old. Not for a 22-year-old, no.

[00:51:12] John McAlister: But thank you for the extra 20 seconds. Uh but uh you know, I I see I go down and it's middle of the week and shops are closed. When you go to Palo Alto, when you go to Campbell, when you go to Los Gatos, what do you see? You see a mix of retail and restaurants. We have not that balance that brings people down.

[00:51:30] John McAlister: If we're doing it, I sometimes look at Mount downtown Mountain View as a food court, a glorified food court. That's all there is. So there's no incentives. We have a crown jewel. Are you're talking about a crown jewel of downtown? We have a crown jewel in this Performing Arts Center. That could be a huge economic energy uh vibrance to get people to come down.

[00:51:50] John McAlister: If we modified it, and I'm right now currently the chair of the Performing Arts Committee, so this is what I'm talking about, is that we want to bring in more acts for younger people. If you look at the demographics of who they are now, they're not the people that are going out and spending money and bringing in friends. So that's why we have to look at that, incorporate that in the vitality. We also need to change the zoning, so that more businesses can bring entertainment or more outside stuff.

[00:52:13] John McAlister: And I also would probably take the parklets and put them next to the building. I know it sounds crazy to people, are walking down the street, and there's a restaurant, and then there's people walking, and then there's your food. It just doesn't make sense. Make it over. You're going to revitalize it, make it so people can go right out of the restaurant and then people walk down the streets.

[00:52:31] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank thank you, John. Okay, let's move on. Nicholas.

[00:52:38] Nicholas Hargis: I'm very proud that I can say that I've reached out to every business on Castro during the process of my campaign. And this gives me an opportunity to address the Mountain View Voice article. That architecture firm that has having trouble moving in is on the 300 block of Castro. And so we should look at that as we ask this question and ask ourselves, well, what's happening there?

[00:53:06] Nicholas Hargis: If you look at the permitting process that's been followed, the article says that there are 30-day lags between the time that a developer or a renter submits a plan and when the city staff is expected to get back to them. We need to implement a first-in, first-out system in which if there is a permit that's overly delayed, a red flag pops up and all of a sudden we have to go and address it quickly.

[00:53:33] Nicholas Hargis: We should also um invite more uses into the downtown because vacancies show us that there's not a demand for that type of business. If there's not a demand, we need to invite more entertainment options. I truly believe that we're in an experience-based economy.

[00:53:51] Nicholas Hargis: People go to restaurants because it feels like they're picking up their passport and getting on a plane and traveling overseas. That that experience-based economy is the way of the future. I want to see more art galleries, more indoor entertainment, and more activation events that bring us downtown.

[00:54:09] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. Let's move to Jose.

[00:54:13] Jose Gutierrez: So in the Mountain View Economic Vitality Strategy presentation that was given to council, um I'm not sure what page this is, I think it means six or seven, but I can double-check it. I think uh I can't read this. But anyways, it says, 'a lack of racial diversity locally and regionally across business owners and startup founders represents an opportunity to improve the area's economic inclusion and equity.'

[00:54:37] Jose Gutierrez: So loans. We need SBAs to be able to be able to provide more loans for different types of folks to open new businesses in downtown. That's one approach.

[00:54:46] Jose Gutierrez: But the other thing that we have to look at too is we have to be realistic about our expectations. In this report, it also says in the presentation, layoffs are a huge issue. It had have been factored in, but lately we've had about over 42,000 layoffs in the tech industry in general. A lot of folks from Google were laid off, some folks from Meta were also laid off. That's going to affect the way we look at revitalization in downtown and what businesses can actually succeed and thrive in that area.

[00:55:09] Jose Gutierrez: I think we need to be more specific with our study in terms of finding out what could be successful. Entertainment could be an option for that. I I completely agree. The zoning changes that are possibly recommended for something like that to happen should also be looked at.

[00:55:21] Jose Gutierrez: But the timeliness to all of this needs to be a lot faster than what it is, because I think that's where we're hurting the most. Not being able to address these issues in a more efficient time manner to try and problem-solve these problems that we face so that we can then have the opportunity for businesses to open up sooner rather than later and to pay less fines.

[00:55:39] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you very much. Devon.

[00:55:41] Devon Conley: Thank you. So I agree with a lot of the things that my colleagues up here have said already. I think there's some great ideas on the table. I don't know how many of you were downtown for the 150th anniversary of the Mountain View Fire Department, but on that day, I got my boys, my 19-month-old and my 11-year-old, and we went downtown, and we got there a little bit early, and we went to a restaurant, and we got a seat, and we had lunch while the parade went down the middle of Castro Street.

[00:56:10] Devon Conley: And I tell you what, it was magical. It was amazing. The the entire street was full of people. Everybody had come out. All of the outdoor dining was filled. Um and fire trucks. I mean, who, you know, who doesn't like fire trucks?

[00:56:26] Devon Conley: But here's the thing. Special events are not going to change the day-to-day foot traffic on Castro Street. And so what we really need to be looking at, and some of these things have been talked about, are strategies that are going to bring people downtown in the middle of the day, for example, on a regular weekday, not just for a special event on the weekend.

[00:56:49] Devon Conley: I think when we look at the update to the Downtown Precise Plan that's supposed to roll out over the next two or three years, that's going to be done, um there are things that we're talking about already as a city doing ahead of time, like changing some of the zoning so we can allow other uses. And I think we should continue to be flexible about how we're going to use our space downtown to bring people back.

[00:57:13] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you very much. Chris.

[00:57:16] Chris Clark: So I love downtown. I'm I'm lucky enough to be able to walk um there. But I think one of the things we need to remember is we we have something that some other cities don't have, which is that we have not just a major Caltrain station, but we have all the freeways converging, and we have the opportunity um to to really create a a special place, not that it isn't special today, but it it can adapt over time.

[00:57:40] Chris Clark: And so I see our neighbors like Sunnyvale and Redwood City doing really great things and taking advantage of some of the assets that they have. And one of the key differences that I think that they've done that we have the ability to do um through through good planning over time, and hopefully as the economy picks up it um things will fill in, is create more of a 24/7 population there.

[00:58:02] Chris Clark: So it's great that Castro Street can be a destination, but we also need we need more residents downtown to support retail um and grocery stores and things like that. We also need workers in downtown. Um we have that Caltrain stop. We we need, you know, office used to be a dirty word, but it um not too long ago. But I think we really need a mix of businesses and to be as adaptable as we possibly can over time to make sure that we're activating the downtown in a 24/7 manner. That we have enough residences and businesses and everything that we need to support retail and and other uses, including entertainment.

[00:58:39] Moderator Peter Katz: Perfect, thank you. Guess what? It's time for the lightning round. So for this question, you can simply answer yes or no, or you can answer yes with reservations, no with reservations, or you could say either no opinion or do not wish to answer.

[00:59:04] Moderator Peter Katz: All right. Are you ready? The question is, do you support revisiting a commercial vacancy penalty?

[00:59:16] Moderator Peter Katz: And I'll start three-quarters of the way down. Eric.

[00:59:24] Erik Poicon: So that was a commercial vacancy penalty? Yes.

[00:59:27] Moderator Peter Katz: Emily.

[00:59:28] Emily Ann Ramos: Yes.

[00:59:28] Moderator Peter Katz: Pat.

[00:59:29] Pat Showalter: Yes.

[00:59:31] Moderator Peter Katz: IdaRose.

[00:59:31] Idarose Sylvester: Yes.

[00:59:32] Moderator Peter Katz: John.

[00:59:39] Moderator Peter Katz: I got a minute, right? No, this is lightning.

[00:59:41] John McAlister: Uh, uh, I support if we can show a nexus that it will actually produce businesses to open up.

[00:59:50] Moderator Peter Katz: Yes, no, or yes with reservations.

[00:59:51] John McAlister: Depending.

[00:59:53] Moderator Peter Katz: But I gave you the answ-. Nicholas.

[00:59:56] Nicholas Hargis: No with reservations. Thank you.

[01:00:00] Jose Gutierrez: Uh, no.

[01:00:02] Moderator Peter Katz: Devon.

[01:00:03] Devon Conley: I'm going to go reservations first. Yes.

[01:00:07] Moderator Peter Katz: That was said with reservations. Chris.

[01:00:09] Chris Clark: I support revisiting it, yes. Thank you.

[01:00:13] Moderator Peter Katz: All right. Was that fun enough that we should do another one?

[01:00:19] Idarose Sylvester: I'm I'm sorry.

[01:00:20] Moderator Peter Katz: I'm sorry. Uh, by by vacancy, um basically empty storefronts, and what would be a penalty for towards those vacancies. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

[01:00:34] Moderator Peter Katz: Okay. Um, do you uh support more office development downtown?

[01:00:43] Moderator Peter Katz: Chris.

[01:00:44] Chris Clark: I I do, as I alluded to previously, yeah.

[01:00:47] Moderator Peter Katz: Devon.

[01:00:48] Devon Conley: With reservations.

[01:00:51] Jose Gutierrez: Yes, but with reservations.

[01:00:53] Nicholas Hargis: Yes.

[01:00:55] John McAlister: Palo Alto is also considering a vacancy tax, and so it's not something that's...

[01:01:02] Moderator Peter Katz: John, play by the rules.

[01:01:05] John McAlister: I'm just saying. Uh, there's you have to explain this. So, we're trying to get a downtown motel down there. And...

[01:01:11] Moderator Peter Katz: John, I'm going to need to move on. So the answer is... What was the question again? Sorry.

[01:01:17] Moderator Peter Katz: Eric.

[01:01:18] Erik Poicon: No.

[01:01:19] Emily Ann Ramos: Yes, with reservations.

[01:01:21] Pat Showalter: Yes, with reservations.

[01:01:23] Idarose Sylvester: Yes, with reservations.

[01:01:25] Moderator Peter Katz: Okay. All right. We're going back to the longer format. Although I can tell this was a winner, so we'll come back to it.

[01:01:37] Moderator Peter Katz: Okay, um, housing continues to be an issue in Mountain View, for Mountain View, and the region. What are your ideas for improving the housing supply?

[01:01:48] Moderator Peter Katz: And I'm going to start with Devon.

[01:01:51] Devon Conley: Okay, here are we back to a minute?

[01:01:53] Moderator Peter Katz: Yeah. Minute, minute 20.

[01:01:56] Devon Conley: Um, wait, which one? A minute and 20 seconds, and I paused the clock to answer that. Thank you very much.

[01:02:04] Devon Conley: All right. So in the Mountain View Whisman School District, 33% of our students qualify for free and reduced price lunch. That means for a family of four that they earn $55,500 a year. Those families qualify for what is known as very low income housing when we talk about affordable or subsidized housing. 33% of our students in our district, right?

[01:02:29] Devon Conley: So when we're looking at housing, what I think we need to be doing is focusing on focusing in on our housing element, which includes 2,700 plus units of very low income housing for these families that are earning less than 60% AMI or average median income in the area. And if we don't, we're going to keep seeing our students moving into homelessness.

[01:02:55] Devon Conley: And I focus on children and families, I focus on children and housing specifically, because when we support children now, we are supporting our future for the next 30, 40, 50 years. And so anything we can do to make sure our families are housed is going to impact this city for decades and decades to come.

[01:03:17] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. I'm going to pop around and uh go to Emily.

[01:03:22] Emily Ann Ramos: Oh, great. Yay. Um, so as as uh Trustee Conley mentioned, um there we have a lot of plans in our housing element to remove the barriers of developing housing. We need to look at how are we doing our fees. What fees are actually necessary? What are what of those fees are impeding the development of housing to make sure that they don't that make sure that they don't pen- that they pencil out. So we need to take a look at that.

[01:03:48] Emily Ann Ramos: We also need to look at um greatly increasing zoning, um and greatly increasing the density. Uh, the character of our community is the people in it, not necessarily the buildings. Um, and as we think about um removing these barriers to housing, um it it it's not a great time in the economy for it because of the high interest rates, but how can we encourage the financial feasibility of developing housing.

[01:04:18] Emily Ann Ramos: And that is also in conjunction to what I like to call the three Ps: producing housing at all levels of affordability, preserving uh naturally occurring and subsidized affordable housing, and then protecting tenants. So as we look at all the items in our housing element to one, protect tenants, there are several actions to also affirmatively further fair housing.

[01:04:38] Emily Ann Ramos: So are we expanding out housing in areas that are our much lower density to provide some gentle density um to those things? I'm running out of time, aren't I?

[01:04:48] Moderator Peter Katz: No, you're out of time. But thank you.

[01:04:53] Moderator Peter Katz: Okay, we're going to go to Jose.

[01:04:56] Jose Gutierrez: Sure. So look, I I I'm I hate saying these types of things. I remind myself of of of the thing that I always say that I sound like, oh, back in my day. But back in my day was when I was on the school board, our Latino population was about 40 something percent, 46, 47%. It's down. It's making an impact. It's coming back up, but the reality is this gentrification all around us, whether you accept it or not.

[01:05:21] Jose Gutierrez: And one of the things that we need to look at realistically is, and we did this for the housing element plan, where can we encourage to have developers think of housing and affordability to equate middle-income housing, low-income housing.

[01:05:32] Jose Gutierrez: Because the reality is some of you here may share this, some of you may not, but my personal opinion and my experience so far in the EPC has been simple. We're at the mercy of the developers. We only have a certain amount of uh incentives and uh tax credits or uh state mandated laws that help us look out for the interests of tenants and displacement, but the reality is it's up to them.

[01:05:55] Jose Gutierrez: So my understanding is that on the EPC in the next upcoming year, staff is going to help us to try and figure out, what are developers looking for? How can we encourage them to build this type of housing so that we can then have these types of plans come more frequently to us so that we can review and approve these and make the changes that we all want to see. Thanks.

[01:06:12] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. I'm now going to move down to Eric.

[01:06:16] Erik Poicon: Thank you for the question. So um yeah, I agree with what a lot of my colleagues saying previously, I think it's about, above of like following through with our housing element and making sure that we create the necessary housing for future generations or even current ones, I think it's also making sure that we're enacting um stronger rent protections for for those who are currently residing here, especially those in our vulnerable communities, being our more elderly or even you- uh young uh community members, especially those with fixed incomes.

[01:06:44] Erik Poicon: As we think about it, as we're thinking about retaining even the uh the commercial uh uh uh population is coming in and visiting like even our Castro streets, some of those people are being being priced out, not being able to return to those places.

[01:06:58] Erik Poicon: Even with SB 330 in effect and knowing that we need to replace many of our demolished uh rent control buildings with other ones, we're not doing it fast enough. Many of our families aren't even able to return to the places that they resided in because they're at a higher rate.

[01:07:11] Erik Poicon: So these are things that we need to start considering, especially as we're trying to retain and even build upon our business infrastructure and even trying to ki- maintain some of our workforce and enacting those protections for them.

[01:07:23] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. Nicholas.

[01:07:27] Nicholas Hargis: Well, I think that housing is a very important economic question. One thing that the Chamber of Commerce knows about very well is the jobs-housing imbalance. We have about 98,000 people working here on a daily basis, but we only have about 48,000 resident workers.

[01:07:47] Nicholas Hargis: And so I think that if we frame it as an economic question and connect everyone's livelihoods to building more housing, we're going to find that support, find those partners to get those projects done.

[01:08:02] Nicholas Hargis: In terms of producing more affordable housing, I think that we need to look at the permitting process. It's permitting, permitting, permitting. There are thousands of units that have still not been approved. And so we need to make sure that those projects are built and they're built efficiently, because projects become more expensive the more that they're delayed.

[01:08:23] Nicholas Hargis: We also have to preserve the existing affordable housing that is already naturally occurring in Mountain View. A lot of our housing stock is 50 years old and it needs significant retrofits if it's going to continue to be accessible. The city should should support that using Community Development Block Grant funding and HUD HOME funding. And finally, we have to protect affordable housing with renter protections.

[01:08:50] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. John.

[01:08:53] John McAlister: Repeat that question again please.

[01:08:57] Moderator Peter Katz: I know there's a reason for it, but I just want to...

[01:09:00] Moderator Peter Katz: Housing continues to be an issue in Mountain View and in the region. What are your ideas for improving the housing supply?

[01:09:07] John McAlister: Okay, so it's the housing supply, it's not just one segment, it's the segment for everybody. Um couple of things that uh cross my mind is we also have to look for the first-time home buyer too. So there is a thing with condos that if they're built, in 10 years there's a uh builder's liability that they can come back and sue the developer. So that's preventing those type of units coming onto the market.

[01:09:32] John McAlister: Uh I've always advocated for 10 years, and Chris will will support me on this, I said if we're so serious, if we're serious about affordable housing, we need to build the housing ourselves. We need to go get a bond and build the housing or buy the properties. And how would we pay for the bond? We would use it through rents. And if after a time that those units became uh going along, and some we wanted decided to sell them, they could be for the first-time home buyer. And after that, if anything else is working, then we could turn around and sell the properties. But if we're serious about solving it, you go.

[01:10:02] John McAlister: Another problem that we're doing is that we're devel- when these developers come in, especially the offices in North Bayshore or East Whisman, they say, well, we want to build a million square feet. Oh, and then we'll build some housing. Put the developers out there, their feet to the fire and say, you want the office buildings, you build the housing first before you can go anywhere further. Because we got to be careful about when we say we're going to build, we don't want to have these new developments be a burden on the existing. We want them to be enhanced the community.

[01:10:31] John McAlister: And if we're building all these things and we're going to give up our open space and we're going to give up our streets, look at what's happening with street parking now. We're running... we have to be very careful how we do our zoning and our requirements on these properties.

[01:10:43] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you, John. Pat.

[01:10:46] Pat Showalter: This is a question that I think about all the time. I mean, I think fundamentally it's the three Ps. We need to protect housing, that's our rent control proj- program. We need to preserve housing. That's um uh part of what we're doing with community land trust, we're just getting started on that. And we need to produce housing. We need to produce uh affordable housing in particular.

[01:11:10] Pat Showalter: Um, but a another thing that hasn't been mentioned here is this is a problem that goes well beyond Mountain View. And we need to be very and we're good at it. We've been recognized as a pro-housing community. We need to um advocate on the federal level and on the state level for more funding for housing. I mean just last night, Kamala Harris said she was going to help build how many million houses was it in America? A lot.

[01:11:40] Pat Showalter: Anyway, uh we we really need to get involved in that. We've been very successful at utilizing the federal programs that are available to us, and we have a BMR ordinance that we've leveraged to produce over 1,700 uh affordable housing units. But we just need to keep doing it.

[01:12:00] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to come back this way to Chris.

[01:12:06] Chris Clark: Um so, as the mayor just touched on, there's what Mountain View can do and there's what we need to do as a region. So when I was on council, I served on the the Bay Area-wide organization that um works on housing allocations and strategies to make sure that everyone um in the Bay Area builds their fair share of housing. And Mountain View has been doing its part for a long time and will continue to.

[01:12:29] Chris Clark: And I think one thing, unless uh John um is able to get his proposal through, um by and large, cities don't build housing. They put uh in place the mechanisms for developers and other investors to build housing.

[01:12:43] Chris Clark: And so the good news, as you've heard tonight, is that we just wrapped up um and got state approval for our housing element, re- designated as a pro-housing city. And so that framework details all of the things that we believe that we need to do over the next several years to enable the production of additional housing, which which is um the the topic here is supply. And that includes subsidized housing for very low, low-income, middle-income housing, and market-rate housing, both ownership and rental.

[01:13:13] Chris Clark: And so we can't necessarily control the the macro- the macroeconomic factors, but what we can do is be adaptable uh and put the put the frameworks in place so that regardless of what economic situation we're in, we're moving toward that that finish line or that ultimate goal.

[01:13:30] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you very much, Chris. IdaRose.

[01:13:33] Idarose Sylvester: First of all, we have to make sure we don't continue to lose the housing that we have, and many people have talked about preservation. One way to do that is through community land trusts which allow tenants to become owners of their property and preserve it. We also need to make sure we preserve our mobile home parks, which are a source of naturally affordable housing.

[01:13:52] Idarose Sylvester: From a zoning perspective, uh we have a lot of work we could do to approve R3 zoning to increase density for middle-income housing, for the missing middle, uh increasing density in a way that is is acceptable to current neighbors in those in those neighborhoods.

[01:14:08] Idarose Sylvester: Um and I think for me something I would love to work on is innovative housing funds. How do we find the money? How do we bundle it and package it? Um there are a lot of interesting models out there: housing accelerators, other nonprofits, cities, other jurisdictions of government, hopefully more state and definitely more federal funding coming after November, uh but doing the hard work to figure out how to create funds. Oh, I forgot, and corporations. The corporations that help drive housing demand, working to cr- together to find creative funding so that we can build all of this housing.

[01:14:44] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you very much.

[01:14:47] Moderator Peter Katz: Okay, um in the housing discussion, obviously building plays a part. Um we want to broaden that question just a little bit and talk about um major new developments in general.

[01:15:00] Moderator Peter Katz: Um what factors are important to you when considering major new development projects?

[01:15:08] Moderator Peter Katz: And I'm going to start just just do down the line this time. So Chris, start with you.

[01:15:13] Chris Clark: And just to clarify, you're talking about any development or are you specific talking about housing?

[01:15:18] Moderator Peter Katz: No, any development at this point.

[01:15:19] Chris Clark: So I think the key things to consider in in any development project is um, you know, one, how does it fit in uh with our our overall goals as a community, whether that is um, you know, how it blends in with with the the neighborhood, whether it's environmentally sustainable, um whether it's going to, as we talked about earlier, diversify our economic um our economic base.

[01:15:46] Chris Clark: Because when these large structures get built, they're probably there for the rest of my lifetime, um or at least several decades, right? And so we need to make sure that we're evaluating those things and ensuring that they're they're in the long run sustainable and they're going to add value to the community.

[01:16:04] Chris Clark: So I think um, and that's not to say that we need to be overly burdensome in every little little aspect of whatever that development is, whether it's housing or commercial, but I think really what you need to look at is is how it um how it adds value to the community over time, and really does it fit in with the the plans that we spent years and years working with the community and others to develop, um and ensuring that we're meeting those goals that we set out for, you know, 10-year plan, precise plans, or 20-year general plans.

[01:16:36] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. Devon.

[01:16:38] Devon Conley: Thank you. So, um, you know, I'm actually going to tie this to climate change, because I think that um I'm focused on a family-friendly Mountain View, and climate change impacts children and families or children and seniors the most. And when I'm looking at major developments, I want to see how they're going to tie in with our sustainability goals for our for our community.

[01:17:04] Devon Conley: Um, we are going to see more and more extreme weather events, for example. So if a new development is coming to us, is it going to con- include a plan for complete streets so that the streets have some shade when we have incredibly hot days so our seniors and our children can walk safely? Does it um have permeable surfaces that aren't too hot? Um, how is it reflecting heat off of the building? Also, is it decreasing the carbon footprint of Mountain View? Construction is one of the most um impactful ways to address climate change. And so these are some of the things that I want to see.

[01:17:39] Devon Conley: I also want to see if it's going to tie in with all of the, you know, existing context that's around it. And that's where I also have an architecture degree from Yale as an undergrad. Design really matters to me. And how things fit in the fabric of our community is also extremely important to maintaining the character that we really value here.

[01:18:01] Moderator Peter Katz: Perfect. Thank you. Let's go to Jose.

[01:18:04] Jose Gutierrez: Yeah. So I I agree with what Devon and Chris have mentioned so far, and that's all the stuff that we actually look at when we're in EPC. But we also look at not only does it fit in, but how will it affect those around that project?

[01:18:19] Jose Gutierrez: And we look at the streets. Is it commuter-friendly? Is it bicycle-pedestrian-friendly? Uh, if not, let's make those revisions, let's add that onto the plan, let's suggest that to the developer.

[01:18:35] Jose Gutierrez: But on top of that, green space. What does that look like? A lot of these folks just will say, 'Hey, we're going to build this. This is what it looks like. And we're going to have a little bit of shrubs and trees and bushes in the front with some flowers.' And that's enough. That's not enough. That's not green space. That's not adding value to the community. That's not what we want to see. That's not what we really need. We actually need trees. We need green space to be a part of this project so it acts as maybe a buffer to those around or it acts as an inviting place to be so that our kids and children in general of all ages and family and senior citizens and anyone who wants to relax and sit down can do that there without any stress at all.

[01:19:09] Jose Gutierrez: Knowing that they're a part of a community that fits into the mindset of what Mountain View is all about. The future. Taking into consideration what we look at as value-add-ons, right? So that's how I look at things when I look at these projects. And on the flip side, too is, yeah, design is very important, too. And it's also helpful to remind these folks, just like Devon had mentioned...

[01:19:28] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you for honoring the rules. Nicholas.

[01:19:34] Nicholas Hargis: In business, there's a notion of the triple bottom line. And I think that we should look at community benefit for developments in the same way. The triple bottom line asks us, does a project add economic value? Is it sustainable for the environment? And is it socially responsible?

[01:19:53] Nicholas Hargis: I think that when we're assessing a project, we want to look at who we're partnering with and ask if the activity that's taking place at that site is going to further the mission of Mountain View. I think that we also need to focus on sustainability and make sure that a building is LEED certified, uh, and has the necessary open space to be part of our environmental solutions.

[01:20:19] Nicholas Hargis: And it should also look at social responsibility. Who are we doing business with? Is it the sort of company that's lifting people up as opposed to bringing people down? I also think that we need to look at development projects from the impact that it makes on our community. One of the things that I hear most is housing and development impacts traffic.

[01:20:43] Nicholas Hargis: We need to create uh predictable traffic demand management for both the community and the developer in order to make sure that the community knows how a particular project is going to impact our roadways.

[01:20:58] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. John.

[01:21:01] John McAlister: Yeah, major developments. Uh, when we were looking at North Bayshore, that we were looking for a platinum level, which is one of the highest levels you can get. And that indicates it's very sustainable. There's purple pipe, we're recycling water, uh, you're doing various things with the air conditioning, so forth like that. And so that was very useful for making sure that that area was uh environment- uh and sensitive and sensitive to the impact that it was doing.

[01:21:28] John McAlister: But as I say, a bunch of people said, is that we want to be concerned about the compatibility that it does. We want to want to make sure that we have an infrastructure so that it doesn't impact it down. Nicholas was talking about roads and shuttles and services and schools, how many schools, and police department. Is our wastewater up for it? I mean, right now we have a wastewater plant that's just needs to really be updated so that we can use water perfectly.

[01:21:51] John McAlister: But how do we make sure that it doesn't impact the neighborhood so that they're taking on the responsibility of... 'Oh, we got traffic, there's cars parking on this street, you can't walk down the street because people can't speed, you can't do bike lanes because there's so much cars.' So everything that we do, we need to make sure that it does work well. And that the city is able to support that through the streets, the open space, the park lands, whatever the city does for infrastructure. So that's why it's important.

[01:22:23] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. Eric.

[01:22:26] Erik Poicon: Thank you, Peter. Um, yeah, I agree with what a lot of my colleagues saying the previously. I think it's about, who is it for, why are we creating it, are we creating an unnecessary consequences to our residents when creating certain infrastructure. Depending on where it's going to be located, should be it be located there, is it going to be accessible to people who are disabled or who have mobility issues? Or is there going to be accessible green spaces. Those are all things that I think we need to consider moving forward, expec- especially as we're fighting a global climate crisis, not only within Mountain View but glo- like globally by this point. But um, past that certain point I... thank you Emily.

[01:23:11] Erik Poicon: It's also about like, are residents going to be safe with residing there? Are we going to have uh bike links put in place with barriers upon it? I live on El Camino Real, uh in Graham is right by us. And gosh, the amount of accidents that happen there, it just shows the amount of protections that we as a city need to put in place to ensure our kids just get home. And as we're thinking about future developments, whether they be for businesses, for homes, these are things that we must consider to ensure that even a child can get home safely.

[01:23:39] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. Emily.

[01:23:42] Emily Ann Ramos: Thank you, Mr. Katz. Um, I think about what needs are it trying to is it trying to fulfill in our community, whether it's housing or economic development, um, and in terms of location, I am a firm believer of um investing in transit-oriented communities. Is it going to be near transit? Can we utilize that transit to the degree that we we we would hope for it.

[01:24:09] Emily Ann Ramos: Um, and if it's not near transit, uh, is it going to be a development, um, we we are fortunate in Mountain View that we alway- we are looking at things, whether they're large developments or we have large plan areas, and is it in that plan area that is essentially self-sustaining that you can either walk, bike, um, or or get to that area without relying too much on your car, which is the largest source of our greenhouse gases really. Um, as as many of my uh ca- I want to say colleagues, so like possible future colleagues, um, uh as we're all looking at the the threat of climate change and and its impacts on our community. So as we look at having design standards that are um environmentally friendly, is it a a complete community, is it going to be part of that complete community, um, and how are we... Ah, no!

[01:25:08] Moderator Peter Katz: And we'll leave that one hanging. Pat.

[01:25:13] Pat Showalter: Okay, well, if I if I remember correctly, the question was, what do you consider when you consider new developments? Was that right?

[01:25:20] Moderator Peter Katz: That is correct.

[01:25:21] Pat Showalter: Okay. Well, I'm really glad you asked that question. It's a good one. And I'm going to kind of take it up to more the 200,000 foot level. I think what we've heard is more at the 10,000 foot level. And um, ever since I was on the Planning Commission, there were two basic questions I asked about every development. And they're very broad. One of them is, what will it do to the quality of life of our community?

[01:25:49] Pat Showalter: Now, that means, will it add housing? Will it add jobs? Will it improve the transportation? Will it make the transportation worse? Will we get um school? Will we get parks? You know, all of that stuff. What will it do to the quality of life?

[01:26:06] Pat Showalter: And then the other question, as an environmental engineer, has always been, what will it do to our local environment? And as time has gone on, that has gotten to be more and more of a crucial issue. And fortunately, we have moved expeditiously to improve our building codes so that there really isn't a choice but to build them very environmentally sustainably.

[01:26:34] Pat Showalter: And then I hope I got to say two more things, which is that I think that there's two things the city can really do when building. We can make sure that things are built safely, and we can make sure that things are designed well. And I'm committed to do both of them.

[01:26:48] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. IdaRose.

[01:26:52] Idarose Sylvester: In no particular order, we do need to look at the impact that new developments have on existing neighborhoods, including things like traffic and park utilization, and make sure that everybody will will be made whole at the end. Uh, we also, like a lot of people said, need to understand who we are serving with the housing and making sure that fits into the overall plan for what housing we need in our city.

[01:27:14] Idarose Sylvester: We definitely need environmentally sustainable buildings that are future-proofed. And in my mind, we need to find a way to have all our buildings be uh both water efficient and all electric as soon as we can do that again so we end our reliance on dangerous natural gas.

[01:27:30] Idarose Sylvester: Um, and lastly, I love developments that are part of existing neighborhoods, where they're complete neighborhoods with access to shopping, parks, excellent schools, safe routes to schools, and other things that help people feel they're part of a community when they move into that new development.

[01:27:48] Moderator Peter Katz: All right, we're entering the last lap here, so I think we need to do one more lightning round before we have closing statements.

[01:27:57] Moderator Peter Katz: And for this one, um, we're going to talk about a ballot measure that's coming up on the November ballot: Measure G. And if you are not familiar with Measure G, it is a revenue generator in that, um, we are looking at a parcel-, ass- excuse me, a property transfer tax so when a piece of property is sold over $6 million, uh, there is a tax placed on that. There are more details that I invite you to read on the city's website.

[01:28:30] Moderator Peter Katz: But what I'm going to ask our panel here is if they support it, if they don't support it, or if they want to say no comment. And I want to stress that if you're still thinking about it or you have no comment, both of those are very valid answers. I don't want to put anybody on the spot if they're not prepared to take a stand, but if they have one, we'd love to hear it. So I'm just going to go right down the aisle again. Chris.

[01:28:51] Chris Clark: I support it with reservations.

[01:28:53] Devon Conley: I support it.

[01:28:56] Jose Gutierrez: I support it.

[01:28:58] Nicholas Hargis: Yes.

[01:29:00] John McAlister: I support it. We need the revenue. Our revenue is decreasing, so. Yes.

[01:29:08] Erik Poicon: Yes.

[01:29:08] Emily Ann Ramos: I'm voting yes.

[01:29:10] Pat Showalter: Yes with reservations.

[01:29:14] Moderator Peter Katz: Great. Thank you. Okay, we've now reached the closing statements. And I'm going to invite each of you to take one minute to, you know, we cut you off a few times, there were some great thoughts going on, this is your opportunity to bring it all to- bring it all together. And I'm going to start at the far end and work our way back. So, IdaRose.

[01:29:37] Idarose Sylvester: Thank you again to the Chamber of Commerce for organizing this event and for all of you who took time out to be here tonight. I appreciate the time you took to listen to all of us and make the choices you believe are right for you and for the future of your community.

[01:29:52] Idarose Sylvester: I humbly hope that one of your choices in November is me. I have the experienced leadership we need, the proven track record of getting big things...

Segment 3

[01:30:00] Idarose Sylvester: is done. And a new perspective needed to find new solutions to our biggest problems. My knowledge, skills, and relationships make me ready on day one to make a big impact in the community. I'm ready to make an impact on issues that matter to all of us, a sustainable future, economic vitality for all, and a just and inclusive community. I love this community and I am ready to work hard and work with deep compassion for all people in this community for the future that we all need and desire. I encourage you to reach out to me with questions. The best part of this process is meeting you individuals and talking to them about their desires for the future and what they need out of the city of Mountain View. You can find me at IdaRoseSylvester.com, IdaRoseSylvester.com. Thank you very much.

[01:30:48] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you, IdaRose. Pat.

[01:30:50] Pat Showalter: I'm Pat Showalter and I would love your vote. It's been a great honor and privilege to serve on the Mountain View City Council and to be your mayor two times, and I hope that I'll get to continue to serve as your champion for housing, sustainability, and equity. As I said before, I'm the only civil engineer and the only environmental professional that's running for council, and I think that background is very useful in the many decisions that need to be made. Um, while I've been on council, 4,000 housing units have been built, 651 of them affordable, we've added miles and miles of bike lanes, we've opened nine new parks. I'm endorsed by the legislatures, legislators that I've worked with on an issue, Josh Berman, Mark, um... Josh Becker, Mark Berman, Joe Simitian, and uh, many former uh, council members, and also people who I've worked with on regional bodies. Um, again, I hope I'll get to be your champion for four more years for housing and sustainability. Thank you.

[01:32:03] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. Emily.

[01:32:05] Emily Ann Ramos: Uh, thank you to the chamber and Mr. Katz for hosting this forum. Thank you all for coming. Um, I'm excited to to uh, undertake uh, this ability of running for council. Um, it has been a great pleasure and honor to serve on the city council thus far. Um, I've had the opportunity to to meet with so many different people and work with so many people to make things happen in our city. I think our city, as I mentioned before, I don't there is nothing I believe in more than the activism of our community, and I believe that together we can do so much uh great things. And uh, from solving our housing crisis to figuring out how we respond to climate change, to figuring out how can we better interact with our government. I mean, we we talked a lot about um how businesses uh can can thrive. And our government plays a huge part in that. And I really want us to all work together and figure out ways to to work on that. Thank you.

[01:33:14] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. Erik.

[01:33:16] Erik Poicon: Thank you, everyone, so much for being here tonight with us, uh, and dedicating your Friday. Uh, I'm sure you would rather be somewhere else. But honestly, it's been such a pleasure just being a first-time candidate uh, in front of you. I've been someone who again has had the lived experience and have been supported by uh, even our local workers who are members of SEIU 521, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, and even a lot of assembly members because of the lived experience and because of the urgency that we see our families facing. Whether that's eviction, whether that's being able to reside in the home that they reside, uh, live in, whether it's the climate issues that we're going to be facing in the near future, or other things that uh, need to come to our attention. And I will pledge to you that I'm going to be a listening ear, someone who will be receptive to all issues, whether it be business, whether it be our local homeowners or whatever may come. So I look forward to your support. Thank you.

[01:34:13] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. John.

[01:34:16] John McAlister: I grew up in this area, a long time. I raised a family here. They went to the same schools that I went to. I own a business in this town. I want this town to be successful because my family wants to be successful. We've really enjoyed Mountain View. We've had opportunities to go elsewhere, but this is home. A really home. And so I want the success that I've had and the and the memories of growing up here for other people to have it too. And that's why I figured I am going to run again, because I bring that business perspective to the the council. It brings my life experiences to the council, my work experiences, and my educational. They're all very well geared for bringing the necessary knowledge and context of how to solve the uh complex problems that we have in Mountain View. There was mention that we want to make sure that we have some continuity in leadership. I have proven leadership. If you look at VTA, what I've accomplished with routes. Even with, uh, Silicon Clean Energy. What I've accomplished there. I get things done. I collaborate well with other cities and agencies because we need to because these are big questions. And I've gotten endorsements from all these mayors that used to that I worked with. And I will continue to work for finding the common good for the residents of Mountain View. I'm a moderate, so I'm always looking for the solutions. I'm not looking one way or the other. I want to find the solutions. I'm a pragmatic person and I'm going to make sure that we find it all. Thank you.

[01:35:46] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you, John. Nicholas.

[01:35:49] Nicholas Hargis: What do we want the Mountain View of tomorrow to look like? That's what we've been asking ourselves in different ways tonight. And I agree that I want Mountain View to look like home and feel like home. That's why I think City Hall should bring city politics to people's doorsteps at events like this, through surveys and community building. It should be easy to participate in city politics, not hard. And when we think about tomorrow, we also have to think about the challenges that we face. My guiding principles are equitable growth, public safety, sustainability, and community well-being. I believe that together we succeed. Thank you very much, everyone, for taking the time to be with us tonight. And I look forward to meeting you. Vote Nicholas Hargis for Mountain View City Council.

[01:36:45] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you.

[01:36:48] Jose Gutierrez: Thank you, Peter. Um, I want to thank everyone for being here because this is democracy in action. It's a Friday night when we're all here together because we're interested in the future of Mountain View. We all contribute one way or another to the development of the city. We all have our journeys and our stories, our families, our lived experiences, and we understand the value of socioeconomic diversity, the contributions that the school district has made to our community, as well as the city council, and just folks in general, regardless of our race, class, or gender. We're all in this together. I'm running because it's time for new voices to be on city council. I think voices from underrepresented neighborhoods like mine on Latham Street, because I'm an apartment renter, we should also participate in the lifecycle of of of what impacts us as committee members and residents of Mountain View. I've done that on the school board. I've been effective. I've brought partnerships into play, and I've also been doing that on the EPC. I take pride in my record because it speaks for itself. That's the type of leadership that I bring. I'm not afraid to speak my mind and to do the right thing. I don't play politics. I'm in the middle as a moderate, but I'll look at both sides of the issue. I'll listen, I'll understand what the problems are, and I'll do my best to work together to get consensus and to get things done. Thank you.

[01:37:55] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you. Devon.

[01:37:58] Devon Conley: My name is Devon Conley and I am running for Mountain View City Council because I believe that family-friendly city planning is good for everyone in Mountain View, not just children and families. And I hope to earn your vote. Now, I was fortunate enough to serve on the Parks and Recreation Commission and we're also, we were the Urban Forestry Board, and I learned a lot about trees in that time. And how the sapling that you plant now is going to be just this beautiful canopy 10, 20, 30 years in the future and build our urban forest, protect our community from climate change, and provide a beautiful space for us. Investing in children is the same promise for our future that investing in those trees is. And the more that we can do to make sure our policies are family-friendly, that our children are housed and fed, that they can navigate our city streets safely, not just to and from school. I hear a lot of talk about safe routes to school. They don't just go to and from school. They wander everywhere, where after school I tell you, my 11-year-old, he's all over the place. We need to make sure that our children and families have what they need to thrive here. And we can do that in all these different economic ways, and that's the beauty of city council. But I hope I earn your vote to be able to bring that voice to council.

[01:39:22] Moderator Peter Katz: Thank you very much. Chris.

[01:39:24] Chris Clark: So as you've seen, oops, as you've seen tonight, we have, um, a really healthy democracy here locally. We have nine incredibly qualified candidates. Um, the good news is you can vote for almost half of us. And so I, I hope that, I hope that, um, you know, vote for who you most identify with, but also for both new ideas and new faces, but also continuity, because we are going to have a lot of turnover both this year and two years from now. So, um, I'm a known quantity, uh, for better or worse. Um, I I served for eight years. Um, I have a record of working, uh, you know, across issues and I'm supported by people who both agree with me and who I've been on the opposite side of on various issues. And I think I've earned those earned that support, um, because of how I've genuinely tried to work to better, uh, Mountain View and leave this a better city than I found it. Um, so I've had a chance to step away for a few years and, and digest and learn from both the, the good things that I did and the mistakes that I made, and I'm ready to do it again, and I hope to earn your vote tonight and I'm happy to chat with anyone who wants to stick around.

[01:40:33] Moderator Peter Katz: Ladies and gentlemen, I just want to say that one of the things that is amazing about Mountain View is how much we all care. And as several of our candidates have said, go out and vote. That is the most important thing that we can do. And I want to thank our candidates, all nine of them, for taking the time tonight, for being honest, open, and caring, and mostly for your service. For the service that you've done in the past and the service you will do in the future. I gotta tell you, city council is not an easy job, especially in a town that has so many varying opinions. But, but I want to say that it takes a special person to lead. It takes a special person to listen. And it takes a special person to do all the things that you do. So from all of us to all of you up here, thank you. Thank you very much for tonight. And before we close, I just want to thank Stacy, Joe, and Marisol, who are the people behind the scenes, and for KMVT for putting this on. And again, thank all of you for coming. Good night.

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