Mountain View Voice October 17, 2014

V O T E R

★G U D E★

2 0 14★

CITY COUNCIL 20 | ENDORSEMENTS 30

By Daniel DeBolt

The City Council took a step towards addressing the city’s shortage of afford-

able housing on Tuesday night by beginning the process for shift-ing more of the cost for afford-able housing programs onto real estate developers, especially office developers. “We’re having something of a building boom right now, we should take advantage of that,” said council member Ronit Bryant during the study session. “I’m interested in raising all of these fees.” Council members ended up directing city staff to begin study and public outreach to raise three of the four types of afford-able housing fees, including a big jump for the fee on office development, from the current $5 to $10 a square foot to $20 to $25 a square foot of new office. Apart-ment developers could soon pay an $15 a square foot — up from $10 — towards affordable hous-ing, while ownership housing developers could see their afford-able housing fees raised from 3 percent of a new home’s value to 4 percent. Projects classified as hotel, retail and entertainment weren’t favored for an increase. A $20 per square-foot fee on office development could mean $68 million in affordable housing funds just from the 3.4 million square feet of office slated for development by companies in the North Bayshore office park alone in the coming years. Nearly all of the development in the area is

expected to be Google offices for as many as 20,000 new employees. Using $35 million in such fees, and $61 million in state and fed-eral funds that have since been heavily cut, the city has built 351 affordable homes in the last 10 years for working people, seniors, families and people with dis-abilities. The new fees may still fall far short of meeting demand for affordable housing — studies by the city of San Francisco and University of California at Berke-ley say several low-wage jobs are

created for every tech job in Silicon Valley. Council mem-ber Margaret Abe-Koga expressed concern that charg-ing the cost to housing developers would add to the already high price of housing in the city. “We really have to be mindful of how much we’re going to add to the price

of housing by adding fees,” she said. Developers are not going to absorb the fee, she said. Others said the high demand for housing is setting the price of homes, not the cost of develop-ment. Abe-Koga said it made more sense to raise the fee on office development, since office job growth is the main factor behind the city’s high housing prices. A 2012 “nexus study” said the city could justify raising the fee on office development as high as $59.31 a square foot, but council members ended up favoring something closer to Palo Alto’s $19.31 a square foot, the highest of any nearby city, according to a city staff report. V

By Daniel DeBolt

All nine candidates for Mountain View City Council were put on the

spot last week during a candidate forum held by church leaders who want the City Council to pass a “rent stabilization” ordinance to put an end to the dramatic rent increases that are forcing many out of Mountain View.

Candidates came to the event Friday evening at Trinity United Methodist Church, not knowing its format, and were asked to sit in front of the stage for a presen-tation. The event was sponsored by Peninsula Interfaith Action. “Fear is not dignity,” said Saint Anthanasius church member Phil Cosby during the event he helped host with Day Worker Center director Maria Marro-

quin and others. “When you are afraid of rent increases, that is not dignity. Stability is dignity. Homeowners can plan about their future housing costs” but renters can’t unless there’s a law that limits rent increases. A list of cities with ordinances that limit rent hikes was pre-sented, including San Jose, Los

MICHELLE LE

Castrol Elementary students participate in the all-school walk-a-thon on Friday, Oct. 10. A proposal to split the school between its traditional and bilingual immersion programs is being considered.

VIEWPOINT 30 | WEEKEND 33 | GOINGS ON 39 | MARKETPLACE 40 | REAL ESTATE 42INSIDE

Candidates challenged on ‘rent stabilization’

OCTOBER 17, 2014 VOLUME 22, NO. 38 MOVIES | 38650.964.6300www.MountainViewOnline.com

Council seeks higher affordable housing fees GOOGLE TO PAY LION’S SHARE OF DEVELOPER FEES

UNDER COUNCIL PLAN

By Kevin Forestieri

Castro Elementary school, home of the Dual Immersion program,

may be splitting in half. At the Oct. 9 Mountain View Whis-

man school board meeting, the Castro Restructuring Task Force recommended that the district create two schools on the Castro campus: one for the Dual Immersion program, and one for the traditional school

program. Some district parents voiced concerns over the two-school solution, saying it could frag-ment the Castro community

District may split Castro into two schoolsTASK FORCE RECOMMENDS DUAL IMMERSION, TRADITIONAL

PROGRAM BECOME SEPARATE SCHOOLS

See HOUSING FOURM, page 26

See CASTRO SCHOOLS, page 12

‘We’re having

something of a

building boom

right now.’COUNCILMEMBER

RONIT BRYANT

2 Mountain View Voice MountainViewOnline.com October 17, 2014

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October 17, 2014 Mountain View Voice MountainViewOnline.com 3Have a question for Voices Around Town? E-mail it to [email protected]

Voices

A R O U N D T O W NAsked in downtown Mountain View. Photos and interviews

by Madeleine Gerson and Natalia Nazarova.

“I remember the freeway over at

Oakland had collapsed. It was

the World Series at Candlestick

Park.”

Gary Carter, San Jose

“A friend of mine had just

been reviewing earthquake

procedures. She told us to get

under the desks, so we got under

the desks. My brother’s house,

up in the Santa Cruz mountains,

was broken into three pieces. “

Nancy Swayne, Redwood City

“I was playing tennis in

Burlingame. At first, I did not

know what what happening.

I recognized that cars were

moving off the street and I

started seeing things falling off

buildings.”

Barry Canty, Half Moon Bay

“I remember sitting in my car by

the train tracks and seeing the

traffic lights swinging back and

forth.”

Andy Gelman, Mountain View

H ti f V i A

“My son, who was 7 years

old, was at soccer practice. He

climbed a fence and jumped

down from it, and the earth

started shaking. My son thought

he was the one who caused the

quake.”

Lori Romá, Los Altos

Where were you the day of the Loma Prieta earthquake?

Have a question for Voices Around Town? Email it to [email protected]

Ad name

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Mountain View City Council

Good For Your Neighborhood

Lisa

www.LisaForCouncil.com

Paid for by Matichak for City Council 2014 FPPC# 1366232

MatichakThe only candidate

endorsed by all 3 outgoing

Councilmembers

Vote For

Qualified to Lead5th year on Environmental Planning Commission (EPC)

Founding President Wagon Wheel Neighborhood Assn.

15-year resident (8 as renter, 7 as condo owner in N. Whisman)CERT certified since 2008

Master of Business Administration (MBA), UCLA

Over 25 years in the high tech and IT security industries

Key PrioritiesSupport our neighborhoods and enhance the quality of

life for our diverse mix of residents

Advocate for high-quality housing that is affordable

Add parks and open space in our increasingly urban City

Maintain Mountain View as a financially strong City

Margaret Abe-Koga, Ronit Bryant, and Jac Siegel Former Mayors and Current City CouncilmembersNick Galiotto, Laura Macias, and Matt Pear Former Mayors and City Councilmembers

Endorsements (partial list)

M.V. Police Officers Association

M.V. Professional Firefighters

Chamber of Commerce M.V.

South Bay Labor Council

Steve Rasmussen (Milk Pail)

Laura Brown, Robert Chang

Chris Dateo, Thida Cornes

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Joe Mitchner, Jamil Shaikh

Bob Weaver, Helen Wolter

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LocalNews

HOME-INVASION ROBBERYPolice are searching for two suspects who tied up a resident and robbed his home in Mountain View on Oct. 8. The two suspects, described as two African American males, entered the home on San Marcos Circle between 10:30 a.m. and noon on Oct. 8. The suspects tied up the victim, a 24-year-old Mountain View man, and stole a cell phone and cash from the residence. Police searched the neighborhood and surrounding areas, but

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P O L I C E L O G

I am running for re-election as a Trustee on the Mountain View Los Altos High School District Board of Education. My wife and I are 23 year Mountain View residents with arecent MVLA graduate and two current students.

During my seven years an MVLA Trustee, I have spent time on all MVLA campuses, reviewed academic data, and carefully studied District budgets. I have visited classrooms, and met with parents, student, I have spent time o

I am excited about our District’s positive momentum, and proud of the achievement of our students. Recent accomplishments and trends include:

Rising levels of academic achievement (API increases 10 consecutive years)Narrowing Achievement Gap (API gap narrowing 8 consecutive years)Solid fiscal position (careful and conservative planning during economic downturn)Increasing college-readiness (96% attend college and 75% are UC-eligible)Introduction of many new classes and programs, which serve a wide range ofstudents, with varying academic interests and abilities.

JOEMITCHNER

MVLA High School BoardMy wife and I are 23 year Mountain View residents with a recent MVLA graduate and two current students. I am excited about our District’s successes and our students’ achievements:

Rising levels of academic achievement (API increases 10 consecutive years)Narrowing Achievement Gap (API gap narrowing 8 consecutive years)Increasing college-readiness (96% attend college and 75% are UC-eligible)Los Altos & Mountain View High Schools rank in the top 1% nationally (Newsweek)

I am committed to:

Improving academic achievement for ALL students.Ensuring that financial plans are responsible and sustainable.Expanding STEM course offerings, and integrating technology in student learning.Providing classes and programs that meet the evolving needs of our students.Increasing support programs and outreach to under-represented students and families.

I would be honored to receive your vote on November 4th. www.votejoemitchner.comPaid for by Joe Mitchner for MVLA School Board 2014 FPPC#1369919

Endorsements: County Supervisor: Joe Simitian; Mountain View Councilmembers: Chris Clark, John McAlister, Ronit Bryant, Mike Kasperzak, Margaret Abe-Koga, Jac Siegel; Los Altos Councilmember: Jeannie Bruins; Former Los Altos Councilmembers: Jim Thurber, Curtis Cole, Ron Packard, David Casas, Lou Becker; Ret./Former MVLA Trustees: Judy Hannemann, Julia Rosenberg, Dave Williams; Foothill-DeAnza Trustee: Laura Casas; MVWSD Trustees: Ellen Wheeler, Christopher Chiang; Former MVWSD Trustees: Rose Filicetti, Steve Olson, Gloria Higgins; LASD Trustee: Steve Taglio; Friends of Los Altos; Mountain View Voice; MVLA District Teachers Association; Community Members: Bruce Barsi, Laura Blakely, Lara Daetz, Greg & Michelle De La Ossa, Kim Gavenman, Ross Heitkamp, Nelson & Robin Iwai, Bruce & Twana Karney, Randy Kenyon, Gail Lee, Lisa Matichak, Page McDonald & Tim Millet, Mike & Marla Mulkey, Mike & Leane Reelfs, Jere Schaefer, Elena Shea, Jerry & Ann Sorensen, Deborah & Rod Spencley, Kathy Thibodeaux, Emily Thurber, Scott Vermeer (partial list)

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In last week’s story on campaign finances, the Voice incorrectly reported Jim Neal’s fundraising total to be shy of $1,000. It is actually $3,920, including a $2809.03 loan from himself. And Lisa Matichak did not receive a contribution of $400 from the Cuesta Park Neighborhood Association; that was how much she paid for an ad in the association’s newsletter.

In last week’s editorial endorsements in the El Camino Health-care District election, the Voice erroneously said that Dr. Peter Fung works as a program director for El Camino Hospital. In fact, Fung works as an independent contractor for the hospital as the director of its stroke program.

C O R R E C T I O N S

October 17, 2014 Mountain View Voice MountainViewOnline.com 5

CITY COUNCIL UPDATES

COMMUNITY

FEATURESLocalNews

MOUNTAIN VIEWVOICE

By Kevin Forestieri

The Mountain View Whis-man School District and the teachers’ union

reached an agreement on Oct. 8 following a two-week impasse after salary talks stalled, accord-ing to a joint statement released on Oct. 9. The Mountain View Educators Association and the district were back at the negotiation table on Oct. 8 after school board mem-bers, in a closed-session meeting, expressed interest in continuing contract negotiations. The board

also authorized a new salary increase proposal. Superintendent Craig Gold-man said district negotiators reached and union representa-tives exchanged offers and were able to come to an agreement within a few hours. “I think the settlement reflects the interests of both parties,” Goldman said. President Jonathan Pharazyn of the Mountain View Educators Association said both sides made compromises to reach the agree-ment. “We didn’t get everything we

wanted, but we got some of what we wanted,” Pharazyn said. The agreement still needs to be ratified by the educators asso-ciation before it can come to the board for approval on Nov. 6. The teachers’ union will meet on Oct. 20 to decide whether to rati-fy the agreement. Both Pharazyn and Goldman said they were confident it will be ratified. Until that meeting, details on the agreement will not released. Goldman said he thinks both the two parties have built a “foundation for productive nego-tiations in future years” after

the recent talks and tentative salary agreement. Pharazyn said it remains to be seen whether negotiations will play out differ-ently next spring. If the agreement is ratified and approved by the board, Pharazyn said, the union’s focus will likely shift towards concerns over the implementation of Common Core curriculum and growing class size. The salary agreement for the 2014-15 school year could mean the end of over a month of con-tention between the district and its teaching staff over teacher

compensation, which sparked a huge outpouring of support by parents, teachers and commu-nity members who have flooded the room at every board meeting since Sept. 4. Teachers at the board meetings demanded salaries be raised so they are competitive with com-parable school districts in the county, and said that the cost of living in the Bay Area eats up most — or all — of their pay-checks. The Mountain View Educators

By Kevin Forestieri

Campaign financing by the three candidates for the El Camino Healthcare

District’s two seats is a study in contrasts, according to reports filed Oct. 6. Candidate and current Moun-tain View City Council member Margaret Abe-Koga reported funding her campaign entirely through monetary contributions. The reports cover campaign fundraising and spending for the

period ending Sept. 30. C a n d i d a t e and practic-ing neurologist Peter Fung, on the other hand, paid for most of his campaign through loans he made to his own campaign. While Abe-Koga garnered thou-sands of dollars from Mountain View firefighters, incumbent David Reeder received most of

his contribution from anesthesi-ologists. All three candidates reporting having at least $20,000 in their campaign accounts by the end

of September, but spending var-ied considerably. Fung reported spending $18,778, Abe-Koga had spent $9,737 and Reeder spent $7,204. On campaign expen-ditures, Abe-Koga and Reeder spent the bulk of their money on campaign advertisements and printing costs. Fung reported spending more than $6,000 cam-paign consultant services.

Margaret Abe-Koga Margaret Abe-Koga was the first candidate to announce her

run for the health care district board, and her finances fol-lowed suit. She received a total of $26,973 as of Sept. 30, but had raised most of that money — about $18,500 — by June 30. She started receiving contributions as early as April 16, when Gary Kremen, Match.com CEO and candidate for the Santa Clara Valley Water District board, con-tributed $1,000 to her campaign. Top contributors to Abe-Koga

Teachers reach tentative agreement on salariesDETAILS OF THE DEAL NOT RELEASED UNTIL RATIFICATION BY TEACHER UNION

Fung outspends Abe-Koga, Reeder in health care district raceSPENDING SPILLS OVER $10,000 FOR TWO OF THREE CANDIDATES

By Daniel DeBolt

In a dramatic meeting Thurs-day evening, Mountain View’s City Council approved a new

minimum wage law based on San Jose’s, increasing the city’s minimum wage to $10.30 an hour starting July 1, 2015, and made it a goal to hit $15 an hour by 2018. The council chambers was packed with people pushing the council to adopt a higher wage than San Jose’s. There were few opponents — developer Don Bahl told the council not to be “touchy feely” and sympathize too much with the stories of the city’s working poor, and representatives of two downtown restaurants, including Xahn, expressed con-

cerns about being able to make a profit unless tipped employees were exempted. Over 50 people attended a rally to “raise the wage” before the meeting in Civic Center plaza, and nearly everyone in the crowded room stood up when asked if they supported a higher wage, some holding signs saying “We stand with you.” Despite the unusually large amount of support for a wage approaching $15 an hour, coun-cil members were hesitant to go above the $10.30 the San Jose’s wage is expected to hit next year. “I’m willing to go beyond what San Jose has done but it’s impor-

Mountain View OKs $10.30 minimum wageCOUNCIL’S GOAL IS TO RAISE WAGE TO $15 BY 2018

MICHELLE LE

Ruth Robertson, center, sings at a rally alongside fellow members of the Raging Grannies and community activist Elena Pacheco (far right) at a rally outside City Hall to increase the minimum wage in Mountain View on Oct. 9. See MINIMUM WAGE, page 6

See TEACHER SALARY, page 19

See HEALTH CARE, page 15

David Reeder

Margaret Abe-Koga

Peter Fung


LocalNews

tant we do it in a fair and pru-dent manner,” said Mayor Chris Clark, who pointed out that the city had conducted only one outreach meeting and needed to reach out to more businesses. “The right way is to build a coali-tion like Mayor Murray did” in Seattle, which has approved a complex $15-an-hour ordinance. “I see us taking the first step and saying, ‘We’re willing to help lead on this.’”

Clark said he thinks there’s a desire for similar ordinances in neighboring cities.

Council members first indi-

cated their interest in raising the wage on May 2, with members John Inks and John McAlister opposed. McAlister owns Mountain View’s Baskin Robbins, which isn’t a conflict of interest, accord-ing to City Attorney Jannie Quinn, though some residents clearly felt otherwise and shouted at him, “Recuse yourself.” Members voted 6-1 in favor of the increase to $10.30, with the goal of working towards $15 an hour in 2018 in collaboration with local businesses and other cities. Council member Mike Kasper-zak suggested a name for the effort:”$15 by ‘18.” Member John Inks was

opposed to both the increase and moving towards $15 an hour, claiming that most people work minimum wage jobs only tem-porarily. Under the new law, the city’s minimum wage would increase every January 1 based on infla-tion. The amount of the raise will be announced every October. When it was clear that the council wasn’t going to do more than copy San Jose’s minimum wage law, many people appeared to leave the meeting in protest, or at least, frustration. One audi-ence member told the council they were acting out of fear. “I can’t afford to live on what I’m making now — right now, I’m homeless,” said Mountain View Walmart employee Pam Ramos during the rally. She said many of her coworkers are on food stamps and work two jobs. Other workers who spoke included Posh Bagel employee Guadalupe Garcia, who said she works three $12 an hour jobs and still can’t afford rent in Mountain View, and Google janitor Braulia Flores, a who said her fellow jani-tors start at $11 an hour, which is “very, very low to work at com-pany so wealthy.” “The reality is that there is a new norm,” said Scott Myers Lip-ton, the San Jose State University sociology instructor whose class proposed the San Jose’s mini-mum wage law. “Ten dollars was great when few were advocating for a minimum wage increase. Today, people are zooming past San Jose. I humbly ask you to do so as well. Matching San Jose is not visionary, matching Rich-mond or Seattle is.” There was no support on the council for a motion by member Margaret Abe-Koga to automati-cally increase the minimum wage by $1 a year so as to reach $15 by 2019. That would have bumped up annual pay for a full-time worker by about $10,000 a year, going from $20,800 a year before taxes (at $10 an hour, 40 hours a week) to $31,200 (at $15 an hour). The council instead approved

a motion proposed by City Man-ager Dan Rich, to “make it a goal of the City Council to get to a $15 an hour minimum wage by the year 2018, working in cooperation with our neighboring cities and regional organizations as well as get input from the community, and staff will return to council no later than April on where the issue is regionally an get direction on how to proceed,” Rich said. It was noted by city staff and council members that Sunnyale’s City Council is voting on a wage increase on Oct. 14 and that 13 of 15 Palo Alto City Council candi-dates support a higher minimum wage in Palo Alto.

“I hope they move forward quickly because this is what people want,” said campaign organizer Meghan Fraley after the meeting. “This is as close to consensus as it gets on any politi-cal issue.” The lack of opposition to the wage increase has been unusual for something with such wide impacts. The city’s plastic bag ban drew many more opponents to city meetings. During a public input meeting on the proposed ordinance, no one spoke against it. The California Restaurant Association’s Javier Gonzalez spoke against the raise to $10.30 on Thursday, noting that the state has already approved a 25 percent raise of the old $8 minimum wage to $10 an hour in 2016. He said the raise would cause “a very challenging wage compression between the front end and back of the house,” for restaurants, hinting that it would drive up wages for other restau-

rant employees, not just wait staff on minimum wage. Advocates had said they hoped the lack of opposition was due to reports that San Jose’s economy, and downtown restaurant indus-try, has been thriving since its 2012 increase to $10 an hour. Council member Mike Kasper-zak said he didn’t want a “hodge-podge” of different wage ordi-nances in various cities. He asked Ken Jacobs, chair of U.C. Berke-ley’s Center for Labor research and education, to describe the best method for solving “prag-matic issues” of a small business owner who does work in several different cities in the county. Jacobs described the situation at Valley Fair mall in San Jose where most of the mall is in San Jose and a small part is in Santa Clara, which didn’t raise the minimum wage. “Employers who didn’t raise the wage started losing workers,” Jacobs said, add-ing that those employers had to provide some other benefits to retain workers. He said when one city raises its minimum wage it causes a “race to the top” between cities and employers. He said it was similar to how cities impose different taxes on businesses. “Cities do this on daily basis on a wide range of regulations. The best outcome would be if cities get together and move in the same direction,” he said. Jacobs also noted that workers who make just above minimum wage will also benefit from the increase. “People right at and above the minimum wage also tend to get a raise to maintain some wage differential,” Jacobs said. Leaders of Mountain View non-profits also spoke in favor of significant wage raise: Tom Myers of the Community Servic-es Agency and Monique Kane of the Community Health Aware-ness Council (CHAC). CHAC provides free and low cost coun-seling to residents. “The children of the working

MINIMUM WAGE Continued from page 5

MICHELLE LE

Ryan holds up a sign supporting a higher minimum wage in Mountain View at last Thursday’s rally.

‘This is as close

to consensus as it

gets on any

political issue.’MEGHAN FRALEY

Continued on next page


LocalNews

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By Madeleine Gerson

On Tuesday, Oct. 14, Mountain View City Council voted unani-

mously to provide City Clerk Lorrie Brewer with a loan of $143,000 to purchase a mobile home in the city of Mountain View as her primary residence.

Under a housing and relocation assistance program for coun-cil appointees and department heads, loans of up to $180,000 can be approved by the City Council for housing. So far, other than

Brewer, three council appointees and two department heads have used the assistance program. Jim Neal, a City Council can-didate, spoke at the council meeting against the loan and the message it will send to people in the lower and middle classes. ìIt will look like you are doing favors for yourselves while you arenít willing to do favors for others,î said Neal, who objected to the city’s income restrictions in its relocation program for residents who are displaced from rental housing.

Last year, the City Council approved raises for its appoin-tees, the city manager, city clerk and city attorney. Brewerís sal-ary was raised from $127,205 to $132,344. Council Member Jac Siegel made a motion to approve the loan, which was passed by a vote of 7-0. Brewer served as Santa Cruz City Clerk until June 2010, when she was appointed to the city clerk position in Mountain View.

Email Madeleine Gerson at [email protected]

Council OKs housing loan to city clerk

By Daniel DeBolt

Last week Mountain View City Council members said they hoped Sunnyvale and

other nearby cities would join them in raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2018, and now Sunnyvale appears to be doing its part.

On Tuesday evening the Sunnyvale City Council voted to approve a $10.30 minimum wage that will go into effect on Jan. 1, six months before the same wage takes effect in Moun-tain View, and joined Mountain

View’s council in setting a goal of raising it to $15 by 2018. Advocates of raising the wage in Mountain View attended the Sunnyvale meeting and were enthusiastic about the outcome. “Hopefully we will join forc-es as well with Palo Alto and Cupertino in moving forward quickly so that we can indeed see a raise to $15 by 2018 or sooner,” said Meghan Fraley, a leader of the effort in Moun-tain View. “The best outcome would be for this to be a regional solution. Ultimately though, we can’t forget that

this will have to happen on a city by city level.” “Several members of the council emphasized the impor-tance of consistency among cit-ies in the region for minimum wage,” said Sunnyvale commu-nications officer Jennifer Gar-nett in an email, adding that the vote was 6-1 for both the boost to $10.30 next year and to set a goal of $15 by 2018, with council member Dave Whittum opposed. The state’s minimum wage is $9 an hour and will go to $10 in 2016. V

Sunnyvale matches MV wage hike

poor in Mountain View suffer a great deal emotionally,” Kane said. Because parents are working multiple jobs to pay escalating rents, Kane said, “(Children) are lonely, they are depressed. It prob-ably takes away a child’s chance to be with their parents, and they miss out on the positive role models they could have. Kids are ostracized socially, which make them depressed even more.” “The parents care that they do well but they have no time to help because they are working all the time. Children are raising chil-dren in our community,” she said. “A child sleeps on the living room floor and mom has four room-mates. The TV is on until late. Is it any wonder this child comes to school exhausted? There’s a lot of poverty and it’s really hurting out children. I hope you can lead and go to $15 an hour.” The California Apartment Association might seem an unex-pected ally to the working poor, but on Thursday CAA’s Joshua Howard supported the increase. He recalled the experience of one of the landlords he represents when San Jose passed its wage increase. “He could tell differ-ence in his residents’ quality of life and their outlook on life,

they would pay rent on the first of the month. If it worked in San Jose, it will work here as well. We don’t oppose the idea of raising the minimum wage. Ideally, we don’t have piecemeal legislation (in different cities). “What better way to help so many so quickly in our entire city and than raising the mini-mum wage?” said Mike Fischetti, one of several residents to say a significant increase to the mini-mum age was a moral obligation of the council. He called the council’s move towards $15 an

hour a “great victory.” “I hear stories of people who can barely pay the rent of buy food,” said Foothill-DeAnza Commu-nity College District board mem-ber Laura Casas. “I would like our working people to get bonuses like the ones my husband used to get just for doing math correctly. They need to be part of the econ-omy. If you put that extra money in their pocket, they are going to help the economy in the long run, that is capitalism.”

Email Daniel DeBolt at [email protected]

MICHELLE LE

Dominic Ware, center, holds hands with members of OurWalmart as participants of the minimum wage rally close their eyes and imagine what life would be like if they could afford healthcare and housing.

Continued from previous page


LocalNews

By Kevin Forestieri

Class was back in session at the Oct. 9 Mountain View Whisman School District

board meeting, as members of the community filled the room for a special budget meeting to try to understand how their local school district funds teachers, programs and other expenses. The meeting was called fol-lowing a stalemate over teacher salaries, when the teachers union declared they had reached an impasse with the school district over teacher compensation. The teachers union wanted a “cost of living” salary increase of 7 percent this year — more than double the 3.25 percent offered by the district. The situation has since cooled off after both parties met for negotiations again on Oct. 8 and came to a tentative agreement on salaries. No details on the agree-ment have yet been released. Still, issue raised a num-ber of budget-related questions about what the district can

afford to pay its teaching staff while remaining fiscally solvent. Teachers and community mem-bers alike also raised concerns over the district’s large, $24 mil-lion reserve — more than half of which is designated for economic uncertainty. The issues galvanized the pub-lic enough that the district was able to get a full audience to sit down and muse over the 2013-14 year-end unaudited budget actuals, hold the packed hand-out sideways to read pie charts on district sources of revenue, and ask questions on what these numbers mean for the future. “On the left side, the pieces of the pie that are sitting out from the Pac-Man face are the restricted (funds),” said Terese McNamee, chief business officer for the district, as she explained a graph that broke down district revenue. The “Pac-Man” face, in this case, is the district funding con-sidered to be “operating revenue,” and is the portion of money that can be used to pay for ongoing

expenses — a relevant piece of the teacher salary discussion. That money does not include things like parcel taxes, which McNamee said were instrumental in offset-ting a drop in operating revenue and helped sustain programs that would’ve been otherwise cut dur-ing the recession. McNamee also explained bud-get projections for the future, which shows expenses outpacing revenues as early as the 2015-16 school year, as the district continues to spend more on programs for students in the low socioeconomic status and Eng-lish-language learners groups, and more on school supplies and support to prepare for Common Core state curriculum standards. McNamee said the possibility of dipping into the reserves in future years is not a troubling prospect, but the district needs to be mindful and avoid situations where programs need to be cut in order to pay the bills. “I think it’s an annual conver-sation of looking at where we’re at and what’s coming at us so that we can make sure that over an extended period of time we’re in good shape,” McNamee said. The district’s reserves, exclud-ing restricted reserves, ends up at $14.3 million — 31 percent of the district’s annual budget.

McNamee said the recommend-ed reserves for economic uncer-tainty is up to 25 percent, the reason being that the state has cut as much as 14.5 percent of the district’s funding in a single year, and the district needs to be ready to compensate for that shortfall.

Public comments scrutinize budget

After the number-heavy pre-sentation, parents and teachers asked questions mostly related to salaries and reserves — the hot-button issues that were brought up last month when the teach-ers union criticized the school district for more than tripling its reserves in the last five years. One person asked McNamee why the district continues to maintain a high level of reserves for “economic uncertainty” when the dollar amount of reserves didn’t even decrease during the recession in 2008 and 2009. “If you didn’t spend (the reserves) then, what makes you think you’ll spend them in the future?” he said. “Are you hold-ing reserves against an event that’s more severe than the 2008 downturn?” McNamee said that federal stimulus money kept the district afloat during the recession years and “more than offset” the loss

in state funds. Parcel taxes and donations also helped keep the district from tapping into the reserves. Many other districts, she said, were not so fortunate and didn’t have those outside sources of funding. Keeping a healthy reserve is “vital” in recession years where there isn’t a budget windfall, she said. When asked why the unre-stricted reserves were about 6 percent above the recommended 25 percent of the annual budget last year, McNamee said 2013-14 was an anomaly, and that a new funding formula gave the district significantly more money than what they were expecting. Bud-get projections expect that num-ber to decrease from 31 percent to 14.3 percent by the 2016-17 school year. One woman in the audience said she would like to see the expenses broken down even further to see how much money is going into administrative sala-ries, rather than just certificated versus classified salaries. “I think that would be helpful. There’s a lot of confusion going on between certificated (and) administrative, and I think it would clear up some questions,” she said.

Email Kevin Forestieri at [email protected]

All about the budgetSCHOOL DISTRICT ADMINISTRATORS BREAK DOWN

BUDGET FOLLOWING TEACHER PAY IMPASSE


The jobs-housing imbalance is threatening our quality of life, diversity, and natural environment. Housing is scarce and

Earlier this year Lenny Siegel formed the Campaign for a Balanced Mountain View.

employment growth.

building new walkable, livable, multi-story neighborhoods, complete with neighborhood schools, in locations such as North Bayshore and the San Antonio area.

requirements to make housing more affordable for low-income people.

for middle-income people to break into the ownership market.

particularly between the North Bayshore area and both Downtown Mountain View and the San Antonio area.

LENNY SIEGEL has lived in Mountain View for 42 years as a renter and homeowner. He is a professional environmental advocate known nationally for his ability to bring together representatives of people and organizations with diverse interests and backgrounds to solve common problems.

Locally, he has a long record of

community oversight of toxic cleanup in Mountain View and at Moffett Field. For

Superfund Citizen of the Year Award in 2011.

In 2005 he convened the Save Hangar One Committee to preserve and restore the

landmark.

In 2001 he spearheaded the campaign to clean up and restore the Moffett wetlands.

Revitalization Committee, and he participated in the Central City planning effort that preserved Old Mountain View, where he lives.

A vote for Lenny Siegel is a vote for a more balanced, sustainable Mountain View.

Matt Allen, Former Mayor Elaine Astrue Susan Barkan David Bell Dorothy Bender Madeline Bernard Bill Berry Kathleen & Serge Bonte Charles Bransi John Brazil Ed Brennan Erin Brigham Joan Brodovsky Barry BurrJan Carey, Former School Board Member Cliff Chambers Steve Chandler Chris Chiang, School Board Member Mark Christenson Wren ClarkMichael Closson Betsy Collard, Former School Board Member Diana Collins Eileen Denue Libby Dresel Frederic Duperrault Bruce England Marie Evitt Evolve California Rose Filicetti, Former School Board Member Mike Fischetti Meghan Fraley Judith Gable Robert Glick

Carrielynn & David Haedtler Cynthia Hanson Alison Hicks Jeremy Hoffman Roy Hong Jane Horton Vladimir Ivanovic Greg & Linda Kannall Haley KannallLucas Kannall Bruce KarneyRobert KirbyHelen Landsman Bonnie Laster Mike Laster League of Conservation Voters

SIEGELFOR CITY COUNCIL

LENNY

Endorsements

2014Mountain View

Erin Lee Barbara Leeds Vincent Leone Sally Lieber, Former Assemblywoman and Mayor Job Lopez Joan MacDonald, Former School Board Member Wally MacDonald Susie Mader Aldona Majorek Bonnie Malouf Maria Marroquin Alice Martineau Julia Miller, VC, El Camino Hospital Healthcare District Anthony Moor Nancy Morimoto Mountain View Voters for Housing DiversityDebbie Mytels Gail Nyhan David Offen Ravit Ortiz Sherry Palacios Palo Alto Daily Post Richard Pasetto Greg Perry, Former Vice-Mayor David Pilling Gil Porat Carolyn Purcell Lucia RamirezCarol & Keating Rhoads Jan & Karen Rivers Karen Saltzman Jose D. Sanchez Jim SchwartzKathy & Michael Sherman Ron Shipper Art & Liz SiegelAbe Siegel-Rivers Misha Siegel-Rivers Peggy Simon Kim Smith-Nilsson Emy & Jim Thurber Diane Turner Elna Tymes Sylvia VillasenorPam & Ruth Walton-Carranza Michelle Watson Bob Wenzlau Alan Whitaker Marilyn Winkleby Josh Wolf Sarah Woodhall

To endorse, donate, request a yard sign, volunteer, or simply join the Lenny for

Lenny Siegel for Mountain View Council 2014Box 391072, Mountain View, CA 94041

were not able to locate the suspects. Witnesses saw a dark, four-door sedan in the area at the time of the robbery, which could be related to the robbery. The victim was not injured in the incident. Police encourage anyone with information about the case to call 650-903-6395 and refer to case num-ber 14-5325. Anonymous tips can be sent to 274637 —include MVTips in the body of the message

HIT-AND-RUN ARREST Police arrested a Sunnyvale man Sunday in con-nection with a hit and run following a major traffic collision in Mountain View on Friday, Oct. 10. The driver, identified as 26-year-old Jonathan Castillo, was allegedly involved in the two-vehi-cle collision on California Street and Chiquita Avenue that occurred shortly before 9 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 10. Police found two vehicles that were damaged, including one overturned vehicle. The incident is still under investigation, but it appears the suspect vehicle struck the overturned blue vehicle, according to Shino Tanaka of the Mountain View Police Department. Two people were transported to a local hospi-tal for non-life threatening injuries, and police continued to search for Castillo, who had left the scene on foot and was seen walking down Chiq-uita Avenue. Using information from witnesses at the scene, police were able to locate and identify Castillo and arrest him on Sunday, Oct. 12, on charges of felony hit and run. Castillo was booked into San Jose Main Jail.

CONCERT SCUFFLE Police arrested a 48-year-old Stockton man at

the Snoop Dogg concert at Shoreline Amphi-theatre on Oct. 10 after the man allegedly got in an argument, pushed his daughter and tried to prevent her from contacting 911. Police responded to a disturbance at the lawn area of the venue where the man, identified as David Martinez, was allegedly intoxicated and arguing with his girlfriend, a 47-year-old Stock-ton woman, according to Sgt. Saul Jaeger of the Mountain View Police Department. When Mar-tinez’ daughter stepped in and started to call 911, Martinez pushed her several times and tried to take the phone away, according to police. Martinez was arrested for battery and pre-venting a person from summoning 911, and was booked into San Jose Main Jail.

—Kevin Forestieri

FATAL MOTORCYCLE CRASH A Campbell man was killed Thursday, Oct. 9, while riding his motorcycle on northbound state Highway 85 in Mountain View when he collided with a minivan in front of him, a California High-way Patrol official said. Larry Gene Baughman, 62, was riding just south of El Camino Real shortly after 11:15 a.m. Thurs-day on a 2012 Honda motorcycle when traffic slowed in front of him, according to the CHP. Baughman collided with the back of a 2005 Toyota Minivan driven by a Cupertino resident. He was transported to Stanford Hospital, where he died of injuries sustained in the collision, accord-ing to the CHP. Drugs and alcohol do not appear to have been factors in this collision, CHP officials said. Any witnesses to this collision are asked to call Officer Marc Thomas at (650) 369-6261.

—Bay City News Service


LocalNews

a guide to the spiritual community

Inspirations

MOUNTAIN VIEW CENTRAL SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCHSabbath School: 9:30 a.m.

Saturday Services: Worship 10:45 a.m.Wednesday Study Groups: 10-11 a.m.

Pastor Kenny Fraser, B.A.M. DIV1425 Springer Rd., Mtn. View - Office Hrs. M-F 9am-1pm

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460 South El Monte (at Cuesta)650-948-3012

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By Madeleine Gerson

For the fifth year, the Com-munity School of Music and Arts will play host to the

Silicon Valley African Film Festi-val from Friday, Oct. 7 to Sunday, Oct. 19. SVAFF is the only film festival in California which pres-ents films exclusively produced by African filmmakers. Over the duration of the week-end festival, 25 films will be pre-sented, there will be an “African Women in Technology” forum, an art exhibition, a youth forum, and several performances. When the event was founded five years ago, one of the goals was to provide a greater under-standing of African culture and heritage, according to event director Chike C. Nwoffiah, who came to the United States from Nigeria in 1989. Nwoffiah said the film festival uses performing arts as a window into the real Africa. “The entire festival weekend has been designed to offer unique social and artistic visions from around the Afri-can continent that will engage

our audience in thought-pro-voking dialogue,” he said. SVAFF is presented by Oriki Theatre and some of this year’s featured films include “Gold is Here” from Ghana, “A Culture of Silence” from Sierra Leone, “Horizon Beautiful” from Ethio-pia, “Soko Sonka” from Kenya, and “B’ella” from Malawi. Nwoffiah said young film-makers provided the inspiration behind the founding of the Sili-con Valley African Film Festival. “I began to find amazing work filmed by really young people. I said to myself. ‘Wow ... If we could create a platform for the filmmakers, then we are getting the story from the mouth of the storyteller to the public,’” Nwof-fiah said. Every year, the event attracts a diverse audience of international visitors, Silicon Valley technol-ogy executives, cinema buffs, academics, government officials and a variety of community sup-porters, he said. There will be several additions to the film festival this year, including a visual arts exhibition by 21 year-old Nigerian-Canadi-

an artist Kosi Nnebe on themes of beauty and identity. “For me, art has always been a tool of self-discovery and has truly forced me to re-imagine the manner in which I perceive myself and the world around me,” Nnebe said. This will be the first year that the Stanford a cappella group Talisman will be performing. There will also be a red carpet reception and opening ceremony on Fri., Oct. 17 and closing awards ceremony on Sun., Oct. 19. “We will have a couple of surprises to celebrate the fifth anniversary that we will reveal,” said Nwoffiah. A one-day pass to the festi-val is $25, and a two-day pass costs $35, with $5 discounts for students and seniors. Opening night ceremonies are free with a pass, or $15 to attend without a pass. For the schedule and more information about the Silicon Valley African Film Festival at CSMA, located at 230 San Anto-nio Circle, Mountain View, go to svaff.org.

Email Madeleine Gerson at [email protected]

Young filmmakers inspire African film festWEEKEND FESTIVAL CELEBRATES FIFTH YEAR IN MOUNTAIN VIEW

Continued from page 4

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and create a segregated campus where one half is almost entirely composed of low-income and English-language learner stu-dents. Students in the bilingual Dual Immersion program receive instruction in both Spanish and English, with the goal of having students become proficient in both languages. As a choice pro-gram, it draws district students from outside of Castro’s atten-dance boundaries.

The recommendation came after hundreds of hours of study sessions, focus groups and solic-iting opinions from parents and teachers at Castro to figure out how to improve instruction and performance in the Dual Immer-sion program and the traditional program at the school. And performance is a problem, according to Marcela Simoes de Carvalho, assistant principal at Castro elementary. De Car-valho said some people might wonder why Castro needs to be restructured when the school’s performance, as measured by the

Academic Performance Index, has improved in the last five years. Castro Elementary reports tests scores for both programs combined, de Carvalho said, giving a perception to the public, and the state, that Castro is one school with no differentiation between programs for student achievement. The reality is that students in the traditional pro-gram are lagging behind stu-dents in the Dual Immersion program by a large margin. A report by the task force shows that 67 percent of Dual Immersion students scored “proficient” in English and lan-guage arts, but only 32 percent of students in the traditional program did. Similarly, 54 per-cent of traditional program students were proficient in math compared to 85 percent in Dual Immersion. There is a big demographic divide between the two pro-grams as well. Alejandro Queza-da, a Dual Immersion teacher at Castro, said 90 percent of the students in the traditional pro-gram are both English-language learners and from families clas-sified as “low socioeconomic status,” compared to 45 percent English-language learners and 40 percent low socioeconomic status for students in the Dual Immersion. “That’s what we’re trying to overcome here,” Quezada said. “We have two very unique pro-grams and we’ve been, for years, trying to address these two very unique programs in a very simi-lar way.” Members of the task force con-cluded that a separate school for the traditional program students

would help to overcome the “per-sistent and wide” achievement gap better than trying to meet the needs of two very different instructional programs at the same time. Superintendent Craig Gold-man said the task force has gone through a comprehensive process, and that it’s important for the community to weigh in. He said the recommendation makes a lot of sense given the two programs already operate separately and have two different sets of students. Goldman said the change

could also mean a greater focus of supplemental funds intended to help low-income and minor-ity students, which make up a large majority of the traditional program. “These funds are spread across the school right now, even for students not deemed ‘targeted’ kids,” Goldman said. Kristen Julien, a second-grade teacher at Castro, read a letter to the board on behalf of a group of teachers who supported the

two-school proposal. She said the teachers, in researching the different options to restructure Castro, became “acutely” aware of what they had been feeling all along: that the school-wide com-promises and concessions trying to accommodate both programs prevented the school from focus-ing on on each program’s most pressing needs and goals. “We are confident that imple-menting the comprehensive, detailed and research-based pro-grams outlined by the restruc-turing task force will enable us to make significant progress in aca-demic achievement and parent involvement in both programs,” Julien said. Included in the task force report was a quote from Castro parents involved in the process that stated “academic success is the most important and all the other things are extra.” That mentality concerned Cas-tro parent David Kessens, who told the board he agrees that something needs to be done, but felt the composition and the nature of the task force was too narrowly focused on academics. “You get statements like, ‘Yeah, the academics is the only thing that counts,’” Kessens said. “And that isn’t really true.” Kessens questioned whether the task force put enough thought into the financial costs associated with operating two schools on the same campus. He said even if Measure G funds would help with initial construction, the district has to look at on-going costs for running a separate administrative staff, and possible increases in maintenance costs. “That money could’ve been spent on children. It could’ve been spent on intervention pro-grams. It could’ve been spent on things that actually directly benefit the children as opposed to overhead,” Kessens said. Another Castro parent, Ligia Salcedo, urged the board not to segregate Castro and create one school with more than 80 percent of the students are low-income Hispanic students. “Education is not only grades, but also the experience of growing up in a rich, inclusive and accept-ing environment,” Salcedo said. Salcedo said the task force recommends the two-school solution, but has yet to present an educational plan tailored to help the low-income Hispanic children at Castro and improve their proficiency in English. She said the emphasis is all focused on under-performing students in the traditional program, but makes no mention of the stu-dents struggling in the Dual Immersion program. Castro Parent Daniel Tunelang said he is worried that splitting Castro into two schools could


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COLLABORATIVE LEADER.YOUTH ADVOCATE.

COMMITTED TO:Transparent and inclusive governanceEffective stewardship of the public’s dollarsGrowing programs that support the success of our most vulnerable studentsParent Leadership and Positive School Climate

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Paid for by Dana Bunnett for Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District Governing Board 2014. FPPC # 1371127

CASTRO SCHOOL Continued from page 1

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environment.’LIGIA SAKEDO


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further institutionalize a kind of segregation based on ethnic-ity and socioeconomic status. Tunkalong said this is already going on to some extent between the traditional program and the Dual Immersion program, but separating Castro into two schools would make it worse.

“I don’t think the outcomes can ever be the same if we have that separation,” Tunkalong said.

Task force input and inclusion

The 14-member Castro Restructuring Task Force started meeting in March of this year, and included Castro parents, teachers, principal and assistant principal, as well as district administrators. The goal of the task force was to find a way to restructure Castro in a way that improves instruction and nar-rows the achievement gap.

Sarah Livnat, a parent at Castro and member of the task force, said members did two major “reach outs” to the community. The first was an initial survey to solicit feedback from Castro par-ents about what was going well at the school and what they would like to see improved.

The second was a focus group that included two randomly selected parents from each class-

room at Castro. The task force would run through the problems related to student achievement as well as some of the potential solutions. “(We) really tried to solicit from the parents their concerns, their questions, and had an

opportunity for every parent to contribute to that process,” Livnat said. “It was very good for us to hear feedback from parents, specifically those that tend not to be very vocal.” To help facilitate the discus-sion and give parents a more

tangible understanding of what problems face Castro Elemen-tary students, parents on the task force moved stacks of boxes to represent the charts and test results to show the slow progress of the school and the persisting achievement gap.

The task force looked at four different restructuring options. The first two options were one school with two programs — similar to what exists — or two schools, each housing one of the two programs. The third option was to have two separate schools and move one of those schools to another district site, and the fourth was to convert Castro into an “all Dual Immersion” school and have families desir-ing a traditional school program transfer to another school. The latter two options were rejected for a swath of reasons, including what didn’t work in the district over a decade ago. De Carvalho said the district tried to split Castro onto two different campuses when she joined the school district 18 years ago. At the time, she said, district leadership tried to move “primary language program” classes from Castro to Landels Elementary school and transfer Castro students to the new loca-tion — incidentally at the same time as class size reductions. It didn’t gain enough traction. “What ending up happening is it started fizzling out,” Carvalho said. “Choice was important to parents, and being close to their neighborhood school is impor-tant.” V

MICHELLE LE

Castro students are rewarded with a spritz of water during the “Castro Walks Because Castro Rocks” walk-a-thon fundraiser on Oct. 10.


LocalNews

• Currently serving as Environmental Planning Commissioner • 27 years at Hewlett-Packard , extensive

international experience; then owned Consulting Business• Graduate, Leadership Mountain View; LMV Advisory

Committee Chair • YMCA Advisory Board Member and past El Camino

Branch Board Member • El Camino Hospital Foundation’s H2H Grants

Committee, Co-Lead• Information Systems Management degree from USF• Distinguished Service Award ,

YMCA

Paid for and authorized by Margaret Capriles for City Council 2014 (FPPC ID#1345372)

VOTE FORHaving raised a family in Mountain View for over 45 years, I have seen the community change in many ways. Mountain View is a great city that serves as a role model in innovative thinking and management and I

want to ensure we maintain that leadership role. My top priorities are:1. Work to achieve attainable housing

and balanced growth2. Expand infrastructure to support safe

bicycle and pedestrian modes of transportation

3. Attain water conservation 4. Encourage civic engagement for all

residents

Vote #7 on November 4th for Community, Commitment, Capriles!

Anna Eshoo, U.S. CongresswomanMargaret Abe-Koga, Mountain View Councilmember Jerry Hill, California State SenatorRich Gordon, California State AssemblyMatt Pear, Former Mountain View MayorArt Takahara, Former Mountain View MayorEvan Low, Campbell City CouncilmemberLiz Kniss, Palo Alto Vice-MayorSidney Espinosa, Former Palo Alto MayorSanta Clara County Democratic PartySierra ClubMountain View Professional FirefightersSouth Bay Labor Council, COPESilicon Valley Asia Pacific American Democratic ClubCalifornia Apartment Association, Tri-County DivisionBob Burns, Former Mountain View Fire ChiefAila Malik, Chief Strategic Officer, Fresh Lifelines for Youth (FLY)Gay Krause, Chairperson Mtn. View/Los Altos/Los Altos Hills Challenge TeamGianluca & Chiara Pecora, Mtn. View ResidentsPeggy Franczyk, Mountain View ResidentJean Yeh, Former President, American Cancer Society, CA

include the Mountain View Fire-fighters IAFF 1965, a local fire-fighter association, which con-tributed $4,000; $1,000 from the Democratic Activists for Women Now organization; $1,000 from the Evan Low for Assembly 2014 campaign committee; and $500 from the Northern California Carpenters Regional Council. Abe-Koga paid over $4,500 for campaign printing services to Pacific Printing in San Jose. When Abe-Koga dropped her bid for the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in 2012, she still had some funds remaining from that campaign. Abe-Koga said she has since transferred that money to a committee called “Margaret Abe-Koga for Supervi-sor 2016” in order to hold onto the funds, but told the Voice that she has no intention for running for supervisor in 2016 if she is elected to the El Camino Healthcare Dis-trict. She said she intends to serve on the health care district board for the entire four-year term.

Peter Fung Peter Fung contributed $24,000 in loans to his own campaign, accounting for over 80 percent of his total contributions and

bringing his total amount raised to $28,375. Other contributors include: $1,000 from retired Los Altos Hills resident Beatrice Hom; and donations of between $100 to $250 from 12 physicians who work with El Camino Hos-pital, including eight anesthesi-ologists from Fidere Anesthesia Consultants Inc. Fung spent $5,505 on cam-

paign signs from Cogs Signs in Modesto, and $6,279 in cam-paign consulting costs with Meridian Pacific, a firm that specializes in political consult-ing and public affairs. He also reported spending $3,000 on filing fees with the registrar of voters, and $1,672 on advertise-ments in local newspapers.

David Reeder Incumbent David Reeder reported spending the least of the three candidates, with total expenditures of a little more than $7,200. Most of the money

was spent on newspaper ads and printing campaign materials. Reeder raised over $20,000 in monetary contributions as of Sept. 30, and made $2,000 in loans to his campaign. A lion’s share of the contributions Reeder reported came from phy-sicians with Fidere Anesthesia Consultants, Inc., a group of anesthesiologists who practice

at El Camino Hospital. Reeder’s campaign received 34 contribu-tions of $250 each from physi-cians with the group, with some physicians donating more than once, for a total of $8,500. Other contributions to Reeder’s campaign included: $1,000 from Edward Taft, a retired Los Altos Hills resident and philanthropist; and $500 from Munjal Shah, a member of the El Camino Hospi-tal foundation board and founder of the health company Health Equity Labs.


HEALTH CARE Continued from page 5

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Ken DeLeon is Silicon Valley’s top Realtor and consistently ranks in

the top of our nation. Additionally, Ken is a motivational speaker

who has given keynote speeches to thousands while sharing the stage

with Tony Robbins and others. At this seminar, Ken will share three

tragedies that nearly took his life, and the many invaluable lessons

he learned during his recoveries. Whether beating cancer, recovering

from a horrific accident that made national news, or learning powerful

lessons from his sister’s suicide, Ken has used tragedy as a springboard

to greater wisdom and self-confidence, creating the life he wants to

live. Ken does not fear death, only mediocrity. He looks forward to

sharing his inspiration and drive with the seminar audience. Ken

is amazingly thankful for all that Silicon Valley has given him. In

addition to donating over $100,000 to local schools this year, Ken

hopes this seminar, like his talks at local schools, will give back to

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The City of Mountain View is currently accepting applications for federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Partnership (HOME) funds. The funds will be awarded in April 2015 and distributed during Fiscal Year 2015-16 (July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2016). The City anticipates that approximately $600,000 in CDBG and $250,000 in HOME funds will be available.

housing activities and community

individuals, households, and areas.

Applications Due: Friday, November 14, 2014 at 5:00 p.m.

Where to Obtain an Application:

http://www.mountainview.gov, under the Community Development-Neighborhoods and Housing-CDBG and HOME Programs links.

Department at City Hall, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View, CA.

THE CITY OF MOUNTAIN VIEWCOMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT

Funding AvailableFiscal Year 2015-16

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For more information contact: Regina Adams, Senior Planner

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SILICON VALLEY: THE LURE AND THE LEGENDS

It wasn’t so long ago that the Santa Clara Valley was known as the “Valley of Heart’s Delight:” a fertile region where orchards of f lowering trees stretched from the rolling hills of the west to the San Francisco Bay in the east. The story of how and why it became the epicenter of a technological revolution is the subject of a new exhibition opening Saturday, Oct. 18 at the Los Altos History Museum (51 South San Antonio Road, Los Altos).

Through photographs, ephemera, anecdotes and video interviews, “Silicon Valley: The Lure & the Legends” pres-ents the factors that led to the transformation of the region, and the key players who made it happen. From the inventor of the microprocessor to the founders of Google, Apple, Intel and Adobe, the exhibit takes a look at the visionaries behind the companies as well as other forces at play: the brainpower of Stanford University, the draw of year-round sunshine, corporate culture, venture capital and “cowboy capitalism” — the atti-tude that there is always more money to be made.

The exhibition runs through April 19. The museum is open Thursday through Sunday, noon to 4 pm. Admission is free. To learn more, go to tinyurl.com/ps74nx3 or call 650-948-9427.

HIGH SCHOOL ONE-ACT PLAY FESTIVAL

No, it’s not just a song by Michael Jackson; PYT stands for Peninsula Youth Theatre. Now in its 22nd year, PYT is launch-ing a new endeavor to encour-age budding theater directors. The Inaugural High School One-Act Play Festival debuts on Friday, Oct. 24 at the Mountain View Center for the Perform-ing Arts (500 Castro St.). The evening features two short plays produced, directed and acted by high school students. And don’t be fooled: these are no theater lightweights. For their first-ever festival, these young thespians have chosen to pair Jean Paul Sartre’s groundbreaking exis-tential drama “No Exit” of 1944 with a contemporary one-act: Michael Niederman’s “Every Man.” Both scripts call for this young cast tot tackle big themes: love, death, sin and abandon-ment.

Tickets are just $10. Don’t be late: The curtain rises at 7:30 p.m. For tickets or more infor-mation, go to pytnet.org or call 650-903-6000.

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Association declared impasse on Sept. 24 when the district offered a 3.25 percent “cost of living” salary increase, a quar-ter of a percent higher than its original proposal and well below the 7 percent the teach-ers’ union sought. The discussion over whether the district could handle a teacher salary increase of that size prompted some teach-ers and parents to question

whether the district needed to maintain a $24 million reserve fund, equal to about 42 percent of the annual budget. The district held a special informational meeting on Oct. 9, an hour before the regularly scheduled board meeting, on the district’s finances. The meeting included a presenta-tion by Terese McNamee, chief financial officer for the dis-trict, on school district income, expenses and reserve funds.


TEACHER SALARY Continued from page 5

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VoterGuide

By Daniel DeBolt

One of the most impor-tant City Council elec-tions in decades will

take place on Nov. 4 when voters will pick three candidates to replace outgoing council mem-bers Jac Siegel, Ronit Bryant and Margaret Abe-Koga. More so than in any other election in the last decade, the issue taking center stage in this election has been about how to preserve housing affordability amidst booming job growth. Each candidate says it’s a top priority, but they differ in their solutions. All of the candidates say that increasing housing supply and restricting office growth will contain prices, but only five support a significant change in course for the city by building a new neighborhood around Google headquarters with as many as 5,000 homes. It’s a move Google, the Chamber of Commerce and a growing number of residents support, but a slim majority of the current council, including all three out-going members, have opposed. Other key issues this year include how to address grow-ing traffic and the need for new transportation systems and bike infrastructure. Some candidates are more willing than others to embrace bike boulevards, nar-rower streets to make way for bike lanes, and dedicated bus lanes. The need for rent control and a $15 minimum wage have also been hot topics, and are addressed in the following can-didate stories. The candidates are listed in the same order as they are on the ballot.

PAT SHOWALTER

Pat Showalter’s unique passion for policy detail was evident to her when she first joined the city’s planning commission in the early 1990s and she found herself enjoy-ing a long and technical environmental impact report. “I thought, Patricia, what is wrong with you? You’re read-ing an EIR and having so much fun.” Showalter works as civil engineer with the Santa Clara Valley Water District and says her expertise in reading techni-cal environmental documents would be valuable on the coun-

cil. Showalter says she “throughly enjoyed” being on the city’s planning commission for nine years, where she helped cham-pion the city’s original below-market-rate housing ordinance, which subsidizes affordable housing projects with fees on market-rate development. “The problem I have most passion about is really the hous-ing issue,” she says. In 2012, she helped lobby council members to approve housing around Google headquarters in North Bayshore, to no avail. Now she hopes to approve it herself as a council member. She says she wants to create a better balance between jobs and housing in order to reduce commuter traf-fic and meet the city’s goals to fight climate change. As a bicyclist she expressed awareness of existing efforts to improve bike infrastructure and stood out by saying she support-ed a “pilot program” to see how residents would like California Street with a lane removed in each direction to calm traffic and encourage bike riding. Showalter has lived in Moun-tain View for 30 years, has two grown kids and lives with her husband in Waverly Park, where they own a home. She has been endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce, the Sierra Club, county Supervisor Joe Simitian and Carl Guardino of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

votepatshowalter.com

MERCEDES SALEM

Candidate Mercedes Salem is a new face in local politics, a family law attorney who has experience working in tech and as an aid to Congress members on Capitol Hill. She says she aims to represent middle-class families and immigrants as the only foreign-born candidate in a city with over 8,000 foreign-born registered voters. She is Iranian and speaks fluent Farsi. “The biggest problem we have in Mountain View is livability and that encompasses a multi-tude of things,” Salem said. “All we do in life is work so we can have better lives and our kids can have better lives, but that’s not happening anymore.”

Though she acknowledges the city’s housing shortage, Salem opposes housing in North Bay-shore, “We have a massive jobs-housing imbalance,” Salem said. “I don’t believe housing in North Bayshore is the answer. There aren’t enough services to sup-port a community as it stands” and businesses there are strug-gling because Google and other employers provide “everything from soup to nuts.” She says the East Whisman area is better for housing, and would like to see the 3.4 million square feet of office slated for North Bayshore cut in half. Salem has a unique interest among the candidates in helping

working fami-lies through city services, such as better summer pro-grams for kids from fami-lies who can’t afford summer camp or spe-cial summer

classes, calling such programs “a huge relief — it means a lot. There’s so many things we can do to ease the pain for them.” When it comes to the city budget, she said, “I don’t believe in cutting pensions, salaries or health benefits for workers. The city works because workers do.” Salem is a renter in the Syl-van Park area and has lived in Mountain View for four years. She is endorsed by the local chapter of the Democratic party, Congressman Mike Honda, and former mayors Laura Macias, Jac Siegel and Sally Lieber, among others. She holds an anthropology degree and a law degree from Santa Clara Univer-sity.

votemercedes.nationbuilder.com

LENNY SIEGEL

Of all the candidates, Lenny Siegel is the most familiar to residents, having been involved in Mountain View civic life since the 1970s and early 1980s, when he ran for City Council three times, led two failed efforts to institute rent control, and helped lead efforts to address toxics left behind by early tech companies — which turned into a decades-long career as director of Moun-tain View’s Center for Pub-lic Environmental Oversight. His expertise in environmental work is sought by communities around the country.

“I have a history of getting people from diverse perspec-tives and backgrounds to work together,” says Siegel, who also led the fight to keep air cargo traffic out of Moffett Field and to save Hangar One. “We don’t always agree but we maintain dialogue.” Siegel is also a known lefty who has opposed America’s wars since he was a member of Students for a Democratic Soci-ety at Stanford. He often rides a bike to get where he’s going and says anyone making decisions on bike infrastructure should do the same. The problem Siegel is most passionate about fixing is the city’s jobs-housing imbalance, which he’s been fighting since the start of the year as the found-ing leader of the Campaign for a Balanced Mountain View. Siegel has been organizing residents to support at least 5,000 new homes in North Bayshore and to build housing instead of office in the San Antonio shopping center area, which he says is one of the few places in the city where a lot of housing could be built. He has often called for new family friendly neighbor-hoods with schools. Siegel said he would consider but not necessarily favor road diets, like the one proposed for California Street to reduce car lanes and allow buffered bike lanes. “Philosophically I believe in enticing people out of cars, not forcing them out of cars. A lot of people, they don’t really have that option.” Among his endorsements are community organizers who say Siegel can be trusted, such as Job Lopez, the co-founder of the Mountain View Day Worker Center who wrote a letter to the Voice in support of Siegel; and former mayor and state Assembly member Sally Lieber, who notes that Siegel’s ability to listen has helped him work “on some of the toughest issues facing our community.” Siegel is married and lives in Old Moun-tain View.

lennysiegelforcouncil.net

KEN ROSENBERG

Ken Rosenberg is financial adviser for Morgan Stanley. He came to the city in 1997, and got his introduction to local politics as an active member of the Old Mountain View Neighborhood Association. He’s been a mem-ber of the Human Relations Commission since 2011 and a board member of the Chamber of Commerce. He organized the city’s “Civility Roundtable” discussions on such issues as immigration and gun control.

He’s married, with a daughter and a son. “I am passionate about open communication, open dialogue, and (engaging in) collective decision making as much as possible,” Rosenberg says, add-ing that having an ideology doesn’t fit well with the job of council member. “Everybody will attest that when I’m the person in charge of a meeting, I don’t allow the meeting to go forward without everyone get-ting a chance to speak.” Rosenberg has earned endorsements from a wide swath of the community, includ-ing local police, landlords, the Chamber of Commerce, hous-ing advocates and city and county elected officials. His priorities include advo-cating for adequate housing growth, building new infra-structure to reduce traffic, and preserving the city’s character while making it more vibrant.

As a member of the Cam-paign for a Bal-anced Moun-tain View, along with can-didates Greg Unangst and Lenny Siegel, Rosenberg says he has “tre-

mendous commitment” to see-ing housing being constructed in Mountain View, especially in the North Bayshore and East Whisman areas. “Housing near work seems like a solidly, funda-mentally, good idea,” Rosenberg said. In North Bayshore that means “swapping out com-mercial or office space and not encroaching on wetlands.” Unlike some other candidates, Rosenberg doesn’t take a clear position on what sort of transit systems the city needs, but says it is a priority to figure it out as a way to reduce the amount of housing that might need to be built for all the jobs expected to come to the city. He disagrees with the position taken by the Campaign for a Balanced Mountain View about prioritiz-ing housing in the San Antonio precise plan area, saying that not putting jobs near train and bus lines would be a wasted oppor-tunity. At the start of the year Rosen-berg lamented the loss of city Human Relations Commission-er Nilda Santiago because rent increases forced her to move away. “I don’t know if there’s equity or fairness in capitalism, but capitalism is rearing its ugly head right now, and it’s really affecting people,” he said. Rosenberg expressed excite-ment about maintaining the city’s healthy budget reserves and AAA bond rating. He said

Voter guide: City CouncilNINE CANDIDATES VIE FOR THREE COUNCIL SEATS; HOUSING POLICIES HINGE ON COUNCIL ELECTION

Lenny Siegel

Mercedes Salem

Pat Showalter

Ken Rosenberg

V O T E R

★G U D E★

2 0 14★

he wouldn’t have approved hous-ing or office on the city’s Moffett Gateway site, and would have gone with hotel development instead to generate the most lease revenue while relieving some pressure on the housing market. He would also support a look at narrowing California Street to three lanes to calm traffic and allow buffered bike lanes.

mountainviewken.com

GREG UNANGST

“The housing situation is one of the primary reasons I got involved in this — I think we’re jeopardizing the future of our younger generation,” says Greg Unangst, a retired aero-space engineer who served as an Army colonel during the Vietnam War, for which he received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. He’s lived in Mountain View since 1998.

“High tech workers are start-ing to say they can’t afford to live here either — something is very wrong,” he says. His own daughter, who has a good job with the Department of Veter-ans Affairs, can’t afford to relo-cate to work in the Palo Alto office as much as she would like to, he says.

Unangst is the only candi-date who is advocating for rent control, or what he calls “rent stabilization.”

Unangst has a passion for bicycle and pedestrian mobil-ity, is chair of the city’s bike and pedestrian advisory com-mittee, and has been the city’s most vocal proponent of a bike boulevard along Latham and Church streets.

When the committee expressed interest in buffered bike lanes on California Street, he said, “city staff recom-mended against it because they didn’t know how to clean the streets with that there.” His thought: “Maybe you should call Portland — they’ve had that for some time and they’ve figured it out. That’s the men-tality we’ve been dealing with.”

Unangst strongly supports housing in North Bayshore and is a member of the Campaign for a Balanced Mountain View, which has called for 5,000 homes there, considered to be enough to support a neighbor-hood grocery store. At one time he was opposed to the idea, but has since spoken out strongly in favor if it. “I really didn’t understand the magnitude of the housing problem,” he says.

More housing there is neces-sary if the city is to meet its emission reduction goals under AB32, he says. “Half the carbon generated by the city of Moun-tain View is by cars and trucks,” including many commuters, he says. To get a regional perspec-tive on the problem, Unangst got involved with the Non-Profit Housing Associations’ Housing Advocacy Network. He doesn’t want a cap on office growth, but instead favors replacing some amount of office slated for North Bay-shore with housing. “I get the sense people want Google and LinkedIn to stay, but we’re being punished by prosperity,” he says. He’s also got an affin-ity for Google’s driverless car technology, which he says has promise for use in automated transit systems. “I definitely enjoy working as part of a team,” Unangst says. “I’m also used to work-ing in bureaucracies. I listen to what people are saying, and why.” When it comes to the city budget, he says he doesn’t favor across-the-board cuts, calling it the “easy way” out. In 2012, Unangst became a board member of the Friends of the Stevens Creek Trail and the Moffett Field Restoration Advisory Board, where he made an unlikely friend in Lenny Sie-gel, who led protests against the Vietnam War while Unangst was serving in the Army in Vietnam. Unangst graduated from West Point military academy and got an MBA from the Wharton Business School. He lives with his wife in a townhouse they

own north of the Monta Loma neighborhood. He’s raised two kids and worked as an engi-neering manager for 33 years, most recently at Lockheed Martin. So far, Unangst has not taken any campaign contri-butions and has loaned his campaign $21,000 to “side-step any appearance of a conflict of interest.” His endorsement list is also relatively short, though he is endorsed by Mountain View Voters for Housing Diver-sity, which has also endorsed Ken Rosenberg and Lenny Sie-gel.

unangst2014.com

JIM NEAL

After becoming involved in local politics to oppose bans on smoking and plastic bags, Jim Neal is making his second run for council; he has refined

his brand of moderate lib-ertarian indi-v i d u a l i s m while speaking at and attend-ing numerous council meet-ings. “The number

one priority has to be afford-able housing; it’s something I’ve been talking about for well over a year,” he said. “Too much office is being approved and it is exacerbating the problem of rents increasing.” He is the only candidate to express concerns about increas-es to the minimum wage and its

impacts to businesses like Ava’s downtown market. He opposes the congestion pricing that might be used to charge rush-hour drivers going to and from North Bayshore, saying it is a “regressive tax” that “definitely hurts small businesses and poor people more.” Neal’s libertarian bent seems to not be quite as strong as current member John Inks. He mentioned that at one point the city wasn’t getting a fair exchange in community ben-efits, which Inks often opposes, for the proposed density of the Prometheus apartment proj-ect replacing the old Western Appliance building. He also says of potentially privatizing some city services, “I don’t think that’s a good idea — that would mean displacing a lot of the current workers.” He’s also concerned that “smaller businesses are being forced out by redevelopment,” such as the Milk Pail market and the Rose Market. Neal says he didn’t seek campaign contributions and endorsements for a reason, but did get the endorsement of former mayor Tom Means, the owners of the Sports Page bar, and resident Linda Curtis. Neal is a renter who lives with his

wife in Old Mountain View. He works as an IT administrator at U.C. Berkeley.

electneal.org/

MARGARET CAPRILES

Margaret Capriles nearly won a council seat in 2012 and has served on the city’s planning commission since then. “The most pressing problem in Mountain View right now is housing and transportation. I think they all go together,” Capriles says. “We have many folks that can’t live in Moun-tain View because the price of hous-ing is so high.” She says she wants to know if residents want to cut in half the 3.4 million square feet of office space slated for North Bayshore — so there would be 10,000 new jobs instead of 20,000 or so — to reduce the demand and the price of housing. “If employees cannot even afford to live here and they want to live here, we


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have a problem.” Capriles opposes a big contri-bution to the city’s housing stock by building a new neighbor-hood in North Bayshore with thousands of new homes. “The reason for that is several: There’s no public transportation near the North Bayshore area, which has a really heavy traffic prob-lem already, and there are not services out there.” Capriles said she supports road diets to “continue to improve the bike and pedestrian routes and give people alternatives to get people out of their cars and make sure it is practical.” She is a retired data analyst for Hewlett Packard, and she touts a “pro-business background” and ability to listen well. Capriles is also proud of her relation-ship with labor and says she strongly supports prevailing wages on city projects. She has been endorsed by the South Bay Labor Council, the Sierra Club and the California Apartment Association, which represents landlords. She owns a home in the Waverly Park neighborhood with her husband, Bob.

margaretcapriles.com

LISA MATICHAK

Lisa Matichak is a tech execu-tive who became involved in city government seven years ago by rallying opposition to a housing project on the Hetch Hetchy aque-duct behind her home. She has made her positions on develop-ment known over the last five years she has served as a planning commissioner, voting against including housing in North Bayshore. Matichak, who is endorsed by outgoing council members who also oppose hous-ing in North Bayshore, cites most of the same reasoning: struggling retail near Google, the need for a a new school on expensive land, a lack of transportation, and potential impacts to wildlife. She says East Whisman is a better place for housing, pointing to a smaller Google property at 700 East Middlefield Road that could be rezoned for residential develop-ment. “The biggest challenge we are facing is the quality of life for residents,” Matichak says. “I do believe we want to retain the character of Mountain View.”

With 2,500 housing units in the pipeline, “if we are looking to add homes more quickly, it could happen more quickly in the Whisman area,” she says. Adding park space is a top pri-ority for her, and she indicates a desire to continue outgoing member Jac Siegel’s legacy of advocating for the inclusion of park space in developments. She says she is interested in major regional transportation infrastructure so people can commute from farther away. “I would love it if we had BART on the Peninsula.” Matichak is a founding mem-ber of the Wagon Wheel Neigh-borhood Association. She touts her 25 years of work experience in high tech. “A lot of things you can bring from a business perspective you can apply to a government perspective.” Her key endorsements include the Sierra Club, the

Chamber of Commerce, Moun-tain View firefighters, and for-mer mayor Laura Macias.

lisaforcouncil.com

ELLEN KAMEI

Ellen Kamei joined the city’s planning commission in late 2012 and has quickly forged many ties in the community, garner-ing a long list of endorsements, including nearly every local state and federal legislator and coun-ty Supervisor Joe Simitian, for whom she works as a policy aide. Kamei says her top priority is balancing the preservation of Mountain View’s character with increased job growth. But that doesn’t mean she supports housing in North Bayshore. “I don’t think that there’s enough services to support residential. I also don’t think there’s the

transportation infrastructure necessary to create a vibrant neighborhood.” She adds that the land is too expensive for affordable homes. Kamei tends to seek the mid-dle ground on issues, sometimes making her position hard to discern. She is a renter who says

rent control is a “noble idea,” but also says she isn’t sup-porting it, say-ing it is “not a panacea.” When asked what she was most passion-

ate about, she said, “It’s hard to choose just one. Something I am passionate about is the transpor-tation issues we have in Moun-tain View.” She’s already begun talking to county transportation officials about dedicated bus lanes in Mountain View, something no

other candidate has supported. Kamei is clear about want-ing better bike and pedestrian infrastructure. “I love the idea of complete streets,” she says, with activated ground-f loor retail and “protected bike lanes so people feel safe on bicycles.” Another top priority is fiscal discipline, and she says she’d like to see the city request more feedback on its budget decisions through its new Open City Hall website feature. Kamei is a third-generation Mountain View resident. Her family first came to Mountain View 70 years ago and eventu-ally ran a plant nursery, which later moved to Morgan Hill, where she grew up. Kenzo Court is named after her grandfather. She recently returned to rent a home near Moffett Boulevard and Middlfield Road.

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VoterGuide

Elect Ken Rosenbergfor Mountain View City Council.

Endorsed by Mountain View organizations and leaders.

Paid for by Ken Rosenberg for Mountain View City Council, FPPC#1364075

Community Leaders

Joe Simitian, Santa Clara County Supervisor

Santa Clara County District Attorney

, Former Mayor and current Council member, City of Mountain View

, Former Mayor and Council member, City of Mountain View

, Former Mayor and Council member, City of Mountain View

, Former Vice Mayor, City of Mountain View

, Superintendent, Mountain View Los Altos High School District

, Former President and Trustee, Mountain View Whisman School District

, Trustee, Mountain View Whisman School District

, Trustee, Mountain View Whisman School District

, Former Trustee, Mountain View Whisman School District

, Executive Director, Day Worker Center of MV

, Former Chair, Environmental Planning Commission

, Former Chair, MV Environmental Sustainability Task Force

, Chair, MV Parks and Recreation CommissionAila Malik, Commissioner, MV Human Relations Commission

, Member, MV Senior Advisory Committee

, CEO, Chamber of Commerce MV

, Chair, Chamber of Commerce MV Board of Directors

Organizations

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CITY COUNCIL Continued from page 21


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The winner in the race for a single seat at the Santa Clara Valley Water

District will take on major chal-lenges if elected to represent District 7 this November. He will face a deepening drought and lingering problems with down-stream flooding when the rains do come. The two candidates, incum-bent and board Vice Chairman Brian Schmidt and challenger Gary Kremen are seeking the seat that largely covers the north county, includes the cities of Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos and Los Gatos. And they have very different styles when it comes to tackling the major issues. Schmidt, an environmental attorney who has served on the board since 2010, takes a detailed approach that favors collabora-tion; he has represented the dis-trict on flooding issues at the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority and is on the district’s Water Conservation Ad Hoc Committee, which drafted the district’s response to the drought. Kremen, board president of the Purissima Hills Water District in Los Altos Hills and a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, prefers an aggressive tack that would use political influence to rise above foot-dragging bureaucracies to get the problems solved. Their campaign spending also reflects their approaches. Schmidt has spent modestly, garnering $13,000 in campaign funds and spending only about $8,000; Kremen has amassed a war chest of more than $280,000, most of it self-funded. The candidates sat down for interviews and shared their views about their experience and approaches to district problems.

Brian Schmidt A Mountain View resident, Schmidt has spent 15 years work-ing on environmental and clean-water issues. He said he has tried to make the board more trans-parent since his 2010 election. He made the motion to change board meetings from mornings to evenings so that more of the public could attend. And he sup-ported cutting the board’s pay, reversing a 2008 pay increase. The pay cut passed on the second vote, 4-3. In keeping with his strong opinions about environmen-tal cleanup, he supported the treatment and removal of toxic

mercury from Jacques Gulch, a former gold-mining site in the south county identified by state and federal agencies as a major source of mercury contamina-tion for San Francisco Bay and the Guadalupe River Watershed. During his term, the board succeeded in getting Measure B passed with 74 percent voter approval. The parcel tax is esti-mated to bring in $548 million by 2028 for flood control, seis-mic retrofitting for the Ander-son Dam and environmental improvements. The district will use some funding, combined with other sources, to contribute about $28 mil-lion toward the San Francisqui-to Creek flood-reduction proj-ect. Measure B funds will also go toward levee re p l a c e me nt and repair and wetland restoration in Shoreline Park in Mountain View. Staff at the Regional Water Quality Control Board, which must grant the permits to begin the San Francisquito project, have so far rejected the plan. Schmidt has represented the water district on the matter and drafted responses to try to bring the impasse to a conclusion. But he is measured in how aggres-sively the district can attack the problem on its own. The San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority is the lead agency on the project, and the water district is a member, along with three cit-ies in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. Schmidt said he believes nego-tiation is still possible with the regional water board, and he doesn’t yet support political arm-twisting, unlike Kremen. He is working to investigate whatever is bothering the water board staff, he said. But he is not shy about criticiz-ing the water board. In response to an Aug. 23 news story about Palo Alto officials blasting the water board’s inaction, Schmidt wrote: “I find it incomprehensible that the regional board is show-ing such a poor understanding of hydrology as to think we could proceed right away with a project that protects East Palo Alto while failing to do construction along

the Palo Alto golf course area. This would change the flooding pattern to increase impacts in Palo Alto and therefore required new environmental review and many other delays, including forcing yet another permit appli-cation to the Regional Board.” Schmidt said he is happy to have his work in the dis-trict judged, in significant part because of his work as part of the Joint Powers Authority and on the creek. “I hustled to get environmental support for a broad compromise that included extensive funding for San Francisquito Creek,” he said of his work on Measure B. Schmidt was at City Hall last year when the Mountain View City Council considered — and approved — the plans for a flood detention basin at McKelvey park. Schmidt was there with water district engineer Afshin Rouhani to urge the city council to accept the plans, which he said would help keep hundreds of property owners from paying $1,200 in flood insurance costs each year. Plans for another basin at Cuesta Annex proved extremely controversial and were ultimately dropped. Schmidt said the project was an important step towards get-ting some 2,720 Mountain View residents out of a flood zone, but that the district in general spends too much time, and money, on planning and design. Half of the whole project’s costs, he said, will likely be spent before construc-tion begins. Schmidt said he was instru-mental in drafting a water-district plan to deal with the drought. “I led a change before the drought that increased conser-vation rebates. I later wrote the memo that doubled many of our water-conservation rebates, which quintupled the response for lawn replacement. We’re vastly expanding recycled water, and I’m advocating treatment of wastewater to drinkable levels — a new, drought-proof water supply,” he said. The board approved a county-wide, water-use reduction target of 20 percent of 2013 water usage, and Schmidt supported two years of water storage, which he said puts the district in a good position. But the district’s 2013 car-ryover and 2014 allocations of state water are currently frozen to protect the Delta, leaving three water districts that depend on that banked water without that

Voter Guide: Santa Clara Valley Water District

WATER DISTRICT CANDIDATES FOCUS ON DROUGHT, FLOODING

Brian Schmidt

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source, according to water-board documents.

The water district is now devel-oping the California Aqueduct Reverse Flow project to ensure the water in its storage bank is available for treatment plants and to prevent groundwater deple-tion.

Gary KremenThe Match.com founder has

garnered considerable notice for his run, as much for his sizable self-funding of his campaign as for his stand on the issues. But Kremen is clear that he wants to see major change in how the water district does business.

Board president of the 6,400-customer Purissima Hills Water District, a water retailer in Los Altos Hills, Kremen touts his experience as a Silicon Val-ley entrepreneur as one of the reasons he’d be an asset to the board.

Kremen is chairman of WaterS-mart Software, a tech company that creates water-meter software used by many city utilities. A leak-detection company he was involved in was recently bought by Badger Meter, he said.

“It’s all part of a broader plat-form that I’ve been doing in sus-tainability in the last 10 years,” he said.

Kremen also started Clean Power Finance, the largest com-pany in the U.S. in solar financ-ing.

“What I like to do is do big things that move the needle in sustainability, and I think this water district kind of needs to get off the old 1920s model and needs innovation,” he said.

If elected, he said he would take on a California State Water Proj-ect tax he says is unfair to Palo Alto, Mountain View and Los Altos residents, who receive most of their water from the Hetch Hetchy water system through the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and not through the state. Only Mountain View’s water — 10 percent of it — comes from state sources.

“The water-district board gets the money from the State Water Project, and the district as a whole gets the benefit but not us as a member of the district,” he said.

Kremen said he would work to get more conservation funds for districts that use Hetch Hetchy or remove the tax entirely from Hetch Hetchy districts. The water district could get increased water-recycling money and use it to put in gray-water systems in homes, and it could receive water-conservation dollars to extend some of the recycled water across Foothill Expressway into areas of Palo Alto and Los Altos Hills, he said.

Schmidt has characterized

Kremen’s solutions as unrealis-tic. The other six board members would not vote for a tax exemp-tion or increased funding to help the north county district, he said. But Kremen said they might do “some horsetrading,” albeit within the confines of the Brown Act. “People had some needs that were not being met,” he said of discussions he has had with board members. Building coalitions on a regional level will be key to getting things accomplished, and the water district should be using its clout, he said. He pointed to the district’s handling of the Regional Water Quality Control Board, which recently denied permits for the San Francisquito Creek flood-control project. “The water district is the one with some good money. They have discretionary money, and they have their own lobbyist in Sacramento. They touch a lot of people in politics more than oth-er people do,” he said. “We may need to use the water district’s political muscle and money to do a legislative end-run around this issue.” The Regional Water Quality Control Board might need to be defunded from looking at the San Francisquito issue or their regulatory purview might need to move someplace else, he said. “The water district has not spearheaded doing that. I would take it away from (the Regional Board) if they don’t move,” he said. Kremen has criticized the water district’s handling of the Permanente Creek Flood Pro-tection Project in Mountain View, which proposed four flood detention basins at Cuesta Park Annex, Blach Intermediate School, McKelvey park and Ran-cho San Antonio. The plan faced stiff opposition from residents who did not want their parks turned into flood basins, and frustrated City Council members when water district hydrologists redid the calculations and deter-mined they never needed a basin at Cuesta Park Annex in the first place. Kremen said the proposed Cuesta Park Annex flood basin was a “debacle” and that the dis-trict failed to listen to the local community. He said it has also been a wasteful project, and that the district has spent $20 million prior to construction because of all the delays and redesigns. Kremen is also critical of the

Gary Kremen

See WATER DISTRICT, page 28


LocalNews

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Gatos, San Francisco, Oakland, Hayward, East Palo Alto and Berkeley. “All of these cities have given dignity to their renters, why not also in Mountain View?” he said. Cosby dissected the candi-dates’ arguments against rent control, as reported by the Voice last month. Most of the candi-dates favor a long-term solution: more residential zoning and slowing down office growth to relieve pressure on the housing market. But “renters have a short-term problem — many will soon be gone,” Cosby said. “I don’t think the candidates should be the only people up here,” said candidate Ken Rosenberg. “Landlords should be up here answering why they are choosing to increase rent too much.” Most candidates explained why they aren’t pushing for rent control, to the dismay of many in the audience, most of whom raised their hands when asked if they wanted “rent stabilization” to be studied by city staff. Candidate Greg Unangst, a retired Army colonel and retired aerospace engineer who owns a town home, was the only can-didate open to studying rent

stabilization. “I’m the only candidate who has been advocating rent stabi-lization,” Unangst said. As he’s knocked on doors for his cam-paign, he has noticed that “you can tell the difference in people that own and people that rent. People that own are concerned about congestion, and where Mountain View is going, but renters are scared. They don’t know when another rent increase is coming or how much the rent increase is going to be.” “I am living with fear every day that I will not be able to pay the rent for next month,” said a single mother of two girls, who spoke to the crowd. “I am living with a fear of needing to leave this place because my daughters were born here. They grew up here and they go to school here. Whenever they go to school I have peace of mind of knowing they are in a secure community.” Lupita Garcia said she pays $500 to share a living room and may have to move to “Los Banos or Merced to be able to live and not have to work three jobs just to live in the area. I never thought Mountain View would get to this point.” “I have protection under Prop. 13 as a homeowner,” Unangst said. “There’s no protection for

the renters, and I don’t think that’s fair.” Rosenberg had a different view. “We’re focusing on the wrong issue when we focus on rent con-trol,” he said. Rosenberg, who has called himself a housing advocate and supports building a new neigh-borhood in North Bayshore to help meet local demand for hous-ing, said the city could use up to $10 million in affordable housing funds to help renters “today” instead of building costly afford-able housing projects. He didn’t say exactly how it could be used. Some big landlords have said that “as a policy they aren’t willing to raise rents more than 10 percent a year,” Rosenberg said. “Organizations like the California Apartment Associa-tion (which represents landlords) should be encouraging everyone to adopt that type of policy.” Candidate Pat Showalter had a similar comment: “We need to get the California Apartment Association to actually police its members and also police people that aren’t its members. In their literature they claim they do this. But I don’t see much evidence to that effect.” Cosby later questioned the comment about relying on the CAA to police its member land-

lords. The group also lobbies state and local government on behalf of landlords. “Why would you want to give the CAA — a group that nobody elects — power over non-member landlords and not do that democratically through the city?” Cosby said. As one of the leaders of the efforts to bring rent control to Mountain View in the late 1970s and early 1980s — and who lost three bids for a council seat in those days — candidate Lenny Siegel said he didn’t intend to make rent control a campaign issue this time around. “I learned the difficulties to pass such measures,” Siegel said. “Big landlords spent a hundred to one against us to defeat our measure. The renters who signed petition had to move because of rent increases before we had the election.” He noted that despite rent con-trol in some cities, landlords can still evict tenants to raise rents, though it’s harder in some cities than others. “I would probably agree to study it if people as a community came forward and asked for it,” Siegel said. But now, he said his priority, as leader of the Cam-paign for Balanced Mountain View, is to “bring people together

to make sure we deal with supply and demand, which is causing the problem in the first place.” Cosby addressed concerns from candidates that a rent con-trol ballot measure would be an impossible political battle. “The Mountain View City Council could pass rent stabilization and avoid that fight,” Cosby said. According to a questionnaire the candidates filled out before the event, nearly all of the candidates said they had been “undecided” about whether they want city staff to “research rent stabilization for Mountain View.” Unangst said he “strongly agreed,” while Lisa Matichak and Pat Showalter said they “strongly disagree.” In interviews with the Voice, candidates Rosenberg and Mar-garet Capriles spoke clearly against rent control. “I didn’t want to support rent control because I thought it wasn’t politically possible,” Showalter said. “People suffering need to be helped with things we can do quickly. Things that take many, many years aren’t really going to help them. I think we can do quite a bit with increasing (housing) supply.” The three renters in the race — Jim Neal, Mercedes Salem and Ellen Kamei — didn’t push for

HOUSING FORUM Continued from page 1


LocalNews

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rent control. “I believe in property rights,

but if we are going to have a con-versation about rent control, let’s have it,” Salem said. “As council it’s our duty to be the voice of people we represent.”

She advocated for the creation of a “rent support group or orga-nization,” which sounded similar to some landlord-tenant media-tion services already provided by Project Sentinel and the financial aid provided by the Community Services Agency. She called it “ a place you can go in neediest of needy times to get support for rent” and financial support for utility bills. It would have “an advocacy component, someone who can fight for you” when it is “between yourself and your landlord.”

She encouraged tenants to try to negotiate their rents down-ward, something she said she has done for herself.

Neal told the crowd that there is “no quick fix” to the problem.

“I know what that kind of hard-ship is like,” he said, adding that he once survived on bread and peanut butter for three weeks. “I know it’s very difficult. There is no quick fix. What we need is a

long-term fix and one long-term fix is to ensure jobs and housing are in balance. Another fix is education.” If you learn to do something nobody else can do, “you can write your own ticket. Get the skills you need, that will be the thing nobody can take away from you,” he said. Kamei and Matichak avoided commenting on rent control, but expressed their sympathy. “I spend over 50 percent of my income on rent,” Kamei said. “It was tough to hear women speak about their situations,” Matichak said, adding that she had talked to some smaller land-lords who don’t want to raise rents dramatically. As to fears that rent control would lead to “slummy” neigh-borhoods, as candidate Capriles has said, Cosby noted that land-lords could still be allowed to recover maintenance costs under a rent stabilization ordinance, and landlords are required to maintain their properties under state law anyway. Even without rent controls, some landlords “are raising rents and do no upgrades on the property,” Unangst said. V

By Danie DeBolt

It may fall on three new City Council members to carry on the current council’s goal

of working towards a $15 an hour minimum wage by 2018, as outgoing members Margaret Abe-Koga, Jac Siegel and Ronit Bryant were among the big-gest proponents of the raise. In a candidate forum organized by Peninsula Interfaith Action Friday, Oct. 10, the nine candi-dates were asked to react to the council’s goal to raise the city’s minimum wage past the $10.30 approved last week.

Margaret Capriles “I would make sure we abide by that promise that we want to hit $15 an hour by 2018. It’s extremely important we adhere to that guideline council has adopted.”

Ken Rosenberg “I think $15 an hour should have been last night’s decision.”

Ellen Kamei “I’m happy council voted to raise the minimum wage last night. I would definitely approve $15 for 2018. A single person needs to be making $35,000 just to be able to meet their basic needs.”

Lenny Siegel “We need to move to $15 as soon as practical.”

Greg Unangst “Fifteen dollars an hour is possibly a conservative goal for 2018. If we have a spate of infla-tion we may fall behind.”

Mercedes Salem “I actually tried to coordinate to try to be there last night (there was another candidate forum scheduled during the council’s discussion). I’ve gone to the City Council to speak on the living wage/prevailing wage issue which I think is incredibly important also.”

Pat Showalter “I’m really proud of them for doing this. We need to get together (with surrounding cit-ies) and we need to get this done regionally. Everybody locally needs it.”

Jim Neal “Putting the minimum wage up to $15 an hour in a short period of time would create shock. Education — that is going to be key to your life. There is never going to be a minimum wage that will make you rich, pay your mortgage or send your kids to college.” V

Candidates comment on $15 minimum wage goal


LocalNews

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water district’s approach to the drought. Despite 2012’s Measure B funding, the district hasn’t started upgrading Anderson and Calero dams. “In the event it rains, we can’t even store all the rainwater because the water district has not fixed its dams” for seismic safety, he said, as it is required to do by the state Division of Safety of Dams. The district cannot keep the water higher than 20 feet below the dam crest until the repairs are made, he added. Kremen also called the water exchange, the one that involves banked water and the Delta, “a debacle.” “Instead of focusing on local or regional water storage, the stored water at Semitropic Water Storage Bank is near Bakersfield, hundreds of miles away from us. This water is critical because the Santa Clara Valley district depends on the Semitropic water for 25 percent of its treated water,” he said. But Schmidt said that asser-tion is misleading, saying that in the majority of years, 5 percent or less of the district’s water supply comes from the groundwater bank. “When we established the Semitropic account 20 years ago, we knew there were limi-tations on its availability but that it was still valuable. For example, we withdrew quite a bit of that water last year and transferred it to local storage as part of general preparations for scarcity,” Schmidt said. Barring some disaster, the district will get the Semitropic water in November, Schmidt said. If elected, Kremen would focus on additional stormwater capture with groundwater per-colation, regional recycling and reuse, recharging groundwater basins and desalination, he said. He added that he would also focus on eliminating fis-cal waste and abuse within the district, especially holding board members and the CEO accountable.

—Kevin Forestieri contributed to this report

Email Sue Dremann at [email protected] and

Kevin Forestieri at [email protected]

WATER DISTRICT Continued from page 25

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Member, Mountain View Chamber of Commerce


CANDIDATE CLARIFICATION This is in response to the “Voice Endorsement for local races” in the Oct. 10 issue of the Mountain View Voice, page 22. My passion in quality health care for the district and vision for an efficient transparent board were well described by Kevin Forestieri. Thank you. While you seemed impressed with my ideas and goals, your reason for not endorsing me to your readers was simply “because Fung works for the hospital.” This statement is untrue. I am an independent physician and have my own practice — I am not an employee of the hospital.

I do serve as the medical direc-tor of the stroke program at El Camino, and as indicated in an earlier article of Aug. 1 in your newspaper, (Forestieri) accu-rately reported: “if elected, Dr. Fung said he would leave his role as director of the stroke center and focus his time and energy on the board.” I look forward to your correct-ing the misleading statement in the Oct. 10 editorial article. This is not fair to your readers. Additionally, there was also no mention of the benefits of having a local independent practicing physician on the district board,

With three termed-out members making way for three new-comers on the Mountain View City Council, nine residents are vying for the seats, all recognizing the city’s serious

housing, traffic and roadway safety problems, and each committed to working toward resolving those problems Of the nine, we feel that four candidates have the strongest skills and ideas to help tackle the tough issues facing the city. High on the list of those challenges needing creative solutions — and a sense of urgency in addressing — is the extreme jobs-to-housing imbalance that has led to skyrocketing housing costs, forcing far too many residents from the city already, and continuing to threaten hun-dreds of others facing double-digit rent increases as housing demand grows. In this race to fill the posts being vacated by Margaret Abe-Koga, Ronit Bryant and Jac Siegel, the Voice is endorsing Pat Showalter, Lenny Siegel and Ken Rosenberg as the three candidates with the strongest leadership experience, and broadest support among com-munity members and regional leaders. A fourth candidate, Greg Unangst, is also a credible candidate whose commitment to dig in and help find solutions to the housing crisis is impressive — one of the key reasons he entered the race, he says. The chair of the city’s bike and pedestrian advisory committee, he also wants the city to create more effective infrastructure to sup-port bicycling, walking and transit. From all the indications we’ve seen, Unangst has strong skills in working effectively with others, but doesn’t appear to have the exten-sive leadership experience or the deep-rooted community support of the other three candidates we have singled out for endorsement. Those candidates are:

PAT SHOWALTER

A former planning commissioner for nine years, Showalter is a civil engineer. She is the water resources manager for the Santa Clara Valley Water District, and believes, as we do, that her technical expertise would be an asset on the council. “As a civil engineer I have

specialized in water resources engineering my whole career, especially environmental restoration work,” she says. She supports efforts to rezone portions of the city to create a bet-ter balance between office and housing growth. Other goals include improving safety for pedestrians and bicyclists, and initiating mea-sures to protect the environment and prepare for the impacts of climate change. Showalter has worked on a number of regional efforts, including serving on the Santa Clara County League of Conservation Vot-ers board for 14 years. She’s been active in the League of Women

Voters for more than a decade, and spearheaded a recent League forum on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan. She believes in a regional approach to solving many of the problems, including housing, faced by Penin-sula residents. “I think a lot of prob-lems we have in Mountain View, they don’t stop at our border,” she told the Voice.

LENNY SIEGEL

This is Siegel’s fourth try for a council seat — his earlier attempts were in the 1970s and the early 1980s. His involvement in the com-munity has continued through the years, including a stint on the city’s planning commission. More recent efforts have included leading the charge to save Hangar One at Moffett Field and, as the director of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight, spearheaded the community’s push to clean up toxic TCE pollution left by early chip makers in northeastern Mountain View. Earlier this year, Siegel founded the Campaign for a Balanced Mountain View, an organization that attempts to educate residents about the city’s increasing jobs-housing imbalance. He says that since the 1970s, council members have been irresponsible in allowing large amounts of office and industrial development without zoning for adequate housing growth in the city, driving up competition and demand for a limited number of homes, and pushing workers into longer commutes.

EDITORIAL

YOUR LETTERS

GUEST OPINIONS

E D I T O R I A LT H E O P I N I O N O F T H E V O I C E

Voice endorsements: City Council

L E T T E R SV O I C E S F R O M T H E C O M M U N I T Y

View

point

See ENDORSEMENTS, page 31

See LETTERS, page 31

V O T E R

★G U D E★

2 0 14★


one who can provide insightful understanding of health care delivery locally and hospital operation. As Dr. Patricia Ein-arson, the only medical doctor on the district board at present, exits, such medical expertise and oversights will no longer be available. (Dr. Einarson is well regarded as the person deserving the most credit for the improve-ment of the board’s governance, structure and transparency.)

Your choice of endorsement of a candidate purely because she is a “resident of Mountain View” is simply superficial. I hope the newspaper does not treat non-Mountain View El Camino Healthcare District residents/readers any less favorably.

Dr. Peter C. FungLos Altos

AUDITOR NEEDED TO MONITOR TAX SPENDING

It seems to me that City Coun-cil candidates in Mountain View are sidestepping major policy issues that the city is facing.

Google has purchased 10 per-cent of the city (land value) and is by far the largest single taxpayer in the city. It appears Google is about to buy 10 percent of Red-wood City — and to take over federal land at Moffett Field.

The City Council is the board of directors of the Shoreline Regional Park Community — where most of Google’s prop-erty tax money goes — and past councils have misspent or given away a huge portion of that approximately $40 million annu-al property tax money(mostly to schools) instead of addressing problems caused by Google’s rapid growth: traffic, water costs, housing costs, gentrification, etc.

The city needs a full-time, independent city auditor.

Donald LetcherNorth Rengstorff Avenue

WHY THE CHANGE OF DIRECTION?

Based on the strong commu-nity outcry to address our jobs-housing imbalance, this summer the council indicated its willing-ness to modify the San Antonio precise plan to both limit new office development and make sure that new housing would keep pace with new office. City staff worked to put caps and phasing mechanisms into the precise plan to achieve these goals.

That was basically all elimi-nated during the recent study session. I can only wonder what happened between the two public meetings, but I do note that the outcome of the study session changes were very favorable to Merlone Geier’s original Phase II plans. Hmm...

Nancy MorimotoWhits Road

NO ON MEASURE A

In one of your Oct. 10 editori-als, you recommend a “yes” vote on Measure A, which would raise the base “salary” of City Council members from $600 to $1,000 per month. You claim such an increase “may make it possible for more working people” to run. The truth is that council mem-bers already receive far more than a base salary — including lavish benefits otherwise limited to full-time city employees, vari-ous perks, political power and the opportunity for business contacts, political appointments and sometimes higher office. Currently, nine candidates are running for three seats on the City Council. An extra $400/month would not have netted a 10th candidate. Placing Measure A on the bal-lot was a waste of money. Voting for it would be a further waste of money.

Valerie HarrisView Street

YES ON MEASURE A

Mountain View voters have the opportunity this election to set a realistic level of compensation for members of the City Council. The current amount was adopted in 1984, but is only worth $210 today due to inflation. Said another way, if the wage had increased with inflation, the council salary would be almost $1,200 today. And unlike other cities, only the voters can set the compensation for the council in Mountain View. The City Council in Fremont just approved an increase in salary to $1,970. The Palo Alto City Council is considering a $1,000 salary and the Sunnyvale City Council receives $2,194. Given the amount of work our City Council members do, the responsibility they have, and the time they commit, it is time to set a more realistic salary, and increase the amount to $1,000 by voting yes on Measure A.

Jamil ShaikhVilla Street

CHAMBER’S VIEW ON COUNCIL RACE

In the 16 of years I have lived in Mountain View, many elections have come and gone. Rarely have we had one as important as this year’s. While other cities and towns strive to recover from the reces-sion, our community has seen the benefits of innovation, tech-nology and growth. With this growth comes many critical issues such as skyrocketing rents, housing shortages and traffic congestion. This November, we will elect three new members to the City Council. We need candidates who will support our small busi-nesses and working families as we plan for the future. The Chamber of Commerce - Moun-tain View gets it, and they’ve thrown their support behind four strong candidates vying for the council: Ken Rosenberg, Ellen Kamei, Pat Showalter and Lisa Matichak. These people have demonstrated leadership in different areas and we would be fortunate to have them on the City Council.

Cynthia GreavesBoard chair, Chamber of

Commerce - Mountain View

WHEELER A GOOD CHOICE FOR SCHOOL BOARD I would like to applaud the Voice for its endorsement of Ellen Wheeler as a candidate for the MVWSD School Board. As you rightly point out, Ellen’s leader-ship is is grounded in her many years of walking in our shoes — as teacher, parent, and volunteer — as well as her formal service on the board. Anyone who talks with her for just five minutes will be amazed at her dedication. She is continu-ally renewing her energy for edu-cation by attending workshops and networking with other edu-cation professionals but always finds time to see what’s really going on at our schools by volun-teering, attending PTA meetings, the list goes on. The board has faced some complex issues in recent weeks but I have been comforted in knowing that Ellen has been there to represent what is best for the children in our district and hope the community will see the wisdom in re-electing her.

Lisa WhitfieldMVWSD parent, volunteer

San Pierre Way

PUBLIC NOTICE

MOUNTAIN VIEW WHISMAN SCHOOL DISTRICT

APPLICATION FOR CITIZENS’ OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE

The Board of Trustees of the Mountain View Whisman School Dis-trict is seeking qualified, interested individuals to serve on a com-mittee of community leaders which will serve as the independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee (“COC”) for the implementation of the District’s Measure G school facilities bond program.

On June 5, 2012, voters residing in the Mountain View Whisman School District passed Measure G, which is a $198 million bond measure that authorizes funding for needed repairs, upgrades, and new construction projects for the District’s schools. After a bond authorized under Proposition 39 is passed, state law requires that the Mountain View Whisman School District Board of Trustees ap-point a Citizens’ Oversight Committee to work with the District. The Committee responsibilities include: informing the public re-garding the District’s expenditure of bond proceeds, ensuring bond proceeds are expended only for the purposes set forth in Measure G, and presenting an annual report to the Board of Trustees on their conclusions regarding the expenditure of Measure G proceeds.

If you wish to serve on this important committee, please review the committee by-laws for more information about the commit-tee’s role and responsibilities and complete the application from the COC website at http://www.mvwsd.org/citizens-oversight-com-mittee. Completed applications should be sent or faxed to the Chief Business Officer of the Mountain View Whisman School District by 4:00 PM on Wednesday, October 22, 2014.

ViewPoint

A self-described organizer for peace and for economic, social, and environmental justice, Siegel knows how to work effectively with people to get things done, and has the list of accomplish-ments to prove that. It’s time for Siegel to be given a chance to apply his problem-solving and leadership skills to the City Council.

KEN ROSENBERG

Rosenberg has served on the Human Relations Commission, including as chair, since 2011. During his tenure he organized what’s know as the Civility Roundtable Discussion Series, an impressive project designed to get people together to discuss matters of mutual interest and

concern. He says he is “passion-ate about open communication, open dialogue,” and collective decision making whenever pos-sible. He calls himself an “active listener,” a welcome quality in elected officials. He’s also a member of the Campaign for a Balance Moun-tain View, and says he has a “tre-mendous commitment” to more housing in the city. He supports moderate- to high-density hous-ing in the North Bayshore area and near job hubs in general, and is a strong advocate of building better transportation infrastruc-ture to reduce gridlock on local roadways. His leadership posts have included serving as chair of the Old Mountain View Neighbor-hood Association, the Mountain View Downtown Committee and the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce board.

LETTERS Continued from page 30

ENDORSEMENTS Continued from page 30

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Mountain View Voice October 17, 2014

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Transcript of Mountain View Voice October 17, 2014