Why I'm running again for Mountain View City Council

The incumbents seem happy with the gentrification of Mountain View. I’m not. I am running for Council again to preserve our socioeconomic and cultural diversity, as well as to preserve the quality of life in our diverse neighborhoods. I have spent much of my time and energy since I left the Council at the beginning of 2019 organizing for housing justice. I spearheaded the petition against the motorhome ban and played a key role in the campaign to defeat Measure D. I believe I can be even more effective as a voting Council member.

While I served on Council, my allies and I moved Mountain View to the forefront of the regional response to the Bay Area housing crisis. We made plans to build mixed-use, medium-density neighborhoods on commercial property, preserving existing neighborhoods as well as naturally affordable housing. These new neighborhoods will include thousands of both market-rate and below-market homes, jobs, retail, parks, and schools. The Council needs to work harder to make those plans a reality.

While my efforts to build housing and protect tenants, mobile home residents, and vehicle residents have been most visible, I did a lot more when I was on the Council:

  • Proposed and won passage of Measure P (2018), a graduated tax on employers (more)
  • Promoted non-peak service on CalTrain (more)
  • Revived hopes for a school and park in the San Antonio area (more)
  • Built support for car-free zones downtown (more)
  • Successfully proposed linkage of office development to housing development—that is, limiting office construction if not accompanied by housing development (more)
  • Identified suitable sites for affordable housing projects
  • Initiated plans for a high-speed transit link between downtown Mountain View and North Bayshore
  • Supported electrification of local energy and the shift to clean electricity. (more)
  • Promoted cleanup of underground toxics on property slated for development (more)
  • Accelerated the re-opening of the Stevens Creek Trail after the washout (more)
  • Worked to Save Cooper Park
  • Worked to Save the Sierra Avenue Redwoods
  • Defended weekly garbage pickup
  • Opposed bus-only lanes on El Camino Real
  • Approved policies for regulated, monitored, and taxed cannabis sales, since undermined by the current Council

Lenny Siegel for Council 2020
lennyforcouncil@sonic.net
PO Box 390886
Mountain View, CA 94039
FPPC#1426109

Mountain View's November, 2020 City Council election will pit two incumbents, Margaret Abe-Koga and Lisa Matichak, and their allies against challengers dissatisfied with the current Council's housing policies. Four seats are up, but council members John McAlister and Chris Clark are not eligible to run for re-election because they are both completing their second terms.

Lenny at BLM demonstration

From 2015 to 2018, Mountain View responded forcefully to the region’s housing crisis, but progress has slowed under the current regime. While the COVID-19 virus is disrupting the entire economy, including housing construction, the need for additional and more affordable housing surely will continue once the emergency subsides.

In the past four years, the incumbents running for re-election have done the following:

  • Supported the demolition of naturally affordable housing, to replace rent-controlled apartments with expensive ownership units (more)
  • Voted to enact a virtual ban on motorhome residences in Mountain View. Our citizens' referendum petition has prevented implementation of that ban, placing the measure on the November ballot. (more)
  • Proposed the March ballot measure, Measure D, that would have weakened Mountain View's rent control law. Voters defeated that proposal by a margin of 70% to 30%. (more)
  • Failed to extend rent stabilization to mobile home residents. (more)