A bid by the Mountain View City Council to modify the city's rent control law was soundly defeated at the ballot box last week, with an updated count showing more than two-thirds of city residents voted against the measure.

The initial vote on election night showed a majority of the city rejected Measure D on the March 3 primary ballot, and the margin of defeat has steadily grown since then. As of Wednesday morning, 14,341 votes had been counted against Measure D, or 69.4% of the tally so far.

A total of 20,669 votes had been counted as of Wednesday in a city of 38,000 registered voters, a rough indicator that voter turnout among Mountain View residents was at least above 53% and well above the Santa Clara County average.

Measure D would have made numerous changes to the Community Stabilization and Fair Rent Act (CSFRA), the rent control law that was approved by voters in 2016. Among other changes, annual adjustments in rent would be capped at 4% per year — rather than at the rate of inflation, which has been around 3.4% — and landlords would have been more easily able to pass the cost of building and facility upgrades onto tenants.

The measure also would have permitted the council to appoint members to the Rental Hosing Committee — the body tasked with overseeing rent control — who own property in Mountain View but do not live in the city. It also would have expressly exempted mobile homes from renter protections, which rankled members of the city's mobile home community.

Measure D was supported by local landlords and the California Apartment Association and opposed by tenant advocacy groups. It was also opposed by one of the largest mobile home park owners in Mountain View, John Vidovich, putting the measure in the unusual position of being opposed by both sides of the mobile home rent control debate.

Support grows for Measure T

A $259 million bond measure that would be used to construct new facilities across the Mountain View Whisman School District won considerable support by district voters last week.

As of Wednesday morning, 12,423 ballots have been cast in support of Measure T, or 69.2% of the vote. The bond measure taxes property owners $30 per $100,000 of assessed value annually, and needed 55% of the vote to pass.

Measure T was sold to district voters during the campaign as a way to pay off debt from past projects and fuel the construction of a 144-unit teacher housing project planned at 777 W. Middlefield Road. Once built, it would be one of the largest housing projects in the Bay Area devoted to school workforce housing.

The money is also being spent on security measures for nearly every school and additional classroom space where enrollment is expected to surge. Landels Elementary School, in particular, will need a two-story classroom building in order to accommodate extra students in the coming years, according to district officials.

Proponents of the measure said the funds were badly needed for small-but-important things like storage space for teachers, new windows and better heating and air conditioning systems. They also cautioned voters that Measure T does not attempt to solve the long-term concerns about enrollment growth spurred by major rezoning efforts by the Mountain View City Council, which could add in excess of 15,000 new homes to the city in the coming decades.

—Kevin Forestieri

Becker pulls ahead as more ballots counted

As ballots continue to be counted at San Mateo and Santa Clara county election offices, District 13 state Senate candidate Josh Becker, a Democrat, has pulled ahead with a sizable lead as the top candidate, with Republican Alex Glew remaining in second place — a shift from election night tallies of early voters, when he was leading the seven-candidate field.

As of 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Becker had collected 23.4% of the votes, while Glew had 18.2%. The top two candidates will move ahead to the general election in November. In third place is Democrat Sally Lieber at 16.5%, followed by Democrat Shelly Masur at 16%. They are followed by Democrats Annie Oliva and Mike Brownrigg, getting 12% and 11.9% of the vote, respectively. Trailing them is Libertarian John Webster at 2.1%.

So far there have been 236,855 votes counted in the Senate district, which runs from South San Francisco to Sunnyvale and along the coastside. The elections offices for San Mateo and Santa Clara counties report they have received ballots representing 47.8% and 43.8%, respectively, of the number of registered voters countywide.

Measure G poised to pass while Measure H falls short

Voters in the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, which covers the community colleges Foothill College in Los Altos Hills and De Anza College in Cupertino, came to different conclusions about two initiatives aimed at raising funds to support updated facilities and expanded services for students.

Measure G, an $898 million bond measure to help pay for infrastructure and capital needs at the district's community colleges in Los Altos Hills and Cupertino, is getting 58% of about 98,200 votes counted. The measure needs 55% to pass.

The bond would cost property owners about 1.6 cents per $100 of assessed property value for the next 34 years.

Measure H, on the other hand, is a $48 parcel tax that would support housing assistance for students and staff, mental health services, tutoring and support for students struggling with food insecurity and homelessness. It would generate about $5.6 million over five years. As of Wednesday, the measure was supported by 61.5% of about 96,600 votes counted, which is not enough to pass because the parcel tax requires the support of two-thirds of voters.

— Kate Bradshaw