Please tell us who to vote for Konrad. The choices are confusing if not awful!

@Konrad - I don’t think the City Council or the fast-growth candidates are motivated by the desire to make ownership housing in MV available to everyone who wants it.

That’s just a sales pitch - a false promise.

It is obvious that as opportunities are provided, developers will build mostly expensive rentals. That’s where the money is, and that’s the way it’s been going in MV lately.

If fast-growth candidates are elected, we won’t see much in the way of ownership housing or affordable rentals, beyond a few token BMR rental units.

Developers have found an ally with well-meaning but deluded environmentalists like Siegel, who believe that we must continue to accommodate growth with massive infill, building more and more densely where there already is housing, to avoid sprawl into outlying areas, with resulting long commutes. The problem with that is that there is a practical limit to the density that our roads and schools can handle, and I think we are getting close to that limit - especially considering the projects that have already been approved, but are not yet built. We have to consider our own quality of life now.

A better course of action would be to stop cold on approving new office space, improve public transit, and build only moderately (and by the way, I would prioritize ownership housing over apartments).

There is a large amount of outside money coming into this election. New filings listed on the City website show that Ken Rosenberg’s campaign has been supported with $31,896 from the developer-affiliated “Neighborhood Empowerment Coalition,” plus $26,680 more from the National Association of Realtors, for a total of $58,576, so far. That kind of outside money makes a mockery of the voluntary limit of $22,689 that the candidates agreed to.

NEC money has also been spent in support of Ellen Kamei ($19,243), and Pat Showalter ($15,506). Outside money in support of other candidates has been far, far more modest.

Of course, it’s all legal, the candidates didn’t know, etc., etc.

The developers know which candidates to put their money on.

The big question in this election is whether voters can be fooled into voting against their own interests.

@Yvette - Our best alternative is to vote for Lisa Matichak, Mercedes Salem, and Jim Neal. Please discuss this with your friends and neighbors, and please get them to the polls.

I agree with Concerned Citizen's analysis of the campaign; and the aftermath if the special interest groups get their people in the city council would be disastrous for Mountain View !

The best choice we have is to vote for Jim Neal, Lisa Matichak, and Mercedes Salem !

I'm a former condo owner and now a rancher owner (single family R1 zoning, 4 bd/4ba) within walkable distance of downtown. I really have no worry that Councilman McAlister, and maybe incomming Councilwoman Matichak will join with a majority of others on the Council to protect my (wealthy-elite) real-estate interests in my million dollar house. (there is no Vice in John :) But others may be best at protecting the interests of other residents. We are not Los Altos, or Los Altos Hills. Many of our citizens and residents are not single-family home owners. I have no concerns about the balance of development from a well balanced City Council.
Just checked. It's a nice afternoon out there Konrad. Don't have to cower in-your-house.

The best way and the ONLY way to speak up is to not vote for the people getting the outside money. That way these outside special interests will know that they can't by us and that their money is the kiss of death for a candidate.

I have lived in Mountain View for over 20 years, and NEVER - in the entire time that I have lived here - have I felt LESS welcome here than I have over the last couple of years. It's been frustrating and disheartening to realize that MY voice really does not matter. Disgusting, really.

Yeah, I voted. I will always vote, but my voting doesn't change the fact what's going on in Mountain View has been truly sad to witness.

It would appear that it's the rare individual down at city hall who really cares about residents who have their entire lives invested in this community -- their homes, their family, their way of life. Evidently people like us served a purpose and are no longer needed, or wanted even. Talk about being marginalized.

I am a typically pretty easy going person, but lately the sense of ill will I see directed towards so many long time residents who actually have the "nerve" to offer their opinion about what matters to them...well, it makes me sad as a human being.

Carry on with the continued shredding of the fabric of this community...you're in the home stretch.