Good old Margaret ("Not a professional politician") Abe-Koga: at least she's consistent -- in making contradictory claims quoted here, just as in announcing earlier for two competing public offices (summed up as "shopping for an elected office"). That last quote is from a wide-ranging Nov.-6 Daily Post article, "Abe-Koga loses latest bid for office," an article for which Abe-Koga herself was approached but declined to comment.

As to the NBS Precise Plan, I believe this whole dispute turns on the extent, if any, of legal commitment implied by the Precise Plans, and that some of the players here are seeking advice on the point from City legal staff. That's the key issue. Unless the Precise Plans amount to material guarantees, the following Council can amend them at will, and the current concern and rhetoric is a tempest in a teapot.

Last Monday, Mountain View's Environmental Planning Commission (EPC) voted 6-0 (one member was absent) to recommend that council go ahead with approving the North Bayshore Precise Plan.

People should not read the decision of the EPC on the precise plans as a statement that everyone on the commission is dead-set against housing being built in North Bayshore and will do anything he can to obstruct it. I personally reached out to former city manager Bruce Liedstrand and said that I wanted to work constructively with him and his colleagues to build a new future for North Bayshore. In my final statement on the precise plan, I called for all of us to go beyond civil discourse and work together on a basis of mutual respect.

Part of that mutual respect means respecting the current council members as well the incoming ones. You will note that all of the commissioners, including those who have traditionally supported housing in North Bayshore, voted to approve the precise plan. This was done after careful individual deliberation and consultation with staff. Like others on the commission, I concluded that there was no down side to approving the plan, with its many good aspects, while respectfully allowing the incoming council to amend it to their liking.

For me, “respecting the vote” means respecting the vote that brought the current council members into office as well as the one that brings the new council members in. So, I do not support calls for them to stop their work or step down before the end of their terms. They have served our community well over the last eight years, and we have much to be greatful for to them. Let them finish their terms with the honor and diginity we owe them.

And let all of us who wish to be respected, also show the same respect for others.

Robert Cox

(Mr. Cox is the Chair of Mountain View's Environmental Planning Commission)