Congratulations, Pat!

"Housing, housing, housing."???

Transportation/congestion didn't make the top 3? Yikes.

So, no issues with Pat. But can someone clear up for me why MV even picks a mayor, since the role is mostly ceremonial and even seems to rotate from council person to council person almost in a rotation? I am genuinely curious how one mayor makes for is different city than another in our system.

Congratulations to Pat. I'm sure she will do a great job.

We need a mayor to lead the council meetings, set the agenda with the City Manager, be the front person for the council to meet visitors, make committee appointments, cut ribbons, speak to reporters, etc. These activities give this person a little more power, and the residents sometimes think the mayor can do anything so complaints are heard.

Jim C
Former Mayor

Thanks for the clarification Jim.

Just a quick question; Do you think it's appropriate for a Mayor to have straight-faced lied to constituents during her campaign about her position on a major and divisive infrastructure project?

Congratulations Pat! Your good sense and balanced way of talking is a welcome breath of fresh air to me. Housing is the critical #1 but also traffic issues are up there somewhere too. Best wishes.

Do any city governments along the Peninsula have full-time mayors?

Congratulations to Pat and Ken, looking forward to a prosperous 2016 for Mountain View.

God help us. Showalter, as far as I know, never apologized for breaking her campaign promise to oppose the VTA's plan to ruin El Camino Real with dedicated bus lanes. Rosenberg broke his promise and voted pro-VTA too, but at least he had the common sense to say that he might reconsider his pro-VTA vote in the future. Still, I will never trust anything that Showalter or Rosenberg ever promise again. They have negative credibility with me.

Right off the bat, housing housing and housing, Just what we do not need anymore of. I guess she doesn't care about traffic, since all of us will be using some sort of public transportation in the near future.

If this is free America, then the people should make the decisions of major importance to our city, not a handful of puppets in the hands of big corporations or special interest groups.

I'm glad that we have a Mayor that is supporting the BRT project along El Camino. It's important to have someone that represents the viewpoint of most of it's residents and not just a vocal, mostly right-wing minority opinion.

Congratulations MV for continuing to be a leader!

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"Housing, housing, housing..."

Let's not forget that in the last election, landlords spent heavily ($90,000) to elect Rosenberg and Showalter, attempting to hide the source of the money by diverting it through a shell organization that was cynically named the "Neighborhood Empowerment Coalition." Here's a Voice article with details: Web Link This was probably legal under the Citizens United decision, but it corrupted our election. The voluntary spending limit that all the candidates agreed to ($22,689) was rendered meaningless.

VOTE OUT SHOWATER-SIEGEL-ROSENBERG

THEY WHERE ENDORSED BY THE MOUNTAIN VIEW VOICE NEWSPAPER!!!

THEY ARE OUT OF TOUCH WITH WHAT IS RIGHT FOR MOUNTAIN VIEW!!!

THEY ARE THE ONES THAT IS PUSHING FOR CRAZY GROWTH IN THIS CITY.

WHAT OTHER CITY IN THE BAY AREA IS PLANNING GROWTH AT THIS SCALE?

Well, False, it seems that you wrong that people out here don't care that both of these people lied to us to get elected. Rosenberg actually stood on my front porch and lied to my face. Neither one of them is trustworthy and I have no doubt that the best interests of the people of Mountain View will be second to what is politically expedient for these two.

We don't need more housing. We have NO INFRASTRUCTURE to support all this new housing. We have a huge planning department that apparently does nothing because they don't seem to think about services for all the building they are approving. Too bad what the people want doesn't matter here.

But let's not worry about the quality of life for the current residents of this city. Thank goodness these two will be able to wrangle even more housing to provide tax dollars for them to fritter away on nonsense. I'm SO happy they think my hard-earned dollars are Monopoly money for them to speculate with for their entertainment.

Palo Alto Post headline: "Flip Floppers become mayor and vice mayor"

I recall the words from the candidates were based on the information that they had at the time. As higher quality information was acquired, they changed their minds. That is why we elect/hire representatives. Not to stick to a decision based on politically-motivated NIMBY mis-information, but to continue gathering better and better knowledge and do what's right for the community.

As to the allegations of corruption...if these candidates did not receive funding from the real estate group, who exactly would have been elected instead? From what I see, the election results would have been identical.

"I'm glad that we have a Mayor that is supporting the BRT project along El Camino. It's important to have someone that represents the viewpoint of most of it's residents and not just a vocal, mostly right-wing minority opinion. "

What a lie. [Portion removed due to disrespectful comment or offensive language]

Do you actually think that the Palo Alto Daily Compost is worth taking seriously?

I do not follow what the Palo Alto Daily News paper does for me to call it the "compost" But I do follow and know what the Mountain View Voice newspaper does. When it comes to political issues, it has an agenda and it does not bring both sides of the story to it's reader so they can make an informed decision themselves. It is an activist paper and it supports people who shares the papers position. Siegel is very out spoken that he is an activist, and I believe that Showalter and Rosenberg gave a wink to the Voice paper for their endorsement to city council. These 2 did not tell the truth to the public on key issues while running as candidates.

In 35 years of living in Mtn.View, we never had a council that was as unprofessional a group as this current council. Only one member has any business experience and two others are playing politics by dividing people up into groups and then attacking the ones that gives them the most political points. At no time can I remember any council member like Siegel who just hates businesses, people like him will always be here, but we should never elect them to any position that has any power.

The other council members need to grow a spine and do what's right for All People and stop following Siegel.

The moral of this story is, whoever the Mountain View Voice endorses to the city council will be elected unless people wise up, do their own homework on the candidates and if they lie to us vote them out, I really favor a recall thou.

"At no time can I remember any council member like Siegel who just hates businesses, people like him will always be here, but we should never elect them to any position that has any power."

Because you say so?

Reality check, Gladys: The Mountain View City Council has been the plaything of local businesses -- particularly developers -- for decades. If you think that's fine and dandy, that's your business; just know that there are a LOT of Mountain View residents who are fed up with that system.

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@Gladys, or whatever your real name is.


"Reality check, Gladys: The Mountain View City Council has been the plaything of local businesses -- particularly developers -- for decades. If you think that's fine and dandy, that's your business; just know that there are a LOT of Mountain View residents who are fed up with that system."

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Yes that is my point of view, [Portion removed due to disrespectful comment or offensive language]
I am sure you would like to ban people like me from stating my opinion.

Council member Siegel hates people who have work hard and have been successful in their business. He wants to punish them by limiting their income and or to have them pay more than their fair share. I am against anyone that is bought off by any group, and I am equally against people who wants to redistributing hard earned income from people who worked hard to get it.

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"Council member Siegel hates people who have work hard and have been successful in their business. He wants to punish them by limiting their income and or to have them pay more than their fair share. I am against anyone that is bought off by any group, and I am equally against people who wants to redistributing hard earned income from people who worked hard to get it."

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Ever think of moving to Somalia? No pesky governmental regulations to worry about there...