Great news. Alison will be a terrific City Council member.

Agree, really wonderful news. Alison definitely has my vote.

Candidates for city council usually speak and write in generalities about what they favor. That tactic should not be tolerated this time around. And candidates secretly supported by landlords and/or the Krelim should be identified for voters.

Hooray, another NIMBY vying for city council!

Alison Hicks is a wonderful asset to our community. I am happy she is running for city council. It will be great for the city of Mountain View to have such a level headed council member to insure that our future development is done with sensitivity to the aesthetics of our city.

Wonderful News! This is exactly what Mountain View needs.
She has my vote!

I have had the pleasure of working with Allison in one of my prior roles at Castro Elementary School. Allison was our fund raising champion, and she was very effective, pro-active, and the result was a tremendous amount of grants that funded Castro's after school program. She proved herself to be an asset on every count. I am very pleased to endorse Allison for city council!

Great to see Alison throwing her hat into the ring. Alison was on the board of the Old Mountain View Neighborhood Association, and has done a lot to promote keeping Old Mountain View a quality neighborhood! She will be a GREAT addition to the council!

Delighted Alison Hicks is running for Council!! MV needs a strong Council person who understands Urban Design through the lens of Livibility. She has experience, knowledge and passion to lead as MV evolves from a Suburban Community to a vibrant Urban community. Alison is uniquely qualified to ask the tough questions regarding future quality development. She understands the importance of walkability, green public spaces, historic preservation, thriving Downtown businesses, public art and services. A vote for Alison Hicks is a vote for making MV the most livable City in California.

Oh please no. HIcks is more far left and aggressive than Siegel. And, of course, also from the Old Mountain View neighborhood from which most of our more nuttier council members have come from. She will be championing social and national causes that have nothing to do with Mountain View. She is the last thing we need on the City Council.

She was part of the group "Livable Mountain View?" Never heard of it. Was she the only member?

Why is it that certain people will attempt to put a woman down by labeling her "aggressive?" Alison is opinionated, yes, but having strong opinions and being willing to back them up with reasoned argument is a virtue in a city council member, not a vice.

And anyone who would accuse Alison of NIMBYism should take a stroll by her house and observe it. When her family remodeled their 1920s house, Alison made sure that the addition was artfully done to fit with the space, the style of the home and the neighborhood, even though that meant keeping the increase in living space modest. In my opinion, this is the opposite of a "NIMBY" attitude--it shows someone who is willing to stay true to their values, even when doing so is inconvenient.

@Ralph: "...candidates secretly supported by landlords and/or the Krelim..." Huhh?? And as for Livable Mountain View, the all-volunteer group is comprised of residents working to ensure a balance between sensible growth, which it indeed supports, and sustained livability in Mountain View (www.livablemountainview.org).

@LOL: On what do you base your "NIMBY" comment? That label is too often recklessly applied to anyone who questions the impact of and explores reasonable alternatives to development or other community-altering ventures. But if that's the criteria, we're fortunate to live among residents who qualify for that label.

Great candidate! She may not be a seasoned politician like some of the others, but she's smart, an experienced and active community member, deeply rooted in the community, who genuinely wants to see the city do better for its people. Alison would make a great Councilwoman!

Ralph and LOL: Allison is unique. She is highly intelligent and insightful. When she is elected she will strive to make ALL the neighborhoods of Mountain View better. I encourage you to come to the debates and make a decision then.

Yay! I've known Alison for 12 years---since our eldest kids were in kindergarten at Castro! She has always been an active parent in our schools---helping to set up gardens, sitting on PTA and the Dual Immersion Advisory, helping to write grants and generally advocating for better education for all. She has a background in city planning and historical preservation. She has my vote. I trust her to advocate for a better Mountain View.

We need someone who will represent not just the neighborhoods and people who own houses here, but the people who are forced to live on the streets and thode who hope to live here. Hicks is only concerned with the people here now, not the future.

Dear @no more radicals,

Looks like you're one of my neighbors? Strange, most Cuesta Park neighbors are THRILLED to hear that Alison Hicks is running. Don't understand how you could ever label Alison Hicks as a "Radical". She knows more about urban growth than anyone on Council. She understands design, the development process, and the economic balance necessary for smart growth. If that's radical then I'm all for it. Sounds like you need to do a little more research on your city's needs and what skills are required to lead MV into the next century.

@LOL, WTH are you talking about "need someone who will represent...those who hope to live here?" My observation is that recent/current councils seem to be far more concerned with building high-end housing and upscale dining/shopping for future residents than with issues such as preserving mom and pop businesses and controlling traffic, which impact current residents.

I can't wait to vote for Alison Hicks, Lucas Ramirez, and Lenny Siegel! I hope to see Thida Cornes on council someday.

To those who have already served two full terms on council, I thank them for their service, encourage them to make space for other voices, and hope they continue to participate in a different capacity in our community.

Who are the 6 candidates?

Ok. I just looked up LivableMountainView.Org.
Alison Hicks is NOT the only member. There are 8 others. She already has 8 more supporters than John Inks! Of course, I will keep an open mind about Alison Hicks and every other candidate. But we will need to learn her specific positions - not just generalizations. So, here is the first question for Alison: what did you do to support or oppose Measure V and why?

Whenever you are ready Alison, answer the foregoing question.

I've had a few run ins with Alison and she is very far from the type of person that knows anything about the word compromise. Her version of community is her vision of community and nothing more. It will be her way or the highway. This is the last person we need on the City Council.

Thanks Tanya. I trust you are not another candidate. Anonymous posts of personal experiences are good but must be considered with caution because anyone could be posting. But certainly candidates can be expected to answer important questions raised by anyone about where they have stood on key issues facing the City. So I still look forward to Alison's posting her response to my question (above). And since all of the candidates read these posts, I put the same question to all of them: WHAT DID YOU DO TO SUPPORT OR OPPOSE MEASURE V AND WHY? Since some candidates were on the City Council in 2016, we know what they did. Siegel actively supported Measure V; Showalter and Inks actively opposed it. We may not know "why." So they should also answer.

So far, I think that Alison Hicks and John Inks are the two best choices. I hope that another like minded candidate decides to run so there are 3 great choices! As to the comment that Alison does not know how to compromise, even if that were so, how does that make her any different than most of the the people that are and have served on the council previously?

Prior Councils have rammed their decisions down the throats of the residents for years! Support for High Speed Rail, Dedicated Bus lanes, Unlimited Google expansion, Permanently Closing Castro street at the tracks, plastic bag and smoking bans, the policy of building offices, offices,and more offices, etc.

Who knows, with the right mix of people on the council, some people may even be able to afford to move out of their mobile homes on the street and into REAL homes in Mountain View!

Let us hope.


Jim Neal
Modesto
(Formerly Old Mountain View)

The folks who post on MV Voice are an extremely vocal minority of mountain view residents. They skew more elderly and whiter than the general population. That's why you see such extreme anti-renter, anti-growth, and NIMBY opinions. The general population of mountain view is pro-growth, pro-renter, and pro-business. That's why the city council reflects those values. That's also why Measure V passed despite four out of every five commenters opining about impending doom.

To the person who said she's not a NIMBY because she didn't expand her house when remodeling - that's exactly what a NIMBY would do. "Smart growth", "Historic Preservation", "Green Public Spaces" are all nicer ways of saying don't build anything, not in my backyard, go away because I got mine.

We need more housing and more affordable housing. Fortunately for the future, we'll elect city council members who support those positions.

@YIMBY

Wow. Where did you get the statistics that show that most posters on the MV Voice are elderly and whiter? And what's wrong with being elderly and whiter, which BTW I am not? And isn't most of the City Council elderly and whiter? Are any opinions other than your own allowed in your back yard?

I just want the RV and traffic safety issues solved. It's safer to walk around Manhattan than MV these days.

Waiting for the candidates to respond.

Very good news! I’m looking forward to voting for Allison— a smart, well informed, thoughtful and sensible candidate.

Alison has one "l". Guess you don't know her. Neither do I. She should answer the question about Measure V without further delay.

@ YIMBY. I'm all for development, not a NIMBY at all, am certainly not old, and not white. I fully support Alison. I'd recommend you actually talk to Alison at some point, listen to her points, ask her questions with an open mind, and learn about her stance. Nuance is important. By the way, Smart Growth, Green Spaces, and Historic Preservation is what makes every dense city great. As an exercise, just imagine if you took those aspects away from any one of your favorite cities.

@ YIMBY: I'm all for development, am certainly not old, and not white. I fully support Alison. I'd recommend you actually talk to her at some point, listen to her points, ask her questions with an open mind, and learn about her stance. By the way, Smart Growth, Green Spaces, and Historic Preservation is what makes every dense city great. As an exercise, just imagine if you took those aspects away from any one of your favorite cities.

@YIMBY - I'm not white either and if you have read any of my position papers or posts, you'd know that I'm for MANAGED growth. I really don't know why some people seem to feel it necessary to play the race card, or call other people Fascists or Nazis, or otherwise try to malign them just because they don't follow a particular doctrine.

Also, are you saying that minorities shouldn't have a voice? (No pun intended). We are very vocal because we care about Mountain View, even those of us who no longer live there. We are vocal because we are paying attention to what's happening. I'm sure most politicians would love it if everyone just ignored what they were doing so they could get on with managing our lives and our money for us!

Affordable housing is a pipe dream as long as the Council keeps approving office space at a better than 2 to 1 ratio over housing. The only winners in that scenario will be the developers. San Francisco hasn't built it's way into affordable housing even with tens of thousands of new units per year AND RENT CONTROL! Neither has Manhattan.

I would love for you to share with all of us though exactly how many new units need to be built, and within what time frame, before we can expect to see rents start to get lower. I'll go first and say that it will NEVER happen no matter how much housing is built unless there is another recession ( and maybe not even then ).

GO ALISON!

Jim Neal
Modesto, Ca
(Formerly Old Mountain View)

@YIMBY, Get the number and fact first. How old do you consider older? 18? How many white commentators vs all commentators? When you failed to persuade others to agree with you, play a race card. I get it.

Still waiting for Alison Hicks and the other candidates to respond to my question ABOVE about rent control Measure V. We do not need more posts from surrogates for csndidates.

Does Alison support RVs living on the streets