Appreciate the letters. A bit of a correction to the first one about City Council candidates and rent control. It is true that incumbent Margaret Abe-Koga has always opposed rent control. I am not sure about incumbent Lisa Matichat - but she did join Abe-Koga in proposing Measure D placed on the March 2020 ballot. Another supporter of Measure D was City Council candidate Jose Gutierrez - a school board member - although Mr. Gutierrez insists he supported the 2016 rent control initiative (Measure V). Newcomer Paul Roales does not seem to advocate any rent control - except during the pandemic. As to former Councilmember Pat Showalter (2014-2018), she not only opposed Measure V in 2016 but placed a deceptive competing measure (W) on the same ballot in an extra effort to defeat it. Showalter did sign a ballot argument in 2020 against Measure D (on the March ballot) but did so planning to run for Council later in the year. Showalter is not on my list of rent limitation supporters - but it is possible that she has changed her mind. The clear supporters of rent control - extending to mobile home parks - are (1) Sally Lieber, (2) Lenny Siegel, (3) Alex Nunes and (4) John Lashlee. Measure RR is a RIDICULOUS RIPOFF. It would double the money for a train almost no one rides (and no one should ride) to pay, in part, for absurdly high salaries, benefits and pensions. See TRANSPARENT CALIFORNIA.COM

Gary,

We have had differences, but this is NOT one of them.

Margeret Abe Koga (MAK), put false videos up on the late MeasureVTooCostly.com website which were nothing but deception, the story "Councilwoman draws fire for political ad
" can be found here (Web Link

What is interesting is someone paid a high price to get all traces of this activity deleted from the web.

THen MAK and Lisa Matichek (LM) proved they cannot be loyal to the democratic party when they promoted the Measure D in the last election against the silicon valley democratic party. Everyone knows that if you join a party, there is an "oath" of loyalty, almost like the "oath" to not represent private interests when being a member of the City Council.

Finally there is Jose Gutierrez (JG), which also made false claims in advertisements to support Measure D.

MAK and LM have been using their position to destroy rent controlled units whenever possible and in effect exile tenants from the city of Mountain view to engineer the voters. So that real estate and apartment businesses can reestablish control over the City of Mountain View. Thus requiring SB330 to put a stop to it.

At least when Measure W was in the election, the City Council then didn't attempt to be deceptive like these ones. And in fact, once Measure V was approved, I give some credit to Pat Showalter and Lenny Seigal because they implemented an eviction protection order immediately to prevent the tenants from being thrown out prior to the effective date of the CSFRA. The landlords threatened to do it during the Measure V campaign.

The reality is that MAK, LM, and JG are paid advocates of the real estate and housing markets here in Mountain View and nothing more. If the oath of the City Council prohibits that action, they are disqualified from being members of the City Council, and thus voters should think about this.

I would like to read in the Mountain View voice statements from each of city council candidates regarding their position on each measure that impacts the city.
Be sure to include plans and goals for the trailers parked on the city street,
housing/apartment density, and development for downtown
I plan on reading this future article to determine how to vote. By the way candidates posting tacky signs all over the city is a big turn off.

Please, who can ever trust Pat Showalter on any issue after her flip on rapid bus lanes on El Camino...for those who don’t remember, she campaigned 6 years ago opposing the rapid bus lanes (which would have eliminated two traffic lanes and created permanent gridlock on El Camino) and then voted in favor of them within weeks of taking office. Not one of those, “after months of study and analysis, I have reconsidered my position” kinds of flipflops..

Bus lanes don't create gridlock. Cars create gridlock. Bus lanes are one tool in the toolbox to reduce the gridlock otherwise created by cars.

@stevegoldstein

"Everyone knows that if you join a party, there is an "oath" of loyalty, almost like the "oath" to not represent private interests when being a member of the City Council."

I guess if you cannot think for yourself then you should join a party. I did not think this was how the country got started.

@Jeremy Hoffman, regardless of how you feel about the VTA rapid bus lanes on El Camino idea, Pat said one thing in campaign and did exactly the opposite within weeks of taking office.. I understand public officials, like ordinary people, can change their minds, but this was a key issue in the 2014 election and the flip was so quick....so take everything she says now with a grain of salt.