This one doesn’t make any sense. We are spending $500K out of the city budget to learn that our poorest neighbors are better off when they get $500? Let some other city waste their money answering a question that we all know the answer to. I am supportive of GBI but this is a waste of our money. Alison is leading the charge on launching programs that we should never fund.

I agree with @SalsaMusic and @Bruce Karney's comments. Bottom line: This is not a program that the city of Mountain View should be doing. Instead, examining the city budget and estimated future pension/benefit costs will help the city be more financially secure.

I am disappointed in this decision for a variety of reasons, but the most important one was articulated by Councilmember Hicks: recipients should be able to move out of Mountain View if such a move makes financial sense for them. (And, for extremely low income people, living somewhere other than expensive Mountain View is indeed likely to make sense.) I'm one of many Mountain View residents who has moved across state, county, and city lines in search of better economic opportunities. Thousands of other Mountain View residents have done more -- they have left their homelands in search of a better life. To me, it makes no sense to restrict the geographic mobility of those who we are trying to give a hand up -- or, perhaps, the Council doesn't want to give them a hand up, just a handout. If so, that would be a shame. This kind of parochialism is one reason why I think Basic Income programs only make sense at the national level.

Agree with Allison Hicks, the mandate to maintain MV residency throughout the pilot seems contrary to the "no strings attached" spirit of a GBI program.

That mandate is also shortsighted.

Displacement is a big issue in Mountain View. How will we measure impact of GBI program on displacement if we kick out pilot participants .....the minute they get displaced? Also why would a homeless participant have to choose between temporary housing in say Sunnyvale and a GBI check?

Misses the whole point of guaranteed basic income. GBI is for everyone. This is highway robbery.

Thank you, MV City Council! While i agree that GBI/UBI _should_ be done at a higher level of government, i support doing it at whatever level is willing. Similarly, while the study does seem expensive, if it's done well, then other governments can actually make data-backed cases for UBI.