Laura Brown: neighborhood advocate Laura Brown: neighborhood advocate (October 18, 2002)

By Candice Shih

During Mountain View's last election -- in April of this year -- Laura Brown put her money where her mouth is, and got involved in politics outside of her own neighborhood.

Although she lives on a street near Mountain View High School, Brown worked hard on the "No on N" campaign to prevent Home Depot from building a Mountain View store.

"The neighborhoods all came together," she said. "We all need to care about each other."

Brown, a first-term member of the city's Environmental Planning Commission, said one of her main issues is preserving the quality of life (despite it sounding like "Mom and apple pie"). That translates into her stance on housing, a long-running issue in Mountain View.

She would consider high-density housing and rezoning commercial properties for homes, she said, but doesn't want to see anything built "much above four stories" or which restricts open space. Another way to solve local housing issues, she said, is to provide more ownership opportunities for residents so that they might be more invested in and connected to the city and stay longer.

The city's dire financial situation may make these goals difficult, however. Brown said, in light of the upcoming need to make budget cuts, she would cut public safety services last.

"The first and primary function of government is to protect its citizens," she said. "And secondarily to protect its property."

Thus, she would want to preserve funding for youth and senior services and public safety related to road repairs and the like. Although "it would be nice to do all of it," the capital improvement budget, to be spent on a new community center, is large and might be able to wait, Brown said.

A native of Seattle and an English literature major from the University of Washington, Brown has now been in Mountain View for 25 years. Now retired at the age of 60, Brown worked for many years in the Social Security Administration, which, she said, taught her about the needs of older, disabled, and low-income people.

Her past community service experience has been vast -- she has on the boards of the Peninsula Senior Community Committee, YMCA Child Care Advisory Board, and North Valley Job Training Consortium. She is currently a member of the Mountain View Historical Association and the Mountain View Preservation Alliance. Earlier this year, she worked to preserve city open space with the group Save Our Open Space.

In addition to being appointed to the Environmental Planning Commission, Brown serves on the Centennial Celebration Events Committee.

A member of her own local neighborhood association, Brown would like to see more council support for neighborhoods. "I think council members need to do GOAL," she said. "Go out and look and listen."

The current city council, she added, is not proactive enough and more often responds to city staff initiatives. Although Brown is comfortable with Mountain View's strong city manager form of government, she hopes the council can resemble more of an executive body and give direction to staff.
Favorite book: "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggers