Pat Showalter takes up the helm again as Mountain View’s mayor

It’s not often that a person gets to be the mayor of Mountain View once, let alone twice. But Pat Showalter has held this distinction for the second time now, and is ready to make a lasting impression with goals to build more housing, plant more trees and protect the city from rising sea levels.

Showalter first took up the mantle of mayor in 2016 following her election to the City Council in 2014. Although it was not that long ago, Mountain View looked very different back then, she said. The city was booming with construction and development potential. “The pressure to build was really, really strong. And also, the need to build housing was really strong,” Showalter said.

A decade later, Showalter still sees immense need for housing, but the landscape has shifted since the pandemic. The city’s office vacancy rate hovers around 20%, signaling a possible downturn. The city has often leveraged concessions from developers, approving office projects in exchange for more housing, but this is less certain now.

“We don’t know how that’s going to shake out in terms of (whether) the large corporations want to continue building offices here. They’ve kind of used offices as the currency for building housing,” Showalter said.

Another noticeable difference, since the last time she was mayor, is the way people interact with the environment, Showalter said. The use of neighborhood parks increased fourfold during the pandemic, in part because there was really nowhere else to go. People now are much more appreciative of outdoor spaces, Showalter said.

In terms of both housing and parks, Showalter is pushing to build more at a faster clip. The city is making inroads with its housing goals, but she would like to see it move more quickly from the funding stages to actual construction.

On this front, Showalter was eager to share that The Crestview Hotel, a permanent supportive housing community, is slated to open later this year. Another 100% affordable housing development, located at Terra Bella Avenue, also is expected to break ground, hopefully soon, Showalter said.

But while housing has always been a high priority for Showalter, there is a good chance her legacy will be defined more by her environmental advocacy. As a civil engineer, Showalter has spent decades working on issues related to groundwater management, first with the USGS in the 1980s and more recently the Santa Clara Valley Water District. To say that her knowledge of water runs deep is an understatement.

Showalter wants to raise the community’s awareness about climate change and its implications for sea-level rise. Mountain View has a protection plan in place, although it is not well known, Showalter said. Sea-level rise will hit the North Bayshore area most severely, affecting some houses on the edges of the flood zones, as well as a large number of office complexes.

But its impact on major transportation routes, like Highway 101, will be even bigger, making it difficult for people to get to work. “It’s very technical but we’ve mapped all of that so we know where it is, and we’re taking it very seriously,” Showalter said.

The restoration of Mountain View’s coastal wetlands, which will help mitigate the effects of sea-level rise, also ranked high on Showalter’s list of projects. About 15,000 acres of salt ponds, most of which are in the South Bay, are being restored to their native habitats, including two ponds north of Shoreline Regional Park and Stevens Creek.

Some of the salt ponds will remain mudflats, as they accommodate endangered species. But others will become marshes, which Showalter likened to “Mother Nature’s sponges” because they absorb a lot of water and energy. “They’re just fabulous for the habitat, great for birds and fishes and amphibians. And so, we’re really blessed to be circled by those,” she said.

A self-described “policy wonk,” Showalter laid out other initiatives that also will prepare Mountain View for a future of climate change. She highlighted the city’s active transportation plan, which promotes walking and bicycling, and will help the city reach its carbon neutrality goals by 2045, if not sooner.

Mountain View has long promoted itself as a “pedestrian friendly city,” even before it knew what that meant, Showalter said, referring to her work with the Environmental Planning Commission in the 1990s. But now the city has identified gaps in its bicycle and pedestrian networks, with a plan to address these within the next five to 10 years so that everyone can feel comfortable getting around without a car, Showalter said.

The loss of tree canopy, weakened by drought spells, also weighed heavily on Showalter, who wants the city to plant a lot more trees to help address climate change. “It’s going to be warmer. We’re going to need more shady trees, people are going to need places to escape from the heat more frequently than has been the case in Mountain View,” she said.

As mayor, Showalter said she was pleased to step up to do the job, although also recognized that she was just one vote out of seven council members. This time around, her expectations are more tempered. “It’s kind of like turning a battleship. You can help to turn it a little bit, but you’re not going to make huge strides,” she said.

Still, Showalter was ready to dig in her heels to advocate for policies and plans that will protect the community in the long term, especially when it comes to climate change. “I’m just determined to do my best to see that the sea-level rise protection plan doesn’t just sit on the shelf (but) it actually gets built,” she said.