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Occupation: Mountain View City Council member and mother
Age: 54
City of residence: Mountain View
Top priorities: Fiscal responsibility, public safety and supporting economic development
Margaret Abe-Koga, a Mountain View City Council member, has covered a lot of ground walking precincts and talking to voters in the North County. Now she’s ready to take those conversations to a higher level and represent District 5 on the Board of Supervisors.
While a longtime fixture in Mountain View, Abe-Koga has a deep familiarity with regional issues. She has served on numerous boards and commissions, like the Santa Clara County Board of Education as well as the VTA, Caltrain, Bay Area Quality Management District, Silicon Valley Clean Energy Authority and Cities Association of Santa Clara County.
With this breadth of experience, Abe-Koga says she has a lot of knowledge about the top issues facing the county, like housing affordability.
Abe-Koga, who serves on the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) oversight committee, says she was disappointed with the decision to pull a $20 billion regional housing bond from the November ballot. But she has other ideas to generate funding for housing, possibly with Santa Clara County passing its own measure, she said.
Abe-Koga says the county can pursue something similar to Measure A, a $950 million affordable housing bond that voters passed in 2016. But she wants to do it on a bigger scale – to the tune of $4.5 billion, which would have been the county’s share if the BAHFA bond had gotten through the gates. “It just takes that kind of funding to be able to build the affordable units that we need,” Abe-Koga said.
On the issue of homelessness, Abe-Koga says the county could do more to expand access to safe parking sites and coordinate services in the region.
“I would like the county to really take on a more leadership role in convening all of the cities to address the issue and explore opportunities to work together on it. I don’t think we can do this city by city,” she said.
Abe-Koga also has ideas to address the county’s recurring budget deficit, beyond its usual cost-trimming strategies. Abe-Koga wants the county to explore revenue generating opportunities, like land leases, something that Mountain View has successfully leveraged to close its budget deficit and generate surpluses, she said.
Abe-Koga identified cost recovery as another strategy. In respect to its public hospital system, Abe-Koga says the county has been doing a good job of enrolling people in Medi-Cal, but could “diversify its patient mix,” as it has a large number of low-income patients. Abe-Koga supports the county focusing on specialty care that it excels in, and offering those services to a larger population.
On the issue of public transit, Abe-Koga backs its expansion, while also noting there are still big areas for improvement. She identified convenience, accessibility and inter-connectivity as key issues. Some of the near-term fixes should be cleanliness and safety, Abe-Koga said. She also proposed long-term solutions like implementing better technology and unified passes that could be used on all public transit.
With bus-only lanes on El Camino Real, Abe-Koga says she did not support it previously because ridership was low and it would have removed a lane for regular vehicles. But now that more housing is being built along the corridor, it would make sense to have a lane dedicated to buses, she said.
Abe-Koga also supports transit-oriented development, focusing housing and commercial growth in areas that have a lot of amenities, while preserving surrounding open space. For these reasons, Abe-Koga says she backs the 99-year moratorium on development in the Stanford foothills, stating that it was a balanced plan that allows for growth and protects open space.
Still, Abe-Koga is a big proponent of economic development, which she has identified as a top campaign priority. Abe-Koga says the county should reinstate a position for an economic development director, noting it would be particularly beneficial for small businesses and could help generate more revenue for the county.
Abe-Koga has come out strong in support of public safety too, taking a stance on Proposition 36 to increase penalties for property theft and drug trafficking. She cited current laws as too lenient in letting people off for retail crimes that then leads to repeat offenses, she said. The proposition also would give judges more leniency to determine the best course of action for drug-related offenses, like sending people to programs instead of jail, she said.
Abe-Koga says there is room for improvement with the county’s jails, describing the conditions as shocking not only for inmates but also for correctional officers. Still, Abe-Koga says she is hopeful with the new sheriff, stating that he has “great ideas” and has been implementing programs and strategies to look at policing from a lens that considers “the whole person.”
Abe-Koga also described the importance of community involvement with police oversight, noting that Mountain View has implemented a police safety advisory board that could be modeled elsewhere to increase engagement and awareness.
“I think that is really important to build a positive relationship with our public safety and our community because we depend on each other,” she said.
If elected to the Board of Supervisors, Abe-Koga says she would continue to apply her usual philosophy to look at all sides of an issue and then make an informed decision about it.
More information about Abe-Koga’s priorities and policy positions can be found on her campaign website, https://www.mak4supervisor.com.
