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Occupation: Business owner and educator
Age: 54
Years living in Mountain View: 25
Top priorities: Building a sustainable future, economic vitality and a just and inclusive community
IdaRose Sylvester has a long history of community involvement in Mountain View, serving on the Human Relations Commission and Environmental Sustainability Task force. In her bid to join the City Council, Sylvester has expressed a deep commitment to social and economic justice issues, along with a pragmatic approach to getting things done.
A sustainable future is at the top of Sylvester’s list of priorities, which includes climate adaptations, working on infrastructure improvements and meeting the diverse housing needs of the community.
Mountain View has historically been a leader in housing creation and has a good strategy to plan for 11,000 new homes, Sylvester said. But there are some challenges that lie ahead with its implementation, she added.
Sylvester pointed to an economic slowdown, as well as the need to build homes for a wide-range of income levels. “It’s 11,000 of the right units, which is even harder to navigate than just getting 11,000 units,” Sylvester said, referring to affordable housing and opportunities for moderate-income households.
Sylvester says she would like the city to require market-rate developers to set aside more than 15% of their units as inclusionary affordable housing, but also says she is not opposed to in-lieu fees since it can help subsidize other affordable housing projects. “The most important thing is we get the affordable housing built,” she said.
Sylvester says Mountain View also can do more to create opportunities for higher density in certain parts of the city zoned for multifamily residences, specifically R3 zoning districts. Sylvester says she would like to see more diversity in housing types too, like stacked flats, which are a good option for middle-income families as well as other options like duplexes, quadplexes and bungalow housing. This kind of housing often is more affordable and acceptable to community members living in those neighborhoods, she said.
Sylvester supports expanding Mountain View’s safe parking sites, noting that they serve a critical need in the city. The difficulty is getting vehicle dwellers into affordable housing in Mountain View with so few units available, she said. Sylvester also would support looking into options for the city to turn some of its seasonal homeless shelters into year-round shelters to better support its unhoused residents, she said.
With the budget, there is a lot that Mountain View can do to weather an economic downturn and still carry out some of its capital projects, Sylvester said. Strengthening relationships with state and federal entities is key, as well as applying for grants that can help fund infrastructure projects, she said. The city also could consider other tax measures if Measure G fails to pass, like a hotel tax, to generate funds locally, Sylvester said.
As a business owner, Sylvester has a lot of ideas to improve the vacancy rate in downtown Mountain View. The city could do more to reduce the burdens on small businesses to open and expand their operations, she said. It could streamline permitting processes and make it easier for businesses to offer different kinds of services, including ones that don’t currently exist.
Sylvester favors a storefront vacancy tax, but only if the property has been vacant for a long time, she said. She also supports an office cap but opposes paid parking for now, as it could detract people from coming downtown, she said.
Sylvester also has a lot of ideas to get Mountain View to forge ahead with its climate sustainability goals. She says she would like to see more specific steps for the city to meet its carbon-neutrality goals by 2045. The implementation of the plan could be spelled out better, like how many pieces of electric equipment or car chargers are actually needed, she said.
Similarly, Mountain View could move faster with its road safety and bicycle and pedestrian improvements, Sylvester said. There are multiple solutions to a problem, like whether to put in bicycle lanes or no-turn on red signs, but even just doing one thing could make an impact, she said.
On the topic of policing, Sylvester expressed ambivalence about the installation of automatic license plate cameras. She says she would like to see the data from the city’s pilot program when it becomes available. Currently, there are a lot of concerns from residents about privacy issues, as well as confusion about what the cameras are meant for, she said.
Sylvester wears a lot of hats, and one of them is as a city mediator, a program that Mountain View has to help people resolve disputes. In respect to the city and Mountain View Whisman School District, Sylvester says it’s important to step back and start over with discussions to refocus on common goals. Then the two sides can “start to look at the specific points of conflict again, once we’ve had a reminder that we all care about the same thing,” she said.
More information about Sylvester’s policy positions and priorities can be found on her campaign website, https://www.idarosesylvester.com.
