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With the candidate filing period now closed, eight contenders are vying for three seats on the Mountain View City Council this November.
Current council members Alison Hicks, Ellen Kamei and Lucas Ramirez will all leave office in January, after serving two consecutive terms. They are not eligible to seek reelection until 2028.
A mix of newcomers and familiar faces are hoping to replace them. Earlier this year, IdaRose Sylvester, an entrepreneur and local activist, and Erik Poicon, a longtime community organizer, entered the race. Both Poicon and Sylvester ran unsuccessfully for council two years ago.
Six first time candidates have also thrown their hats in the ring: Robert Cox, a retired Intel project lead, Silja Paymer, a Los Altos High School teacher, Paul Donahue, an engineer, Alexander Amoroso, a U.S. Army officer, James Kuszmaul, a software engineer, and Samuel Ali, a Google security specialist.
For a fleeting moment, it appeared there would be nine contenders after Mountain View resident Jesse Cupp pulled nomination papers. However, he told the Voice last week that he had decided not to run.
The official nomination period for the race closed Friday, Aug. 7, but write-in candidates have until Oct. 20, according to the city website. Whoever is elected in November will join current council members Emily Ann Ramos, Chris Clark, John McAlister and Pat Showalter on the dais.
The council candidates
The Voice has previously reported on the candidacies of Sylvester, Poicon, Cox, Paymer, Donahue, Amoroso and Kuszmaul. Ali is the most recent candidate to announce plans to run.
Ali told the Voice that his top three priorities were affordable housing, public safety and helping people with jobs. The issue of affordability hits particularly close to home for Ali, who said his family struggled financially when he was growing up. Now, he wants to give back to the community.
“Those experiences really taught me at a young age what it means to struggle, but they also taught me the importance of community,” Ali said.
Another high priority for Ali is finding a balance between adopting new technologies and preserving people’s livelihoods. Ali, who works in the tech industry, said that artificial intelligence is here to stay but that he also wants to ensure jobs remain in the city too.
Glad to see more people running for office.
We need practical people with experience and expertise to manage this city.
I am glad to see some of the Activists leaving office. They would focus on the wrong issues and priorities. And were more interested in their own agenda rather than the interest of the everyday working people in this city. Or come up with impractical ideas without a solid professional foundation for their decisions. I do remember a democratic socialist use threatening tone of voice toward the council because he was against letting the entire city vote on an issue. Let’s get back to practical and effective people with experience and expertise operating in the interests of the everyday working people that live in this city, and not the Activists. There are plenty of other avenues that the activists can use to promote their agenda.
I believe Paul Donahue is the perfect person to do this job. He was the first president of our Cuesta Park neighborhood association in 2003 and was a guiding light. He made sure we had bylaws, remained nonpolitical, respected voting quorums, etc. and he did it for many years. He then went on to serve on other city committees (Parks & Recreation Commission, Downtown Committee, Library Board, and Environmental Planning Commission). Paul has been heavily involved in Mtn View, has been endorsed by 8 former MV mayors, and is widely respected by neighbors. The thing about Paul is, he actually enjoys doing this type of work and it suits him. He’s analytical, fair, and genuinely interested in what’s best for Mountain View. Obviously, Paul has my full support and I hope he has yours too.
just met him at a meet and greet. i would agree.