Judy Moss, Mountain View’s first female council member, dies at 96

Mountain View’s first female mayor and council member, Judy Moss, died this month at the age of 96, leaving behind a legacy that broke gender barriers and laid the groundwork for some of the city’s most cherished developments.

Moss was elected to the council in 1972 and served until 1980, putting her at the forefront of the creation of Shoreline Park and the early stages of downtown revitalization that transformed Castro Street into today’s buzzing attraction. It was also the beginning of North Bayshore’s transformation from a blighted district into the high-tech hub it is today.

Colleagues described Moss as a progressive — though not particularly partisan — and a stalwart advocate for renters. A renter herself, Moss fought to improve civic engagement among apartment residents, pushed unsuccessfully for a rent control measure and succeeded in passing a voter-approved ordinance that blocked condominium conversions.

“Judy was a very straight talker, a very clear thinker and very much on the progressive side,” said former councilman Leslie Nichols, who served alongside Moss for four years. “Progressives today would be very pleased with her.”

Moss spent much of her career in research and technology, advancing through the ranks of male-dominated fields that made it difficult for women to thrive. She did statistical research for the U.S. Navy during the final years of World War II, and later worked as the economic and electronic research analyst for the Port of New York Authority. She worked stints at Revlon, General Electric and the cities of Philadelphia and New York City before joining Lockheed Martin as the company’s operational research specialist in 1966.

Moss spent the latter half of her career in the world of education, serving as the research director and interim vice chancellor for the San Francisco Community College District for two decades. Her focus on schools continued into retirement, serving as a trustee for the Foothill-De Anza Community College District from 1991 to 2003.

The 1970s marked a big change in the way the city was run, said former Councilman Matt Allen. He said Moss, and later himself, sought to oust the “old guard” of council members who served for far too long and got too little done. It felt as though local governance was being used as a private club, he said, with no term limits and a sense of inertia.

Moss didn’t gel particularly well with these old guard members when she joined in 1972, in no small part due to her gender, Allen said, and it seemed unlikely at first that she would be given a chance to be mayor. It took an election that defeated a couple longtime council members to shift the balance and give Moss the title.

“She made a lot of good contributions to City Council, but there was a lot of resentment against women at the time. I think she dealt with it very well,” Allen said. “People found her a little abrasive but I got on well with her, and I think she brought something great to the council.”

Moss was among the council members who supported municipal term limits, which prohibits running for a third consecutive term and remains in effect today.

Along with term limits came a bevy of practical changes that helped more residents get involved in city politics. Moss opposed afternoon meetings that made it difficult for workers to attend, encouraged higher participation among apartment residents and pushed for board and commission appointments — previously done behind closed doors — to be made at open meetings.

Though considered the most liberal council member and most vocal advocate for tenants, Moss wasn’t exactly a big talker or the kind of person to get on a soap box at meetings, said former councilman Richard Wilmuth. She was strong on the issues but was rarely acrimonious, he said, sticking to the periphery on some land use decisions. It was a sweet spot in the city’s history where the council was mostly on the same page and could get a whole lot done, he said.

“We had the whole design of Shoreline Park, we had downtown revitalization coming down the road and we had improvements to El Camino Real, which was basically a mudhole,” Wilmuth said. “We had a lot to get done, and we were lucky at that point in time to have agreement on most of those major issues.”

Where she did stand out during her eight years on the council was on gender equity, particularly pay equity among the city’s positions. Nichols said Mountain View was an early agency to hire companies to look at compensation between men and women and root out where, and why, there were disparities in pay between men and women. Some of it came down to disparities by department and job type, he said, raising tricky questions about recruitment efforts and employment opportunities.

It’s likely that Moss’ career and experience as a woman in politics fueled her interest in gender equity, he said.

“I suspect coming into the council of all men in the early 1970s that she had to put up with a lot of stuff,” Nichols said.

Moss parted ways with her colleagues on the topic of rent control, throwing her support behind a 1980 measure to cap rent increases for one year. In an argument in favor of the measure, which was largely a response to the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, Moss wrote of price-gouging rent increases and a need for renter relief amid a housing crisis — the same arguments used in the successful passage of rent control 36 years later.

“The City Council must meet its responsibility to protect renters from rent gouging and formulate long-term solutions to the housing shortage,” the argument said. “The largest (rent) increases have come since the passage of Proposition 13. These increases are unjustifiable and harmful to our community.”

Moss suffered a heart attack and was admitted to Stanford Hospital, where she died on Dec. 13. She was surrounded by family, albeit virtually over Zoom. A private funeral was held by Sinai Memorial Chapel in Redwood City on Dec. 17. She did not have children, and is survived by five nephews: J. Lawrence Jamieson, Norman D. Jamieson, Philip B. Moss, Lawrence J. Moss and David C. Moss.

Donations in Moss’ memory can be sent to the following numerous charities: Jewish Community Endowment Fund; American Jewish Committee, Institute of Human Relations; Jewish Family and Children’s Services; B’nai B’rith Hillel Foundation at Stanford University; Foothill-DeAnza Community College Foundation; Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York; Channing House Foundation; and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation.

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