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What are the biggest issues facing the city of Mountain View? If you ask City Council candidate Justin Cohen, he’d say, don’t ask me, just poll the residents who live here.
If elected, 24-year-old Cohen plans to build a website where he will post a poll for every issue he’s faced with as an elected representative. Whatever the majority of residents want, he promises to stick by when he casts his votes on the dais.
“I would be a participant of equal weight as everybody else,” Cohen said of what he calls a “direct democracy” system. “… I think people voice their opinion best without the influence of others. I would voice what I believe on these issues and my vote would be public after the poll closes.”
Cohen has a science background, having graduated from North Carolina State University with a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering and a master’s from Columbia University in applied physics. Now he works as an engineer at Tesla. But with his unorthodox approach to local politics, he says his age, education and occupation don’t really have anything to do with his campaign.
“I’m not really using that experience as to why I’m doing what I’m doing,” Cohen said. “… I’ve just witnessed that we do everything online. We’re always on our phones. And I think we should run government the same way.”
Keeping in line with this approach, Cohen hasn’t taken any formal stances on issues facing the city, nor will he accept endorsements or campaign donations.
“I don’t want to be in a position where I owe anybody anything and I think it’s best if we can keep money and politics separate,” he told the Voice in an email.
While he hasn’t taken any personal stances, he did acknowledge a few of the hot button issues that he anticipates dealing with if elected.
“Housing, the RVs, cost of living – these are things that are on everybody’s mind,” Cohen said.
Cohen recognizes that his approach is “a little out of left field,” as he put it, but he hopes he’s not the only one who yearns for a fresh approach to a well-established system.
“It kind of is annoying that you have to pick one person to perfectly represent everything you stand for in a political system,” Cohen said. “… If I don’t win, or it doesn’t catch on, I think it will at some point down the road. I hope, at least.”
