News

Get to know the Mountain View residents applying for a seat on City Council at community groups' forum Friday

Ten residents have applied for Sally Lieber's vacant seat, which will be filled by appointment on Jan. 30

The Mountain View City Council is currently short one council member after Sally Lieber resigned due to a conflict of interest with her new elected office on the state Board of Equalization. The council will fill the open seat by appointment on Jan. 30. Photo by Magali Gauthier.

With the date to fill the vacant Mountain View City Council seat fast approaching, residents will have a chance on Friday to hear from applicants on major policy issues and ask questions of their own.

Local community groups are hosting a Zoom forum on Jan. 27 for the 10 residents who applied for the vacant seat, which is slated to be filled by appointment on Monday, Jan. 30.

Former Council member Sally Lieber announced last month that she’d be stepping down from her seat after learning about a conflict of interest with her new position as an elected member of the state Board of Equalization. After debating the different options, council members decided on Jan. 5 that they’d appoint a replacement to serve out the remainder of Lieber's term rather than call for a special election.

“When council was talking about this, there were a lot of people calling for a special election because they wanted to be able to weigh in,” said Alex Brown, a resident of the Santiago Villa mobile home park who’s helping organize the forum. “Various community groups all wanted to try and do something to be able to talk to the candidates and have an opportunity before the final appointment.”

Per the city charter, the deadline to fill the seat by appointment is Jan. 30, giving the city little time to gather input about what residents would like to see in a new council member.

Help sustain the local news you depend on.

Your contribution matters. Become a member today.

Join

Mayor Alison Hicks said she plans to attend the forum.

“I want the process to be as open to resident comment as possible, and I think this allows that,” she told the Voice. “Unfortunately, the timeline is really short so we can’t do a number of forums, and I was wondering if anyone would even be able to do one, so I’m really pleased they were able to.”

Community groups are still building the list of questions for applicants, Brown said. The groups involved include the Mobile Home Alliance, GreenSpacesMV, Coalition for Sustainable Planning, Mountain View YIMBY, Safe Mountain View, the Mountain View Coalition for Police Reform and Accountability, Livable Mountain View and others.

Brown said the forum will kick off with short introductions from each candidate and then will dive right into the policy questions prepared by community groups.

“So it will be the questions from the groups first, and that gives people time to put things in the Q&A,” Brown added.

Stay informed

Get daily headlines sent straight to your inbox in our Express newsletter.

Stay informed

Get daily headlines sent straight to your inbox in our Express newsletter.

The forum will be held Friday, Jan. 27, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Zoom. Attendees can register for the Zoom call here. Brown said a recording of the forum will be uploaded to the Mobile Home Alliance’s YouTube page after the event.

“The important thing is to show up, send your questions,” Brown said. “The council members are accountable to the people, and are part of the community. It’s things like this that give people an opportunity, if you take advantage of it, to actually have your concerns heard but also get to know the human beings who are responsible for the decisions that the city makes.”

Malea Martin
Malea Martin covers the city hall beat in Mountain View. Before joining the Mountain View Voice in 2022, she covered local politics and education for New Times San Luis Obispo, a weekly newspaper on the Central Coast of California. Read more >>

Follow Mountain View Voice Online on Twitter @mvvoice, Facebook and on Instagram @mvvoice for breaking news, local events, photos, videos and more.

Get uninterrupted access to important local city government news. Become a member today.

Get to know the Mountain View residents applying for a seat on City Council at community groups' forum Friday

Ten residents have applied for Sally Lieber's vacant seat, which will be filled by appointment on Jan. 30

by / Mountain View Voice

Uploaded: Mon, Jan 23, 2023, 1:19 pm

With the date to fill the vacant Mountain View City Council seat fast approaching, residents will have a chance on Friday to hear from applicants on major policy issues and ask questions of their own.

Local community groups are hosting a Zoom forum on Jan. 27 for the 10 residents who applied for the vacant seat, which is slated to be filled by appointment on Monday, Jan. 30.

Former Council member Sally Lieber announced last month that she’d be stepping down from her seat after learning about a conflict of interest with her new position as an elected member of the state Board of Equalization. After debating the different options, council members decided on Jan. 5 that they’d appoint a replacement to serve out the remainder of Lieber's term rather than call for a special election.

“When council was talking about this, there were a lot of people calling for a special election because they wanted to be able to weigh in,” said Alex Brown, a resident of the Santiago Villa mobile home park who’s helping organize the forum. “Various community groups all wanted to try and do something to be able to talk to the candidates and have an opportunity before the final appointment.”

Per the city charter, the deadline to fill the seat by appointment is Jan. 30, giving the city little time to gather input about what residents would like to see in a new council member.

Mayor Alison Hicks said she plans to attend the forum.

“I want the process to be as open to resident comment as possible, and I think this allows that,” she told the Voice. “Unfortunately, the timeline is really short so we can’t do a number of forums, and I was wondering if anyone would even be able to do one, so I’m really pleased they were able to.”

Community groups are still building the list of questions for applicants, Brown said. The groups involved include the Mobile Home Alliance, GreenSpacesMV, Coalition for Sustainable Planning, Mountain View YIMBY, Safe Mountain View, the Mountain View Coalition for Police Reform and Accountability, Livable Mountain View and others.

Brown said the forum will kick off with short introductions from each candidate and then will dive right into the policy questions prepared by community groups.

“So it will be the questions from the groups first, and that gives people time to put things in the Q&A,” Brown added.

The forum will be held Friday, Jan. 27, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Zoom. Attendees can register for the Zoom call here. Brown said a recording of the forum will be uploaded to the Mobile Home Alliance’s YouTube page after the event.

“The important thing is to show up, send your questions,” Brown said. “The council members are accountable to the people, and are part of the community. It’s things like this that give people an opportunity, if you take advantage of it, to actually have your concerns heard but also get to know the human beings who are responsible for the decisions that the city makes.”

Comments

Robert Cox
Registered user
Old Mountain View
on Jan 23, 2023 at 2:10 pm
Robert Cox, Old Mountain View
Registered user
on Jan 23, 2023 at 2:10 pm

Livable Mountain View will also be participating and providing questions.


Ellen Wheeler
Registered user
Blossom Valley
on Jan 23, 2023 at 2:17 pm
Ellen Wheeler, Blossom Valley
Registered user
on Jan 23, 2023 at 2:17 pm

Since only one of these candidates will be fortunate enough to be selected, I encourage these candidates to think seriously about running for Council in 2024.


Steven Goldstein
Registered user
Old Mountain View
on Jan 23, 2023 at 9:21 pm
Steven Goldstein, Old Mountain View
Registered user
on Jan 23, 2023 at 9:21 pm

[Post removed due to being off-topic]


Steven Goldstein
Registered user
Old Mountain View
on Jan 24, 2023 at 5:53 pm
Steven Goldstein, Old Mountain View
Registered user
on Jan 24, 2023 at 5:53 pm

[Post removed due to being off-topic]


Local Gal
Registered user
Old Mountain View
on Jan 28, 2023 at 8:37 am
Local Gal, Old Mountain View
Registered user
on Jan 28, 2023 at 8:37 am

Let Steven Goldstein post. The censorship in this community paper is overreaching


Don't miss out on the discussion!
Sign up to be notified of new comments on this topic.

Post a comment

Sorry, but further commenting on this topic has been closed.