Vote for Tamara
As a parent who will soon have two children in the Mountain View Whisman School District, I was surprised and concerned to learn that more than one-third of our students are below grade level in math and English. We need strong leadership to improve the quality of our children’s education. I will be voting for Tamara Patterson to be on the Mountain View Whisman School Board.
Tamara understands that our schools need to build connections and trust with the community they serve. As a neighbor, Tamara understands the need for communication and trust. From the time my family moved into Tamara’s neighborhood, we have benefited not only from her kindness, but also from a supportive community that relies on a communication forum created and administered by Tamara. As a parent herself, we trust that Tamara understands the needs of parents and of children in Mountain View. As a professional who is in a customer-facing role, Tamara understands how to listen to and address concerns coming from perspectives different from her own. As an experienced manager in organizations ranging from a small startup to a large multi-national corporation, Tamara has the skills to empower the superintendent, the district staff, and the schools to work together with the community to improve outcomes for our children.
We need a strong representative of our community like Tamara Patterson on the Mountain View Whisman school board.
Samuel Chang
Sutter Creek Lane
Ellen Kamei for City Council
Mountain View needs thoughtful and pragmatic leadership to tackle the most difficult issues we face in our city, which is why I am supporting Ellen Kamei for City Council.
One of the toughest issues we currently face as a city is how to help those prior Mountain View renters/homeowners — who are now vehicle dwellers in cars and RVs — to move off the streets into housing. She is the only candidate encouraging wraparound support for vehicle dwellers through carefully directed social services, safe parking programs and a city ordinance to accomplish this. Many other cities across the state have safe parking programs and a city policy related to parking. We need that type of innovative leadership on the council.
Ellen understands that the long-term solution and best thing to do is to house Mountain View’s displaced residents. I appreciate her perspective and the fact that she has ideas to get this done compassionately and successfully.
Ellen has been on ride-alongs to gain firsthand experiences and talks to everyone in the community to make sure our city works for its residents. That is what we need and deserve.
Ellen’s many years serving our city in a variety of roles — including the city’s Environmental Planning Commission, Leadership Mountain View Advisory Council and more — prove her commitment to making our community better. She has the experience necessary to lead and the will to get things done. I support Ellen Kamei and hope you will too!
Shari W. Emling
Sussex Square
Yes on P
A yes vote on Measure P will help ensure that Mountain View will remain a livable city even as resident population grows from 80,000 today to about 99,000 by 2030 and the number of jobs grows from 96,000 to 123,000.
Providing the needed housing and transportation infrastructure to accommodate this influx of people will require large investments of both private and public funds, and businesses should pay their fair share. Toward this end, the City Council voted unanimously to place Measure P on the Nov. 6 ballot. Measure P provides for a much needed updating of the business license fee schedule, which has not changed since 1954. Currently, most businesses pay a flat tax of about $30 per year to do business here, while companies involved in manufacturing and engineering pay only a maximum of $100. Measure P provides a graduated tax based on a business’s number of employees. The fee schedule is carefully structured to protect small businesses while large employers pay significantly more, in line with their greater impact on our community and the greater benefit they will derive from the improvements funded by the estimated revenues of $6 million per year.
Vote yes on Measure P. It’s a fair deal for businesses and residents alike.
Meghan Fraley
Villa Street
Volunteer opportunity
There is a tremendous opportunity for people to get involved and support democracy by volunteering as an election officer for the Nov. 6 election.
Election officers must be U.S. citizens and a registered voter, legal permanent resident, 18 or older, or a high school student at least 16 years old with parental and principal’s permission.
Volunteers receive a stipend up to $200 as a thank you for community service, and more if they are bilingual in one of 19 languages that we need at several of our polling places.
It has been my honor to serve our community for over 28 years and I respectfully request that community members step forward and act now to volunteer in our critical need of 1,000 volunteers for our 849 polling places.
Please call 408-918-9140, visit www.sccvote.org, or e-mail pollworker@rov.sccgov.org.
Shannon Bushey
Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters
Vote for George Ting
George Ting, a distinguished physician serving our area for many years, is running for election to the El Camino Healthcare District Board of Directors. During the 39 years I practiced internal medicine in the area, my wife Mickey and I came to know George very well. As a past president of the ECH Board of Directors and as medical director of the hospital I came to appreciate his dedication to his patients and the hospital.
Dr. Ting is a superb physician, a longtime member of the medical staff, a nephrologist (kidney specialist), an adjunct professor of medicine at Stanford Medical School and former director of El Camino Hospital’s dialysis services. He has been chief of the medical staff and directed quality assurance services at the hospital. He is respected by his peers.
George understands the complex financial, competitive and technological issues facing the hospital in these days of cutbacks and a fast-changing health care environment. I strongly support George Ting for election to the El Camino Healthcare District Board of Directors.
Richard P. Wheat
Carmel Valley
Fung for El Camino district
I am writing in support of the re-election Dr. Peter C. Fung, chair of El Camino Healthcare District, and the only incumbent.
I have known Dr. Fung since his election in November 2014. Dr. Fung’s experience as chair, makes his re-election mandatory.
He will continue to bring the much-needed complex knowledge of the hospital, its policies, budget process and the historic advantage of his previous four years of service to the board. Also, he knows the executive team, and members of the medical and administrative staff. As a physician and vascular neurologist for over 40 years, he knows our diverse community and its patients who he will continue to serve. This knowledge gives him the depth and breath of the hospital necessary to hold the office of director.
It is vital that we re-elect Dr. Fung an honest, dedicated, qualified and proven candidate.
Julia Miller
vice chair, El Camino Healthcare District and secretary/treasurer, El Camino Hospital Board
Alison Hicks for council
As we near election day, be wary of labels alleging a candidate or slate is “pro” or “anti” particularly for the important issues for this election such as housing, rent control, taxes. Let’s not be confused by slates or slogans.
Alison Hicks, a 20-year resident running for City Council, has a degree in city planning with a focus on affordable housing and project development. For years she worked in the leadership of the nonprofit, Northern CA Land Trust, providing an affordable housing model that our council now talks about as a model for Mountain View’s affordable housing plan.
While another candidate/council member strongly opposed rent control Measure V and then appointed board members who were on record as actively opposing the law they were supposed to administer, Alison spoke at rallies to support the law and against such anti-housing tactics.
Current council member/candidates have made little progress towards affordability. It is time to have someone on the council with proven skills to get this done.
Any candidate can tell you they will approve housing but to grow our small city wisely we need leadership with a proven record of how to actually plan for smart growth so we have not only housing but affordability and actual plans for schools, parks, transit and complete communities.
Vote the record, not the slogans.
Anne Wiley
Marilyn Drive
Don’t split the City Council vote
Assuming that the incumbents are re-elected, as is usually the case, there is only one other seat to be filled, but there are four candidates: a libertarian who is likely to be well received by the more conservative voters in our community and three fairly progressive candidates with varying degrees of support for housing.
For voters who want the third seat filled by a progressive, pro-housing council member, voters MUST unite behind a single candidate, other wise the conservative candidate will win. It is just a simple matter of math.
In my opinion, Lucas Ramirez is the most electable of the three progressive candidates. While no candidate can please all of the people all of the time, Lucas is thoughtful, knows more about this City through his work on the Planning and Human Relations Commissions, and through his attendance at nearly every council meeting for the past several years as League of Women Voters representative. He appeals to a broad range of people, even though he may have taken positions that run contrary to personal beliefs.
Remember what happened in 2016 with Jill Stein! Vote splitting really happens, and it can and will happen here if voters don’t unite on a single third candidate. If you are voting for one of the incumbents, you are most likely planning on voting for one of the three progressive candidates, but to win, voters need to unite behind a single candidate.
Mike Kasperzak
Morton Court
Wheeler for school board
“Integrity, commitment, and availability” are key words to describe Ellen Wheeler’s work ethic and her 16 years as a trustee of the Mountain View Whisman School District. As a former superintendent of the Whisman and, subsequent, Mountain View Whisman school districts, I strongly support and endorse Ellen’s campaign to serve another term as trustee.
In my years of working with Trustee Wheeler, I came to truly appreciate the analytical skill set she brings to problem solving, her thoroughness, her commitment to student learning, and her availability to meet with members of the community to discuss school issues. Trustee Wheeler has been a steady presence in all the schools, forging vital relationships between the staff and the school board. As the longest serving member of the school board, she retains important district history, which can play an important role in decision-making.
Vote for and re-elect Ellen Wheeler for the MVWSD Board of Trustees.
Eleanor G. Yick
retired superintendent, Whisman and Mountain View Whisman school districts
Councilman endorses Ramirez
This year’s City Council candidates offer the voters an interesting choice: stay progressive or turn conservative. Best I can tell, all six of the candidates will say yes to more housing, but only three will work to protect the voter-passed initiative for rent control. Only three will retain the council-adopted policy of compassion and proudly continue flying the banner of being a Human Rights City as it relates to our complicated homelessness problem. Only three have a grand vision of traffic mitigation solutions that go beyond widening roads or encouraging carpooling. Those three are Pat Showalter, Lenny Siegel, and Lucas Ramirez. Since Pat and Lenny are incumbents, let me tell you why I confidently endorse Lucas.
Lucas has grown up in Mountain View and has participated in the most prestigious council advisory bodies and has a long record of being politically active. He has a strong voting record that is discernible as it relates to the business of the city and his votes progressively comport with the issues of the day and a positive direction for Mountain View. Lucas has formed strong working relationships with our local county, state, and federal elected officials. This is important because he can leverage these relationships to advocate for us outside our borders.
Lucas has attended nearly every council meeting, beginning to end, for years. He knows the issues as well as anybody, including those who formerly (and presently!) sit on the dais, and can speak the technical vernacular of government and policy. And probably most importantly, Lucas is genuinely willing to listen to you, even if (especially if) you disagree. Although he is a bit shy at first, if you get him talking, you will agree with me that he would be a great ambassador for our city and would make a great council member. I hope your vote ensures that Lucas can take my seat as I exit elected life.
Ken Rosenberg
Mountain View City Council member
