MOUNTAIN VIEW — With a majority of seats on the city council up in November, a political shake-up is brewing as voters face an ideologically split candidate pool that could change the city’s policy framework as it deals with an economic crisis and the coronavirus pandemic.

Clearly divided on the city’s hot button issues of RV and people living in their cars clogging up city streets, the economic recovery strategy, rent control and the future of policing, the diverse group of nine candidates vying for four seats on the city council hope to convince voters their policy prescriptions are the right medicine for Mountain View.

Termed out of the council this year are incumbents John McAlister and Chris Clark. Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga and council member Lisa Matichak are looking to retain their seats based on their past records on the city council, with Abe-Koga touting her four-term experience on the council during the 2009 economic crisis and Matichak boasting strong residentialist support for her pro-business, slow-growth policies since elected to council in 2017.

But Abe-Koga and Matichak face strong opposition from some of the same political rivals that have packed council meetings and organized campaigns against their policies over the past two years. Former council members Lenny Siegel, Pat Showalter and Sally Lieber — bona-fide progressives who have tangled with others on the council on key policy.

Joining the three old-guard candidates looking for a return to the council are simpatico newcomers and Democratic Socialists of America members John Lashlee and Alex Nuñez, both figures who have cemented themselves as supporters of the city’s tenant movements and as advocates for low-income minority communities.

Waymo engineer Paul Roales and Mountain View Whisman School board member Jose Gutierrez, who both espoused similar beliefs to Matichak and Abe-Koga, also are throwing their hat in the ring with Gutierrez focusing on better representing the city’s Latino community and Roales urging more deregulation to encourage housing and commercial development.

RVs and vehicle residents

Firmly in the same camp, Matichak, Abe-Koga, Gutierrez and Roales said in interviews that they support council-sponsored Measure C, which if passed would ban oversized vehicles from parking in most of the city’s streets. All three argued that people who live in their cars and in oversized vehicles pose a threat to public safety on the city’s residential streets, and undermine quality of life in the city. And, they believe that the ban could potentially drive people to safe parking programs that connect them with long-term housing.

But the remaining five candidates — Siegel, Lieber, Nuñez, Lashlee and Showalter — said they do not support Measure C, arguing that the move to displace many of the city’s roughly 200 RV residents during a pandemic would be irresponsible, and that the city should have proper accommodations for its RV residents before limiting their freedom of movement.

Police reform 

On policing, not normally a hot topic for the Mountain View council, candidates appeared to agree that the police department’s role in dealing with social problems like mental health and domestic violence should be evaluated.

Each candidate told The Mercury News that they would be willing to reallocate resources to fund mental health services and shift the burden of certain service calls from armed police officers to trained professionals.

Rent Control

Ever since the passage of a new rent control law in Mountain View back in 2017, incumbents Abe-Koga, Matichak and the current city council have sought to undermine it, according to at least five of the nine council candidates. Unlike in past elections, when rent control was a hot-button issue that divided candidates, this year all candidates say they support rent control, a sure sign that the rebuke of Measure D by voters in March has left its political mark.

But with fears that the mass exodus of residents from Mountain View has raised vacancy rates past 5% — which would allow the city to suspend rent control protections  — only the incumbent candidates support doing away with rent control temporarily. The remaining seven candidates said the city should not suspend protections because of the economic crisis and ongoing pandemic.

With mobile home residents facing steep rent increases every year, advocates and organized community groups have called on the city council to include mobile homes under the rent control law. Twice, the city has refused to include mobile homes, a move that Matichak and Abe-Koga support given what they say is vague language in the rent control law and the threat of legal action.

Lashlee, Showalter, Siegel, Lieber, Roales and Nuñez said they supported mobile home rent control but were divided on whether the council should pass a new rent control ordinance or appoint members to the Rental Housing Committee that are sympathetic to protecting mobile homes.

Gutierrez said he has always supported rent control for mobile homes but was a vocal advocate for Measure D in March, a measure that critics called a “sneaky repeal” of rent control and which was defeated by over 70% of voters.

Economic Recovery

After Mountain View became one of the first cities in the state to significantly tax its top employers, the city’s budget has managed to remain relatively unscathed during the current economic crisis compared to neighboring cities. Candidates, however, are split on supporting new taxes and cutting back popular city programs and services to deal with a looming budget deficit.

Siegel, Lieber, Nuñez and Lashlee said they supported new taxes on the city’s wealthiest companies, though they disagreed on what strategy the city should take since head-count taxes are likely to be difficult as tech workers stay home.

Abe-Koga, Matichak and Gutierrez think it is not the right time to introduce any new taxes and advocated for lowering the city’s tax burden on business and residents as voters weather difficult economic times.

Showalter said she believes that the city’s economic outlook thus far is encouraging and added that if elected she would urge the council to study new taxes but would not say whether she supported them. Gutierrez did not comment on whether he would approve new taxes.