The Mayor's Perspective: Sept 1 to 15

Well the summer is almost over, though at times is seems as if it never arrived, mostly because it never got that hot.  But of course, with fall comes a season change, a BIG election and possibly a late fall heat wave.

September started out pretty quiet around town, mostly due to the Council summer recess.  During the first week, the League of California Cities held its annual meeting in San Diego.  It was an upbeat conference, notwithstanding the hardship the State has placed on cities during the past year.  I have been honored to serve as President of the League this past year, and as such, had the opportunity to preside at the General Sessions. Mostly I managed not to flub my lines.  The keynote speakers were great, touching on using humor in politics and how to engage the public in transforming cities.  This latter presentation got me to thinking about sponsoring a contest on how to "activate" the Civic Center Plaza, creating a real sense of place in the heart of the downtown.  I'd be curious what you think about the idea.  The plaza has so much potential, but except for events like the Art & Wine Festival, it is an urban desert.

Speaking about the Art & Wine Festival, this year was the 41st, and it exceed all expectations.  The crowds were great, as was the weather.  The artists reported record sales and the Chamber appears to have done well.  The festival is a fantastic opportunity to show off our town and well over 150,000 visited during the weekend.

As proof that Mountain View is viewed as a leader, a team of folks from Walnut Creek visited our fair City to see for themselves the what a vibrant downtown can be like, including housing, transit and an active business environment.  They were quite impressed with the quality of the developments that have taken place over the years.

Tuesday of course turned out to be a bittersweet day as the City promoted several police officers and swore in four more officers.  This was tempered by the memorial of 9/11, and then overshadowed by the tragedy in Libya.  The evenings Council meeting was the first after the summer recess, so it was pretty low key.

The following evening, the Council Neighborhood Committee held its last neighborhood meeting of the year in the Monta Loma neighborhood.  We had a record turnout from this very active group of residents.  The big topic of the evening was traffic and parking issues.  In my humble opinion, if we can get a handle on parking and traffic congestion, we will make great strides in improving our quality of life: streets will be safer, we will be more connected, and we will have a very positive impact on the environment.

Later in the week, several Peninsula Mayors and I had the opportunity to visit the Coca Cola plant in San Leandro.  I was actually pretty impressed at the lengths Coke goes to in terms of recycling (over 95% of materials), water conservation, and health.  Personally, I am concerned about the affects of sugar sweetened beverages on our overall health, but it isn't just soft drinks.  A tall glass of fresh orange juice still has the equivalent of 8-10 spoons of sugar.  In any case, Coke appears to be taking the issue seriously. 

Friday saw the day start with the Community Service Agency's annual Hometown Heroes Breakfast.  This is aways an inspiring morning, and if you haven't been, I would encourage you to make the time next year.  CSA does so much to hold the social fabric of our community together.  Congratulations to this years honorees!

Later in the day, I met with Assemblymember Rich Gordon over at NASA to see a presentation on SkyTran and get an update on their progress.  Later in the day, the City Manager, our Economic Development staff and I met with yet another Mountain View start-up, Fivestars.  Fivestars provides a high tech solution for customer loyalty programs.  Just flash your card at any Fivestars member business and they will track your loyalty rewards.  It also provides great reports for the businesses.  You can get a card for free at any business that displays the Firestars logo in the window.

The week wound down with Mocha with the Mayor and later in the day, a Potluck at the Willowgate Community Garden.  This is such a great community asset.  We really do need to find more locations for community gardens throughout the city.  There is a lot of demand, but the waiting lists for those we have are pretty long.  Hopefully there will be some activity on this front in the near future.

That about wraps it up for the first half of September.  Don't forget about the "flyover" of the Space Shuttle Endeavor this Friday morning, weather permitting.  It should be quite a site.