This Week with the Mayor: Mar. 26 - Apr. 1

Believe it or not, absolutely nothing happened in Mountain View this week.  Zip, nada, nothing! 

Well, if you believe that, I hate to say it, but: April Fools! How many remember the Mountain View Voice Apr. 1 Issue several years ago at the height of the naming rights controversy?  I think the headline was something along the lines of "Council Agrees to rename City Mountain Dew in exchange for substantial sum." That headline generated a lot of mail, but it was of course an April Fools' Day prank.

This has however been a relatively quiet week, with a few noteable exceptions.  Even last Tuesday's was short by recent standards. The Council approved a new condo project on Bryant Street, adopted a new Electronic Communications Policy and heard an update on the Burrowing Owl Preservation Plan. There was a lot of support for the plan and the Council directed staff to continue to work on the plan to preserve what is becoming a well loved species.  Maybe we should have an official city bird!

Later in the week, I had the privilege of attending a lunch for past Presidents of the . I had the honor of serving as chair in 1997-1998.  It was great to meet some of my predecessors and to hear what the Chamber is doing these days. The Chamber is very much involved in what is happening in Mountain View, but it is best known for the Annual Art & Wine Festival, which will take place this fall, on Sept 8-9.

Wednesday evening was the first of four Council Neighborhood committee community meetings this year. The committee met with residents of the Grant Road area. There was a great turn out and people asked a lot of questions. Not surprisingly, traffic and development concerns seemed to top the list of issues.  The committee will meet with the Rengstorff Neighborhoods on May 9, Mobile Home groups on June 28 and the Monta Loma Neighborhood on Sept 12.

The end of the week found me in Ontario, CA for the League of California Cities Policy committee meetings. As the league president this year, we focused on a number of statewide issues, including what comes after the demise of redevelopment agencies, a number of public safety issues, and how the state government can better serve the people of California. I also had the honor of being the first league president in 15 years to visit the Imperial County Division of the League in Holtville, CA. Imperial County is far off the beaten path, south of the Salton Sea. Holtville is the carrot capital of the world and is within 25 miles of the Mexico border. It's inspiring to see how different and how similar our cities are.

As the week drew to a close, I attended a fundraiser for the Silicon Valley American Red Cross during which our very own was honored for its philanthropy and engagement. I ran into a number of Mountain View based Red Cross volunteers during the course of the evening and was reminded of how the Red Cross serves our community in times of need, most recently at the Dana Street apartment fires.

Which leads us to April Fools' day, which started with Mocha with the Mayor, followed by the 13th Annual Run for Zimbabwe Orphans and Fair at . The run, sponsored by the Sustainable Living Foundation founded by Ellen Clark has provided thousands of dollars of aid to a childrens home in Zimbabwe and hopes to raise $35,000 this weekend. The run also serves to help our youth stay in shape through exercise.

Thats all for now. There is no Council meeting this week, but we will be back April 10.