This Week with the Mayor: May 14 - May 28

It has been exciting in Mountain View lately.

Last weekend started off with the General Plan Town Hall Meeting, which gave an opportunity for members of the community to preview the Draft General Plan, hear a brief description of the change areas and recent developments, and provide input to the Council and Staff. It was a well attended meeting with a number of thoughtful comments. Somewhat surprising was the general support for housing in the North Bayshore. There will of course be a formal Public Hearing later this summer before adoption of the new General Plan.

I also had the opportunity to attend Lifetimes of Achievement, sponsored by Avenidas. Avenidas operates the Rose Kleiner Senior Day Health Center next to our . This program is a godsend for families with aging parents who just need some help. Lifetimes of Achievement recognizes members of our north County community who have made outstanding contributions to the community.  The list of past recipients is a "Who's Who" of the area, and it was an afternoon well spent.

The following week began with a series of meetings about the . Few people realize that almost 25 percent of the LASD enrollment is from Mountain View. The District needs to build another school, and many of the Mountain View families are interested in a site in Mountain View. As we all know, there is not a lot of unused land in town, so achieving this goal will be a challenge. It's good that the District is reaching out to Mountain View.

Later in the day, I attended the meeting of our .  They have zeroed in on the theme for the Mayor Youth Conference this October, and it should be a great event. I have to tell you, these middle and high school students are motivated and smart, and our future is in good hands. They also sponsored an Open Mic Night at on Friday which I had a chance to attend. Some great readings and music and it was well attended, even though it was a chilly evening.

Tuesday evening found us at the Council meeting, of course. It was a pretty short agenda during which we recognized Carnegie Mellon University for their 10th Anniversary in Mountain View, adopted the Council Goals for the coming year (which include improving the Cities IT infrastructure including a new website, continued work on solving transportation issues in the City, identifying future major capital projects and associated funding sources, and of course, completing the General Plan.)

Wednesday started with a morning meeting of the Chairs of all the City Commissions and Advisory Committees. We meet on a quarterly basis to go over any issue, compare notes on whats working and not, and to generally let people know what the "big picture" is at . Later in the day I met with neighbors from the SWAN neighborhood to talk about the Shell station at El Camino Real and Shoreline Boulevard.

The day was capped with the at Moffett Field. I was honored to be invited to join Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, NASA Ames Director Pete Warden, 129th Resure Group Commander Col. Steve Butow and Sunnyvale Mayor Tony Spitelari in welcoming the President to Silicon Valley. Prior to arrival, we all had a vigorous discussion about the future of Hanger 1 and of Moffett Airfield. Suffice it to say that the whole GSA mess has had an impact locally.

Greeting President Obama was a thrill. We took the opportunity to point out what has happened to Hanger 1 to date, and let him know that Google's offer to reskin it has not yet been acted upon by the NASA Administrator. Being at the end of the "line" I seemed to get some additional face time with the President, and those watching the news peppered me with Facebook posts. All in all, a once in a lifetime opportunity and one less thing on my "bucket list".

Coming back to earth, we finished the week with two corporate visits: the first with the operators of our Sunday Farmers Market. The Mountain View Farmers Market is the fourth largest in the State and the fifth Largest in the United States.  While not a weekly shopper, we do get to the market pretty regularly, but I had not idea of the number of programs they are engaged in. We also met with the executive team at Axcient, a local company that is aggressively into Cloud computing, doing data and system backup and providing virtual systems in the event of disaster.

The week drew to a close with a Ribbon Cutting the The Menu, a new organic Indian restaurant at 2700 W. El Camino. The food is great and they have a nice lounge with music as well as come conference space. 

Finally, Saturday found the Vice Mayor and myself at the annual volunteer recognition event at Deer Hollow Farm. Not having small children, I don't get up there much, but it is a treasure. It was great to see all the dedicated volunteers who literally keep the place humming under the direction of our resident farmer.  Now we just need to convince Sunnyvale, Los Altos and San Jose to help with the finances! Between the education provided by Deer Hollow, and the food offered at the Farmers Market, Mountain View is doing its share to create a healthier lifestyle.(By the way, if you haven't seen Weight of the Nation on HBO and downloadable for free from Amazon, it is fascinating)

That about wraps it up for May. I hope your holiday weekend was enjoyable as we remember all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our country.