This Week with the Mayor: Oct 22 - Oct 28

Despite the frenetic pace of the Presidential Campaign, the national preparations for hurricane Sandy AND the "don't blink or you'll miss it" World Series - GO GIANTS - things have been pretty calm here in Mountain View the past week.  As for our local election, Vote-by-Mail ballots have been out for almost 3 weeks and in Mountain View, almost 70% of voters now vote by mail.  The County Registrar has already received 23% of the ballots county wide, and as I am finishing up my precinct walking I am finding that many people have already voted.

But election or not, the duties of the Mayor press on.  Last Monday City Hall got a visit from the Cub Scouts Webelos.  We toured City Hall, had the Scouts take a seat at the Council dais and had a great question and answer session.  There were some great questions, far better than I could have asked when I was a Webelo 50 something years ago.

This is the time of year when the Council begins the Appointment Process for City Boards, Commissions and Committees for the coming year.  The Council Appointment Review Committee started the year with interviews for the Library Board, which will be followed by interviews for the Planning Commission and then the balance of other groups.  The application deadline has closed, but if you do have an interest in serving your City, applications for vacancies that might arise can be submitted to the City Clerk.

Tuesday was a long day, starting off at 2:30 with the Library Board Interviews, followed by a meeting of the Council Procedures Committee then the Council meeting which went until 11:30.  We covered all manner of topics, from the potential for a Community Shuttle, to a discussion on preserving the Immigrant and Pearson Houses, approving the Burrowing Owl Preservation plan, a discussion of high speed rail and the Rail Corridor Committee and finishing with discussions on how to better conduct Council Goal Setting and whether to change Council Policy on taking positions on ballot measures and how best to comment on State Legislation.  There are only 4 more meetings left this year, but there are some really big issues coming up, including the Rental Housing Impact Fee.

As the week drew on, I had the honor of welcoming new employees to the City at the New Employee Orientation.  As a service organization, our employees are a vital part of how the City serves the people that live and work in Mountain View.  We look for customer service oriented employees and train them well.  And, as budgets have shrunk, our employees are doing more with less than ever. 

Friday saw City Hall over run with middle and high school students for the 18th Mayor's Youth Conference.  This years theme was "Be Active, Be Heard, Be You!"  The delegates were treated to a great keynote on how to be an active leader and they then spent most of the morning learning active leadership skills.  After lunch, the delegates broke into groups to focus on "being heard".  It was an altogether great day and a huge thanks to the members of our Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) for all their hard work in planning and volunteering at the Conference.

As the week drew to a close, I had the opportunity to welcome about 50 people to the first of two community meetings as part of the San Antonio Visioning process to help define the future of the San Antonio Planning Area and San Antonio Center.  A lot is happening at the Center already and we should see new stores opening this spring.  But as we all know, a second phase of development is in the early design stages, and hopefully we will see some significant change in other parts of the center in the coming years.  If you would like to "weigh in" but can't make it to a meeting, visit the Visioning Website at http://www.sanantoniovisioning.com/

And finally, our Gemello Neighborhood held is second Halloween Parade on Sunday afternoon around Gemello Park.  Our neighborhood has really come together over the past year since we embraced Nextdoor.com.  In fact, we are re-organizing our Neighborhood Association after a 20 year lull.

Have a great week!  Don't forget to vote next Tuesday, November 6, and if you are voting by mail, don't forget to put extra postage on the envelope and be sure to mail you ballot by November 1 to ensure that arrives by election day or it won't count.