Pat Showalter assumed the role of Mountain View Mayor on Jan. 9. She’s been on the council and in various city positions in her 40 years living in the city, from being active on the Mountain View Environmental Planning Commission for nine years, to serving on the boards of the Santa Clara County League of Conservation Voters and Los Altos-Mountain View Area League of Women Voters. Showalter also served previously on the council from 2015-2019, and in 2016 she held the mayoral position. The Town Crier sent Showalter questions to learn more about her priorities this year and what we can expect for the council to focus on.
Q: Tell us a little about yourself – how many years have you been in Mountain View and what made you decide to move to the city?
A: I’ve lived in the city for almost 40 years. We moved here because it was a convenient location for both my job and my husband. We chose Mountain View over Los Altos because of the sidewalks and the streetlights. Looking back, it was one of the best decisions we ever made.
Q: What do you see as the current state of Mountain View – what’s the good, and not-so-good news?
A: We are a well-run city that offers high quality city services – great parks, library, water system. There are also lots of community events to take part in like our Friday night concerts on city hall plaza in the summer. The not-so-good-news is that it is very expensive to live here. We are determined to make Mountain View a community for all.
Q: What do you see as the city’s top 3 priorities this year?
A: The city has seven strategic priorities and they are all important. This year we will be doing a lot of planning. We are working on a Parks Strategic Plan, a Homeless Response Strategy, an update to our Gatekeeper process and an update of our Downtown Precise Plan.
Q: How do you view your role as mayor?
A: Besides the obvious job of running the city council meetings, I’m the ambassador for the city. I want to make sure people feel welcome at our city events or taking part in city council meetings. I also want to spread the word about the great things that Mountain View is doing; particularly on the housing and climate resilience fronts. When I was mayor in 2016, there was a steady stream of invitations from groups to hear about Mountain View.
Not only was it an opportunity for me to spread the word about Mountain View, but it was a way to learn about what people care about and why.
Q: Housing, development and environmental stewardship seemed to be prominent city and council topics last year. How do you expect the city to continue addressing such topics this year?
A: We have been leaders in housing and environmental stewardship for years. We recently got recognized as a Class A Climate City. We have a new department devoted to housing. Both housing and climate resilience are long-term needs that we will work on for many years. It’s important for the future of our community that we do it well.
Q: How do you feel about the current relationships between the council, staff, committees and residents?
A: Mountain View City Council has had a tradition of civility for decades and it continues. We also have a top notch staff who carries out the policy the city council decides. We have advisory boards who work hard to make recommendations to city council.
At community meetings, lots of residents take part. I think the Spanish and Chinese civic academies are examples of new efforts to improve communications between our diverse population and the city that have had a positive impact. To summarize, we have good systems set up for communication, but there is always room for improvement.
Q: Considering there was some tension last year between the council and the Mountain View Whisman School District regarding the 60-year agreement for city maintenance of school fields in exchange for public use of the fields during non-school hours, how do you anticipate responding to and moving talks forward? What resolution would you like to see?
A: We just voted on the new joint use agreement and the school district already approved it so we have reached a resolution. We look forward to working with the schools on any issues that do arise in the future. If there is one thing we all learned during COVID, it’s how important good park space is.
Q: Will you have office hours?
A: Chat with Pat will be the last Saturday of the month at Le Boulanger at 10 a.m. People are welcome to email me to set up a meeting any time.
This interview was conducted and compiled by reporter Christina Casillas.
