Mountain View city council members unanimously elected Pat Showalter as mayor this month for a one-year term — though this isn’t Showalter’s first time as mayor.
In 2016, she held the same position and implemented sustainability plans, established a safe parking program and increased affordable housing by 350 units. This year, she said she wants to further increase housing units in the Shoreline area and environmental protection.
“I’ve gotten started on things, but there was still a tremendous amount of work to do and I get a big kick out of policy work,” Showalter said.
As a city council member in 2019, Showalter helped address housing shortages with 100 new designated parking spots across several locations. Despite her 2020 city council reelection loss, Showalter decided to run again in 2022.
One of her top priorities is more affordable housing, which will allow today’s teenagers to have more opportunities to stay in Mountain View as adults, she said.
Another priority for Showalter, a self-acclaimed water geek, is sustainability and environmental protection. With her background in water management as a civil engineer at the San Francisco Creek Watershed Council and Santa Clara Valley Water District, Showalter recognizes the importance of climate action in Mountain View.
Southern Mountain View will become especially vulnerable as the California Ocean Protection Council Science Advisory Team projects sea levels will rise as high as 1.9 ft in 2050 in the Bay Area, which is why Showalter and other council members are focused on protecting the endangered shoreline. As part of this effort, the city is increasing public transportation and planting climate-resistant trees to counteract carbon emissions, Showalter said.
“We’ve done very well at reducing our greenhouse gas emissions,” Showalter said. “We’ve set some really strong targets and we are actually on target.”
While sustainability and housing shortages are at the forefront of her agenda, she is also looking to combat downtown storefront and office vacancies caused by COVID-19, she said. Currently, retail vacancy rates are 9.4% and office rates are 25%, according to the Mountain View Voice and Showalter, respectively.
To assist local businesses, the city intends to offer financial support similar to pandemic grants and generate foot traffic with concerts and other city-sponsored activities. Plans to address the low office occupancy are more difficult to tackle since the property is privately owned, Showalter said.
“If it goes on long enough, we might look into converting some of those offices into residential because we need a lot more housing, but it’s really not clear at the moment,” Showalter said.
While there are no easy answers, she encourages everyone, even teenagers who aren’t yet able to vote, to get involved in local politics. City council meetings are open to the public and allow anyone to raise an issue for three minutes.
“Teens can be wonderful advocates,” she said. “Even if you can’t vote, you can still get involved in politics.”
