Five candidates are competing for three seats in the upcoming Los Altos City Council election: Ibrahim Bashir, Larry Lang, Sally Meadows, Eric Steinle, Ibrahim Bashir and Jonathan Weinberg.
The Post spoke with candidates about their experience and policy positions on the council’s focuses, as well as areas of their choosing.
IBRAHIM BASHIR
Ibrahim Bashir is a business-owner and member of the Los Altos Library Commission, as well as vice-president of product management at a software company. His central goals include creating affordable housing, reducing carbon emissions and improving adolescent mental health.
On Bashir’s website, he states that when he initially faced frustration with the city’s bureaucracy, he sought ways to help make it better. One of the issues that he plans to help address is affordable housing by encouraging builders to create more affordable housing units, he said.
“The housing element is a great blueprint for what we need to do,” Bashir said in the recent Los Altos City Council in-person forum. “But the next step is to actually execute on that plan.”
Bashir’s campaign also focuses on climate change, and he has worked to minimize his own carbon footprint by recycling, composting and driving an electric vehicle. To reduce citywide emissions, Bashir believes in building safer bike lanes to encourage the use of bikes, building a grid resilient to storms to help electrify the city and streamlining permitting for residents to easily add solar panels, according to his website.
Bashir also emphasized the value in improving adolescent mental health. He said that Los Altos has made significant progress partnering with nonprofits to bring mental health resources to local children, but that the city can do more to build community and encourage children to interact in person rather than online.
“This is the … most charming town that I’ve ever been a part of, and I want to grow old here, and I want my kids to grow old here,” Bashir said in his closing statement. “I think that requires making some decisions that are overdue.”
LARRY LANG
Larry Lang, a former business-owner and longtime Los Altos resident, serves as the president of the Los Altos History Museum and previously chaired the Los Altos Historical Commission. His top priorities include change and progress, safety and preparedness, infrastructure and building a stronger community.
After selling his last business in 2021, he said he wants to devote more time to the city and public service. Lang moved to Los Altos in 1991 to work at Cisco, and has since led multiple startups, according to his campaign website.
“I worked closely with the city manager, and our amazing city staff, and learned how to create strong public private partnerships,” Lang said in a video statement. “This is crucial as we consider possible partnerships for advancing the library, the theater, and especially new housing downtown.”
Lang also said he plans to increase the city’s cell coverage, upgrade the police headquarters and support Los Altos’s Community Emergency Response Team. More than anything, though, he said he aims to devote his time to encouraging more community involvement.
“It’s not just the meetings, it’s listening to people,” Lang said at the forum. “It’s learning what’s going on out there [and] hearing all the different sides of it.”
SALLY MEADOWS
Former mayor and retired biotechnology marketing executive Sally Meadows has spent four years serving on the city council and 15 years volunteering in the community, she said. In her time on the council, she’s worked to improve public safety, balance the city’s budget and reduce legal expenses, she said in her video statement at the recent Los Altos City Council Candidates Forum.
According to her website, her key accomplishments have been garnering state approval for Los Altos’s recent housing element, ending wasteful spending by eliminating unconstructive lawsuits, supporting improvements for public safety and aligning the city commission’s roles with the council’s budget and priorities.
To address the outdated police and fire station infrastructure, she said she plans to fundraise for renovations to improve public safety responses.
Meadows’s priorities over the next four years are to address safe routes to school and traffic circulation, implement the Downtown Vision Plan and encourage electrification with education and programs, according to her website.
Regarding the environment, Meadows believes that prioritizing sustainability is a must, and is subsequently committed to working toward the goal of Los Altos being carbon-neutral by 2035.
“Through my experience and the decisions and actions that I have done as a council member and as a mayor last year, I’ve proven that I’m a forward, looking and effective and empathetic leader,” Meadows said. “I intend to continue to do that to keep Los Altos a vibrant, safe and inclusive community for all of us.”
ERIC STEINLE
Eric Steinle, who is the current chair of the Los Altos City Planning Commission and president of a local Los Altos homeowner’s association, holds a focus on urban development and planning, he said. In his time on the LACPC, Steinle has aided in developing the city’s housing element and new standards for family residences.
Steinle’s work on the housing element and objective development standards for single and multi-family housing represent some of his most significant accomplishments in his time in the LACPC, and he’s reviewed all related development projects since 2018.
“I have the expertise and experience to negotiate the turbulent conditions of housing and land use policy in California,” Steinle wrote in his 2024 Candidate Statement. “… I am the candidate best prepared to get the job done.”
Steinle also believes that a critical aspect of working toward lower-cost residences is raising funds more effectively and efficently, emphasizing that the city needs to “find ways to attract the money that will help with affordable housing.”
Steinle’s answer when it comes to addressing the growing effects of climate change and need for sustainability is the encouragement of seemingly simple practices such as recycling and eco-friendly transportation.
Aside from housing-related developments, Steinle’s initial focuses on the council would be the redevelopment of city facilities, expanding the tax base through the development of commercial property and supporting policies that protect and encourage the city’s values.
“[I encourage people to] think about what [they] want,” Steinle said. “Then make your [vote]. I agree that the candidates are all qualified and they all work hard, so that makes it both easier and harder. So look carefully and see what matches you.”
JONATHAN WEINBERG
Los Altos City Mayor and lawyer Jonathan Weinberg moved to Los Altos in 2009 and, in his four years on the council, introduced and passed an updated housing element and developed a strategy to produce safe and affordable housing. Looking toward the future, Weinberg said that fiscal responsibility, safe streets and mobility and housing are his top priorities.
At the LACCCF, Weinberg said that a council objective he hopes to set into motion is an upgrade to the city’s police and fire station facilities. Weinberg has shown interests in creating a new police station and updating current facilities since he was first elected to the council in 2020.
Weinberg also said he favors building more affordable housing, a transparent city council and a more effective implementation of the city’s climate action and adaptation plan. The plan, which includes eight focus areas in topics ranging from transportation and energy to resource conservation, aims to meet the goal of making Los Altos carbon-neutral by 2035.
Weinberg is endorsed by retiring Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, California State Senator Josh Becker and the Los Altos Town Crier.
“I love this community, it’s really been a delight to represent you for the last four years,” Weinberg said at the LACCCF. “I truly ask for your support so I can do it for another four.”
