League of Women Voters of California
Santa Clara County, CA November 7, 2000 Election
	Greg Perry Answers Questions Candidate for Councilmember; City of Mountain View

The questions were prepared by the Los Altos - Mountain View League of Women Voters and asked of all candidates for this office.

Read the answers from all candidates.

Questions & Answers

1. How would you address the long term fiscal needs of the city?

We need to begin saving during good times. There is no reason we should be running deficits during the strongest economic growth of the last century. By building our surplus and paying off debts while the economy is healthy, we can avoid having to cut critical services should the economy turn bad.

2. How should the city address its needs for affordable housing?

We need to build more homes and apartments.

Over the past 5 years we have added over 14,000 jobs, but only 1240 housing units. Together with other cities, our planning decisions have created the housing shortage. As long as we have more jobs than homes, someone will be unable to find an affordable place to live.

Possible places to put housing are the old Emporium site, next to major employers, above downtown buildings, and denser development near train stations. I heard many of these ideas first from local residents, and believe that a thorough public input process can lead to more good solutions.

3. What is the most important challenge facing Mountain View and how would you address it?

Housing is the most important challenge we face.