League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Santa Clara County, CA November 4, 2008 Election
	Mike Kasperzak Answers Questions Candidate for Council Member; City of Mountain View

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Los Altos/Mtn. View Area and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. What strategies would you use to try to meet the fair share housing needs allocated to Mountain View for the new Housing Element currently under development, particularly the 571 units to be affordable to those earning less than 50% of area median income ("AMI")* and the 388 units to be affordable to those earning less than 80% of AMI? Please prioritize these strategies according to which you think would be most effective for Mountain View. *AMI is $106,100 for a family of four, so 50% of AMI for a family of four is $53,050 and 80% is $84,880.

First, we must find a more efficient way to use the Housing Funds the City has accumulated through the BMR Ordinance. The process is too slow and the value of funds is being sapped by inflation.

Second, we must make the fee that housing developers pay instead of building an affordable unit more consistent with the actual cost of building a unit. Currently, paying the fee is a "better deal" for the developer than building an affordable unit. This needs to change.

Finally, as we have witnessed, ownership housing has become so expensive that it is virtually impossible to create affordable ownership homes. The only alternative - building rental housing. Even a market rate rental development must make 10% of the apartment units available at affordable rents. But there has been almost no new rental development in Mountain View, so we must find ways to encourage the development of quality apartments. Given that Mountain View is virtually "built out", new rental development will have to come from the re-development of older, inefficient and often seismically unsafe existing apartment complexes. This won't happen over night, but the City must begin to identify and implement incentives that will encourage this type of construction.

2. AB32 requires substantial cuts in GHG emissions by the city and by the residents of the city. What initiatives do you think the city can take to meet these mandates?

We all know we live in a world of finite resources, be it land, water, or fossil fuels. In its efforts towards greater sustainability, Mountain View has undertaken many innovative solutions. During the power crisis earlier this decade, we stopped "flaring" methane gas from the Shoreline landfill, and turned it into electricity for the City and sold the excess to the private sector for use in their corporate campus. The new parking garage has solar panels, a new reclaimed water pipeline is being built from the Palo Alto water treatment plant that will be used to irrigate the North Bayshore and keep "polluting" fresh water out of the Bay and the City has invested in hybrid vehicles.

I fully support these efforts. More importantly, the City must continue its efforts based upon the results of the Environmental Sustainability Task Force. Additional efforts can be made in transit oriented developments where the City grants higher office densities if the project is near mass transit. Currently these developments must provide employee incentives such as Eco Passes, but they also get to build all the parking they need. Such developments should limit parking thereby discouraging the use of cars.

There is much that can be done by the City and its residents. Decisions affecting all aspects of our community can impact our environment, and this fact must be remembered at all times.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' responses are not edited or corrected by the League.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 24, 2008 18:30
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