Robert Cox
for City Council

Our Downtown: The heartbeat of our city

Our city’s Downtown Precise Plan accurately portrays our downtown as the “historic center and civic focus of the community, and the heartbeat of the city.” Our next council will make key updates to the Downtown Precise Plan, forging a vision for it for the next generation and beyond.

Last year, the California legislature passed SB79, which calls for areas within one-half mile of transit to be rezoned to permit 5-9 story buildings. SB79 will go into effect on July 1, 2026. Since our downtown historic commercial district lies within one-half mile of the downtown Caltrain station, it will be subject to by SB79. Fortunately, our city council took action to work on an SB79 local alternative plan, which could retain our city’s ability to shape that district’s future.

However, work on an SB79 local alternative plan is currently scheduled to start in late 2027 at the earliest. If elected, I will be on the council in 2027, and will be able to vote on prioritizing the 2027-2028 work plan items. I would advocate to move this work up to early 2027.

During COVID-19, many of our downtown businesses struggled to survive as their customers were sheltering in place. Today, our new pedestrian mall is a lively meeting place for Mountain View residents and visitors from other parts of the Bay Area. But, there are still some vacant store fronts along Castro Street. Our city needs to continue with efforts to make it easy for business owners to locate in those vacant spots. Our city needs to continue its dialogue with property owners and provide incentives that will encourage them to rent out their vacant spaces.

Housing AND ... NOT HOUSING ONLY...

Mountain View emerged from the Great Recession of 2009 with unprecedented high-tech job growth, which continued until the advent of COVID-19. Building new housing to accompany this growth was a key to our city’s success. During that time, I was actively involved in the housing approval process: first as Vice Chair of the Old Mountain View Neighborhood Association, where I hosted development review seminars for our residents, then on the city’s Environmental Planning Commission (EPC) from 2012-2020, where I was Chair and Vice Chair twice.

During that time, I voted to recommend to the City Council approval of 24 housing projects. This included 4228 new housing units (of which 643 were affordable.) These projects were of a variety of types: apartments, rowhomes, stacked-flat condos, and a few small lot single-family homes.

Some of the over 4200 apartments, rowhomes, stacked flats, and small-lot single-family homes I recommended to approve on while on the EPC.

Some affordable housing projects for which I recommended approval while on the EPC.

While on the EPC, I helped found Livable Mountain View to advocate for livability in our city. I continue to serve in a leadership role in that organization.

While on the Environmental Planning Commission, I consistently advocated that new housing be built with respectful transitions to the surrounding neighborhoods and sufficient parking. I continue to believe that the best way to build support for new development is to respect those who live near it. I have advocated for sufficient parking within new developments so that new development residents are not forced to park on the street and compete with other residents for a place to park their cars.

I also advocated for the retention of key retail businesses, including the Rose Market, Tanya's Hair Deign, and Le's Alterations at the Greystar Elan (now called Arlo) apartment complex.

Three of five businesses I worked to preserve at Castro and El Camino Real

Since I left the Environmental Planning Commission, recent state legislation, including the state density bonus law, builder’s remedy, and SB79, has limited the local control that California cities have over where and how housing gets built in their communities. While the intent of enabling more housing is laudable, we should recognize that building housing is only part of what is needed to build a community. We must provide new open space and infrastructure to maintain our quality of life and continue to have an effective, functioning city.

Near the end of this upcoming council term, our council is likely to begin planning for the next twenty-year General Plan Update. This will be our city’s blueprint for the next generation. The council will make important decisions about how our residential neighborhoods will change. I support giving priority to the vision of those who live in our neighborhoods when planning our neighborhoods' future.

More Parks: Sooner and especially where we need them the MOST

Santa Clara County has the most temperate climate of any county in the continental United States. We live in smaller homes than we would if we lived elsewhere, but we have the opportunity to spend more time outdoors throughout the year. That’s why planning the environment outside our homes is just as important as planning the living space inside them.

In the 15 years that I have been involved in Mountain View city planning advocacy, almost all of the new housing built has been apartments, rowhomes, and stacked-flat condos. Unlike residents in older single-family homes with yards, many people living in this housing have limited access to private open space. This trend will only continue in the future.

I have been a consistent advocate for retaining our city’s existing parks and building new parks. When a developer wanted to buy Mountain View's Gateway Park from the city and demolish it, my Old Mountain View neighbors and I fought to save it. I also worked with Marina Marinovich to save the Immigrant House and provide a place for it in the city’s new Heritage Park. I have participated in the annual Heritage History Festival each year since then.

With my fellow Old Mountain View residents, I fought to save Gateway Park.

I advocated to preserve Immigrant House, which now lies in Heritage Park.

To provide a quality outdoor life for all of our residents, we need to provide new parks and open space in our city as our population grows. While Shoreline Regional Park provides 750 acres of wildlife refuge and recreational area for our residents to enjoy, many of residents live in areas of our city that provide fewer than 1.75 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents. This is less than half of the amount recommended by the Quimby Act!

Our city has access to nine school fields maintained and programmed by the city. Residents have access to these fields after school hours and on weekends. For many residents, these school fields are the only significant open space close to their homes. Maintaining access to these school fields is essential to continuing outdoor quality of life.

As Mountain View grows, we will need more parks for our residents!

Our city is in the process of drafting a ten-year Parks and Recreation Strategy Plan. I support this plan with additional emphasis on the following:

1. Making parks for which the city has already acquired land available to the public as soon as possible. If funds for amenities like play and exercise equipment are not immediately available, the land should be marked with City of Mountain View signage and the land should be made available to the public as open space as soon as possible. Amenities can be installed later.
2. Providing more parks in our most park deficient neighborhoods: Steirlin, Sylvan-Dale, Central, Thompson (a.k.a. Monta Loma), and Rengstorff

Land purchased by the city for parks should be open to the public, not behind fences for years.

Cherishing Our Environment

In 2015, I signed up for the Environmental Sustainability Program held by the Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club. It was an opportunity to deepen my education on environmental challenges, connect with Peninsula environmental leaders, and make personal choices that help address climate change.

This year I am attending the latest version of this program and working to form a Mountain View–specific group to advocate for strong environmental policies.

My personal passion is the preservation of our city’s largest and most majestic heritage trees. In 2018, I joined more than one hundred Old Mountain View neighbors to save a collection of ancient redwood trees threatened by construction of a new mini-mansion.

As a member of the steering committee of Livable Mountain View, I have evaluated the impact of development on heritage trees and recommended ways development could proceed while still protecting them.

I strongly support the city’s work to protect the Shoreline area from sea-level rise, move toward carbon neutrality, require bird-safe glass in new buildings, and expand active and sustainable transportation.

For the last decade, my wife and I have driven hybrid and electric vehicles. During the drought years we replaced our front lawn with a pollinator garden of native plants irrigated with drip watering.

Pollinator garden replacing grass on my front lawn