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AUGUST 3, 2018 VOLUME 26, NO. 28
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MOVIES | 15
Landlords spent $260K to undo rent control By Mark Noack
A
NATALIA NAZAROVA
Octavio and Andy investigate the behavior of a hive of bees at Bullis Boosters Camp in Los Altos.
Bullis camp keeps kids busy as bees By Kevin Forestieri
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eventy kids from Mountain View and Los Altos had no trouble fending off the summer brain drain this week, jumping into everything from science and engineering
labs to outdoor activities at the tuition-free Bullis Boosters Camp. The camp, now in its sixth year, was created by Bullis Charter School parents as a good faith effort to bring summer camp activities to
lower-income families unable to send their children to a structured day camp. The weeklong camp in Los Altos has seen a rise in popularity since its inception, mostly among See BULLIS, page 6
landlord-backed campaign spent more than $260,000 in an unsuccessful effort to weaken Mountain View’s rent control law. That money was primarily spent on collecting signatures for a measure intended to be placed on the November ballot that was criticized as a sneaky attempt to overturn renter protections. The campaign spending was revealed Tuesday in mandatory financial reports filed by the “Mountain View Residents for Renter, Homeowner & Taxpayer Protections.” The group, better known as Measure V Too Costly, has been working for most of the year to lay the groundwork for a political campaign by coordinating a social media effort, web presence and political rallies. Presenting itself as a grassroots effort, Measure V Too Costly took aim at the city’s rent control program that was approved by voters in 2016. The landlord group portrayed rent control as an expensive mistake, arguing that it rewarded a small minority of renters to the
detriment of everyone else. In March, the group revealed its plans for a November ballot measure, which representatives described as a softened version of rent control. Tenant advocates immediately called out the measure as a Trojan horse, pointing out it had buried language that would have nullified nearly all renter protections except under rare conditions. The financial disclosures show that despite being billed as grassroots, Measure V Too Costly was actually being directed by the California Apartment Association, a lobbying group. Since the start of the year, the landlordbacked group raised more than $265,000, mostly from large apartment companies with a strong presence in Mountain View. Major contributors included Spieker Companies ($55,000), Prometheus Real Estate Group ($65,000) and Acco Management ($36,950). The California Apartment Association (CAA) was frequently listed as an intermediary, meaning it made the contributions on behalf of specific See RENT CONTROL, page 8
Few candidates emerge to run in local races WITH FILING DEADLINE APPROACHING, SEVERAL ELECTIONS COULD BE UNCONTESTED By Kevin Forestieri
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oters looking for robust competition to lead local school districts and public agencies in Mountain View may be disappointed this November, with only a shallow pool of candidates seeking seats. Several races, including the Mountain View Whisman School District, the Los Altos School District, the El Camino
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Healthcare District, the Foothill-De Anza Community College District and Mountain View’s seat on the Santa Clara Valley Water District remained uncontested as of Wednesday, according to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters. Candidates have until the end of next week, Aug. 10, to file papers to run for public office. The Mountain View City Council, which has grown to a field of six candidates for three
seats, will be a contested race. The Mountain View-Los Altos High School District school board is heading toward a contest; all three incumbents and one challenger, Catherine Vonnegut, have pulled papers to run. Vonnegut is a longtime parent volunteer who has been involved in school district committees and events since the 1980s, founding Mountain View Whisman School
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District’s annual Choral Fest event in 2001. She will be running against incumbents Joe Mitchner, Debbie Torok and Fiona Walter. The same can’t be said for other local school boards. Mountain View Whisman school board seats held by incumbents Greg Coladonato and Ellen Wheeler are both up for re-election this year, though only Wheeler has pulled papers to file for re-election as of
Wednesday. Coladonato did not respond to a Voice query on whether he plans to run in November. Three trustees on the Los Altos School District, board members Sangeeth Peruri, Vladimir Ivanovic and Bryan Johnson, have terms that expire in November this year, but so far only Ivanovic and Johnson have pulled papers to run for See LOCAL RACES, page 9