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Abe-Koga lands seats on VTA board, LAFCO By Daniel DeBolt
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ouncil member Margaret Abe-Koga may have stepped down from her mayoral duties, but she is moving up in the world of local transportation. Last month a group of six North County cities selected Abe-Koga to be one of its three representatives on the Valley Transportation Authority board of directors starting in 2010. She says she plans to make a move for the vice chair position on the board as well. Abe-Koga said city reps from Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara decided that Mountain View should get a seat on the board over others because it has several transportation issues to deal with and several projects in the works, including high speed rail. The move was the result of a new selection process which has Mountain View representation back on the VTA board much sooner than expected following a shared term by council
MAYOR
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make no mistake, we have significant challenges this next year. The city faces a five- to six-milliondollar shortfall.� As mayor, Bryant is responsible for running City Council meetings, working with the city manager to set meeting agendas and will represent the city at various functions, among other duties. Outgoing mayor Margaret AbeKoga said it had been a 40-hour-aweek job for her. As for presiding over the meetings, Bryant said she hoped to facilitate “effective and efficient discussions� and “timely and transparent decisions.� Originally from Israel, Bryant came to Mountain View in 1983. She has lived on four continents, speaks six languages and holds several degrees in the field of psychology. She has been self-employed as a technical writer, has raised three kids, and lives downtown with her husband Cliff, an employee of Hewlett-Packard. A former Parks and Recreation commissioner and an avid gardener, Bryant is known for her tireless advocacy of creating “walkable� and “pedestrian-friendly� environments in Mountain View, especially when it comes to new
members Greg Perry and Laura Macias in 2006-07. As one of the county’s smaller cities, Mountain View used to rotate onto the board once every 10 years, but Abe-Koga said the North County city grouping decided to try a new voting system this year in which the city group would actually select its three VTA representatives. Abe-Koga had been serving as a VTA policy advisory committee member over the last year. The two other City Council members selected to represent North County are Chris Moylan from Sunnyvale and Rich Larsen from Los Altos Hills. In other news, Abe-Koga said she has also managed to get a seat on the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, a little-known but powerful agency in Santa Clara County. Its five commissioners decide on city annexations and the formation of new cities in the county. It also decides where Mountain View and Sunnyvale’s “spheres of influence� lie at Moffett Field, which is federal property. V
developments of buildings, parks and landscaping. Bryant said it’s a priority to consider “environmental sustainability in all that we do as a city,� to “energetically encourage the involvement of youth in everything we do as a city,� and to “protect and enhance Mountain View’s financial well being.� As the city finalizes an updated General Plan to guide future development, Bryant said, the challenge will be to “navigate between preservation and innovation.� Along those lines, Siegel said he wants to keep the city “vibrant and diverse� while also working to “preserve our neighborhoods.� Both Siegel and Bryant are up for reelection this year, along with outgoing Mayor Abe-Koga, who was recognized for her accomplishments as mayor during Tuesday’s council meeting. Continuing the mayoral tradition of holding open office hours for the public, Bryant will begin “Meet with Ronit� sessions at the Bean Scene cafe every Thursday from 9 to 10 a.m. starting Jan. 7. The cafe is located on the corner of Castro and Mercy streets, in the same building as the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts and across the plaza from Mountain View City Hall, located at 500 Castro St. V
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E-mail Daniel DeBolt at ddebolt@mv-voice.com JANUARY 8, 2010 â– MOUNTAIN VIEW VOICE â–
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