On Saturday June 10th, our League held its Annual Meeting and lunch at Michaels on Shoreline.   Over forty members attended to vote on Program directions, budget and Board of Officers/Directors for the new fiscal year.    Following the business meeting, we heard remarks from Thuy Nguyen, President of Foothill College. Thuy Nguyen discussed the programs underway at Foothill including Service Leadership, Early College Promise, Mellon Humanities Scholars Program, the Foothill College Sunnyvale Center, expanding career pathways.  These programs help to strengthen our local economy and community.    She brought two student leaders, Ramiel Petros, President of the Associated Students, and Courtney Cooper, President of the state-wide Student Senate.   They shared their efforts to engage their peers in civil discourse and advocacy. 

 The following Program priority issues for emphasis were adopted.

·         We support the LWVUS national “Campaign for Making Democracy Work” program, with a focus on

    • Voter protection and mobilization
    • Election reform
    • Money in politics, constitutional amendment, and redistricting

·         Our League identified our priority local issues for emphasis:    

    • Affordable Housing – both at the county and in Mountain View/Los Altos including Mountain View Rent Stabilization Ordinance
    • Transportation – help in oversight for the plans and implementation of VTA Transportation bond passed November 2016.
    •  Los Altos Downtown Visioning Process
    • Increasing civic engagement
    • Voter education and outreach to local elected officials

·         Our League will continue to strengthen our support for the community in the following ways:

    • Continue the Observer Corps and The Voter to communicate policies and discussion topics of our local school boards, city council meetings.
    • Work actively to develop collaborations with neighboring Leagues and organizations to address common issues and support educational forums.
    • Re-activate our League’s speaker series to meet with and hear from local elected officials

We voted to support our League’s Housing Committee’s proposal to study rent stabilization looking at ordinances in California with special attention to Mountain View’s Ordinance.

League members interested in participating on our committees or work in these areas, should contact Sue Graham, [email protected] 

We voted to affirm our existing local positions as documented here.

The proposed budget as shown in the Annual Meeting Kit page 2 was adopted. 

We voted to accept the following slate for the coming year:

Officers             

President:                                    Sue Graham

Vice President, Program:            Carol Kuiper (announced after the Annual Meeting)

Vice President, Action:                Merrian Nevin

Secretary:                                    Abby Longcor

Treasurer:                                    Natalie Elefant

Directors         

Government:                                Katie Zoglin

Natural Resources:                      Gary Hedden

Social Policy:                                Ellen Wheeler

Voter Service:                               Vicki Gilfix 

Data Manager:                             Catherine Vonnegut

Voter Editor:                                 Sue Graham, Lisa McLain

Membership:                                Sue Graham

Tech Team:                                  Max Beckman-Harned

Directors at large                         Tricia Jordan, Lisa McLain

—Julie Cates, VP – Program