California, Mountain View

[budman]

Silicon Valley News Notes

Get Out (of) The Vote!

August 9-15, 2006
MetroActive


Mountain View city leaders have weathered a number of pesky gadflies over the years, but they drew the line a few weeks ago when one of them tried to enter their Inner Circle. City Clerk Angie Salvador recently squashed Jim Lohse's budding political ambitions by denying his application to run for City Council. Lohse blipped on Fly's radar last month when he announced that he would run for office on a medical marijuana platform, but local officials say he can't because he hasn't proven residency in Mountain View. What's the problem? Well, Lohse doesn't actually rent or own a place in the city, but says he spends most of his time there while he's "abode-challenged" (in other words, homeless). He registered to vote at a street corner by El Camino Hospital where he hangs out in his car or in a nearby cafeteria with free Internet access. "Who wouldn't want to be homeless there?" he jokes. Just over 20 years ago, a California Court of Appeals ruled that homeless people can register to vote at a street corner or a park, that their dwelling does not have to have four walls, and they can establish residency with the intent to return to a certain location after temporary absences. If that's good enough for the county registrar, why can't it be good enough for the city clerk? Salvador told us a candidate has to have a "physical address" in the city, but she couldn't say if that meant a building and a street number. She also couldn't specify what proof someone might provide to establish residency (according to the state court, a signed affidavit is enough evidence). When we pressed her for more detailed answers, she passed us over to City Attorney Michael Martello, who never returned our call. So we ran Lohse's predicament by Sandy Perry, a San Jose community leader and longtime homeless advocate. "That strikes me as being very unconstitutional," he said, "if [Lohse] can register to vote in that district, he should be able to run for office." Ironically, Mountain View city council members recently tripled their monthly salaries from $500 to $1500—which could have actually helped Lohse get a real address.

<span class=postbold>See Also</span>: Area 420 / National Marijuana Association

<span class=postbold>See Also</span>: SocioEconomics | Homelessness

[budman]

News - Friday, June 30, 2006

'Homeless' gadfly tweaks City Hall

Would-be council candidate Jim Lohse says he deserves a shot

by Jon Wiener
The Mountain View Voice

Mountain View residents know Jim Lohse as a medical marijuana activist. If he succeeds in convincing city election officials that he is homeless, they will soon get to know him a lot better.

Lohse wants to run for city council as a homeless resident of Mountain View. But city clerk Angee Salvador says Lohse, who sleeps at his sick mother's house in Cupertino, still needs to prove he lives in Mountain View.

"They don't say how to prove you're a resident," said Lohse. "I don't see anywhere in the law where there's a black-and-white definition that residency means where you put your head down at night."

Lohse began coming to council meetings last fall to support Jonathan Lustig's proposal to open a cannabis dispensary in Mountain View. Frustrated with the city's inaction on the issue, he kept coming to council meetings long after the council had dropped it. Over time, he became more and more interested in Mountain View politics, registering to vote in the city and tracking the council's activity on his Web site, www.councilwatchers.com.

If the city clerk decides to let Lohse run, it would undoubtedly make the campaign for the three open council seats more colorful. He has resorted to a wide variety of tactics in his effort to get the city to change its medical marijuana policy, which he continues to argue is unclear and unnecessarily harsh.

At one meeting, he played back a tape recording of Mayor Nick Galiotto's comments from a previous discussion. He has also written an essay about his dealings with the city. One chapter is titled, "Other People With Whom I Have a Bone To Pick."

When he began considering a run for office, he switched his mailing address to the downtown post office and listed his DMV address as 500 Castro Street, which happens to be City Hall.

No dice, says city attorney Michael Martello.

"You couldn't just be homeless and run for three different cities," he said. "You could be a resident without a home, but you can't live in another town and [say], 'I'm going to run here and claim I'm homeless. I think Jim Lohse is doing that."

The filing period for council candidates doesn't start until July 17, so the city attorney and city clerk have a few weeks to decide whether to let him run. If they decline, Lohse says, he'll be ready with a lawsuit.

"You've got to fight for your rights or you're going to lose 'em," he said.


<hr class=postrule>
<center>E-mail Jon Wiener at jwiener@mv-voice.com</center>

[palmspringsbum]

Posted on Sun, Aug. 13, 2006

internal affairs: Gadfly launches new pet peeve

The Mercury News


Jim Lohse is a gadfly, one of Mountain View's best. The 38-year-old medical marijuana advocate routinely chronicles the city's civic happenings on his Web site, www.councilwatchers.com.

His latest pet peeve: Although Lohse is registered to vote in Mountain View and spends a lot of time in town, the city clerk declined his request for papers so he could run for city council. The main reason? Lohse doesn't actually live in Mountain View.

Lohse freely admits that he spends many nights in Cupertino, where he cares for his mom. But he has a point: Since he's registered to vote in Mountain View, he says he should be allowed to run for office. To prove it, Lohse briefly tried to make the case that he was ``homeless'' by sleeping in his car in various spots around town. The Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters confirmed that Lohse registered to vote in April, giving his residence as Hospital Drive and North Drive and using a general delivery post office box as his mailing address.

But that wasn't enough for city officials. ``He gave us three Mountain View addresses that we know he doesn't live in,'' said City Attorney Michael Martello, who had a long talk with Lohse and describes him as bright, passionate and articulate -- as well as a pro at getting media attention.

Martello said that if Lohse were a homeless resident of Mountain View, in theory he could run for office. But the city charter is vague about what exactly one needs to do to prove residency, particularly if you really are homeless, and Martello agrees that Lohse's stunt has highlighted the need for clarity.

``They don't know what to make of me,'' said Lohse, who says that, for now, he's walked away from the race. And if he changes his mind? Check out www.electjim.us, another of his Web sites.

[palmspringsbum]

Posted on Wed, Oct. 11, 2006


<span class=postbold>ELECTION 2006</span>

City council guaranteed to have three fresh faces

By Renee Koury
Mercury News

Mountain View will see a dramatic shift in its political leadership come January, no matter who wins the three open seats on the city council; they'll all be new faces.

In an unusual occurrence, none of the three incumbents is running for re-election: Matt Neely moved to Italy in July, Greg Perry decided to spend more time with his family, and Mike Kasperzak has served his limit of two full terms.

That leaves the field wide open for newcomers, who will make up a large portion of the seven member council and potentially influence the city's future as it experiences rapid change and growth. With more high-density housing in the pipeline, and rapid expansion of local tech giants like Google, some residents worry about the potential strain on local parks, traffic and city services like police and fire.

``This is an opportunity for the residents of the city to really shape their city council,'' said Ken Rosenberg, chairman of the Old Mountain View Neighborhood Association, which serves as a liaison between residents and the council.

Eight candidates offering a range of political perspectives are competing for the three seats. Several have served on city commissions. One is a peace and environmental activist; another advocates legalized medical marijuana and strong property rights laws.

Among those running, Mountain View planning commissioner Margaret Abe-Koga has been the biggest fundraiser, followed by fellow commissioner Jac Siegel. The latest statements show Abe-Koga has raised $15,441 and spent $5,586; Siegel has raised $8,753, including a $5,500 loan to himself, and spent $8,187.

The candidates:<ul><li>Abe-Koga is a former aide to Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, and former trustee of the Santa Clara County Board of Education. Her priorities include preserving open space and creating parks, attracting business and expanding services for seniors and children.</li>

<li>Ronit Bryant, former parks and recreation commissioner, is a tree preservationist and avid gardener whose life-size ``man'' made-out-of-flower pots has become a neighborhood landmark in Old Mountain View. She hopes to establish parks for every neighborhood, cross-town shuttles and bike routes to cut traffic, and a community center for teens.</li>

<li>Alicia Crank, a sales and marketing coordinator, is a Mountain View human relations commissioner who says her community service interest began as a teen in Detroit, where she worked at youth camps for the underprivileged. Her priorities include preserving affordable housing; expanding recreation programs, especially for working adults; creating community-based public safety programs; and restoring programs lost to past budget cuts.</li>

<li>Tian Harter, member of the Green Party and co-founder of Mountain View Voices for Peace, is a software and electrical engineer who wants to improve transit and bike safety. He also advocates higher density housing near transit to cut fuel emissions. He opposes trying to save Hangar One because it's contaminated with harmful chemicals and says it's too big to heat and cool efficiently.</li>

<li>John Inks, a parks and recreation commissioner, is an Army veteran and aerospace engineer for Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space. Inks has worked on habitat restoration, play yard planning and trail building. His priorities include increasing open space and managing the city budget to preserve services.</li>

<li>Kal Sandhu, a businessman and Mountain View human relations commissioner, is a coach at Mountain View High School. His priorities include creating private-sector partnerships to provide more open space, clean transportation and better schools. He says he will donate his first year's council salary to public schools.</li>

<li>Siegel, a businessman and Mountain View planning commissioner, wants to increase open space, parks and recreation programs, including more athletic fields. Priorities also include promoting business growth to fund city services, preserving neighborhoods and encouraging growth near transit.</li>

<li class=postlist>John Webster, a software engineer, advocates property rights. He wants to push for changes that would allow only property owners to vote for property tax increases and to limit Mountain View's use of eminent domain powers. He also wants to ensure medical marijuana patients have access to the drug.</li></ul>


<hr class=postrule>
Contact Renee Koury at rkoury@mercurynews.com or (650) 688-7598.