Browse archives: 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995

Published on 08/11/1999 All articles from this issue

Los Altos City Council incumbents will face two challengers in November election

printer friendly version

By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

Five residents have taken out candidate papers for the three Los Altos City Council seats up for election in November.

Current Mayor Lou Becker and councilmembers Francis La Poll and Kris Casto will be running for a second four-year term. There are no term limits in Los Altos, but the accepted policy is to limit office holders to two four-year terms.

Challenging the incumbents are Noah Mesel, a seven-month resident of Los Altos, and economist/engineer Ron Knecht, who filed for candidacy just before the 5 p.m. deadline.

Mesel, 38, has been active in his neighborhood opposing construction of a multipurpose room at Miramonte School. He moved from Redwood Shores to Los Altos with his wife and son in November 1998.

"I stand for a city council that listens to the residents - the voters - of Los Altos," Mesel said in a statement released Friday. Councilmembers who "make up their minds before they hear all the facts must be accountable to their constituents. They should not just automatically assume they will have another four-year term because the voters aren't paying attention."

Knecht, 50, lists degrees from Stanford and the University of San Francisco Law School. His goals include cutting "taxes and parking fees," according to his statement. "As a financial expert witness, I helped cut your utility bills; council incumbents seek to raise them." He said the state Public Utilities Commission recently cut utility rates by $43 million, citing his "persuasive" testimony.

Scharz said the two challengers will force a council election costing $18,000. There are already three city initiatives on the ballot costing $2,500 a piece. They include two measures to increase the city's utility user tax from 3.5 percent to 6.25 percent to fund myriad programs.

The other measure asks voters to limit council members to two terms.