IdaRose Sylvester.
25 years in Mountain View. 9 years inside City Hall. The leader who brought 20,000 of our neighbors out onto El Camino Real when our city, our democracy, and our future needed defending.
one Saturday in June.
I've spent the last year doing the opposite - bringing thousands of our neighbors together to fight back. I'll bring that same fight to City Hall, where I've already worked nine years on the inside.
I know how to make this city move. And I'm not afraid to push it.
Four fights worth winning.
National politics is loud. But these are the things that actually shape our days, our streets, and our families right here in Mountain View.
Housing you can actually afford.
Big developers build luxury units and dodge affordable requirements. Big Tech pays its rent and prices out everyone else's. I'll push real affordable housing, strong tenant protections, and mobile home rent control - not just zoning reports.
Small businesses that make MV.
Downtown is being hollowed out by a permitting process that takes years and corporate landlords who don't care. I'll modernize permitting, support workforce development, and put local first.
Neighbors, when Washington comes for them.
When ICE threatened the Bay Area, I organized an emergency vigil on one day's notice. Mountain View should be a city that defends every resident - immigrants, workers, women, kids - without waiting for permission from D.C.
A city that works in 25 years, not next quarter.
Climate, infrastructure, parks, trees, safe streets. We've been planning Mountain View one budget cycle at a time. I'll plan it for the kids who'll grow up here and the elders who built it.
One year. Tens of thousands marching.
While other candidates were polishing their resumes, IdaRose was on El Camino Real with our neighbors. Here's the year that defined the moment.
People's March, Mountain View
IdaRose and the Together We Will team kicked off a year of action at Gateway Park - turning a national day of resistance into a local rallying point.
"Hands Off" rally
3,000 strongThe biggest demonstration IdaRose had organized to date - neighbors filling Gateway Park to push back against federal overreach.
May Day Strong march & vigil
A coalition of labor, immigrant rights, and community groups marched through downtown Mountain View. Co-organized with Sally Lieber and Lenny Siegel.
No Kings - 7 miles, 16 intersections
20,000 strongThe historic No Kings rally stretched from Palo Alto to Sunnyvale along El Camino Real, with crowds at 16 major intersections. One of the largest non-presidential year demonstrations the Peninsula has ever seen.
Labor Day rally on El Camino
17,000 strongContinued the El Camino Real tradition - and proved the movement wasn't a one-day thing.
Emergency ICE vigil - 24 hours' notice
When federal agents were threatened in Bay Area cities, IdaRose organized a 100-plus-person vigil at Gateway Park in a single day.
No Kings Day Democracy Fair
A return to El Camino, paired with civic action - neighbors organizing for Prop 50, registering voters, and turning hope into homework.
City Council. Same fight. New chair.
One year of organizing taught us what was possible. Now it's time to bring that energy where the decisions actually get made.
They said they were scared. They came anyway. They said they'd never protested. They came anyway. They said they didn't know if it would matter. They came anyway. That's Mountain View.
I came here 25 years ago. I never left.
I studied city planning at UC Berkeley because I believed cities can serve everyone - but only when they're built by everyone.
I've spent the last decade as a leader on three Mountain View advisory bodies - the Parks and Recreation Commission, the Human Relations Commission, and the Environmental Sustainability Task Force. I've served on the boards of CSA, our community safety net, and CHAC, our community mental health provider.
During the pandemic, I founded an award-winning nonprofit, Appetite for Good, that saved dozens of local restaurants while feeding hundreds of our families. I built coalitions that passed climate-safe building codes across the Bay Area. I built my own small business helping other small businesses succeed. And I built Together We Will, the organization that brought tens of thousands of us together this past year.
I'm running for City Council because I want to keep building. With you.
Let's go.Mountain View
city advisory bodies
served & led
Three seats. One real choice.
Mountain View has three Council seats up in November. We need every neighbor - every donor, every doorknocker, every yard sign - to make this win possible.
Chip in.
Every $25 buys yard signs. Every $100 powers a precinct. Every $500 funds a weekend of canvassing. This is a grassroots campaign, fueled entirely by neighbors.
Donate via ActBlue →Volunteer.
Knock on doors. Phone-bank from your couch. Host a meet-the-candidate in your living room. Bring a friend. Bring three. Show up the way we showed up on El Camino.
Sign me up →Put a sign in your yard.
Nothing moves neighbors like neighbors. Email us your address and we'll drop one off. Hosts on busy corners and El Camino get priority - bonus if you have a fence.
Request a sign →You came when I called.
Now I'll call you again.
Drop your email. We'll send campaign updates, event invites, and the occasional behind-the-scenes from the trail. No spam, no nonsense.