The soaring cost of housing in the Bay Area has spurred several rent control initiatives on the Nov. 8 ballot, including two measures, V and W, in Mountain View.

Measure V, sponsored by the Mountain View Tenants Coalition, is a charter amendment that would limit rent increases to 2 to 5 percent per year. Charter amendments are unchangeable without another vote of the people.

Some of us in Los Altos often say we don’t want to be like Mountain View. Like that’s a bad thing. No, we don’t want our neighboring city’s traffic and high-density housing. But Mountain View does some wonderful things that Los Altos can’t possibly do with its limited resources, like the Mountain View council’s recent approval of a 67-unit affordable housing complex with 30 units set aside for veterans. The city contributed $7 million to the project.

Mountain View also has successfully executed a program that doesn’t require a big budget and that Los Altos should emulate: establishment of off-leash dog areas in city parks.

Election season is upon us – boy, is it ever! There are many candidates and issues to consider.

Sorry, you’re on your own with the presidential race. But hopefully the Town Crier can offer information and informed opinions on the local races and issues that may be helpful come Nov. 8.

The Los Altos City Council did the right thing, albeit with a 3-2 vote, in electing to add the word “Veterans” to the downtown Community Plaza at Main and State streets.

The July 12 action caps a successful campaign, led by the Rotary Club of Los Altos, to rename the small plaza in honor of local veterans who served through the generations, from World War II to Afghanistan. Some died protecting our freedoms. Those who remain will surely feel appreciation for the citywide recognition.

The filing date for candidacy is over. This is where you come in. Voters must start their homework early in what promises to be one of the busiest and most controversial general elections in recent memory.

With a Nov. 8 ballot chock-full of national, regional and local races, we can easily get distracted by the noisiest national voices and ignore those closer to home, those whose outcomes may impact us the most.

As we head into the 2016-2017 fiscal year, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View are reflecting the current healthy economy with healthy budgets.

An increase in property taxes, which account for much of the local budgets, has Los Altos filling positions left vacant since the 2008 recession. Mountain View is hiring an additional 24 staffers to handle the deluge of projects accompanying the city’s phenomenal growth.