1 month ago
Mountain View Voice
Ramos, who was officially sworn into her new position on the Mountain View City Council on Feb. 14, graduated from the California Maritime Academy with a degree in mechanical engineering in 2008. After college, she moved back home to Fremont where she grew up, and spent years volunteering for, and then working, at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, now called The Tech Interactive.
“He was so inspirational,” Ramos said. “His campaign manager at the time was this other young person named Lucas Ramirez. Together, and with a few other Young Dems, we worked together to get Cory elected .”
Ramos’ experience campaigning for Obama led her to join the Young Democrats of America , a national organization that mobilizes young people to participate in politics and elect Democrats to office. But Ramos always saw herself as someone who worked better behind the scenes, rather than on the ballot. One of the first local campaigns she volunteered for was Cory Wolbach’s run for Palo Alto City Council in 2014.
“I have a younger sister who went off to college, and she was always asking me for things her freshman year, and one of the things she asked for was an Obama snapback hat,” Ramos said in an interview. “It was 2012, Obama was up for reelection, and so I looked up the nearest Obama office so I could just buy this hat. I went and I kind of was roped into volunteering for the rest of that campaign.”
The Rental Housing Committee was soon formed to help implement the city’s new rent control laws, and Ramos was selected out of a crowded pool of applicants. At first, she was set to be the only renter on the committee, until a last-minute swap added Evan Ortiz, another renter, to the mix.
Around the same time, Ramos moved to Mountain View, a community she was now well-connected to through her political work. She found a roommate who needed to fill a space in a below-market-rate apartment, which requires that residents make less than the area median income.
Outside of her 9-to-5 job, Ramos continued to have the itch for politics that she picked up during her time volunteering for the Obama campaign. After successfully helping to get Wolbach elected in Palo Alto, Ramos decided to support Ramirez’s run for office in Mountain View in 2016 by becoming his campaign manager.
With a majority of the council now people of color, the voting body is the most racially representative of the Mountain View community it’s ever been. According to the most recent census , the majority of Mountain View residents are non-white. But Ramos believes diversity goes further than how one identifies.
“With my addition to the council, this is the first time we’re going to have a majority minority council in the history of Mountain View,” Ramos, a daughter of Filipino immigrants, added. “I remember looking back to see the past council members of color, and you can’t even fill up both hands with the number of people of color who have sat on our City Council.”
“I think instead of taking it personally, I really want to keep the friendship in my voice,” Ramos said. “People caring about something a lot is something that should generally be celebrated. So even if they disagree with me, even if they’re upset with the process, I’m still representing them – and I want to do my best in that.”
Ramos said she’s not oblivious to the frustrations that some community members felt over the process that got her a seat on the city council. While the council ultimately decided on the less costly and more time efficient appointment process, some residents voiced that they would have preferred to hold a special election to fill former Council member Sally Lieber’s seat, in order to best represent the will of the people.
“Her big advice was, when dealing with people that you may disagree with, ‘Always keep the friendship in your voice,’” Ramos said. “There are a lot of divisive issues that can come before council, and I think that’s an important thing to think through: Always keep the friendship in your voice.”
When looking ahead at tackling these issues, Ramos knows it won’t always be easy to balance the varying opinions on the council, not to mention taking into account all the unique perspectives from the community. But as she prepares herself to have those tough conversations with her new colleagues and constituents, Ramos said she thinks back to advice she received from her former boss, Mary Hughes, when she worked for Close the Gap California , Hughes’ statewide campaign to get more women elected to political office.
“A lot of these issues are connected to each other,” Ramos said. “So when you elevate them, and ensure that you’re getting all members of the community having the input that is important to them, we really can dig ourselves out of these crises that we find ourselves in.”
Chief among those challenges for Ramos is implementing the city’s displacement response strategy; guiding the city through recovery from COVID-19; bracing for the worsening economic downturn; and the ever-present housing crisis – topics that Ramos is already well-versed in through her experience on the Rental Housing Committee and her day job as the Preservation and Protection Associate at [email protected] , an affordable housing advocacy organization. Ramos said she intends to keep working full time while balancing her new duties on council.
“I’m becoming more at ease with it now that the initial shock has worn off,” she said. “There is a responsibility to this position that people are relying on you to make their lives a little better. To make our community a little bit better. And to face the challenges that are coming towards us.”
Having always gravitated toward being behind the scenes rather than on stage, Ramos said getting used to being in the public spotlight has been an adjustment.
“A lot of us have very different opinions, and that’s a really good thing, to show that these opinions are not completely tied to your race, or your gender,” she said.
Emily Ann Ramos is used to being behind the scenes of winning political campaigns. She's ready to be in the spotlightUploaded: Wed, Feb 15, 2023, 1:36 pm
When newly appointed Mountain View City Council member Emily Ann Ramos wandered into her local Barack Obama campaign office 10 years ago to buy some merch, she had no idea that moment would snowball into a career in politics.
“I have a younger sister who went off to college, and she was always asking me for things her freshman year, and one of the things she asked for was an Obama snapback hat,” Ramos said in an interview. “It was 2012, Obama was up for reelection, and so I looked up the nearest Obama office so I could just buy this hat. I went and I kind of was roped into volunteering for the rest of that campaign.”
Ramos’ experience campaigning for Obama led her to join the Young Democrats of America, a national organization that mobilizes young people to participate in politics and elect Democrats to office. But Ramos always saw herself as someone who worked better behind the scenes, rather than on the ballot. One of the first local campaigns she volunteered for was Cory Wolbach’s run for Palo Alto City Council in 2014.
“He was so inspirational,” Ramos said. “His campaign manager at the time was this other young person named Lucas Ramirez. Together, and with a few other Young Dems, we worked together to get Cory elected.”
Ramos, who was officially sworn into her new position on the Mountain View City Council on Feb. 14, graduated from the California Maritime Academy with a degree in mechanical engineering in 2008. After college, she moved back home to Fremont where she grew up, and spent years volunteering for, and then working, at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, now called The Tech Interactive.
Outside of her 9-to-5 job, Ramos continued to have the itch for politics that she picked up during her time volunteering for the Obama campaign. After successfully helping to get Wolbach elected in Palo Alto, Ramos decided to support Ramirez’s run for office in Mountain View in 2016 by becoming his campaign manager.
Around the same time, Ramos moved to Mountain View, a community she was now well-connected to through her political work. She found a roommate who needed to fill a space in a below-market-rate apartment, which requires that residents make less than the area median income.
“That was the first time I realized I was low income, because my income matched that,” Ramos said.
A hot topic at the time was whether Mountain View should adopt rent control measures. While working behind the scenes to get Ramirez elected, Ramos also mobilized tenant advocates to pass Measure V, the Community Stabilization and Fair Rent Act.
The Rental Housing Committee was soon formed to help implement the city’s new rent control laws, and Ramos was selected out of a crowded pool of applicants. At first, she was set to be the only renter on the committee, until a last-minute swap added Evan Ortiz, another renter, to the mix.
Being a renter is one of the many ways that Ramos says she brings a diverse perspective to her new post on the Mountain View City Council.
“There are many facets of diversity that I think truly matter to our community,” Ramos said. “Our community is 60% renters.”
As it stands now, Ramos noted, her appointment increases the number of renters on City Council by 100%, since previously Ramirez was the only renter.
“With my addition to the council, this is the first time we’re going to have a majority minority council in the history of Mountain View,” Ramos, a daughter of Filipino immigrants, added. “I remember looking back to see the past council members of color, and you can’t even fill up both hands with the number of people of color who have sat on our City Council.”
With a majority of the council now people of color, the voting body is the most racially representative of the Mountain View community it’s ever been. According to the most recent census, the majority of Mountain View residents are non-white. But Ramos believes diversity goes further than how one identifies.
“A lot of us have very different opinions, and that’s a really good thing, to show that these opinions are not completely tied to your race, or your gender,” she said.
Having always gravitated toward being behind the scenes rather than on stage, Ramos said getting used to being in the public spotlight has been an adjustment.
“I’m becoming more at ease with it now that the initial shock has worn off,” she said. “There is a responsibility to this position that people are relying on you to make their lives a little better. To make our community a little bit better. And to face the challenges that are coming towards us.”
Chief among those challenges for Ramos is implementing the city’s displacement response strategy; guiding the city through recovery from COVID-19; bracing for the worsening economic downturn; and the ever-present housing crisis – topics that Ramos is already well-versed in through her experience on the Rental Housing Committee and her day job as the Preservation and Protection Associate at [email protected], an affordable housing advocacy organization. Ramos said she intends to keep working full time while balancing her new duties on council.
“A lot of these issues are connected to each other,” Ramos said. “So when you elevate them, and ensure that you’re getting all members of the community having the input that is important to them, we really can dig ourselves out of these crises that we find ourselves in.”
When looking ahead at tackling these issues, Ramos knows it won’t always be easy to balance the varying opinions on the council, not to mention taking into account all the unique perspectives from the community. But as she prepares herself to have those tough conversations with her new colleagues and constituents, Ramos said she thinks back to advice she received from her former boss, Mary Hughes, when she worked for Close the Gap California, Hughes’ statewide campaign to get more women elected to political office.
“Her big advice was, when dealing with people that you may disagree with, ‘Always keep the friendship in your voice,’” Ramos said. “There are a lot of divisive issues that can come before council, and I think that’s an important thing to think through: Always keep the friendship in your voice.”
Ramos said she’s not oblivious to the frustrations that some community members felt over the process that got her a seat on the city council. While the council ultimately decided on the less costly and more time efficient appointment process, some residents voiced that they would have preferred to hold a special election to fill former Council member Sally Lieber’s seat, in order to best represent the will of the people.
“I think instead of taking it personally, I really want to keep the friendship in my voice,” Ramos said. “People caring about something a lot is something that should generally be celebrated. So even if they disagree with me, even if they’re upset with the process, I’m still representing them – and I want to do my best in that.”
