About Max Mautner
I’m a resident of San Mateo, California, USA.
I’m a software engineer, a husband, and a father.
I write about transportation, housing, and local politics–three things that most determine whether a place is livable for the people who live there, and whether it stays that way.
I’m a co-lead of Move San Mateo, the local chapter of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition. I serve on the SamTrans Citizens Advisory Committee. I engage civically through comment in public meetings and communicating with electeds. I organize local bike rides and walking tours.
I do these things because I believe local government is where the stakes are most real and the leverage is highest, while state and federal politics feel remote. Your city council decides whether you can safely walk in your neighborhood with your family. That decision is made by five people you can actually talk to.
I’m also a YIMBY. California’s housing crisis is a policy failure with identifiable causes and solvable solutions. Housing and transportation are the same problem: when people can’t afford to live near where they work, they drive. When they drive, they need more roads and more parking. The city builds more roads and more parking. Nobody can afford to live there. Repeat.
I try to write things that change how you see your city.
That’s the project. Welcome!