Michael Mulcahy, a lifelong champion for our neighborhoods, is running for San José City Council to focus City Hall on our most important challenges — starting with safety in every community, ending the era of street homelessness, cleaning up our parks and creeks, and creating the housing we need without destroying the character of our neighborhoods.

Michael was born and raised right here in District 6, and he and his wife Kimberly brought up their three daughters — Claire, Ella and Camille — in Willow Glen. A longtime resident and advocate of San José, Michael has worked his entire career to build a stronger, safer and more economically vibrant city.

As a local business owner, Michael knows it is vital to uplift local businesses so we can revitalize our neighborhoods, create middle-class jobs, and generate revenue for city services without raising taxes. Between opening and operating neighborhood-serving businesses, championing Willow Glen’s Lincoln Avenue and rehabilitating the Garden Theater and other legacy properties — Michael has created hundreds of high-wage jobs in San José and preserved part of its history.

When he was head of the Willow Glen Business Association, Michael created new revenue to drive economic vitality, job creation, and safer and cleaner streets for the business district. As a founding board member of Team San José, he partnered to bring business, arts, government, and labor together to generate tourism and high-wage jobs for San José. He has also served on the Hillbrook School Board, Heritage Bank Advisory Board, San José Downtown Development Strategy Task Force, and is a founder of the Monterey Corridor Business Association. He is a senior fellow and past board member of the American Leadership Forum.

As a life-long musical theater performer, Michael knows the importance of uplifting the arts and cultivating a greater sense of culture, community and connection in every San José neighborhood. As the long-time Executive Director of Children’s Musical Theater San José, a nonprofit theater company focused on youth programming, Michael helped grow the organization into one of Silicon Valley’s most effective programs serving youth and families. The organization is now in its 56th season and is nationally recognized for its unique use of an arts-based curriculum to teach life skills, teamwork and responsibility to young people.

Michael lives in Willow Glen with his wife Kimberly, a strong advocate for her community and neighbors. Kimberly serves as the board chair for ArtHouse Studio, a local nonprofit with a mission to level the playing field through the power of creativity and innovation, and was a budget and policy analyst for former San José Mayor Susan Hammer.