Candidate for
Member, City Council; City of El Cerrito

El Cerrito needs City Council Members who can and will work to promote, preserve and improve the quality of life in El Cerrito. If elected to the City Council I will work to build partnerships with the business community and our local and regional neighbors to promote public and private investment in El Cerrito. I will promote an economic development strategy that better communicates throughout the San Francisco Bay Region the reasons why El Cerrito is an ideal location to start a business, build a business, and raise a family.

In the San Francisco Bay Region, with two Bart stations; public transportation by bus to San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, and North Bay communities; convenient freeway access to San Francisco and Marin Counties; and a customer base that pulls from five different East Bay cities (El Cerrito, Richmond, Albany, Kensington and Berkeley), El Cerrito is an ideal location for a variety of business enterprises. We need a more aggressive economic development strategy that utilizes the communities assets to attract and maintain those businesses that will serve the demands of our residents and our neighbors, and enhance the quality of life in El Cerrito. Successful businesses that serve our community can increase our city revenues by providing the goods and services that we need and want.

El Cerrito needs to generate revenue to support our police and fire services, and to restore and maintain our streets, storm drains, parks, open spaces, and recreation facilities. We need revenue to support services for our seniors, youths and families, including the Senior Center, After School Programs, the Community Center, the Swimming Facilities and the Recycling Center. The availability of these services and facilities help to define the quality of life in El Cerrito. We need City Council Members who will affirmatively support maintenance and enhancement of our public services, and who can and will work to protect and improve those services.

I am committed to protecting our level of Police and Fire services and committed to protecting services for seniors, youths and families. Furthermore, I have a broad base of support from the professionals who serve El Cerrito, business and community leaders, and elected officials. My broad base of support demonstrates that I can build the partnerships necessary to promote public and private investment in El Cerrito. My professional accomplishments and service on behalf of El Cerrito further demonstrate that I will work to get things done.

I believe that our elected representatives should consider the interests of every resident of El Cerrito in setting policies and finding solutions for El Cerrito. I believe that representative government means that, as an elected representative, you remember and work on behalf of the City as a whole, not only the few out of 23,000 who can and do attend meetings, hearings and workshops. If elected, I will consider the interests of every resident of El Cerrito, regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, economic circumstances, religion, race or ethnicity, in making decisions for our city.

My vision of El Cerrito is of a broadly inclusive community striving for a future that has a place in it for everyone, and a sustainable community where we can shop, recreate, and even work near our homes.

In 2001, I pledged to help revitalize El Cerrito, to rotect the beauty and spirit of the El Cerrito community while promoting economic development and financial vitality. I kept my pledge. Today El Cerrito has more places to shop, more traffic enforcement officers and more paramedics. The El Cerrito Library is open more hours, and we have a beautiful, new, full-program Swim Center. We have started to paint buildings, pave streets, improve landscaping, repair and replace play equipment, improve tennis facilities, and develop our creeks and open spaces.