Candidate for
Council Member; City of Pacifica

Pacifica is a small town that has become paralyzed by the growth/no-growth debate. We have focused on these polarizing issues and ignored other important issues facing our City. It is my observation that the Council has not been proactive enough in meeting our diverse community's needs. We have been focused on projects that can be easily funded by grants, but have ignored our street maintenance and repair and have been unable to find new income sources. What about finding a solution for the libraries that doesn't rely on new development that may or may not ever be approved? We have a "that's the way it's always been done" attitude. We do not consider whether solutions can be found by taking a different approach such as cutting back on expenses or operating more efficiently. Our leaders need to evaluate our procedures, our expenses and our infrastructure to determine where we can save money and where we can protect ourselves from unnecessary expenses. Our community's needs must be a priority.

It was during the budget study sessions that I decided to run. After considerable review of the previous year's detailed budget, I suggested looking internally to cut back on non-essential expenses such as conferences in order to fund the Resource Center and the Libraries. I even raised the question as to why the City Manager's phone bill was $10K. The City Manager told me, "If you take $1 from one area of the budget, it will affect another area," as way of explaining why cuts couldn't be made. Not one question was raised by Council about alternatives to the budget cuts being submitted by the City Manager. It appeared as if no one was rolling up their sleeves to see if they could find alternatives other than a fire assessment tax, reducing essential services, cutting the Resource Center, decreasing funding to the Libraries, selling bonds from the Redevelopment Agency and deferring City maintenance even further.

I have performed financial triage with my business and with other organizations and would be doing this now if I were on the City Council. It just seems as though not enough questions are being asked, not enough investigation into alternatives. It appears that the City Manager's suggestions receive a rubber stamp. At this critical time, I believe the City Council needs to be more involved in the operations of this City and involve our community to find solutions.

I was also motivated to run for City Council because I believe that the City Attorney's abbreviated and short responses are not questioned and this needs to change. Broader and more informative answers of all possible interpretations and consequences need to be provided. I understand legal language and would be uncomfortable accepting the City Attorney's point of view as legal advice in the format it is currently given.

Given my budgetary experience and understanding of legal language, I felt my skills could be of service to Pacifica at this critical time and that is why I am running for City Council.