League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Santa Clara County, CA November 7, 2006 Election
	Pierluigi Oliverio Answers Questions Candidate for Council Member, 6; City of San Jose; Council District 6

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of San Jose/Santa Clara in partnership with the San Jose Mercury News and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. There are proposals to add 30,000 houses and more office space in North San Jose, thousands more homes in Evergreen and to build a new community in the Coyote Valley. There has been no in-depth study of how these plans will affect one another or services throughout the city. Should San Jose complete a thorough, public review of its general plan for growth before approving any more major development plans? Silicon Valley needs more housing, but San Jose needs more jobs to strengthen its tax base. How would you balance those conflicting pressures?

Development in the North San Jose corridor makes sense since High Tech companies have historically located there. Light Rail runs the entire length so I support companies abilities to build higher and for high density housing and retail to go along with it. We should strive for mixed use development. Jobs and housing are equally important. IN addition I want a vibrant Downtown with high density infill development.As far as Evergreen and Coyote we need to have a review of the General Plan before moving forward.

2. San Jose has a council/manager form of government. Over the past few years the balance of power has shifted toward the mayor and there are some elected officials who support this stronger role for the mayor. Should San Jose move to a strong-mayor form of government or have a strong professional administrator? What kind of city manager will you look for?

I believe in a strong Mayor and a strong City Manager; one to be the leader in policy and vision and the other to be the leader in professional administration and quality city services. We should seek a proven professional City Manager with experience in delivering a high quality level of services to citizens and who thinks out of the box. One that has a track record of ethical behavior in working with elected officials and one that is not shy to speak out when necessary for the good of the City.

3. Safety often includes services such as homework centers and code enforcement for neighborhoods, but the city budget now being prepared could cut much needed services. If there is no other source of funds to maintain safety-related centers and gang prevention, would you consider reducing the funds going to support the police and fire departments? Can the growing costs of police and for pensions be covered without depleting funds for other community service in the future?

The only long term solution is to grow the economy. By using technology we could cut waste and inefficiency. After school programs and code enforcement are part of the safety related services we should fund. I cannot promise that these programs are untouchable, but they would not be preferred choices for cuts. Since police and fire are the most essential services the budget consequences have to be carefully evaluated and most likely other services will suffer first.

4. Money to maintain and operate the city’s public facilities such as parks and libraries is in shorter and shorter supply. So while new or expanded community centers have been proposed previously, the city is looking at closing or privatizing up to 30 existing centers it cannot afford to operate. Should the city re-examine its plans to add parks and other public facilities? Are there services the city could cut to find money for these highly valued ones?

There is nothing more sad to residents than to build facilities only to close them due to lack of operating funds. But our future will have better economic times and creating new parks is absolutely in that future. As an outsider, I am not beholden to any particular special interest. I am ready to go in and find creative solutions to balancing the budget. I will find new ways to use staff more effectively, reengineer administrative tasks, and establish a complete line-item budget for the council's review and adoption.

We need to retain and recruit small and mid-size companies to San Jose. This will make the pie bigger so we can afford the services our citizens deserve.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' responses are not edited or corrected by the League.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 27, 2006 11:18
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