League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Santa Clara County, CA November 7, 2006 Election
	Heidi Pham Answers Questions Candidate for Council Member; City of Milpitas

The questions were prepared by the Leagues of Women Voters of Santa Clara County and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. What experience related to city government would you bring to the City Council?

I'm not a politician. I'm a mother, a County employee, a homeowner, an emigrant, and a community volunteer. After living for ten years across the street from Milpitas, I moved to Milpitas because of the quality of life here.

I am working hard to learn to be an effective Council member. I am supported by my education, by other Council members, City staff, and my "kitchen cabinet". As good managers know, a new employee can learn the technical aspects to do a good job if she has the right character, personality and integrity to do a job well. I have cultivated the necessary character my entire life. My escape from Vietnam, my volunteer work with the blind, my work in the justice system and raising two successful children have shaped who I am and what I can be. More than someone with all the answers, what Milpitas needs is someone they can trust.

2. What concerns are of particular importance to the city and how would you address them?

Council must balance the budget. Although the City received unexpected one-time revenues this year, there remains an ongoing structural deficit in the City's budget which means that the city will need another $5M next year to balance the budget. And another $5M in 2008. And another $5M the year after that. Milpitas residents need someone that admits that the City is spending more than they have. I promise to work with residents to make the tough choices required to balance the budget - without using accounting tricks.

Education. Although the City can't cure the financial problems of the schools, we can help in many different ways. We can return to the time when the City of Milpitas worked with the School District. When I'm elected, I will seek and support cooperation between the city and School District.

Environment. We can protect the environment in many ways. First, we must protect the hills that are so important to all of us who live in Milpitas. We can take pride in our beautiful hillsides. We can prevent unnecessary development in the hills - not only to preserve the beauty and diversity, but to avoid the high costs of providing City services to wealthy landowners and developers. Beyond protecting the hills, we can look for ways to slow global warming by saving, or even generating, clean and local energy.

3. How would you balance the needs of the City as a whole with groups' interests?

One way is to use multiple criteria when judging projects and programs. A set of criteria could include financial, public health, and environmental considerations. Clearly, the most recent budget passed by the Council majority failed the financial test because it used accounting tricks rather than honestly balancing the budget. Although the KB Homes developement near Elmwood Jail passes the financial test, it fails the environmental test because no additional requirements for energy efficiency or sustainable building practices were demanded of the developers (if they did less, the buildings would be illegal). The City's failure to address the health issues of diesel exhaust and the long delay in saving money to repair/replace aging sewer lines fails the public health criteria. By balancing three criteria rather than one or two, wise choices can be made that serve both the City's residents and the various special interest groups that comprise our community as a whole.

---

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).

Candidate Page || Feedback to Candidate || This Contest
SmartVoter Home (Ballot Lookup) || About Smart Voter

---

Created from information supplied by the candidate: November 1, 2006 18:30
Smart Voter <http://www.smartvoter.org/>
Copyright © League of Women Voters of California Education Fund   http://www.lwvc.org
The League of Women Voters neither supports nor opposes candidates for public office or political parties.