League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Santa Clara County, CA November 6, 2007 Election
	Smokey Wallace Answers Questions Candidate for Council Member; City of Palo Alto

The questions were prepared by the the League of Women Voters of Palo Alto and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. In light of the city of Palo Alto's budget deficit, how do you propose to increase city revenues and promote efficiency in city operations?

For starters, We should perform a complete audit of City management and spending practices (i.e. efficiency). Secondly, We should launch a complete revitalization project for our business districts (i.e. increase revenue). The reality is there is never enough money to fund everything and Palo Alto needs to make some very difficult choices. In order to make these choices, Palo Alto needs a comprehensive vision, plan and process for determining community priorities.

2. How would you propose to meet Palo Alto's requirements for housing, existing and potential retail, future infrastructure, and city services?

Again, we need a clear vision and plan. To accomplish this, I believe the City needs a top to bottom analysis and overhaul. We need to figure out what is working and what is not. We are spending tons of money and based upon community input we are either standing in place of falling behind. We have been putting band-aids on serious problems for years. I firmly believe Palo Alto's first priorities must be revitalizing our business districts and upgrading and or fixing our decaying infrastructure.

3. Does Palo Alto have an obligation to consider regional needs with respect to a growing population, increasing diversity, and the importance of economic opportunity? If so, what proposals and plans would you support?

The simple fact is that the Palo Alto is "built-out". That does not mean that we should not (or will not) build more housing, but we must take into account the total costs of such housing increases. One of the primary reasons for our infrastructure decay and back log is that we have historical approved development without recouping the total costs to the City. We definitely should not "steal" business space for more residential space.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates in this race must limit their answers to 300 words total so that a paper Voters Guide may be published by LWV Palo Alto. After 8 p.m. on Sept. 12 word limits will no longer apply. 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 14, 2007 13:46
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