League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Santa Clara County, CA November 3, 2009 Election
	Chris Gaither 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 economic down turn and possibly reduced income for the city in future years, how do you propose to both balance the budget and meet the cities desires for quality services ?

(1) Continue the salary/benefit cost containment being implemented by the current city manager for all staff and unions; allow normal attrition and replace positions with experienced volunteers where possible - this will help to keep services operational (2) Work with the Chamber of Commerce to establish a city supported service to assist business owners in negotiating affordable office/commercial rent terms so that they can stay in business and thrive (3) Promote in other city media/journals both on-line and print the benefits of doing business in Palo Alto, to encourage much needed diverse retail and commercial business growth in order to expand our offered business services, and help to increase our tax revenue base

2. An updated Comprehensive Plan is due to be approved in 2010. What changes if any should be made to the Plan and why?

Palo Alto has been extremely proactive and successful in building and providing family housing, both affordable and market rate. The current plan calls for 2700 additional units in the next 7 to 10 years. The questions - where do we get the land? And how do we support the additional people for the housing with respect to city and retail services, schools and quality of life issues? The number should be reduced to about 1500, and the goal should be to create housing that fits in with the Palo Alto landscape, and not dense housing that simply hoards people into a community like Arbor Real (Rickey's Hyatt), and buildings that are too big for the allocated space. Additionally, we could use more affordable senior housing.

3. The Baylands Master Plan guides land use east of Route 101. Several land use changes are currently being proposed relating to composting, recycling, parkland, airport needs, and hotel development. What land uses do you think desirable and what uses are incompatible in the Baylands?

The Baylands, golf course, and airport - all located in one of the most relaxing areas of Palo Alto! I enjoy dining at the golf course and watching the planes and fireworks from the baylands. I support the airport as it is an effective emergency resource. I support a hotel as it will be built on land already devoted to a restaurant and we need the revenue. Besides, a hotel next to both an airport and a golf course, how much better can it get for a visitor! Composting and recycling - Stanford has a great recycling program and an expansive lake area, why not collaborate in a joint program?

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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. LWV Palo Alto is using Smart Voter information to publish a paper Voters Guide. Therefore, word limits apply to some of the sections. Contact Veronica Tincher <vtincher@yahoo.com> if you misplaced the instruction sheet with the word limits which was mailed to you. Your answers will be taken from Smart Voter at 8 p.m., September 18 and will be published in the Voters Guide. After that date, you are free to enter more information according to the Smart Voter guidelines.

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

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: November 2, 2009 11:25
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