Sacramento Bee Endorsement Questionnaire

By Ryan Chin

1. What three specific things should the council do to help create jobs in Sacramento?

In the short term, the most important thing we can do to support local businesses is to stabilize state government funding so that businesses in our region will know that their bills will be paid on time, their projects will be funded to completion and that their customer base will grow, not be depressed by lay‐offs, salary cuts or furloughs. The Mayor and the Council should be proactively working with the Governor and state leaders to limit cuts and stabilize local spending.

Growing local businesses is my top priority. I will promote tax incentives that assist small businesses to open and stay in business as well as opportunities to reduce regulatory burdens that increase costs for small business.

Citywide, I will look to leverage our strengths. One example is in medicine. Sacramento has four strong hospitals, located in a very compact geographic area. This should form the base for a comprehensive health care industry + along the lines of Porter five forces model. The hospitals need suppliers and have complimentary business, which should be located here, in Sacramento. This could spur the growth of substitutes and bring in customers. One specific example for new business growth that would leverage the knowledge of the hospitals is medical technology, like cardio and cardiovascular devices.

2. What three specific things should the council do to enhance neighborhoods and quality of life?

Strengthen Local Businesses. The more thriving shops, restaurants and other businesses we have in our communities, the stronger those communities will be. I will seek to establish promotional programs for businesses in our local communities, which would include incentives for neighbors to shop and eat their local business and restaurant ‐ for example coupons and loyalty programs. I will convene local commercial property and business owners together to discuss creating a business improvement in my district, prioritizing the most pressing overall business improvements. The improvements could range from installing better parking lot lights for the complex on Pocket and Greenhaven, renovations for the Riverside Plaza II center, or providing security. Improve Public Safety. We cannot simply police our way to safety. The city needs to increase partnerships with our neighborhoods, community organizations, schools and local businesses to promote programs that deter crime. For every 10% increase in the graduation rate, we can expect to see a 20% reduction in crime. Educational programs I helped create for the community like the CSI (Community, Service, and Impact) Day and GIFT (Gun Violence Information for Teens) give students exposure to our criminal justice partners, including the police, in a friendly, interactive setting and help build a cooperative, trusting relationship. We should be working to expand and create new programs like those. We should be working to expand neighborhood watch groups. I am the neighborhood watch captain in my area and our efforts have been a great success.

Improve Government Accessibility. When I am elected, people in my District will know that they have access to their Councilman. Every piece of literature my volunteers and I have handed out around the district includes my personal cell phone number. I am eager to chat with my neighbors about whatever issues they would like. It's through this level of community accessibility that I can ensure that problems are rectified and good ideas advanced in our community. For example, one of my neighbors mentioned to me that their neighborhood is in the flight path of airplanes landing on runway 2 at the Executive Airport. While we have not found a solution yet, I was able to bring it to the attention of airport staff, an important first step in finding a solution that involves all the stakeholders.

3. What three programs or services would you cut to close the $40 million budget deficit?

Unfortunately, the City Council has been unable to find long term solutions to recent budget shortfalls and once again, we must look at cutting programs and services that our city depends on. While I believe I have the experience and skill set to strengthen our local economy and correct the budget situation productively and proactively, that will not ameliorate the need for cuts this year.

The first areas I would cut are redundancies. There are a number of services that both the city and county provide that could be consolidated to save money in both budgets. I would look at services like fleet management, park maintenance, boat and helicopter patrols and security background checks for consolidation.

That was the easy part of the answer, though and, unfortunately we are out of easy answers. We need to make tough decisions about our city's priorities. What are the core services that we must perform to fulfill our basic responsibilities as a city? What services are luxuries that we will have to do without until better times? I believe these are questions that we should answer, collectively. We need to get buy‐in from the community so that the people who are affected understand why we need to make these tough decisions and what we need to do to improve the situation.

Finally, we need to acknowledge that we simply cannot cut $40 million from the budget without adversely affecting our city's workforce. Last year police and firefighters stepped up to the plate and helped close the deficit by forgoing planned raises. At a minimum, it will probably be necessary to ask for similar concessions from city workers this year. As a matter of fairness, we should first ask workers in departments and bargaining units that have not already been impacted to forgo raises. Additional cuts to overtime, staffing or benefits may be necessary beyond that, but it is essential that we work to minimize them. Cutting jobs will only add to the unemployment rolls and the city's economic woes and should be considered an option of last resort.

4. Do you support a ballot initiative to switch from the council‐manager form of government to a strong mayor system?

I strongly opposed the original Strong Mayor Initiative.

There are a number of ways in which our city's government can be improved. Beyond the more controversial proposals, there are some areas that I believe there is or could be a clear consensus. For example, the Natomas development scandal and the issue with water meters are clear evidence that there is inadequate oversight and accountability for city staff. There are also a number of provisions in the City's Charter that supporters on both sides would agree are obsolete and should be updated or removed entirely.

Beyond these and other areas, I do believe the city could operate more effectively and efficiently. We should be looking to proactively engage experts and the community to determine what reforms should be considered and how they fit into our city's priorities and values. I believe, with the right collection of reforms, this could be accomplished in either a council‐manager or mayor‐council form of government. While there is a relatively even split between the two forms of government, the reality is that almost every city, whether technically one or the other, employs a moderate hybrid of the two, electing features from both that work well with their unique circumstances. Focusing on the binary choice of Strong‐Mayor v Weak is not a productive way to discuss improving our city.

I would support a reform proposal that:

• Preserves and strengthen neighborhood representation;
• Streamlines and standardize business development practices;
• Increases staff accountability and oversight without politicizing or weakening the civil service;
• Maintains an independent City Attorney, Clerk and Treasurer;
• Includes an ethics committee;
• Is written through an open, transparent process that includes input from the community and all stakeholders.

I do. I believe the convergence arena proposal could present a win‐win situation for our city. It could spur needed development in under served areas, create good jobs when we need them most, help to expand transit and improve access to affordable housing, while proactively working to define the way we want our city to grow in a thoughtful, inclusive manner. To their credit, to this point, the developers have shown a great willingness to work with community priorities to ensure that the ultimate agreement is a positive for our city and I look forward to working collaboratively with them to ensure the success and mutual benefits of these projects. A final agreement should include:

• Hiring preference for Sacramento city residents;
• A fair share of revenues returned to city;
• Minimal public costs;
• Expansion of Sacramento Mixed‐Income Housing Ordinance to include areas of new developments;
• Card check neutrality and a living wage agreement for the new entertainment district; and
• Parks, schools and other important features of a livable community.

At the heart of downtown revitalization is expanded residential development. Bringing people into the area at night will make the community safer and ensure a stable customer base for local businesses. Affordable, attractive housing options for middle income, younger Sacramentans will do more to revitalize the area than any amount of commercial development.

I would encourage new renovations of the mall to focus on tying it in closer with Old Sac and following successful revitalization models, such as Old Pasadena.

I would also establish a city run K Street advisory group that establish goals, objectives and metrics for revitalizing K Street, and would meet regularly to assess the current revitalization efforts against those goals, objectives and metrics. The group would make recommendations for future efforts. The group should consist of business owners, land owners, and neighborhood representatives in the K Street areas as wells as planning and development experts.

7. Do you support functional consolidation with Sacramento County, such as animal control departments?

In areas where there is a clear opportunity for improved efficiency, without sacrificing services, I support functional consolidation. In addition to animal control, the SWAT team and boat patrol are other areas where we should pursue consolidation. In these difficult times, we need to take every opportunity to limit spending so that we can avoid further cuts.

8. Would you support doing away with four to an engine staffing requirements for the Sacramento Fire Department?

After spending a day with Sacramento City fire crew, I appreciate the importance of having adequate resources to respond to fires and medical emergencies. The current level of firefighter staffing ensures the necessary personnel can respond as needed. With the number of firefighters and fire stations, the configuration is four to an engine. I, therefore, do not support doing away with four to engine staffing requirements for the Sacramento Fire Department.

One option I would support is to maintain the number firefighters and increase the number of fire stations. While this necessarily reduces the staffing per engine, it does not reduce the level of service and might actually improve vital response times.

9. What elements in current contracts with city employees would you change to lower costs? Would you change pension benefit formulas for new hires to lower the city's liabilities?

Changes to city employee contracts will likely be necessary to close the budget gap. Our top priority should be avoiding or limiting elimination of jobs, because such a step would only make the city's economic situation worse. Specific changes should be bargained collectively. It is more productive and fair to work with the city's bargaining units to identify which specific changes are most appropriate and least harmful to our workforce, but will still get the city to the level of savings that is necessary.

I will bring the independent voice our city needs to make decisions in the community's best interest. My ties are to the community and my constituents. As the only candidate without ties to the city's public employee unions, I can represent the community without bias.

10. Would you favor continuing the bike path over the levee through South Sacramento?

I would favor continuing the bike path over the levee through South Sacramento. Sacramento is the "river city" and the Sacramento River is an invaluable resource for all of Sacramento + one that should be shared by all residents. Improving and expanding bike paths is a great way to improve quality of life and public health in our city, while helping to mitigate traffic. Residents of our city should be able to ride their bikes the length and width of the city without having to share the road with cars.

Expanding recreation opportunities will also draw in residents of neighboring communities, bringing economic opportunities with them + for example, bike tourism and the complimentary businesses.

Continuing the bike path should be done with minimal disruption to the private property rights and must address public safety issues and concerns.