Top Ten Points of My Campaign

By Francesco Papalia

All of these points are gone into with more depth at my website at http://www.AlbanyFirst.org

2. I will be an Independent Voice on the Council, not aligned with any special group or interest. The bedrock of our community is our schools. The success of our schools benefits us all, whether we have kids or not. I believe that the City Council must find new ways to support our schools to fill the funding gap caused by the drastic budget cuts for education by the State.

3. We must grow our economic base by supporting our existing businesses. Safeway and the University of California have proposals to invest $135,000,000 in our community for new retail stores and assisted-living senior housing units. These plans would revitalize Solano Avenue near Safeway and San Pablo Avenue next to UC Village. My B.A. in Architecture from University of California at Berkeley and my 30 years of experience in real estate, finance and construction will give the Council a much needed perspective to fully realize this enormous opportunity. We can create an economic revitalization that will be environmentally responsible and fiscally sustainable over the next decades and for us and our children.

4. At the Waterfront we need to concentrate our efforts on the publicly owned lands and create a park that we can enjoy now. I have a plan that can be implemented next year that will provide expanded safe recreation access to all of Albany's citizens. See: http://albanyfirst.org/?page_id=69 for details.

5.The Voices to Vision project may have been a well executed project by a skilled professional consultant, but the basic premise of the project was so severely flawed that it must be graded as the biggest failure by the council over the last four years. . During the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression the council chose to spend $600,000 over the prudent objections of much of the public. This expensive visioning process, which has no immediate application, proceeded without the participation of the property owner, (Golden Gate Fields), who was not contemplating closing the track. The financial restructuring of GGF's parent company, Magna Entertainment, never included closing the race track, which was one of its consistently profitable companies. This process helped perpetuate the persistent unfounded rumors about the track's closing, while giving Albany residents unrealistic expectations about the purpose and usefulness of this costly process. Decades from now, when the Track may close, this report will be just another outdated and very expensive report sitting on the shelf of the planning department.

6. The residents of the Albany Hill area deserve their own park now. For too long they have been poorly served by the City Council. I will negotiate the best deal possible for the City of Albany while pressing the Department of Transportation to fulfill its broken promise to the Pierce Street Neighborhood. Pierce Street Park must become a reality!

7. We need to restore the Planning Department to two full-time professional planners. It is crucial to Albany's short and long term economic development that our professional planning staff in the Community Development Department operates at full strength. Whether it is a resident putting an addition onto their house or a new business trying to invest in our community, we need to be efficient while responding in a timely manner to all applicants' needs. This is not the place to cut staff in order to balance the budget. We lose many more tax dollars in the future than we save now.

8. Equal Health Care Benefits for the City Council, not Better. I would vote to change the current plan, which provides better and more expensive coverage than for the rest of the city's employees. The Council should be willing to accept the same plan as all city employees. It is simply an issue of fairness.

9. The Council should provide leadership in creating safer bicycle and pedestrian routes to schools, around town, along the Ohlone Greenway and to the Target Store and the Albany Waterfront. This will encourage a healthier and greener future for Albany, my home since 1987.

10. In my work I meet with the public and other business owners on a daily basis. I know intimately how people are struggling to pay their monthly bills. Many Albany business owners have confided in me how they are struggling to just cover their costs to stay open. My training in Architecture gives me the skill to think creatively while analyzing complex issues. I can see the pragmatic, common sense solution that is acceptable to all parties. And those solutions should be beautiful and enduring. I see the environment as a treasure we must protect and not destroy. I believe I can bring our diverse group together to reach a common goal where all of Albany benefits. I am asking for your vote to elect me to serve you on the Albany City Council where I will always put the interest of the City of Albany, as a whole, First.