Candidate for
Council Member; City of Emeryville

A Vision for the Future

Keep Our Budget Balanced to Maintain and Improve Our Essential City Services

We can be proud to have some of the finest, most effective and responsive City services in the entire bay area. But of course, we should always be striving for improvement. In my next term in office, you can count on me to:

• Continue to foster a vibrant, collaborative, booming business community, keeping our revenue flow steady and strong, to ensure that our currently balanced budget remains that way. We must keep up with our city's growing demand for vital services.
• Sustain and expand our police department's neighborhood outreach program with increased walking patrols, interactive community networking on the Internet, and frequent, collaborative public safety meetings.
• Partner with our fire department to emphasize and improve public emergency and disaster preparedness through community education and participation. Provide increased funding for our CERT (Citizens Emergency Response Training) program and for expanded paramedic training. Work with our Fire Service Task Force to identify new ways to provide better, more efficient fire services.
  

As our population continues to grow, we must make sure that our transportation system keeps up, and that we invest in innovative, alternate transit methods. Effective planning will ensure that our citizens have dependable and efficient public transportation and that traffic will remain under control. If re-elected I will work to:

• Expand the areas of service and extend the hours of operation for the Emery-Go-Round.
• Provide additional access and increased safety for pedestrians and bicyclists via several projects, including the completion of the bicycle/pedestrian bridges over the railroad to the Bay Street Shopping Center and over I-80.
• Assure any potential future development in our city will be evaluated on the basis of whether or not it is transit-oriented, pedestrian, bicyclist and commuter friendly, and aids in traffic calming.
  

Last year, a record number of our graduating high school seniors went on to attend college. There is a lot we should be proud of, but there is always room to do more. Together we must:

• Strengthen Emeryville's partnership with the Chamber of Commerce, business community, School District and State Department of Education, to bring in much needed resources to improve school curriculum and after-school and tutoring programs, and reduce class sizes.
• As a founding member and continuing board member of the Emery Education Foundation, I will continue to aggressively promote the organization, which works with local business leaders to secure funding to support the School District and its students, through college scholarships and other vital programs.
• Work closely with all members of the community, from residents, to the business community, to City staff, to see through the construction of The Center for Community Life. The proposed center will serve as a facility for the Emeryville Recreation Department and the schools, and as a general, multi-use community foundation. Parents, teachers, business leaders, and everyday citizens are working together to make this a place where people can become more involved in their community, where families can access quality healthcare information, and where parents can take part in support programs on ways to help with their children's schooling.
  

Part of what makes Emeryville so special is the diversity of our community. And as this community expands and further diversifies in the coming years, we must never lose sight of the needs of our citizens. In my next term, the citizens of Emeryville can trust me to:

• Advocate for more affordable housing and urban family housing, for first-time home buyers and low-income families.
• Provide safe, affordable, and reliable public transportation for those seniors who can no longer or chose to no longer drive, through the Eight to Go Program, Emery Go Round, Taxi Script Program, and other services.
• Move forward with the development of the new Cultural Center at City Hall, to foster more community involvement, collaboration, and cross-cultural awareness.
  

Stopping global warming isn't something we should just leave up to the federal government. We can all do our part locally to ensure a sustainable future. Over my next four years in office I will:

• Enhance the City's working partnership with the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), in order to meet the City's goal of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions to 25% below our 2004 levels by the year 2020.
• Promote Emeryville as a green-building model for Northern California. Emeryville currently has 24 certified green-businesses. We are second in Alameda County in percentage of green businesses. Our Bay Street Mall is the first entirely green-certified shopping center in all of California. We are currently developing a city-wide green building ordinance, which will require all future City-funded projects to be green-certified.
• Advocate the phasing out of gas guzzling vehicles from our official City fleet. If we are to lead by example, we must shift to hybrid and bio-diesel technology in all City vehicles.
• Encourage transit-oriented development whenever possible. By building both residential and retail development in close proximity to public transportation hubs, we can cut down on unnecessary car trips and traffic, thereby significantly reducing our greenhouse gas emissions
• Create a climate control task force to advise the City Council on policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Emeryville.