This is an archive of a past election. See http://www.smartvoter.org/ca/scl/ for current information. |
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Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues Council Member; City of Sunnyvale; Seat 4 | |||||
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The questions were prepared by the Leagues of Women Voters of Santa Clara County and asked of all candidates for this office.
See below for questions on
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Click on a name for candidate information. See also more information about this contest.
Answer from David Whittum:
-pension reform: two-tier and increased employee contribution
-park dedication requirement increased by a factor of four to 5 acres per 1000 residents
-downtown street grid restored
-continued focus on economic development, Rambus moved into Moffett Towers, Intuitive Surgical is expanding, as are Bloom Energy, St. Jude Medical, HP, Microsoft, Juniper Networks, Sprouts, Fresh & Easy, ...
-built curb, gutter, sidewalks, ramps with ARRA funding
-Bay Trail connected through Sunnyvale
-parking exemption permits enabled for impacted neighborhoods
-Fair Oaks Senior Housing
-webcast of City meetings
Answer from David Whittum:
Public safety remains our top priority and to support this and all our services we must control costs, most of which are personnel costs. This year we will spend four million dollars more on salary and benefits than we did last year. That's a four percent increase. We can't afford that. We must adjust employee expectations for total compensation, to align our expenses to revenues.
On the revenue side, to preserve our tax base we should oppose opportunistic development and preserve our manufacturing, commercial and office sector. Completion of the downtown is key. In the meantime, our general fund revenue closed the last fiscal year at $127 million, our third highest ever. We are projecting higher revenue for this fiscal year.
Fiscal reform can be aided by political reform. We need a ballot measure offering voters the choice to end the numbered seat system. Councilmembers are elected at large, there are no districts, and the numbered seat system restricts voters choice among the candidates. We need a lobbyist registration ordinance. We should ask voters if they would favor municipal elections in even years to reduce City costs and promote public engagement.
At the operational level, we need to see our pavement condition index restored, our sidewalks maintained and our trees trimmed. With public works projects we would like to see neighborhoods demonstrating support and not opposition. We should expand our outreach and engagement with all neighborhoods and restore support of community events. We should support public access TV in Sunnyvale to connect the community. These are budget issues.
Finally we would like residents and business owners to feel that City Hall is on their side in the resolution of municipal problems and obstacles. We have work to do in that area.
Our aim is that Sunnyvale will be the best-run city in the USA. But a leadership team doesn't get there by congratulating itself. Leadership in City Hall must remain self-critical even as we thank our incredible employees for the great job they do around the clock seven days a week, and as we promote our wonderful City as the great place it is to live, work and play.
As we strive to do better in City Hall, how well we actually do, depends in part on what you do on November 8th and every day.
Answer from David Whittum:
One of the City's ongoing needs is to protect our neighborhoods and preserve and improve our residential quality of life. There are preconditions for higher density development and they include:
It does not make sense to approve higher density without a rationale as to how and why the extra family car can be avoided. If one has density, and still two cars per household, then mostly what one has achieved is a higher density of cars.
The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page. |