League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Santa Clara County, CA November 8, 2011 Election
	Tara Martin-Milius Answers Questions Candidate for Council Member; City of Sunnyvale; Seat 7

The questions were prepared by the Leagues of Women Voters of Santa Clara County and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. What experience related to city government would you bring to the City Council?

For more than a decade, I have been a leader of the Neighborhood Association. In that role, I not only did the business of the neighborhood, but also liaised with the City on issues of importance to the neighbors. Things like speaking before the Planning Commission, appeal hearings, and City Council on many issues. Especially when we disagreed with the ITR (industrial to Residential) plan to convert the 7+ acres on Duane Court to high density residential--not even mixed use--we lost all our little businesses.

To become more familiar and more effective in working with the City, I took all the City Skills courses to become more familiar with exactly how the City is structured and works. Topics ranged from budgets to Robert's Rules of Order, and everything else relevant to working with the City.

When there were openings, I also applied for and was accepted as an Arts Commissioner, then became Vice Chair of the Arts Commission. This, of course, provided and even closer relationship with the inner workings of the City, Staff, and City Council.

2. What concerns are of particular importance to the city and how would you address them?

Getting the structural deficit fixed is first--all other things flow from the budget. To do that we need to encourage businesses to open in our business parks and our downtown. Enhanced business-to-business transactions and retail sales taxes are direct revenue to the City.

Tied to the budget is the downtown, which has been a challenge for about 11 years. Downtown needs to get finished to have the retail so that we have the tax revenue to close budget gaps. We need to have our downtown be a preferred shopping and social gathering place. That creates community, helps businesses, spends dollars supporting our own City.

The downturn in the economy caused some deferred maintenance to our streets and sidewalks. The decision has now been made to bring them back up to 80% to keep the useful life of the streets to over 50 years instead of 30 years. The sidewalks are critical for all those who walk, and particularly to our children and seniors.

We all need to be able to "drink the water and breathe the air" in our whole region, so the environment, and environmental concerns need to be addressed and enhanced. Go green and greener for health, well being, and jobs!

3. How would you balance the needs of the City as a whole with groups’ interests?

I am a great believer in working for win-win solutions to challenging issues. Most of the time there are ways to get most of the outcomes for all parties involved. If for some reason a win-win is not achievable, then compromise can be a possible option. Try for the least-worst outcome for all.

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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.

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

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 12, 2011 08:20
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