League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Alameda County, CA June 5, 2012 Election
	Barbara Halliday Answers Questions Candidate for Council Member; City of Hayward

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of the Eden Area and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. What is the single most pressing problem facing the City in the next 24 months and how would you work with your elected colleagues to solve it?

Balancing our budget, recovering from the loss of redevelopment funding, and putting the city on more stable fiscal footing will continue to dominate our agenda for the next two years and beyond. We have already made great progress in reducing staff costs, without significantly impacting city services, by getting our employee bargaining groups to grant mid-contract concessions that constitute real structural benefits to our budget. Employees throughout the organization, including City Council members and top managers, have agreed to forgo contracted salary increases and contribute more toward current and retiree benefits, including health care. We have also reorganized and streamlined our operations to make them more efficient. Attracting quality, tax-producing economic development will also help. With these and other efforts, we are making it through the current recession, but we have a long way to go to address long-term liabilities for promised retiree pensions and medical benefits and to build funds for future renovation and replacement of infrastructure and facilities. I will support sticking to our plan, carefully monitoring revenues and expenses, and making prudent choices that best address the city's priorities.

2. What is your vision of Hayward ten years from now as it relates to residential growth and business development?

I see a thriving downtown with successful shops, restaurants and entertainment venues, enhanced by a new library, a hotel and conference center at the north end of Foothill Blvd., and possibly a new performing arts center. The downtown and the South Hayward BART area will be surrounded by compact residential communities within easy walking distance of neighborhood-serving businesses. Building on our current nucleus of research & development, medical technology firms and food-related producers, our industrial area will be populated by businesses with good-paying jobs that use clean, non-polluting energy generated by solar installations on rooftops throughout the city. Neighborhood schools will be supported by community volunteers to help children learn, and the city will have new recreational and entertainment opportunities for youth. Trees being planted now throughout the city will enhance our urban forest, and attractive gateways at key entrances to Hayward will welcome visitors for shopping and cultural experiences, such as the new museum being created by the Hayward Area Historical Society and our award-winning mural program. We can achieve this vision by sticking to our plans and priorities to make Hayward safer, cleaner, and greener.

3. Good schools are important for a city's economic growth and well-being. What is the most effective way the City can partner with the school district to improve the academic performance and perception of our schools?

I would like to see the current Homework Support Center now operating in our two libraries and at Longwood Elementary School be expanded throughout the city and augmented by other similar programs run by faith-based and non-profit groups, including affordable housing developments. I have been a volunteer for the past two years at the city's program, and it is clear that our children want to learn but just need some individual attention that our teachers, facing ever-increasing numbers of students in class, can't always provide. Beyond that, we need to make sure that we provide a supportive environment for children and youth, with plenty of playgrounds, recreational facilities and cultural programs, along with healthy food programs such as The Kids Breakfast Club, that will help make them more attentive and receptive in the classroom. Getting the whole community involved in helping our school-aged children will give Hayward a reputation as a city that cares about kids and education.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. References to opponents are not permitted.

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

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: May 8, 2012 13:39
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