League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	Santa Clara County, CA November 6, 2012 Election
	Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues Council Member; City of Santa Clara; Seat 3

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 Experience, Important Concerns, Balancing Interests Click on a name for candidate information.   See also more information about this contest. 1. What experience related to city government would you bring to the City Council? Answer from Debi Davis: As a small business owner and City Commissioner, I cherish my involvement in the City of Santa Clara. For the past 10 years, I have enjoyed working with our community in business, for non-profits and in civic affairs. Through my involvement, I have worked alongside the residents of Santa Clara and have gotten to know what their concerns are. Through my role as President of Sister Cities, I have worked on building our City's relationships with cities around the world. Working with people in government and the community is a very important step in holding office and I feel my experience has provided me the criteria to serve on the City Council. Answer from Mohammed NADEEM, Ph.D: I am humbled to bring a long list of diverse local experiences relevant to our city government/city council as follows: Two terms as a Civil Service Commissioner, City of Santa Clara, CA Associate Board Member, Library Foundation & Friends, Santa Clara, CA. Co-Chair, Santa Clara Historic Home Tour Board, Santa Clara, CA. Mayor/City Council Appointed Member, City Charter Review Committee,City of Santa Clara, CA. Public Presentations; Economic Development Committee, City of Santa Clara, CA. Member, Future Vision & Scholarship Committee, Rotary Club, Santa Clara, CA. HEAT/CERT Program, Santa Clara Fire Department, CA. CPA - Citizen's Police Academy, Santa Clara Police Department, Santa Clara, CA. FBI's Citizen Academy - Leadership Program, San Francisco Division, San Francisco, CA. City of Santa Clara - Leadership Santa Clara Program, Santa Clara, CA. As a Faculty Senator at National University, CA As a Community Leader: As a Board of Trustee, as a Vice President, and a President of the MCA, Santa Clara, CA. As a School Site Council Member, Buchser Middle School, Santa Clara, CA. As a School Site Council Member, Westwood School, Santa Clara, CA. 2. What concerns are of particular importance to the city and how would you address them? Answer from Debi Davis: After coming through the longest recession since the 1940s, I feel the City's important concerns continue to be balancing the budget and also build up the reserves that have been depleted as a result of lower tax revenues and little to no business growth. Fortunately, over the last year, Silicon Valley and Santa Clara are seeing an upswing in business and job growth. As a councilmember, one of my goals will be to put aside additional income and build up our emergency reserves. Santa Clara is fortunate to offer the lowest utility rates in the State of California and I believe that should be one of the best advertisements to continue to draw new business and jobs to Santa Clara which provides much needed tax revenue. Santa Clara is fortunate to remain one of the best Bay Area cities with a high-safety rating, well-maintained streets and infrastructure, award-winning libraries and parks, the lowest combined utility rates, and the feel of a hometown. Santa Clara is a welcoming city serving a wonderfully diverse community. I want to work to keep it that way and to help resolve the challenges it faces today to prepare for the bright future of tomorrow. Answer from Mohammed NADEEM, Ph.D: In order to address some of the concerns of particular importance---first we need to have a vision of a `shared and sustainable future' focused on economic, fiscal and core services for our citizens. Second, we need to have a leadership to confront the hard issues seriously and resolve them amicably. Based on my education, experiences, and training I would be honored to provide such vision, leadership and forsight in the areas of creating jobs, housing, balancing budget, growing reserves, maintaining core services, and addressing pension reforms. Finally, received over 45% votes in 2010 city council elections, I continue to be humbled by a strong Citywide (including Mayor Matthews) support among all Santa Clarans. 3. How would you balance the needs of the city as a whole with groups’ interests? Answer from Mohammed NADEEM, Ph.D: As a blessed and proud Santa Claran of 20 years, Professor of Business, husband, and father, I am committed to our community's well-being particularly our youth and Senior's. I would balance the needs of the city by focussing on a clear mission for our mission city as stated above and by ensuring a diverse range of opportunities in housing, employment, open-space, public safety, water, clean energy, schools and investments. My goal is to provide leadership on our City's environmental, fiscal, and economic policies & projects particulary---north library, stadium, and a downtown, for a better quality of life. With integrity, trust, honesty, ethics, and compassion---I am committed to being available and responsive to your needs for a healthy, equitable, and a prosperous Santa Clara. Answer from Debi Davis: The City of Santa Clara has a great relationship with its employees which was very important during the recent negotiations regarding budget cuts. As a councilmember, it would be tantamount to me to continue to maintain those good working relationships, to communicate and be fair to all parties involved. I am always willing to take on a challenge and Santa Clara is facing some challenging times. Our City is taking an innovative approach to pension reform with our workers involved in the process of coming up with new solutions. Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. Please answer each question in no more than 400 words. Direct references to opponents are not permitted. The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.