League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Santa Clara County, CA June 3, 2014 Election
	Kathy Yamada Sutherland Answers Questions Candidate for Council Member; City of San Jose; Council District 3

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?

I am the candidate who has experience working with city government as a resident, business owner and public policy advisor. As a resident, I was elected to the Strong Neighborhoods Initiative Project Area Committee in an election that covered 1/3 of the city. SNI taught neighborhood leaders how to navigate city processes, advocate for our neighborhoods, and gave us the opportunity to develop personal relationships with city employees. As a neighborhood leader, I co-chaired the 2003 Diridon/Arena Strategic Plan. I know how to balance the need for future development against concerns about how it will change our current way of life. Based upon neighborhood concerns regarding impacts of dense development in the Delmas Park neighborhood, I lead my neighborhood to advocate for the creation of the Lake House historic district and a new residential permit parking area. These were creative and pro-active ways to protect our neighborhood against the impacts of future dense development.

I owned my own business, managed a neighborhood business association and served as policy analyst for economic development for Councilmember Pyle. I know first-hand not only how difficult it can be to work with the City, but also how to remove roadblocks and get businesses open. It was my responsibility to oversee the opening of the first Whole Foods in San José.

I understand how city government works for residents and business owners, and the role of Councilmembers as public policy leaders. I have been a neighborhood leader and advocate in District 3 for decades. City staff comes and goes. Neighborhood leaders hold the knowledge about what happened in the past, why it happened, what has already been done, what was promised and how to best move forward together.

My unique experiences working with City Hall enable me to hit the ground running and be an effective Councilmember from day one.

2. San Jose budget difficulties have resulted in unprecedented cuts to staff and services. How will you deal with coming shortfalls? Restoring some of the City services? And, if you think the City needs additional resources, what are your ideas for increasing revenues?

San José does not provide adequate city services to our residents or businesses. We cannot continue to rely on cutting services to balance our city budget. We cannot continue to rely on reducing employee pay and benefits to balance the city budget if we want to keep and attract top quality employees to fill essential city positions throughout our city and especially in in our police, planning, and water pollution control departments.

As a city we collect only $260 per resident in property and sales taxes, while other cities that are employment centers like Palo Alto ($742), Santa Clara ($524) and Mountain View ($408) collect much more.

San José has a critical jobs/housing imbalance with only .84 jobs per resident. On the other hand, Palo Alto with 3.11 jobs per resident, collects almost 3 times the amount of property and sales taxes when compared to San José. As residents we deserve and need adequate city services like libraries that are open more than four days a week, a variety of community center programs, well maintained parks, and reliable and timely responses from police and fire departments. Our jobs/housing imbalance increases our need to provide city services and limits our ability to generate adequate city funds. Our long term goal must be to increase the number of good paying jobs in San José to improve our revenue. However, this cannot be done overnight and something must be done now.

The City Manager's Fiscal Reform plan approved in May of 2011 had essentially three parts + 1) reduce employee costs through pay cuts and pension reform, 2) privatize non-essential city jobs, 3) increase revenue.

The third part has not yet been done. It is time to ask our residents if they would support a sale tax increase of ˝ of a percent for a term of 5 to 7 years which would most likely generate an additional $60 million. A short term sales tax increase of this size would allow us to bring back essential city services that have been cut too hard like library and community center hours, code enforcement officers and park rangers, and to begin doing the work to repair our crumbling roads.

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

I believe that there are two key areas of importance San José must focus on: job creation/business development and public safety. San José must continue to focus on attracting businesses which will lead to the creation of good paying local jobs. We must learn from our successes with major corporations and work to improve our support of our small and medium size businesses. I believe we now have the opportunity to direct staff to improve our services to the small and medium size businesses that decide they want to place their future in San José. Delays and conflicting information cost money. We need to remember that when small and medium size business owners decide they want to invest their future in San José, they are putting their personal finances and future in our hands.

Everyone will agree that San José must hire more police officers. To me, public safety also includes code enforcement officers, park rangers and our community partners in the Mayor's Gang Prevention Task Force. We must bring back funding for these programs. How safe you feel is determined by what you see when you leave your front door. Trash, abandoned cars, broken windows, unkempt buildings make communities feel unsafe. These are areas best addressed by code enforcement officers. Park Rangers are tasked with keeping our parks and trails clean and safe. We must bring them back to give everyone in District 3 access to a safe and clean park or trail. San José has the nationally recognized Mayor's Gang Prevention Task Force which works with community partners to provide opportunities to our at risk students. Our fiscal crisis dramatically reduced funding for these partners. We must restore funding so we can support organizations that help our youngest residents succeed and thrive.

4. How would you balance the needs of the City as a whole while also addressing needs of your district as well as those of special groups?

San José is the 10th largest city in the nation with 10 unique council districts with many different needs. We live in the most complex district in the city. As the heart of San José, we are the Downtown district, center of the arts and business community, home to what will be the largest transit center on the west coast, and our residents live in luxury high rise apartments, single family homes and are homeless in our parks and along our trails. There are many different and often competing areas of need within the City as a whole, but also within the District 3 community.

The relationships I have developed during my years of volunteering and working with residents citywide, combined with my experience working with all other council districts as a Chief of Staff give me a deep understanding of the city as a whole. All councilmembers make decisions on issues within and outside of their own districts and I will use my existing relationships with residents, businesses and city staff to find solutions that build consensus and create win-win solutions for the unique needs of our district. To address needs and solve problems you need to understand the system you are working in. I understand how the system works.

I will be elected by voters who live in District 3 to represent them and I will work tirelessly to make real changes that improve the heart of San José. Councilmembers who represent our district need to see and understand the "big picture". It cannot be said enough that we are the most complex district in San José and the depth and breadth of my experiences give me the background to be an effective leader for you on day one. Everyone who has an issue they care deeply about is a special group. Balancing needs requires careful listening and looking for creative solutions with the goal of doing what is best for District 3 and San José.

5. How much money do you expect to raise/spend on your race, and how will you assure voters that financial contributions will not affect your decisions/positions should you be elected?

My budget for the June primary is $80,000. When I decided to run for City Council, I realized that fundraising would be an integral part of the campaign. As pointed out in the March 25, 2014 article in the Mercury News regarding fundraising "a lot of her contributors were seniors, a key voting block in any election."

My deep ties in the greater District 3 community and city of San José give me the strength to run as an experienced, independent candidate who will advocate for neighborhoods and work with everyone to make policy decisions that are in the best interests of San José. I have shown that I can raise money without special interest groups. Residents, businesses, developers, and employees all have an interest in making sure their voices are heard at City Hall. Regardless of any contribution history, my door will be open to all. There are many complex and challenging decisions that must be made on any given Tuesday. I will always listen to all sides of an issue, ask questions and make decision based upon what is best for District 3 and San José.

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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.

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

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: May 16, 2014 10:54
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