Candidate for
For Member of City Council; City of Hayward

HERITAGE

The City should honor our past while moving into the future
We need to inventory the historic and architecturally significant resources existing in the City of Hayward
Other cities in the area and even the County has compiled inventories of significant resources
We need to expand the City's current list of significant resources
Designate as significant to the Heritage of Hayward the Ace Hardware Building, All Saints Church, Bank of Italy Building, Crosby-Crockett Home, Eden Jewelry, First Church of Christ Scientist, Hayward Plunge, Herndon Chiropractic Building, Captain Madison's House, Masonic Building, Cornelius Mohr Estate, the Hermann Mohr home, the McConoughy-Smith Home and Veterans Hall.
We need to develop the tourism potential of our Gold Rush Era Town
Our BART station, our Amtrak station and the bus hub downtown are the key to inviting the many tourists who come to the Bay Area each year to come to Historic Hayward and see the sights
We need to attract more hotels, motels, hostels and resorts
We need to seek funds through grants and tax credits for restoration of significant resources such as the Historic City Hall
We need space designated as a Preservation Park so that threatened buildings can be moved and saved
We should celebrate significant dates in the history of Hayward such as Charter Day and William Hayward's birthday
Signage and a historical map of Hayward should be developed and displayed prominently

NEIGHBORHOODS

The City should protect the integrity and the character of our neighborhoods
Money should be budgeted for repairs to sidewalks - let's at least patch them; the comprehensive program should fix entire blocks at a time
Money should be made available for improvements called for in the neighborhood plans such as mini-parks for kids to play
Various public-owned properties should be developed into public gardens such as the City-owned property at Main and Simon Streets
Graffiti must be promptly removed from all public poles and signs
Entire neighborhoods should be notified about each and every meeting when development projects affecting those neighborhoods are pending
Money should be budgeted for classes and/or video available for residents who want to perform minor pruning for street trees on their blocks
Earthquake trailers should be in every neighborhood stocked with emergency supplies
Utilities should be undergrounded in the neighborhoods
Explore an incentive program to upgrading house facades and front yards
The City should participate to a greater degree in Make a Difference Day

YOUTH PROGRAMS

The City should choose to fund youth activities as preventative measures (an alternative to later having to incarcerate them)
Former Sunset High School fields should be revived for youth programs
Another sports complex should be developed as part of the new Burbank redevelopment area plan
Help HARD reestablish the teen drop-in programs at community centers such as Weekes, Southgate, San Felipe and old Sunset High
Create opportunities and make space available in school auditoriums, community centers such as Weekes, Southgate and San Felipe, and the Veterans Hall for musicians, thespians, and artists for practice and performances
Money should be budgeted to establish sufficient affordable child care to allow parents the opportunity to be successful in the workplace
Work with other agencies to further develop Head Start and Latch Key programs throughout the City
Support the Little Leagues, the Hayward Youth Soccer League, the private Swim Clubs, Tennis Clubs and the Boys and Girls Club
Utilize existing facilities, including city buildings, schools, churches and community centers
Library services should be located where the youth congregate such as schools, churches, community centers and Southland Mall
A Skateboard facility should be located in the Eden Greenway
We should work with Cal State and Chabot College so that college credit is given for supervising after-school youth activities

ENVIRONMENT

The City should promote clean air, clean water and clean earth in Hayward - Let's keep our creeks and other waterways clean and clear of trash
Earthquake preparedness programs should be implemented in each neighborhood
The City should actively promote environmental responsibility such as regularly publishing a list of active recycling centers
A "Green Truck" should be available more often
Continue and increase participation in Chabot College's garage sale Flea Market
Establish a City-wide Garage Sale in the Spring to encourage re-use and recycling
Protect the Hayward Shoreline

PARKS/OPEN SPACE

Support significant HARD parks such as Kennedy, Memorial, Weekes, Japanese Gardens
We must have an adequate parks/open space component for a healthy community
In some areas we are dismally below minimum levels of open space, especially with regards to local parks
All neighborhoods ought to expect development of sufficient park/open space
When it becomes available, we should use fallow acreage in the 238 right of way for public amenities
We should develop bike trails along our creeks, install play equipment for tots, create rose gardens, pet parks and community gardens
We should help preserve the major system of established open space and trails in the Hayward Highland canyons
The City must co-ordinate with HARD, HUSD, EB Regional Parks, Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge to link with the Bay Trail and the Ridge Trail
The City's "excess" property ought to be developed for neighborhood park/open space use
CalTrans should be pressured to upgrade their properties at least to the point of making them open space as opposed to fenced gas stations like at Grove and Foothill

LIBRARIES

We need to spend a greater percentage of the general budget on the libraries - We must commit to six percent instead of the present four percent
Existing libraries should be open more hours
Library services should be available in the schools, community centers, storefronts and at Southland Mall
The City should support extended hours in the school libraries
Centers could be staffed by aides and volunteers
Computer terminals linked to the City catalogue
Materials can be delivered by van
Support and enhance existing co-operation with Chabot College Library, Cal State Library and Hayward Unified School District
Continue and expand van delivery of ordered materials

SCHOOLS

The City should seek ways to collaborate with the School District
Establish library services at all of the schools
Improve circulation and safety at schools during drop-off and pick-up times
Help fund (along with HARD) after school programs using existing school facilities - could middle school cafeterias double as gymnasium/community centers during off-school hours?
Volunteers from the colleges should be sought to tutor and mentor City of Hayward resident students
Every effort should be made to insure public usage of school grounds throughout the City, including Chabot College and Cal State
School grounds should be maintained adequately
The City should help the school pools to be open to the public in the summer
Encourage and continue to support programs and activities at Cal State and Chabot College which provide educational, cultural and recreational opportunities to the public
We should encourage programs for schoolchildren to study creeks and riparian ecosystems
School credit should be available for community service
We should encourage expansion of the Healthy Start program

CHURCHES

Our churches, mosques, synagogues and temples help provide the support for the moral fibre which supports our community
We should continue to support the activities of the South Parish, FESCO, Glad Tidings, Apostolic, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Bible, Buddhist, Catholic, Christian, Church of Christ, Church of God, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Community, Congregational, Foursquare, Gnostic, Greek Orthodox, Hindu, Interdenominational, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jewish, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Moslem, Nazarene, Non-Denominational, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Salvation Army, Seventh Day Adventist, Sikh and Unitarian Universalist churches of our City
Churches should be allowed to locate in all parts of Hayward - they are now restricted from some of the downtown - the present law which forbids churches on the groundfloor of parts of Main Street and B Street should be abolished

ANIMAL SHELTER
The City should humanely treat all stray and abandoned animals
Adopt a no kill policy for all non-vicious animals
Seek grants for upgrade and further expansion (including more cages)
Split off "animal control" component from the shelter component for purpose of dealing with dangerous animals
The City should retrieve reported stray animals
Implement mandatory neutering program such as the one San Mateo uses

PUBLIC SAFETY

The safety of the public is the most important aspect of government
We must abandon the back-to-back-to-back 12-1/2 hour day schedule for our police - Do we really want an officer to respond to our need in the 11th hour of the third straight 12 and 1/2 hour day?
We must find ways to bring our public safety officers' homes closer to Hayward
We must improve circulation and safety in the public streets around our schools during drop-off and pick-up times
Our community oriented police should report abandoned vehicles, graffiti and other junk items to Community Preservation and the Streets Department instead of inviting neighbor rage by making citizens make the complaints
Our community oriented police should report burned out street lights and grafitti on street signs
We need more traffic enforcement
We need sufficient school crossing guards at all of our elementary schools
We should develop a comprehensive earthquake preparedness and seismic retrofit program for residential neighborhoods
Earthquake trailers should be placed in each neighborhood with emergency supplies
When requested by the neighbors, we should install a street light on each and every telephone pole to insure adequate lighting in our neighborhoods
The City should continue to support Neighborhood Alert
The City police department should increase foot patrols as well as car patrols
We should encourage the police department to explore the feasibility of assigning one staff member to coordinate various city efforts in dealing with specific problems
We must stop the speeding in the neighborhoods - stop signs and speed humps are needed
We should provide audible signals for visually impaired at our major intersections
We must bring all parts of the City up to our standard 5 minute response time for police and fire with medically trained personnel

TRAFFIC

The City must manage the traffic better
We can do better for our traffic problems rather than build the Bypass (State Route 238)
Interstate 238 (the short stretch between 580 and 880) should be widened as soon as possible
Lights should be timed better today; monitor traffic flow and adjust synchronization mechanisms as appropriate and/or install demand response timing mechanisms
880/92 improvements should only be allowed where there are no negative impacts to neighborhoods
For example, the Southgate Swim Club is a valuable asset to the community and should be preserved - 880/92 should work around the present footprint of the swim club
Development of an Overpass/Underpass at Five Corners (Jackson, Foothill, Mission interchange) should begin as soon as possible
Develop double left hand turn lanes at Mission/Carlos Bee
Development of an Overpass/Underpass at Winton/Hesperian should be studied
Developers should be financially responsible for traffic control at haul sites
Traffic Calming measures should be explored to slow fast cars, protect pedestrians and encourage bicycle traffic
Speed humps should be more easily approved and installed on residential streets
Stop signs should be more easily approved and installed on residential streets
We should fully advertise and implement our Master Bicycle Plan
Additional bike paths and bike lanes should be more easily approved on all streets
Jitney service should be explored for the Downtown and the Tennyson Road corridor
CalTrans should maintain off-ramps and on-ramps

STREETS

City policy should require repair of potholes within one week of first report
City policy should require timing of signal lights and periodic maintenance of the timing mechanisms
The City should establish a hotline number to report potholes
Priority of undergrounding of utilities should be regularly reviewed through the public process
We should replace faded, obscure or missing street signs
The street sweeping schedule should be more widely available
Let's regularly publish the street sweeping schedule

SIDEWALKS

City maintenance should insure that the City's sidewalks are not dangerous
We should at least patch the dangerous conditions
Meander sidewalks and curbs to create wells that can support mature trees
Any comprehensive sidewalk repair program should repair all sidewalks in the area involved, resulting in continuous sidewalks wide enough for wheel chairs
Wheelchair accessible refuge areas should be provided at larger intersection medians
We should have curb cuts at all intersections
We should co-ordinate sidewalk repairs with root pruning and tree removal operations
We should establish a hot line number for patch requests
We should install benches and/or shelters, trash receptacles and accurate time schedules at all bus stops
The Eldridge Avenue pedestrian overcrossing needs adequate lighting and regular maintenance

BEAUTIFICATION WITH TREES

The City should continue and expand its urban forest program
Major boulevards should be tree-lined in the median
Residential streets should have trees on both sides of the street at 40' to 50' or so intervals - normally, that's one street tree for each house
The City should encourage each house to have a street tree
Diseased or dead trees and stumps should be removed promptly
Meander sidewalks and curbs and create traffic bays to create wells that can support mature trees

ECONOMIC VISION - PROMOTING HAYWARD

The City's economic vitality is essential to sustain our quality of life
We need to develop our piece of the tourism pie
We should capitalize on our BART connection
We should capitalize on our historic downtown
We should capitalize on our rich arts community
We need to bring high tech (silicon valley), light industrial business industry to Hayward
Our tarnished image needs cleaning
The City should clean graffiti from highly visible places, like along the BART tracks south of downtown
We should underground our utilities in the traffic corridors and in the neighborhoods
We need to improve landscaping and other special treatment (eg fountains) at City entrances and important intersections
A mix of professional office, financial, the construction trades, restaurant, retail, grocery, industrial, specialty, agricultural, manufacturing, high-tech and services should be our goal
We should maintain support for small businesses - the "little man" who has built this community
The Rental Inspection Program should be amended - it should be complaint driven, with complaints taken seriously

DEVELOPMENT

The City should seek quality development that pays its own way and respects the heritage and neighborhood of Hayward
More sensitive treatment of buffer areas between uses should be our policy, including light industrial as a buffer
Compatible uses of historic buildings in downtown should be encouraged - Can we create a new "Gold Rush"?
Single Family Residential areas should retain their character
Second story housing should be attractive, compatible and sensitive to the privacy of adjoining residences in the placement of windows and balconies
Preserve our natural site features such as steep hillsides, rock outcropping, significant trees and clusters of trees, creeks and natural waterways and towering sycamores on B Street

AFFORDABLE HOUSING/CUSTOM HIGH END HOUSING

The City should pursue a balance of housing
Part of the City strategy regarding housing must include sufficient affordable housing in order that we may house blue collar America such as those that wait our tables in restaurants, clean our offices while we sleep, or care for our elderly
We need further shelters for homeless - with support services
Part of our housing strategy should involve our need for a transitional housing component
We need custom high end housing ala Greenbrier so that our executive class remains in Hayward when they move up
We need more affordable senior housing

DEMOCRACY - THE PROCESS

The public should be involved from inception of the idea of a project
When a proponent first brings an idea of a project to staff, the project should then be listed.
Lists should be available on website, Channel 15, in the Clerk's Office and in both libraries
Notice and staff reports should be available 7 calendar days prior to meetings
Notices and staff reports should be available on the website, Channel 15, in the Clerk's Office and in both libraries
Public documents should be more easily available
Check-the-box forms should be available from all levels of staff for all manner of documents
The City needs to remember that this representative form of government must include lots of participation by the public
The citizenry feeling of being excluded from the process must be remedied
We are founded on open government with public participation
The decision-making process should be fair to all
The City should have a fill-in form available at all staff levels so that the public may have quicker access to public documents
Agenda reports for all Council, Commission and Committee meetings should be available 7 days before all meetings by website, Channel 15, Clerk's Office and both libraries
Work sessions and committee meetings of importance should be shown on Channel 15
The City should elect a Community Access Ombudsman to champion citizen complaints and follow through on solutions

ACCOUNTABILITY OF CORPORATE CITIZENS

The City should hold its corporate citizens to the same high standards it holds individuals
The railroad should keep its track areas clean, safe and landscaped
Mervyns should bring its Foothill Blvd property into compliance with its Conditional Use Permit
Enforce Conditional Use Permits requiring daily pick up of litter surrounding fast food establishments
LaVista Quarry should keep impacted streets clean and clear of debris

INFRASTRUCTURE

We must maintain the highest quality water delivered at the tap and sufficient pressure to effectively fight fire
We must continue effective wastewater treatment and search for ways to recycle
We must continue our aggressive policy of undergrounding utilities and we should include neighborhoods as well as traffic corridors

AIRPORT

A wonderful facility which is a substantial asset to the community and should be strengthened to accommodate growth in the next 50 years
Our Executive Airport must accommodate neighbor expectations of peace and quiet - pilot should and must fly quiet
A regular (at least monthly) forum with the surrounding community should be permanently hosted by airport staff

AGENCY LIAISON
Bureaucratic government must be brought under control
This City should strive for better co-ordination among local non-taxpaying agencies in the utilization of our tax dollars to deliver services to taxpayers
The City should co-ordinate delivery of services with:
Hayward Unified School District
Hayward Area Recreation and Parks District
East Bay Regional Parks District
East Bay Municipal Utility District
Alameda County Cooperative Extension
Alameda County Courts
Alameda County Fire Department
Alameda County Flood Control
Alameda County Health Department
Alameda County Library
Alameda County Planning Department
Alameda County Public Works Department
Alameda County Redevelopment
Alameda County Schools
Alameda County Sheriff
Alameda County Transit Authority
Bay Area Rapid Transit District
BCDC
California State University, Hayward
Chabot College
Ora Loma Sanitary District
Castro Valley Sanitary District
Union Sanitary District
East Bay Dischargers Authority
Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Commission
City of San Leandro
City of Union City
City of San Ramon
City of Dublin
City of Pleasanton
City of Fremont
California Beverage Control Board
California Department of Transportation
California Highway Patrol
Public Utilities Commission
Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Bureau of Tobacco and Firearms
Department of Fish and Game
Livermore-Amador Valley Wastewater Management Authority