League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Santa Clara County, CA November 6, 2012 Election
	Marc Berman Answers Questions Candidate for Council Member; City of Palo Alto

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

Questions & Answers

1. What are the most important recommendations of the Infrastructure Blue Ribbon Commission Report: Catch-up, Keep-up and Moving Ahead? Why?

Build a new, seismically safe public safety building and rebuild the Mitchell Park and Rinconada Park fire stations to guarantee that the community will be able to rely on a full set of emergency and public safety services when they are needed most.

Create an infrastructure management system so city departments can communicate more effectively and government works more accurately and efficiently.

Increase annual infrastructure spending by $2.2 million to fully fund ongoing maintenance needs (keep-up). This recommendation was immediately adopted by the council. It's important that the council not divert this funding in the future.

Mandate periodic infrastructure audits to ensure that the city doesn't fall behind on maintenance to streets, sidewalks and parks in the future.

2. In balancing the budget, what are the critical decisions when deciding which services and which infrastructure projects should be funded?

We need to identify new solutions to improve Palo Alto's short and long-term fiscal stability. Benefits have increased dramatically as a percentage of total compensation, causing more money to be spent on retirees and less on current employees and city programs. Palo Alto must shift to a system that focuses more on take-home pay while reducing our future pension and benefit obligations. Three ways to do this would be to institute a cap on pensions and gradually increase the employee contribution to pensions and healthcare. We also need to find ways to both raise revenue and cut costs. For instance there's no reason we should be spending $400,000 a year in rent for the Development Center, which is located in the most expensive market for office space in the entire country. In addition, once a new public safety building is built in a new location, the city could rent the 22,000 sq/ft of space in the current public safety building at approximately $5 per sq/ft per month, bringing in an additional $1,320,000 a year.

We need to come up with new solutions that allow us to cut costs and increase revenue so that we can continue to provide important public services while also meeting our infrastructure obligations.

3. Bay Area regional planning agencies are planning for growth along transportation corridors and for infill development over the next 25 to 30 years.  What are the advantages and disadvantages for Palo Alto in participating in this planning process? 

Encouraging mixed use development along transportation corridors is a good idea from a land use and an environmental standpoint. Palo Alto is built out to near-capacity, so it's important to provide incentives for smart growth that creates better use out of currently obsolete or underutilized buildings and sites.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. 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: October 15, 2012 11:55
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