League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	Alameda County, CA November 4, 2014 Election
	Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues Trustee; Ohlone Community College District; Area 2

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Fremont, Newark, and Union City and asked of all candidates for this office.     See below for questions on Mission Blvd Development, Open Board Workshops, Transparent Decisions Click on a name for candidate information.   See also more information about this contest. 1. Do you support the plans for development on Mission Blvd? Why? What would be a better option? Answer from Jan Giovannini-Hill: The Board has already voted to forward the frontage property plans for development on Mission Blvd to the City of Fremont. I am in support of leasing this frontage piece to provide ongoing stable fiscal support of the District for many years to come. Answer from Joe Lonsdale: No, this is a terrible idea. Local schools and traffic will be negatively affected. I can think of no justification for voting for this development. Foreign student housing is one idea. Leaving it unused is another idea. The $600,000/yr. projected from this development is about 1% of Ohlone budget. Ohlone is not allowed to sell land, by leasing it for 90 years they are effectively selling it. 2. Do you support having Board Workshops taped using either audio or visual technologies so the public can be aware of workshop topics and discussions? Answer from Jan Giovannini-Hill: I support transparency in all aspects of the workings of the Board. We have had some wonderful and very informative workshops in the past and I know we will in the future. I believe our President is looking into feasible ways to make some type of recordings available at this time. Answer from Joe Lonsdale: Yes, I cannot imagine why this is not being done already. 3. What measures can be taken to make all board decisions and their background material more transparent to the public? Answer from Joe Lonsdale: Meeting with big decisions (like the apartment development) should be better publicized. Also more than 30 minutes for public comments should be allowed. It was very clear that the board was not interested in comments from citizens. Answer from Jan Giovannini-Hill: The District does a pretty good job of posting most board documents, PowerPoint presentations, and videos on the main 'Board of Trustees' website before regularly scheduled board meetings; and these items are archived for public viewing on the same page by previous years. Sometimes a presentation is made at a board meeting that none of us have seen yet, and usually one of us will request that it be added to the website when possible. 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. The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.