Candidate for
Council Member; City of Alameda

After thirteen continuous years of public service in the city of Alameda, Dr. Stewart Chen made the decision to run for re-election to the Alameda City Councilmember.

If re-elected, he promises to be the voice of the people and bring improvements to the community by collaboration, not by competition. He believes that, to be effective, public officials should be sensitive to the changing needs of their community.

My primary goal in running for City Council is to preserve and improve the quality of life in Alameda. This is our home and it has been good to us. My wife and I raised both of our children here. They attended Alameda public schools and grew up with the benefit of our parks, libraries, and hospital. I believe such facilities are important and I pledge to do my best to keep them accessible to all Alamedans. My other priorities include: development of Alameda Point, revitalization of Webster Street, balancing our budget, strengthening our aging infrastructure, expanding the safety net services, creating a culture of accountability among our public officials, and maintaining access to City Hall for our citizens. I believe we can achieve this as a community by electing city officials who care about our people's needs and are willing to work tirelessly to serve them.

I am a Chiropractor by profession and I have been in private practice for 26 years. For the past twelve years, I have devoted my personal time to public service. I served two terms on the Social Service and Human Relations Board, one term on the County's Human Relations Commission, in November 2010, I was elected to the City of Alameda Healthcare District, and in 2012, I was elected to the Alameda City Council. I also chaired numerous committees including Alamedans Together Against Hate, Friendship City Committee, Sight Savers Committee, Human Exploitation and Trafficking Awareness Committee, and the Community Relations Committee. I am currently the one of the JPA directors of Alameda County Healthy Homes Department and the alternate member of Alameda County Transportation Commission. In addition, I co-founded the Alameda Asian Pacific Cultural Festival and the Alameda Sister City Association.

As a member of the hospital board, I helped balance our 2013 fiscal budget and we were able to come up with a projected surplus of over $600,000. I managed to create a safe and friendly working environment for our 600 hospital employees and I'm proud to say that I was able to maintain labor peace between the hospital and our four labor unions. I also helped initiate several programs like the Kate Creedon Center for Advanced Wound Care, Orthopedic Spinal Surgery Department, and the takeover of the Waters Edge Skilled Nursing facility.

As a member of the City Council , we were able to achieve the following successes:

earning an AA+ credit rating for the first time in our city's history - this can potentially save our city millions in current and future bond fees;

successfully renegotiating employee pension contributions and post employment benefits with our labor unions and maintaining labor peace;

successfully completing the Navy Base zero re-conveyance and approving the Final Environmental Impact Report, as well as the associated planning and zoning amendments;

successfully collaborating with AUSD in maintaining City services for our students and the general public, including the access to public swimming pools;
successfully acquiring our first grant for the Jean Sweeney Open Space Park;

opening Jack Capon Villa to provide affordable housing for people with disability;

graduating and hiring several new fire fighters and police officers;

creating hundreds of jobs for our residents, including College of Alameda students, with the opening of Target and we anticipate more jobs will be created with the completion of Alameda Landing; and

personally introducing three resolutions, including a resolution that designates an Open Space/Nature Reserve at Alameda Point - all three resolutions were passed unanimously by the City Council.