Q&A Sessions

• Santa Cruz City Council during the past four years. (Elected)
• Santa Cruz County Democratic Central Committee (2 full terms) (Elected)
• Santa Cruz Planning Commission (Appointed)
• Santa Cruz Zoning Board (Appointed)
• Santa Cruz Public Works Commission (Appointed)
• Santa Cruz City Transportation Commission (Appointed)
• Santa Cruz 1990 General Plan revision task force (Appointed)
• Democratic 27th Assembly District Committee (2 terms, Elected at Democratic caucus)

Yes

• Greater Santa Cruz Federation of Teachers, during several different assignments with Santa Cruz City Schools since 1980.
• International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAMAW) when I was a technician with Lockheed in the early 70’s.
• AFT at Highland Park, Michigan, 18 months starting in 1967

• On large projects, I will support union jobs for construction and union jobs for facility operation.
• In public sector employment, I will strive to maintain current levels of benefits while maintaining wages and compensation for cost of living increases.
• As a Councilmember, I actively support and value small, locally owned businesses, particularly ones that employ green business techniques and employ local residents. We have a highly educated population lending itself to good paying jobs in the high tech industry and I will make every effort to support location of such businesses here. I encourage and support the University plan to partner with the City in a “business incubator” at the site of the old Texas Instruments facility. As a companion, the City should encourage the development of numerous small business facilities in the vacant industrial zoned land so that the businesses born in the incubator have a place to naturally progress.

• Transportation systems:

  • I support a vigorous transit system. The Metro Base must be built and the Metro maintained as the model transit system it has been.
  • I support construction of a people mover system between Harvey West Park and the UCSC campus. It should be operated by the Metro. I proposed such an approach to acting Chancellor Chemers and he has agreed to pursue such a plan in partnership with the City. We should proceed as rapidly as possible. Such a system could ultimately expand through the Downtown and into the beach area. This would provide a long sought-after transit mode that will greatly enhance mobility in the beach and Downtown areas and up to the University and yet reduce the auto gridlock that is otherwise choking further development. This will be the MOST environmentally sensitive transportation system we could possibly have!
  • I support the acquisition of the rail corridor so that it can be used in the future for several different transportation modes including the people-mover mentioned above. Prop 116 money should be used as soon as possible to move on that acquisition. It would be a bitter betrayal if eleven million dollars in Prop 116 money were forfeit because the RTC could not utilize it for rail line acquisition.
  • I support quick installation of metering lights and other known improvements to highway one. I find it inexcusable that these measure have not already been taken.

• City Streets: I support a parcel tax dedicated to the repair and maintenance of City streets. Once adopted, we can bond against that revenue and fix our streets NOW! An appropriate portion of that revenue must be dedicated to ongoing maintenance so that we do not

• School modernization: We have been fortunate in the past few years to have two voter-approved measure to modernize our schools. These projects are now moving towards completion. One area needing our urgent attention is our level of maintenance in our schools. That level has been cut to skeleton levels. If we do not improve school maintenance levels, much of our school improvement investment is at risk of being squandered.

  While it is somewhat out of the scope of this question, one additional topic must be mentioned when discussing our schools. Declining enrolment and revenues have recently forced the closing of two schools in the Santa Cruz City Schools District. Both of the closed schools had recently been renovated under the modernization program. Now, the District says an additional closing of either a high school or a junior high school is likely.

  As concerned members of our community, we must be involved in this issue. During my over 30 years as a teacher, EVERY professional development workshop I have attended on this subject has driven home the FACT that smaller schools are better for the success of young people. Yet, in a time of budgetary crisis, we are doing the opposite!

  Just as in the City budget cutting process, we MUST not discard those things that we hold most dear. The school budget problem is difficult but I believe this community will do what is needed to stem this crisis and still do what is best for our young people. That is a combination of bridge funding, development of affordable housing to stop the exodus of young families, and GOOD JOBS so that working people can afford to live here.

  All these things are interrelated in our community. Attention to any one of them is not sufficient to maintain a healthy community. We must address all critical issues.

• Airports: I support the maintenance and operation of the Watsonville Airport. I oppose attempts to close it or reduce it in size or number of runways. Our County needs to maintain at least this last and only airport. The airport generates a significant amount of commerce and revenue for the City of Watsonville and for the County. It would be folly to reduce its level of operation in any amount.

• Water systems: Many attractive water options have been effectively vetoed by regional and State government agencies. As a result, I support the current exploration of desalination for Santa Cruz. I support the efforts to collaborate with the Soquel Creek Water District. Environmentally, I am satisfied that blending the desal discharge with outflow of the wastewater treatment plant creates a total discharge with about the same salinity as ocean water. We must insist that the intake of any desal plant is sufficiently large that flow rates will be very low and issues of entrapment and entrainment will be minimal. Further, any desal plant must NOT draw sufficient water that it alters the bioculture of that region of the bay. The EIR must prove this to be true before any plan is approved.

Yes, I support those efforts!

An AFL-CIO sanctioned boycott?

Local hire ordinances?

Project labor agreements?

I support the California Health Insurance Act (SB2) that was signed into law in October of 2003. I will vote YES on the referendum (Prop 72) to approve finally enacting SB2. I will contribute to that campaign and encourage everyone to vote YES on 72.

Save SB 2! Vote YES on Prop 72

• Fiscal health and responsibility: Clearly the City’s budget picture must be addressed and stabilized over the next few years. This must be done with a combination of resolute control of expenses and enhancement of revenues.

  We must be very firm on cost control while avoiding damage to the working conditions and morale of our excellent City staff. We need to attract and make welcome those types of businesses that are a good fit with our environmentally sensitive community. Our strong suits are tourism and high tech businesses. Our community has expressed a desire for sustainable businesses employing educated workers and utilizing green business practices. By strongly encouraging such businesses, we will assure long-term budgetary health for Santa Cruz. We also have to plan for the expiration of the measure F sales tax. One possible approach is to build a community consensus to increase the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) to the average level of coastal cities.

• Transportation and road maintenance: Without positive, proactive planning, Santa Cruz faces the prospect of dreary gridlock on roads in disrepair. We must develop attractive new transportation modes that are not currently available, maintain our current transit system as a model system, and develop a revenue stream to fix our roads and maintain them on an ongoing basis.

  Many residents already consider Santa Cruz to be plagued with gridlock. It appears growth of auto trips is inevitable. Major growth of the business community and of UCSC virtually guarantees even more congestion unless we take action. Transportation options ARE available but inaction will not secure any improvement. We must press for an agreement with the University to install a people mover from the Harvey West Park area up to the campus. This new system should be mandated to absorb ALL of the 8000 new daily trips that UCSC is anticipating. It should also be planned to absorb about five percent per year of the current neighborhood gridlock so that local residents can experience a steady, if slow improvement in their traffic mess.

  The condition of our roads has to be addressed. To repair all that are badly deteriorated, Public Works estimates it would require around forty million dollars. We need plan for a revenue stream that BOTH repairs our roads now and ALSO maintains them on an ongoing basis. All community stakeholders should explore the possible options. One option could be a parcel tax for City streets. We can bond against that revenue and fix all of our roads as soon as sufficient bonds are sold. An appropriate percentage of the revenue must be earmarked for yearly maintenance so that we don’t get into this situation again!

• The General Plan revision: Broad participation in our General Plan update is definitely a top priority having a profound effect on our City for many years. Community decisions about land use in our industrial zones will set the tone for our business future. Santa Cruz could be the home numerous vital and state-of-the-art locally owned businesses, or simply the regional big-box store destination just like the freeway off ramps of countless places across the country molded by the blueprints for Anytown, USA. These are real choices and they are here to be made now by our community.

  The General Plan revision process will get underway this fall. The General Plan contains most of the foundation principles and policies that guide the day-to-day decisions of our City. A community based vision process is imperative so that all members of our City have the opportunity to contribute to this plan and help form a community consensus.

  If business people and residents do not participate in these community decisions, chances are that eager developers will shape our City’s future with the easiest choice, namely big box retail stores on our remaining industrial land. But, others in Santa Cruz have a different vision. We welcome and value small, locally owned businesses, particularly ones that employ green business techniques and employ local residents. The University promises to contribute to this trend with a business incubator project at the former Texas Instrument building.

  UCSC plans to grow. Santa Cruz can thrive in a partnership with the University if that growth does not choke us in traffic and overload our housing and water supplies. The City General Plan revision must proceed in parallel with the UCSC Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) update that is also underway. Clearly a mutually beneficial, multi-facetted partnership between the City and UCSC is the only way we all will achieve an optimal result.

When workers earn only minimum wage they often must work two or three jobs to make ends meet. Absentee parents result in latchkey kids and unhealthy communities in many ways. Successful union organizing efforts are instrumental in helping workers to dramatically improve their standard of living and gain the dignity that comes with good jobs and union recognition. When you encounter union workers, more often than not, you will find workers who have maintained a good standard of living. Unions have a proud history of not only collective bargaining victories but also victories in communities and neighborhoods on numerous issues, including child welfare, public school improvement and neighborhood stabilization. All of these are key values for a healthy and vital community.