This is an archive of a past election.
See http://www.smartvoter.org/ca/alm/ for current information.
LWV League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Alameda County, CA November 2, 2004 Election
Smart Voter Political Philosophy for Daniel M. "Danny" Akagi

Candidate for
Member, Board of Directors; Castro Valley Sanitary District

[photo]
This information is provided by the candidate

I believe Dennis Waespi, David Sadoff, and I are the best qualified candidates in the election this November. I have worked closely with Dennis Waespi for the past 5 years in providing important services for the District's customers, including bulky waste pickup, lateral replacement grant program, Earth Day Celebration, Downtown litter cans, food scrap recycling/composting, E-Waste Collection, and others. When available, we've searched out grant funding to offset costs for these programs. Dave Sadoff has been involved with the District since 2000 and will bring business as well as technical expertise to fill in the spot being vacated by Director Elkaim.

The three of us received the endorsements of County Supervisor Nate Miley, current Board Members Harry Francis, Ralph Johnson and Meyer Elkaim, and past members Tom Edwards and Tony Morsilli. These are the key endorsements from individuals with past and present policy making authority in our community. We have demonstrated forethought and planning that we can work with other policy makers, protect the District's infrastructure, meet goals, and contribute to the health and vitality of our community.

Completing the treatment plant project on time and on budget is a short term challenge being handled by assigning appropriate staff resources to work with the Oro Loma Sanitary District and forming a qualified construction management team to manage the project. The larger challenge coming in the near future will be complying with Cal EPA's Sanitary Sewer Management Plan (SSMP) requirements for the wastewater collection system. The current board has placed the District in a good position for complying with the SSMP requirements. Full compliance in the future will depend on our ongoing inspection, maintenance, evaluation activities, capacity analysis, infiltration/inflow control, and budgeting.

Upcoming issues in meeting SSMP requirements include infiltration of excess water into privately owned service laterals, and controlling FOG (fats, oils and grease) blockages in the collection system. We will be implementing programs to control infiltration and FOG. In the solid waste area, we are faced with meeting the 75% diversion requirements of County Measure D. We have already implemented residential food scrap collection for composting, and are implementing the construction/demolition ordinance. These will help towards meeting the 75% diversion goal, but will require additional work. The District is a leader in Measure D compliance, and has been successful in obtaining grant funding to offset the costs for new programs. An example is the residential food scrap program, where we received grant funding to initiate the program. Future improvements include improving residential recycling, increased school participation, and more structured commercial recycling.

The District is in good financial condition. The District is debt free while maintaining one for the lowest fee structures in California.

Next Page: Additional Endorsements

Candidate Page || Feedback to Candidate || This Contest
November 2004 Home (Ballot Lookup) || About Smart Voter


The League of Women Voters does not support or oppose any candidate or political party.
Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 31, 2004 17:55
Smart Voter   <http://www.smartvoter.org/>
Copyright © League of Women Voters of California Education Fund   http://ca.lwv.org