Candidate for
Council Member; City of Manhattan Beach

Dear Neighbors,

I am running for City Council to enhance our quality of life in Manhattan Beach. I love Manhattan Beach and for several years have devoted countless hours giving back to our wonderful community (see list of community involvement). We need a familiar, strong voice on our City Council to work hard and fight for what's important to Manhattan Beach residents.

As a Planning Commissioner (Chairperson of the City of Manhattan Beach Planning Commission), I have tackled the toughest issues facing Manhattan Beach, including the adverse effects of overdevelopment on traffic, parking and our quality of life. As your City Councilmember, I will work hard to preserve our small-town atmosphere and local neighborhoods (encourage remodels over teardowns and ensure development that is in scale/character with our neighborhoods), reduce traffic gridlock, upgrade our public facilities and maintain our infrastructure responsibly (without any unnecessary debt/taxes), support our police and fire departments to protect our community, support our school district's high standard of education, expand our city's Seniors programs, protect our beach and environment, and ensure aggressive financial oversight/accountability.

I have the experience to make wise decisions to benefit our community and will do so with courage and integrity. If you want to know what I will do as your City Councilmember, look at what I have done as a City Commissioner (8½ years) and long-time devoted community volunteer (13 years). As an Accounting Controller and Chief Financial Officer for 25 years, I have the financial background to ensure the fiscal integrity of our City during the current funding declines, budget shortfalls and challenging economic times.

I look forward to hearing your ideas about how we can make Manhattan Beach an even better place to live, and I encourage you to get involved with my campaign. Together, we can improve our city and preserve what we love about our community. And with your support, I promise to do what is right for our residents, local businesses, seniors and our children.

I am humbly asking for your vote in this important election so that I can represent YOU on our City Council and ensure that decisions we make today serve us well into our future. Please feel free to call or email me should you have any questions or would like additional information about my candidacy.

Thank you for your consideration.

My Vision / Pledge:

• Smart Growth: Preserve our small town charm and unique neighborhoods through managed growth/development that serves our community and is in scale with our neighborhoods, while respecting private property rights. Encourage smaller homes by incentivizing remodels over teardowns. Provide incentives for development that preserves open space, views, light and air. Scrutinize over-development that would worsen traffic and would create increased parking demand. Maintain our pedestrian oriented downtown.
• Traffic/Parking: Reduce traffic gridlock on our arterial roads and eliminate cut-through traffic in our residential neighborhoods by employing comprehensive traffic management programs. Improve parking by applying a parking "tool box" approach that gives preference to our residents and our local businesses, including city resident permits and subsidized metered parking.
• Public Safety: Support our police, firefighters and paramedics to ensure they have the resources necessary to protect our residents. Expand our city's Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program.
• Education and Youth: Support our school district's high standard of education. Maintain a strong mutually beneficial partnership with our excellent schools, teachers and parents to enhance resources and improve facilities. Support our children in academics, athletics, recreation, art, music and culture. Develop youth civic leadership programs.
• Seniors: Enhance our seniors programs by devoting specialized personnel and resources to expand social interaction, flexible transportation and nutrition programs. Enlarge our seniors' resource centers. Establish a Seniors Advisory "Commission."
• Financial Integrity: Ensure aggressive financial oversight and accountability of city expenditures. Maintain a conservative, balanced budget that provides adequate reserves for weak economic conditions and state funding cutbacks. Spend less on highly paid consultants/studies and use the savings for actual programs.
• Public Facilities: Maintain our city's infrastructure and upgrade our public facilities responsibly and without any unnecessary debt or taxes. Upgrade our library, youth and seniors' facilities.
• Civic Participation: Encourage public participation and communication with our City Council and City Departments. Implement periodic office hours for City Councilmembers and "state-of-the-neighborhood" town hall meetings to facilitate communication and reach out to residents for input on important neighborhood issues. Move the City Council's "Public Participation" agenda item to the beginning (rather than at the end) of meetings.
• Environment: Protect our public parks, open green space, our beach and our ocean (apply storm drain/runoff diversion management). Facilitate our city's Climate Action Plan to reduce carbon emissions and adopt `green' building standards, including water and energy conservation (and public education of green sustainable programs). Protect against air, noise and visual (signage) pollution. Lease or buy surplus school property for community open space and passive recreation facilities.