League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	Santa Clara County, CA November 2, 2010 Election
	Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues Council Member; City of Mountain View

The questions were prepared by the Leagues of Women Voters of Santa Clara County and asked of all candidates for this office.     See below for questions on Experience, Concerns, Balance, Future Plans Click on a name for candidate information.   See also more information about this contest. 1. What experience related to city government would you bring to the city council? Answer from Greg David: As a life long resident I bring the unique experience of having seen Mountain View change and evolve over many years. Decisions made by the council have effects that last for generations and it benefits me to have seen the outcome, good and bad, from previous council actions. In addition, my educational and career history are highly suited to tasks faced by the city council. Answer from Ronit Bryant: Relevant public experience (incumbent, city commissions, etc.): Mayor, City of Mountain View, 2010 City Council Standing Committees Chair of the Environmental Sustainability Ad Hoc Subcommittee Chair of the High Speed Rail Ad Hoc Subcommittee Member of the General Plan Update Ad Hoc Subcommittee Member of the Youth Services Committee External Agency Committee Assignments Member of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) Executive Board SCCCA Recycling and Waste Reduction Commission Elected to the Mountain View City Council, November 2006 Parks & Recreation Chair and Commissioner (1997-2004) Mesa de la Comunidad Founding Member Mountain View Trees Co-founder League of Women Voters Los Altos-Mountain View Board Member and Co-director for Natural Resources (2005-2006) Old Mountain View Neighborhood Association Chair (2002-2004) and Newsletter Editor (1992-1998) Mountain View-Whisman School District Surplus Property Committee (7-11 Committee) Landels, Slater, Graham PTA Board Member Landels and Graham PTA Newsletter Editor MVHS Site Council Member LMV graduate (Class of 1996) Answer from Daniel Brian Waylonis: I have attended many council meetings and have both written and spoken my opinion to the council. I have an analytical, data-driven career and I want to apply that to the council in its decision-making process. I am not a career politician and am not benighted to any special interest groups. Answer from Jac Siegel: In my more than thirty years as a resident of Mountain View, I have been a renter, a homeowner, a landlord, a senior manager in large aerospace companies, including GTE Goverment Systems, TRW, Loral, and Lockheed, where I was responsible for revenue and budgets in the hundreds of millions of dollars,and managed upwards of a thousand employees at a time. I have also been a small business owner. My wife Sharon and I raised our two children here, and they attended Mountain View public schools. I have participated in numerous community groups and organizations, including the Environmental Planning Commission (serving as as Chairperson of EPC in 2005), and I was co-Chair of the city's Mediation Services. I am currently a councilmember, and I presently serve as Vice Mayor. As chair of the council finance committee, I have brought my financial managment experience to bear upon the challenge of balancing budgets and keeping the city financially strong, the foundation for being able to deliver on all our other priorities. I am proud that the city has continued to do well, despite the state-wide effects of the national economic downturn. Over the next term, I want to protect and improve the quality of life for all residents of Mountain View. 2. What concerns are of particular importance to the city and how would you address them? Answer from Greg David: One of the foremost issues facing the city is maintaining a balanced budget. Previous councils have succeeded in achieving a balance, but an uncertain economy requires that future council members be diligent in finding ways to reduce costs and maintain essential services within the constraints of the city revenues. I do not support additional taxes or fee increases beyond what is reasonable based on inflation. The city needs to adjust spending accordingly without placing an additional burden on residents. Answer from Daniel Brian Waylonis: The city expenditure growth has been forecast by the city analysts to exceed revenue for the foreseeable future. Since 80% of the general operating fund pays for employee costs, it makes sense to cut employee costs. These costs can be reduced by cutting overtime pay, comparing wages with the private sector and adjusting accordingly, and exploring options to use third-party contractors in place of city workers. It's worth noting that Mountain View has 57% of housing as rentals versus the national average of 33%. The city needs to encourage housing ownership for long-term stability. When evaluating zoning changes and variances, it's critical to take into account the cost-benefit to the city. The same holds for Below-market-rate (BMR) housing. There have been many studies indicating that it's counterproductive. Voting records for the council members need to be more easily found. The city documents and expenditures need to be more easily searched. Each of these could be approached by using existing technology standards (e.g., HTML, cloud-based documents). Answer from Jac Siegel: I believe that Mountain View can solve the looming threat to our future ability to balance budgets: In my view, it is short-sighted to push for the re-zoning of commercial /retail and industrial property as land suitable for housing. This should be resisted because of the downside implication for our city revenue. Instead, we should be thinking about building our economic base by attracting more retail, commerce, and industry to our city. This sort of activity takes time and effort to bear fruit. When I first joined the council, we had only one economic development employee, which was simply insufficient for this important task. I worked hard to add a second employee, and we now have two economic development employees tasked with reaching out to new businesses that are interested in locating here, and ensuring that their diligence process working with the city is easy and our policies are friendly. Also, we have re-zoned commecial lands for higher density commercial development which will result in increased revenues for the city. We have also negotiated new contracts with some of our employees that are more favorable, and we making sure that the benefit packages of future employees while remaining competitive, are also more sustainable for the city. Liveable Neighborhoods Neighborhoods are more than just housing. Neighborhoods are where people live their lives. As a result, when changes are proposed (changes that increase density, increase traffic, impede views, remove heritage trees, etc.) people have strong feelings about them. These strong feelings are a good thing. They are the measure of the fact that people care about their neighborhoods. In general, what should be protected is the "livability" of our neighborhoods: easy and safe access to markets, schools, shops, transportation, professional buildings, parks and recreation areas, etc. In a second term on the council, I will: Continue to work to strengthen our neighborhood associations; Work to ensure that city planning is based on smart growth principles (consideration of the impact of density, height, setbacks, privacy, parks, traffic flow, proximity to schools, etc.); Continue to support BMR and MCC programs, mediation services, and code enforcement; Work to complete the city's General Plan. Given that Mountain View is the second mostly densely populated city on the peninsula, it is vital that growth and change be guided by a plan that reflects current conditions, options, and decisions on the part of residents. Open Space, Parks, Athletic Fields Making sure that everyone in Mountain View has easy access to parks, open space, and recreational facilities is a major priority of mine, and will be an important part of both my neighborhood preservation and smart growth agendas. During my past term on the council, we have opened several new parks, and several new "reaches" of the Stevens Creek Trail, and approved a number of ped/bike overpasses to allow easier access to recreational areas around town. Also, during the past term, we started a project to develop new athletic fields on a 12 acre city-owned parcel. Solutions: All "in-lieu of fees" collected anywhere in the city should be applied to making sure that under-served areas of the community get the attention they need, within the legal contstraints of transfer of funds (e.g., Monte Loma area, Old Mountain View, Wagon Wheel, Rex Manor, etc.). No city-owned land should be sold, unless or until the sale of it had to do with an ideal land purchase opportunity with respect to parks. Mountain View is not in urgent need of raising funds by selling off city land assets. The default posture should be to keep these assets around for future generations to leverage. 3. What would your general policy be with respect to maintaining current levels of service during these difficult economic times? Answer from Daniel Brian Waylonis: Just as every private sector worker has had to cut their expenses, the city needs to do the same. It is critical to evaluate the cost-benefit of the cities services and determine if they can be made more efficient or reprioritized. Answer from Jac Siegel: State of the City In recent years, Mountain View has made sound investments that have yielded well. Mountain View is in very good financial shape, and our city manager Kevin Duggin is an excellent financial manager. When cash is on hand, cities should invest in upgrading infrastructure (roads, water and sewer, parks and open space, etc.). Making investments in infrastructure when we have the resources to do so ensures that we won't get caught with serious, systemic problems in leaner times, when we can't afford it. We also need to make strategic investments in what we hope will be future revenue streams. The recent purchase of county land that could be a future site for big box shopping outlets is a good example of this. If all goes well, future residents will thank us for our foresight. Mountain View is also one of the few cities in the state that has passed a balanced budget this year. The reason for this is that balancing budgets is very difficult. It takes leaders who are experienced financial managers; and it takes careful diligence on a host of subjects having to do with city operations, contracts, and state law. Added to this it takes immersion in individual project details, the application of problem solving ability, and careful human relations. For more details, see my statements on economic growth elsewhere in this guide, and on my Web site. Answer from Ronit Bryant: The City Council on which I serve spent a full year, since the passing of the 09-10 budget, working to achieve a structurally balanced budget for 10-11. We opted for a three-prong strategy of expenditure reductions, fee increases, and containment of increases to employee compensation and benefits. This was accompanied by organizational changes that helped reduce costs. Working with the employee groups, this process resulted in the passing of a structurally balanced budget + without cuts in service. I believe that in difficult times, cities must focus on maintaining services to residents: safety, of course, but also library, recreation programs, park maintenance + all services that become even more important to residents in times of financial challenge. I am proud to say that in Mountain View we have enhanced services for youth + where other cities have opted to cut services. Answer from Greg David: In general, essential services such as public safety and maintenance of city property should remain a top priority, but even those areas could stand for a bit of review to ensure that city funds are being utilized in the best way. A comprehensive review of all city expenditures, including city employee costs, should be made so that a balanced budget can be maintained without detrimental effects to both essential and discretionary city services. 4. What changes do you want to see between the current General Plan and the revision now in progress? Some issues that have been brought forth by the community and the current Council and the Grand Boulevard initiative, environmental sustainability, inclusivity in the City's population and access to essential services for people who don't drive. Answer from Daniel Brian Waylonis: I'm concerned about the high-density plan and the burden on the city. I agree that El Camino could use improvement for housing as well as pedestrian and bicycle traffic. It would be worthwhile to investigate the cost-benefit of more road-based public transit (e.g., buses). The city could also encourage building practices that are LEED friendly. Answer from Greg David: Smart growth is essential for Mountain View. It must be well planned and beneficial to the 'existing' residents and not just those new to the city. Strategically placed high density development is important, but it must be implemented in a realistic fashion that does not harm the nature of our older low density neighborhoods. I support the development and improvement of transit options, walkability, and cycling routes, as long as they are realistic and do not attempt to regulate or mandate residents out of their cars. I believe we can achieve a balance that will be embraced by both environmentally progressive residents and those who are bit more traditional in their views. Answer from Ronit Bryant: I spearheaded the updating of the City's General Plan (which had not been updated since 1992). I am very proud of the result of our visioning process, in which hundreds of residents and business owners participated, in four different languages. The vision of a green city, proud of its diversity, financially healthy, with a lively downtown and vibrant neighborhoods, balancing preservation with innovation, is one I wholeheartedly support. The idea of a network of walkable and interconnected villages with services at their center is very attractive. The Plan also identifies areas of focus for change + mainly along major transportation routes such as El Camino Real. Themes of sustainability and healthy living will be woven through the fabric of the document. Adaptation to climate change will be analyzed. I look forward to putting in place the policies and actions that will get us to that vision. Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' responses are not edited or corrected by the League. Answers must not refer directly or indirectly to another candidate. The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.