Political Philosophy for Barbara Apffel Pierce

Candidate for
Council Member; City of Redwood City

What are your top priorities as a city council member?

Our city council sets priorities, is expected to show leadership and make decisions, but they cannot do so effectively without the input and support of community members, businesses, similarly involved government groups and people knowledgeable about the issues. I will make sure that all these constituencies are involved in making the decisions that will improve our city. This will be my approach with each of my priorities.

1) Ensure a high quality of life for our community members.

A recent neighborhood survey reported general public satisfaction with the condition of the city: parks, libraries, general street and sidewalk maintenance, and public safety. Areas of concern were the quality of our schools, traffic/transportation and housing. I would like to: expand city - school district collaborations to help improve our schools; focus additional council efforts on county-wide traffic/transportation groups; support on-going collaborative efforts to develop additional recreation opportunities to help our youth keep positively engaged; ensure that neighborhoods can get the help needed to resolve safety and maintenance issues.

2) Develop more partnerships between business, community, and government to ensure efficient and effective spending of taxpayers money. Issues such as improving schools and transportation cannot be solved in isolation.
- Expanded collaborations can:
- Maximize resources, expertise & facilities
- Prevent overlap and waste
- Provide more efficient and effective services for our community
- Create better ways to move people to reduce traffic congestion

3) Focus on future planning. Our city plan, which determines the city's budget allocations and work priorities, is outdated. With major land use planning underway it is critical to create a blueprint for the future that will involve as many people as possible in this critical process. Including all segments of our community in this planning will help increase civic pride and support as well as identify areas of concern. The plan needs to address community and business needs including: transportation, schools, recreation, housing and infrastructure considerations.

As a long-time community member, I have been working on some of these priorities. My practical experience with the Redwood City Education Foundation (RCEF) has proved to me the value of developing partnerships among parents, schools, community members and businesses to create solutions that they will support. As a member of Redwood City 2000's Youth Master Plan Committee and the Performing Arts Committee, I've helped foster more recreation opportunities to keep our youth positively engaged. Working with the Education Foundation Board over the past 15 years, I helped develop the plan that brought music back to our schoolchildren, and enabled us to grow from an organization that raised $2,000 a