Contra Costa County, CA November 7, 2000 Election
Smart Voter

Elaboration of Priorities

By James A. "Jim" Murray

Candidate for Member, City Council; City of Walnut Creek

This information is provided by the candidate
Priorities
1. Preserving the vitality of the Downtown area/business community to maintain the tax revenue stream that funds the quality of life benefits. Virtually all the planning and growth related issues have their roots in the traffic congestion and parking problems. New development in the downtown must be made to provide mitigations for the impacts that it causes. (For example, the 600 parking spaces is not an adequate mitigation for a 14-screen theater with 3,000 seats.) The soon-to-expire Growth Limitation Plan and the General Plan must be updated to reflect these needs.
2. Modify the capital project budget and implementation methodology to restore fiscal control. (For example, the expansion of City Hall was $4,000,000 over estimate before the groundbreaking ceremony. It will be more than 20 to 50 years before the stated savings in rents will pay for the capital costs. Before then the original building will need replacing.) A needed new library is being planned; however, the new methodologies for controlling capital projects must be in place before undertaking another major project if we are to get good value for our tax dollar.
3. Making certain that all of the community gets a fair and impartial hearing by the City Council. The new City Council will be without a Rossmoor resident for the first time in many years. I will listen to the Rossmoor community and make sure their concerns are heard. I will be the only commuter on the City Council, and about two-thirds of the Walnut Creek workforce is commuting outside the City. I will work to use proven methods to improve the communication with these two groups.

Candidate Page || Feedback to Candidate || This Contest
November 2000 Home (Ballot Lookup) || About Smart Voter

ca/cc Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 7, 2000 17:54
Smart Voter 2000 <http://www.smartvoter.org/>
Copyright © 2000 League of Women Voters of California Education Fund.
The League of Women Voters neither supports nor opposes candidates for public office or political parties.