Experience to Make the Difference for Working Families

By Henry C. Manayan

Strengthening our economy with good jobs, improving transportation alternatives to reduce traffic, providing our children with excellent schools, conserving energy to prevent another expensive power crisis, protecting our environment from overdevelopment and pollution, creating housing that working families can afford, and quality, affordable health care for every resident.

Right now it is clear that there is no greater priority than getting our economy back on track. Economic development has always been a key issue for me as a public official. I believe that a healthy economy leads to a healthy budget + and that helps every resident in our state. The economic crisis in California is not an easy problem to solve and I believe that we need to take a holistic approach.

I plan to work for our state just as I did for Milpitas, by bringing economic growth and development with programs and incentive initiatives that will encourage job creation and economic stimulus. During my three terms as Mayor, the city of Milpitas realized more new businesses and job creation than at any time in the city's history. This is evidenced by the move to Milpitas by world-class, high-tech companies such as Cisco Systems, Lucent Technology, Palm, KLA Tencor, Maxtor, Sony and Veritas Software. Milpitas now has the highest ratio of high-tech firms per capita. These new firms join veteran heavyweights with operations or headquarters in Milpitas such as Solectron, Sun Microsystems, Lifescan, Applied Materials, Seagate, LSI Logic, Adaptec and many others listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ.

Additionally, as a former Chamber of Commerce Director, and through my private sector experience in finance and investment banking, I strengthened my belief that the best way for any government to provide good services and a quality environment, is to have a sound economic base. This is the vehicle that generates the revenues through which government operates. During my public career, I was able to help with the development of the Great Mall, which was previously a huge, abandoned, EPA-Hazardous auto plant. Today, this Mall brings more than 1 million visitors every month to the City of Milpitas. Moreover, I also helped to bring in Milpitas Square, the largest Asian Mall in Northern California. During my earlier service on the Planning Commission, and then on the City Council, I also worked to develop the large McCarthy Ranch, which featured big-box retailers, R & D buildings, and numerous restaurants. Collectively, all of these projects contribute millions of dollars in sales and property tax revenues to our local economy and thousands of jobs for working families.

Our number one priority is to create high paying jobs that boost our economy and take care of our citizens' basic needs. Job creation will require three actions: creating housing that workers can afford, finding alternate modes of transportation and preparing our workforce with solid primary and secondary education.

By creating affordable housing and transportation solutions, we can make California a great place to work and encourage skilled, motivated workers to want to come to our area. However, this draw of qualified, eager employees is only a short-term solution. To remain competitive in the long run, California must create an internal pool of skilled, educated and capable employees, and we need to do that by increasing funding for public education. Preparing our workplace for the future will require excellent schools from kindergarten through high school + and is essential to economic recovery.

By taking this three-pronged approach to get our economy back on track, we will ensure that California's economic recovery is sustainable, not simply a band-aid solution to get us through the year. Using state and local revenue to make California a better place to live, work and raise a family is one of the best investments we can make.

Improving Transportation Alternatives to Reduce Traffic

None of my opponents can match my track record of fighting to make transportation improvements happen in this district. As Mayor of Milpitas, I worked to extend the light rail system to our city, BART to San Jose and continued the fight for alternative transportation solutions. During my term as Mayor, Milpitas was the first city in the Bay Area to be awarded the Helen Putnam Excellency Award for public projects and transportation. My commitment to public transportation is strong, and I will continue to work to see that the state's infrastructure projects are completed on-time and on-budget.

In the Assembly, I would first support improving public transit systems, like bus and light rail service. Equally as important is improving the Capitol Corridor rail passenger service. These methods of reducing the number of cars on the road are important because they both lessen the strain on our environment and reduce the heavy traffic that plagues California. Secondary to expanding public transportation is repairing existing roads, and I believe building new highways should be the state's last priority.

It is in everyone's best interest to make transportation in the Silicon Valley more functional and more readily accessible. It's good for business, for the environment and for the well being of all of our residents.

Providing our Children with Excellent Schools

There is no greater investment we as a state and as a community can make than in the inventors and leaders of the future. Education is central to our social and economic well being.

I have been a member of the Santa Clara County Office of Education's Blue Ribbon Task Force for the past 4 years. Together with fellow community leaders, instructors and others, I have advocated for children, schools and the community and looked for local solutions to the crises in our schools. At the state level, I believe that the Assembly must seek increased funding, innovative partnership and support for the teachers and other school employees are the keys to California's future. Locally, the 20th Assembly District is one of the most diverse in the state, with students speaking more than 100 different languages in our schools. I believe in making public education accessible to everyone, and in ensuring that all local students receive the educational foundation they deserve.

I also believe that higher education is critical for our state's future success. To excel as a society, we need to make it possible for anyone who wants to attend college to do so. As a previous Adjunct Professor in the Mission West Valley College system, I know that higher education simply must be a funding priority for our state. When pursuing prospective employers and companies, one of our selling points should be California's well-educated workforce. Thereafter, it is appropriate that a portion of the revenue generated by economic development should be reinvested in our higher education system to ensure that the recent escalation of student tuition doesn't worsen and we can confidently prepare the next generation of Californians for any future challenge.

Conserving Energy to Prevent Another Expensive Power Crisis

There must be a multi-faceted approach to our state's power crunch. I believe the first step is always education. We must continue to educate Californians on the importance of energy conservation. Californians have been doing an excellent job in terms of lowering energy usage, and we must continue this trend. However, we cannot stop at encouraging efficient energy usage by consumers alone. We must work to update and improve efficiency at outdated power plants and facilities.

Additionally, our state (and our nation) needs to look at alternative energy sources. California's energy agencies are looking to focus on renewable energy sources and to ensure that one-fifth of the state's energy comes from such sources by 2010. By harnessing wind, hydropower and solar energy, the state and its consumers will no longer be at the will of energy corporations and the federal government. We need to encourage this as well as alternative sources of fuel such as electric power and hydrogen.

Protecting our Environment from Overdevelopment and Pollution

I believe that the hillsides and open spaces in the 20th Assembly District are an incredible resource that must be protected. As Mayor of Milpitas, I worked hard to expand public transportation and get cars off the roads. I also fought to protect rolling hills and open spaces in Milpitas because I believe that these open spaces are one of our area's most valuable resources. I support responsible growth that doesn't clog city streets and doesn't sprawl into undeveloped areas and responsible urban growth boundaries + those that allow enough growth for 20 years.

I firmly believe that Wildlife Refuges must be protected with the power and resources of the government and made open and accessible to all Californians to learn about and appreciate the wildlife that surrounds us. The Don Edwards S.F. Bay National Wildlife Refuge has wonderful education and recreation programs that are valuable and an excellent way to ensure that the public is aware of the area's wildlife.

I also believe that wildlife corridors and other essential wildlife habitats need protecting, both for the preservation of the wildlife that depends upon it and for the safety and well being of area residents. It is always difficult to strike a balance between respecting the wildlife and allowing for development and human progress. I believe that there should be open spaces where humans and nature interact, as well as protected, undeveloped areas of wildlife habitat that are protected under law against development.

For more information about my stances on Land Use and Energy Conservation, please see the Housing and Energy sections.

Creating Housing that Working Families can Afford

Housing is a subject I am intimately familiar with and one that I have worked on during my entire public service career. As the Mayor of Milpitas, with an extensive private sector background in real estate development, I chaired the SVMG's Housing Leadership Council's Committee on Public Officials Education. More importantly, I helped to deliver considerable results to the cause of Affordable Housing in the City of Milpitas and our region. During my administration, we were able to complete five residential development projects all along Milpitas' Light Rail Corridor that contained affordable housing components (Summerfield, Montevista, Parc Metropolitan I, Parc Metropolitan II, The Crossings At Montague). I also played a significant leadership role in recruiting all Santa Clara County cities to join the Housing Trust Fund through my role as President of the Cities Association, and by making an early, initial leadership pledge from my City to the Fund of $500,000.

As a major gateway to the Silicon Valley, I'm concerned that many 20th Assembly District families have been negatively impacted by rising costs for housing. However, I also believe the answer is not as simple as adding high-density housing and maintaining open space. Although, one of our district's valuable assets are the rolling hills and beautiful scenery that surround us, I believe that to solve the housing crunch in our area, we must use a smart growth approach that clusters high density housing along transportation corridors and near jobs, much as I have done in Milpitas as described above. I also believe in working to turn around and rezone abandoned lots, outmoded uses and underutilized areas to avoid developing precious open space. I have done this in Milpitas, and I will help to expand this statewide to make California the best place to live.

Quality, Affordable Health Care for Every Resident

I believe strongly that our state needs to address the health care crisis to ensure that every resident has access to quality and affordable care, regardless of age, physical condition, income, or employment status. I am particularly alarmed to learn that 80% of the uninsured California residents are members of working families. Obviously something must be done and this measure will help ensure that low-wage workers receive adequate and fair treatment.

I come from a family of doctors and nurses, and I have heard the horror stories first-hand from doctors who were forced from one state to another or even out of practice due to skyrocketing liability insurance. I have gone on record in support of MICRA because we simply must do what we can in California to keep insurance premiums at a manageable level and within reach so that good doctors aren't forced to leave for less expensive states.