Candidate for
Council Member; City of Emeryville

Nora Davis's Plan for Emeryville's Future

A record of solid results is a good foundation to stand on. Real leadership means having a clear, actionable vision for tomorrow.

In the next four years, I will work with you to:

Keep Our Budget Balanced and Maintain and Improve Our Essential City Services

We can be proud to have some of the finest, most effective and responsive city services in the entire bay area. We should be always striving for improvement. In my next term in office, you can count on me to:

• Continue to foster a vibrant, collaborative, booming business community, keeping our revenue flow steady and strong, to ensure that our currently balanced budget remains that way. We must keep up with our city's growing demand for vital services.

• Sustain and expand our police department's neighborhood outreach program with increased walking patrols, interactive community networking on the Internet and frequent, collaborative public safety meetings.

• Partner with our fire department to emphasize and improve public emergency and disaster preparedness through community education and participation. Provide increased funding for our CERT (Citizens Emergency Response Training) program and for expanded paramedic training.

As our population continues to grow, we must make sure that our transportation system keeps up, and that we invest in innovative, alternate transit methods. Effective planning will ensure that our citizens have dependable and efficient public transportation and that traffic will remain under control. If re-elected I will work to:

• Expand the areas of service and extend the hours of operation for the Emery-Go-Round.

• Provide additional access and more safety for pedestrians and bicyclists via several projects, including the completion of the bicycle/pedestrian bridge over the railroad to the Bay Street Shopping Center, and the crucial traffic calming project in the Triangle area.

• Assure that our city's general plan, which will be updated in 2008, sets forth a standard by which any potential future development in our city will be evaluated on the basis of whether or not it is transit-oriented, pedestrian, bicyclist and commuter friendly, and aids in traffic calming.

The Emeryville Unified School District (EUSD) was the most improved school district in all of Alameda County over the last two years. Last year, a record number of our graduating high school seniors went on to attend college. There is a lot we should be proud of, but there is always room to do more. Together we must:

• Strengthen Emeryville's partnership with the Chamber of Commerce, business community, school district and state department of education, to bring in much needed resources to improve school curriculum, after school and tutoring programs, and reduce class size.

• Aggressively promote the Emeryville Education Foundation, which continues to work with local business leaders to secure funding to support the school district and its students through college scholarships and other vital programs.

• Support and grow the Emeryville Youth Services Advisory Committee, as it works with the city and the business community towards the construction of The Center for Community Life. The proposed center will serve as a facility for the Emeryville Recreation Department and the schools, and as a general, multi-use community foundation. Parents, teachers, business leaders and everyday citizens are working together to make this a place where people can come to get more involved in their community, where families can access healthcare information, and where parents can take part in support programs on ways to help with their children's schooling.

Part of what makes Emeryville so special is the diversity of our community. And as this community expands and further diversifies in the coming years, we must never lose sight of the needs of our citizens. In my next term, the citizens of Emeryville can trust me to:

• Advocate for more affordable housing in our city's soon-to-be updated general plan, for first time home buyers and low income families.

• Secure funding for expanded Senior Center programs for the next wave of retirees.

• Provide safe, affordable and reliable public transportation for those seniors who can no longer or chose to no longer drive.

• Move forward with the development of the new Cultural Center at City Hall, to foster more community involvement, collaboration and cross-cultural awareness.

Stopping global warming isn't something we should just leave up to the federal government. We can all do our part locally to ensure a sustainable future. Over my next four years in office I will:

• Enhance the city's working partnership with the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), in order to meet the city's goal of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions to 25% below our 2004 levels by the year 2020.

• Promote Emeryville as a green-building model for Northern California. Emeryville currently has over 20 certified green-businesses. And our Bay Street Mall is the first entirely green-certified shopping center in all of California. But we should go one step further, and adopt a city-wide green building ordinance, which will require all future City- funded projects to be green-certified.

• Advocate the phasing out of gas guzzling vehicles from our official city fleet. If we are to lead by example, we must shift to hybrid, bio-diesel, and other emerging technologies in all city vehicles.

• Encourage transit-oriented development whenever possible. By building both residential and retail development in close proximity to public transportation hubs, we can cut down on unnecessary car trips and traffic, thereby significantly reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.

• Work with the Climate Control Task Force to advise the City Council on policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Emeryville.