League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Los Angeles County, CA April 8, 2008 Election
	Cathy Warner Answers Questions Candidate for Member, City Council; City of Whittier

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles County, an Inter-League Organization, and constituent Local Leagues as available in communities holding elections on April 8, 2008 and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. The City of Whittier did a Needs Assessment and Visioning for a new Public Library over 10 years ago, yet there are no definite plans to build a badly needed new facility to serve our eager residents. How should the City raise or appropriate funding to make this vital new Library a reality?

There actually are plans to build a new library facility to serve the residents of Whittier.

The City owns the Alpha Beta site in Uptown Whittier. This site is an almost complete city block. The Council has selected a development partner and is in the process of negotiating an Exclusive Right to Negotiate document. The developer has presented conceptual plans at a City Council meeting which give the Council the option of including a new library on the site.

The Council voted to direct the developer to create two sets of plans - one with a library and one without. After the plans have been created, the Council will determine which track they will follow - with a new library or without.

A community group, the Whittier Public Library Foundation, a 501(c)3 is in the process of creating a plan to raise money to "fill the gap" which will give the Council the option to build a new library once again Uptown.

For several months I have been an active participant with this group to achieve this goal.

It would be my desire to build a new library in Uptown Whittier once all the funding is available.

2. The City of Whittier has been a very willing buyer of the Nelles property, but the State of California has become a very reluctant seller. Should the City of Whittier work with the State in exploring how both can best benefit in planning for use of the Nelles property, including a possible California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) medical or re-entry facility? Explain.

Yes, the City of Whittier should continue to work with the State of California to facilitate a sale of the Nelles property, however the sale should ideally be to a developer with whom the City has a development agreement.

In all fairness both the State of California and the City of Whittier have been held hostage in this transaction since the court ruling by Federal Judge Henderson. When the ruling occurred the State was forced to put a hold on their plans to sell surplus property held by the Department of Corrections.

Because the State was not able to craft a solution to the overcrowding issue that affected the health and saftey of the prisoners in State institutions, Judge Henderson appointed a Special Master to attempt to facilitate the situation.

For several months now that Special Master has been looking at several sites within the State (Nelles being one) to consider building a hospital to treat prisoners. The decision of the Special Master need only be reported to Judge Henderson. The Special Master is not accountable to the legislature, governor, City of Whittier or the people of California.

Prior to this court ruling the State and the City worked together to come to a point wherein the State had a willing buyer and was ready to "sign the deal" to deliver the property to that willing buyer. The City would then have a degree of control over what was built on the property through it's zoning laws.

The City has been and should continue to be proactive as it relates to the disposition of the Nelles property. In order to facilitate this, the City maintains a lobbyist in Sacramento and a PR firm in Los Angeles. I and several of my colleagues on the Council have been to Sacramento to lobby and advocate on behalf of the City prior to the court ruling.

The Council is committed to it's proactive stance.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidate answers are presented as submitted except that direct or indirect reference to opponents is not permitted.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: February 27, 2008 16:11
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