Candidate for
Council Member; City of Elk Grove; Council District 5

My Prosperity Plan for Elk Grove

My plan is to:

Listen to your concerns... Learn and educate myself and the council members how we can properly address your concerns... Take action for the community... And after action is taken, continue my dialogue with the community, being proactive and reaching out. "Community concerns are my priority" + Economic Crisis and Foreclosures

Families in Elk Grove are hurting in this hard economic climate. I fully understand and relate to this concern, as my family recently faced foreclosure. As a community, we need to take action to help our residents and try to alleviate the pain of this economic crisis.

Beyond town halls and workshops, we also need to work to find real, concrete solutions.

We should support our residents with better community services, including education programs and foreclosure counseling; Monitor bank loans in our area and make sure that our future and current residents are receiving fair rates. Partner with legislative efforts to identify legislative relief options specific to Elk Grove "Supporting our families to create a stronger community" + Safety

Safety has been a challenge in our neighborhoods. We need to jumpstart our city government to keep families safe and protect the welfare of our community. We need to both control crime in our neighborhoods and educate our youth on the dangers of drug use and criminal activity. As a City Council member, I will work with our police department and local community groups to:

Work on a new solution to gang violence. In March 2008, the city council deemed the proposed gang initiative unenforceable. We need to get back to the drawing board and find a workable solution to keep our families and community safe; Expand our after-school programs. We should work with the newly created Youth Services Division in our city, the Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD), the Cosumnes Community Services District (CSD) and the Elk Grove Parks and Recreation (Elk Grove Parks and Rec.) to expand the programs within our community; Work with the newly created city Youth Services Division and provide support to non-profits involved in youth-targeted programming. "Making Elk Grove more accessible" + Transportation

We need to work to make our community as accessible as possible. Through a strong public transit system, we can help reduce congestion on our roads, save local commuters money, and make our city more accessible to neighboring communities. We want to encourage economic growth with a strong transportation system that attends to the needs of local residents, while also preserving the city's rural portions and historic areas, including Old Town and our four California Historical Landmarks. A few years ago, we were at the forefront of switching to cleaner-energy transit systems. We invested in technologies that we thought would be better for our community in the long-run, but unfortunately, faulty mechanics have brought us close to shutting down our public transit system. I will bring our community together and work with our transit companies and local agencies to:

Make smart decisions about contracts with transportation companies; Increase the reliability and efficiency of the E-Tran system; Explore long-term options, such as the extension of the light-rail station and figuring out how to finance these projects without burdening taxpayers; Begin a discussion about our traffic issues and city needs. Traveling through our city should be easy and stress free- not bogged with traffic. "Increasing our local economic growth" + Economic Development

Our local businesses have been feeling the crunch these last few years. We've been waiting for developments that keep changing and stalling. We don't want our small business owners to slip through the cracks. I will work with local businesses, the city government and the local community to create a responsible and balanced development plan for Elk Grove. Our city can provide both a proactive and remedial function for employees in the area. It can provide appropriate conditions for small and new businesses to thrive, and through its social and community services, help keep existing area workers employed. Working with local leaders, we will build a strong economic future for Elk Grove.

Invite quality businesses that will enrich our community; Provide an environment where small business owners can thrive; Engage local non-profit organizations in creating programs that enrich our city; Negotiate with developers of the Promenade Mall and other developments to move forward on high-quality construction to benefit our residents. "Maintain our esteemed Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD)" + Education

The people are not the only ones who have felt the economic crunch-- our school district has too. As we gear up to celebrate our landmark golden 50th anniversary celebration, we need to work hard to maintain our respected and beloved school district. Uncertain state funding has caused EGUSD's board to eliminate several of our employee positions for the upcoming school year and school closures loom in the near future. It is clear that our school district needs support. As a proud mother of three children who attend EGUSD schools, I have a personal investment in making sure that our school district gets the proper support it needs from the city. We should all be working to ensure the continuing high caliber of education that we have provided during the last fifty years.

Work with EGUSD Board to clarify the district's needs; Assist the district in figuring out where the expected $15 million in cuts over the next three years will come from without affecting the quality of education for our children; Help the employees of EGUSD keep their jobs as more funding is cut.