Candidate for
Council Member; City of Orange

Government Accountability/Fiscal Responsibility The most critical issue facing the city of Orange!

I propose initiating an Orange Performance Review, pulling together talented and public-spirited Orange citizens and city staff to perform a top-to-bottom review of city operations. The mission of the Orange Performance review will be to "blow up the boxes" and recommend ways Orange city government can be restructured to deliver better services more efficiently and at a lower cost. These are difficult times financially for state and local government and we cannot afford to be lax or careless with taxpayers dollars. We had a structured deficit of $11 million this year that had to be met with cuts and reserves. The deficits are projected for as long as the economy remains down. Things will get vastly more difficult in 2014 when Cal PERS will demand higher pension contributions for our public employees. We must address these issues directly and quickly. It is important for City Government to be transparent in it's spending. This includes making all pay and benefit information more easily available to the taxpayer online as other cities in Orange County have already done. Public Safety/Crime and Illegal Immigration

Local government's central purpose is ensuring people are secure in their homes and in public. My vote as your councilman will be guided by that conviction. Recently our police had a standoff with an illegal immigrant that was wanted on weapons charges, but had been attending our public schools. Now the county wants our Theo Lacy jail to play host at taxpayer expense to illegal aliens convicted of crimes. This cannot stand. I support and will vote to enhance our status as a "Rule of Law" city.

Our police and firefighters must always receive the moral and material support they need to effectively do their jobs. Due to across the board budget cuts, the city has numerous front line Police and Fire positions vacant. There are now actually fewer men and women in uniform on the street than during the late 1980's, even though we are a much more populous city. We need the courage to make hard choices. We need to change our spending priorities to ensure we have enough men and women on the street to protect our lives, property and freedom, even if it means cutting popular but non-essential programs.

Business Climate Business activity is the lifeblood that supports the city's public safety, infrastructure, and recreational services. For more than 25 years, state government has grabbed the lion's share of our local property taxes. The most recent budget deal means Sacramento will take even more for at least the next several years. This means the sales tax, business license tax, and permits are now the main source of revenue to the City. Whether it is reopening City Hall on Fridays so people can pull permits, being more willing to accept increased hours of operation requested by a business, streamlining the permit application process, or being friendlier to "special events and sales", the City needs to be more open for business. Even if a business does not generate sales tax, it does create jobs that enable people to shop and spend in our community. I have served on the board of the Orange Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership. I have worked to attract and retain business in Orange as a private citizen, and will continue to do so as a Councilmember.

Taxes

It is the sacred duty of elected officials to guard the taxpaying public from the tendency of the government + be it local, state or federal + to grab an ever larger share of the people's money. I believe Americans are overtaxed as it is, and I will do everything in my power as your councilman to ensure that the City of Orange does not contribute to the problem. If anything, city government should constantly be seeking ways to lighten the tax burden on its citizens. We cannot be raising fees at this time of economic displacement.

Traffic

Our roads and streets are literally a concrete example of what local government is about. I have a straight forward philosophy: Orange residents pay taxes so their streets are in good repair, and their time on the road is spent moving toward their destination as quickly and safely as possible.

As new housing and commercial development are built, the City needs to demand sufficient traffic mitigation measures and be diligent about determining the real effect a development will have. Often traffic studies are produced to say the impact is below the threshold needed for mitigation. Yet, the combined effect has a significant impact. Something immediate the City can do is insist that long proposed North/South arterials like Jamboree and Culver are not abandoned, but rather installed. Also, the city must work on creative ways to increase usage of the 241. Only by encouraging the use of these North/South alternatives, will we reduce the tremendous flow of East/West commuter traffic trying to get to the 55. The residents of Serrano Heights, Parkridge, and Mabury Ranch see this every day as people from Anaheim Hills use Serrano and Cannon to get to Irvine. Those who wish to abandon North/South arterials for environmental reasons, inadvertently choose to make traffic and our pollution worse by encouraging thousands of vehicles to idle in congestion on our City streets.

Parks & Recreation

A good parks system and active city recreation programs are integral to the quality of life that makes Orange such a great place to live. While Orange has many great parks, we still well short of the state's recommended ratio of 3 acres of parkland for every 1,000 residents.

I realize that in an established city such as Orange, opportunities to acquire parkland are limited. However, as your councilman I will work to maximize the amount of parkland in the city's inventory + especially additional sports facilities to meet the recreational needs of our city's youth and active adults.

We need to be more creative in our thinking to solve this issue. I reject suggestions that we issue bonds, borrowing against our children's future, to obtain park land. We are better and smarter than that.

For instance, our local school district has many acres of under utilized land. Private/public partnerships could convert much of this land "joint use" facilities at a fraction of the cost. The city should also seek the assistance of private organizations that issue grants or donate land.

City leadership needs to think "outside the box". These creative solutions are already working in small ways. For example, Orange Little League leases under-utilized land from the school district and maintains the fields with volunteers -- at no cost to taxpayers. The Orange YMCA also installed a new public playground with the help of private grants and volunteers. With the right leadership, I'm confident our city can work with the Community Foundation, the Orange sports leagues, and the myriad of community organizations to harness their time, talent and resources to bring more parks and facilities to Orange.

Code Enforcement/Quality of Life

Many Orange residents are concerned about what they perceive as lax code enforcement, the deterioration of certain properties and other elements of blight that can effect the quality of life and property values. At the same time, one of Orange's most attractive qualities is that it is not as dominated by associations and restrictions as other Orange County communities. We should strive for a balance inspired by the Golden Rule - "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

Instead of "turning in" a neighbor who is having difficulty properly maintaining their home or property, our first course of action should be to approach them as neighbors and find out how we can be of help to them. If a neighbor does not have landscaping, maybe we as neighbors should offer assistance to install it one weekend instead of calling code enforcement. Only as a last resort, if a neighbor absolutely refuses to comply with city codes, should we contact the city.

Another innovative approach to improving the aesthetics and home values of our city is to declare a moratorium on permit fees for fixing up your home. Anaheim pioneered this approach with great success + catalyzing its citizens into investing millions of dollars in city neighborhoods. It is a proactive, positive, and limited government approach to voluntarily encouraging a clean city.