City Council Candidate for District 2

Charles Gilcrest

A. Experience and History

1.  How long have you lived in San Leandro?

Born (1956) and raised here.

2.  What is your current job and place of work, if any?

Consultant with an emphasis in educational funding (home-based business in District 2). Currently working with Hayward Unified to help pass their construction bond on the June ballot.

3. What community, professional, and advocacy groups are you a member of?

  • Boardmember, Halcyon-Foothill Neighborhood Association
  • Boardmember, City of San Leandro Board of Zoning Adjustments
  • SLUSD Bond Oversight Committee
  • 100 Club (Public Safety Support Organization)
  • Chair, City of San Leandro Joint Project Area Redevelopment Advisory Committee
  • Sausage and Suds Steering Committee (Co-Volunteer Coordinator)
  • President, Cherry City Toastmasters
  • President, Business Association of South San Leandro (BASSL)
  • EBMUD Water Management Citizens Liaison Committee
  • Boardmember, San Leandro Chamber of Commerce
  • Davis Street Volunteer
  • Sentinels Business PAC
  • Former Commissioner, Human Services Commission (partial list)

4. With what political party, if any, are you registered?

Lifelong Democrat

5. In a one sentence answer, why are you running for office?

I wish to help make San Leandro a better community for all of us.

6. What are the relevant skills, experience, or education that qualify you?

A Councilmember’s first responsibility is to listen to the people. I listen well. My degree from U.C. Berkeley is in Political Science, and my various volunteer experience on Boards, Commissions and Committees have prepared me to hit the ground running. I care about San Leandro.

7. What are your top five accomplishments of the past 2 years?

  • Over the past 6 years I helped pass over a billion dollars in educational financing in 5 other districts, as well as actively volunteering on San Leandro’s Measures A and B.
  • Helped pass a Business License Fee increase that raised millions of dollars for city services, while still being fair to the business community.
  • After hearing neighborhood complaints, it was my successful motion at the BZA that, for the only time in San Leandro history, reduced the hours of operation of a fast-food drive-thru.
  • I helped bring back Sausage & Suds last year.
  • Worked closely with Tony in 2006 to help find money within the city budget to reopen the libraries on Sunday, add police officers, and bring back the Cherry Festival.

B. Goals

8. What are your top 3 priorities, and what resources or programs would you advance to support them?

1) Protect the quality of our neighborhoods. Not only do we have to deal with the public safety issue, but we need to fix the streets, improve lighting and calm the traffic. Our community compliance ordinance should be strengthened. If we dredge, we need to find an alternative to 20,000 truckloads of dredge spoils (current estimate) being trucked down westside streets.

2) Partner with the Schools. From joint-use projects to helping find school sites to fighting budget cuts in Sacramento, we need to remain committed to helping the districts provide quality education.

3) Support community cohesiveness. We need to do more to help our seniors age in place, with enhanced home repair programs, better shuttle service, and a completed Senior Center paid for by existing increment funding. We need to provide enough affordable housing so that those who grew up in this community are able to remain, and our teachers can afford to live in our community. We need to outreach to our diversity, and make sure all groups feel connected and involved. We need to attract good jobs to the city, so people can work where they live. We need to support local business, and promote shop local. Business provides 2/3 of the revenue in our general fund budget, but residents enjoy 2/3 of the services provided by the general fund. A healthy business community means a higher quality of life at less cost. We need to enhance the City’s responsiveness to community concerns.

9. Do you have any big ideas or visions for the future of the city?

I see a more vibrant, safer, green and synergistic community, celebrating its diversity and moving towards the future. San Leandro is at a crossroads. We treasure our small town feel, but need to act affirmatively to insure that it remains. With the TODs and the Kaiser property we have opportunities to both revitalize areas of the community and prime the economic engine, but resources then need to be put into the neighborhoods. We need to protect our shoreline, but make it economically self-sustaining. We need to partner with the schools.

C. Opportunities for Public Participation

10. How will you improve communications between residents and city government, and improve public participation in city government? 

More interactive city web site, reach out to residents with more community meetings and multilingual information.

11. What will you do to get City Council meetings—and city boards and commissions—televised   and online, including transcripts, for public access? 

Amend the Comcast contract to include a requirement for public broadcast.

12. What steps will you undertake to improve the transparency and quality of decision-making by the City of San Leandro?

Everything should be transparent. They easiest way to enhance the quality of decision-making is by providing early opportunities for public input.

D. Campaigning

13. List your top five endorsements.

All my endorsements are highly valued, and I appreciate the support of friends, neighbors and concerned community members every bit as much as I do the support of those involved in the civic process, and regret that I have not yet had the opportunity to speak with more of you. Some of my current endorsers with whom I share priorities and vision are

  • Councilmember Michael Gregory
  • Assemblymember Alberto Torrico
  • Former Councilmember Faith Frazier
  • Human Services Commission Vice-Chair Amada Robles
  • Mayor Tony Santos

14. List your top five (in dollar amount) campaign contributors to-date.

Loan from myself, $5000

Eden Realty $1000

Gordon Galvan $500

Chris Gray $250 loan

All others under $100. I have not yet had a fundraiser or sent out a solicitation letter (3/17).

15. What is your position regarding changing City Council elections from city-wide elections to district-wide elections? 

I would vote to put the charter amendment on the ballot and let the voters decide.

16. What is your position regarding changing representation to be by race rather than by geographic location? 

Oppose. I prefer Dr. King’s vision; “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

E. Schools

17. How will you promote joint collaboration projects between the city and public schools?

By talking with them as often as possible, voting for joint use projects, and requiring top staff to meet with each district every month as well.

18. What do you see as the city's responsibility for the impact of new housing developments on schools?

The City needs to help find new school sites and insure sufficient developer fees.

19.  What was your position on instituting a parcel tax to help pay for ongoing costs for the San Leandro Unified School District?

I actively campaigned for Measure A.

F. Local Issues

20. Briefly state your ideas on how to encourage and protect local businesses development, including your position on enacting limits on chain businesses, and actions you would propose to accomplish your vision. 

I would instruct the business development department to prioritize attraction and retention of locally-owned business, as they keep much more of their dollars generated here in town, and to look at development of business incubators. Chains should expand, not replicate, existing product mix, and their impacts on traffic and community should be scrutinized.

21. How would proposed to implement the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) vision, given the insufficient resources and interest? 

The Downtown TOD lies in the Plaza Redevelopment Area, and the Bayfair TOD adjoins the Joint Project Area. I would use existing increment funding to provide incentives.

22. What are your thoughts and plans about getting a quality business in the old Albertson’s site?

Red Mountain (the site owners) initially came to the City with plans and drawings for a beautiful mixed use development, received widespread support and acclaim, but then pulled them off the table at the first sign of an economic downturn, without talking to anyone. The Albertson’s site is within the JPA redevelopment area, and once Red Mountain stops suing us, both affordable housing funds and regular tax increment can be used to guarantee the feasibility of the kind of affordable, transit friendly development we want.

23. John Jermanis has intimated that he wants to retire. How would you go about appointing a new City Manager? 

National search.

24. What would you do in office to address poverty and homelessness in San Leandro?

Support the collaboration between April Showers, Building Futures and others towards building a new homeless shelter in town. Work to attract good, green jobs to San Leandro. Promote local hire.

25. What would you do to improve public transportation and make San Leandro more conducive to walking?

Implement the South Area Plan, and both TOD’s. Expand and combine our shuttle services.

26. How would you promote opportunities within San Leandro for minorities and other historically-disadvantaged populations? 

Outreach, recruitment, and support. I am proud that the only two African-American trustees in the history of the San Leandro Unified School District both chose me to assist with their campaigns.

27. Do you think the City Council should ban the use of styrofoam containers and plastic shopping bags in San Leandro? Why or why not? 

[no answer]

28. What would you do to decrease crime in San Leandro?

1) Provide better information. Current crime stats on the web page, with a mapping program included. Neighborhood by Neighborhood blogs on the Neighborhood Watch page.

2) Real time updates. Allow people to sign up for automatic text or e-mail alerts when crimes are occurring in their beat. 3) More resources to Neighborhood Watch. Also, promote semi-annual or quarterly City Nights Out, so people can get to know their neighbors. 4) Better real-time communication with adjoining forces. 5) Sufficient staffing. San Leandro has 10% fewer officers per capita than all of our neighbors. Our Tac Squad, which pursues identified criminals across our borders, only operates 5 days a week. We don’t even have 1 officer per beat on graveyard shift. We need to give our department the resources to do the job right.

29. Briefly state your position on the use of eminent domain.

It should only be used if the taking is for a true public purpose.

G. Summary

Please state why San Leandrans should vote for you.

I’m an experienced, hardworking community member that listens first and wants to work for you. Please give me that opportunity by voting for Charles Gilcrest for District 2 Councilmember. Thank you.