City Council Candidate for District 2

Linda Perry

A. Experience and History

1.  How long have you lived in San Leandro?

I have lived in San Leandro for 41 years.

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

Over the past year, due to caregiving issues for my mother and developmentally disabled brother, I have limited my work schedule. I am an independent contractor/public policy consultant having worked in the past for the Association of Bay Area Governments and the Bay Area Economic Forum. I also serve as a San Leandro Unified School District Trustee, District 3.

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

• California School Boards Association
• Alameda County School Boards Association
• Friends of the San Leandro Library
• United Parents

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

I am a life-long Democrat since age 18.

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

Living in San Leandro all my adult life, I have been committed to improving my neighborhood and community, and I believe I can continue to give back to my community and make a difference in shaping San Leandro’s future.

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

Involvement, experience, leadership and vision.

• I know the job. I was Councilmember and Vice-Mayor from 1988-1996, representing San Leandro on numerous local and regional committees, including Chair, League of California Cities Telecommunications Task Force; League of California Cities Transportation and Public Works Committee; ABAG Regional Planning Committee Chair, Bay Conservation and Development Commission.
• I have been actively involved in improving San Leandro for 39 years, appointed to the first San Leandro Youth Advisory Committee at age 16.
• As a graduate of San Leandro High and California State University, Hayward (political science and public administration), I value education.
• First elected in 1996, I currently serve on the San Leandro Unified School Board, having served twice as President, Vice President and Clerk of the Board. I am past President of Alameda County School Boards Association. I serve on the California School Boards Association Delegate Assembly (elected by school boards in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties) and as a Government Relations Chair.
• As Halcyon-Foothill Neighborhood Association President, I am a vocal advocate for my neighborhood. I served on the South Area Corridor and Downtown Plan Committees. I have been active in upcoming District issues include Bayfair Center expansion; BART Transit-Oriented Development; Senior Center; San Leandro Hospital’s future; 9th Grade Campus; and 580 soundwalls.

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

• Passage of 2006 Measure B School Bond for $108 million in projects including the 9th grade campus, Arts Education Center, SLHS Library expansion, new restrooms in all schools
• Completion of all 1997 Measure A School Bond projects ahead of schedule including the new Jefferson Elementary School, Science Wing at San Leandro High, new wing at Muir
• Reestablished Career Technical Education programs—metal, wood, graphics, architectural CAD design, Business Academy, SLAM (Multimedia) Academy--recently approved for over $5 million in grants
• Equity Work (5th year) around closing the achievement gap for ALL students. (Recognized by State Superintendent Jack O’Connell—statewide award winning program)
• As Halcyon-Foothill Neighborhood Association President, demanding neighborhood input for projects within our area.

B. Goals

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

1) Quality of life issues: childcare, available healthcare, affordable housing, jobs, neighborhood vitality, green space, recreation opportunities, senior needs, transportation, fixing infrastructure.

2) Expanding public safety—police and fire to deal with increasing crime and emergency responsiveness.

3) Work closely with both school districts. I will advance these programs in goal-setting and priority-setting with the Mayor and other Council Members. As a Council Member you give direction to the City Manager to fund these priorities in the budget process. As a Council Member you ask questions and approve the budget. I would also look at how to leverage local resources (eg. joint school, city projects), grant opportunities, and state and federal agency collaborations in these areas.

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

I want San Leandro to be a place where we respect and listen to the needs of our diverse population from children to our seniors. I want our neighborhoods to maintain their vitality and quality of life. I want to see more collaborative work between the public and private sectors.

I want San Leandro to be economically vibrant, providing good livable wage jobs, affordable housing, recreational and educational opportunities. I want people to say I want to stay in San Leandro—what a wonderful place to live.

C. Opportunities for Public Participation

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

Continue an “open door” policy. Be accessible to residents. Do personal outreach to community groups and organizations (I regularly attend meetings of various groups). Increase the information on the city website to be more real time, highlight new information and upcoming events. Real time communications to community leaders (eg. homeowner association presidents). Develop an e-broadcast network on city issues where local residents can subscribe and receive frequent e-mail updates. Frequent community newsletters and information in the San Leandro Times. Increase number of community town halls. Survey residents.

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

Since meetings must be recorded, the audio could be provided at low-cost on cd as well as downloaded from the city website. The current action minutes do not give the full picture of the discussions around issues

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

I will insist that: Agendas are posted in advance of meetings. Full background materials should be made available not only at the libraries, but online at the city website. E-mail alerts and outreach efforts should be made to community groups and residents who are potentially affected by the decision. Encourage people to attend meetings, write or email council members. Do surveys, As suggested above, videotapes and audiotapes could be made available to the public.

D. Campaigning

13. List your top five endorsements.

Building and Construction Trade Council of Alameda County

School Board colleagues:

• Pauline Cutter
• Louis Heystek
• Lisa Hague
• Ray Davis

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

Ray Davis $100

All other contributions under $100

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

Changing the structure of elections would require a city charter amendment approved by the voters. The current system was developed by a Committee of 100 on the City Charter in the early 1980s. The current configuration of having to run from a geographic district but elected by the entire city was to make sure every neighborhood had at least one council member who was familiar with that neighborhood’s issues. This also prevented all members of the Council living in only one area of the city. Having to be elected by the entire city’s voters, city council members would have been selected by at least a plurality of the entire city and aware of citywide needs. I am willing to discuss the idea of district-wide elections since the cost of running for election has skyrocketed. This financial barrier can prohibit some people from running for office. District elections would be less costly yet still maintain a diversity of views and geographic issues on the Council. Accountability and accessibility might also be increased.

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

Again, this would require a charter change. I presume by race you mean for the office of City Council, 3 seats would be up, and run like a general election city. No geographic requirements, ie. living in a particular geographic area. Candidates could be from anywhere in the city. Top 3 vote getters are elected. The advantage is that this does not preclude several very qualified candidates who may live close geographically from running for office. The cost remains higher to run for office citywide. Incumbents have an advantage in this structure. Costs could be saved in eliminating run-offs. I will support the will of the electorate.

E. Schools

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

As a City Council Member in 1988, I helped established and chaired City/School District Liaison Committees with both the San Leandro and San Lorenzo Unified School Districts. As a current School Board Member, I have continued to pursue joint opportunities. Out of these joint meetings came suggestions for joint projects. The soccer field at Muir, the recent Bancroft field improvements, after-school programs, joint grants and funding are just a few examples of successes. I will continue these efforts as a City Council Member.

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

I feel this has been a neglected area by the current City planning process. The general plan failed to identify any potential new school sites, even though we as a School Board requested the issue be addressed. The recent Downtown TOD Strategy notes there will be an impact but it needs to be addressed later as projects are developed. I spoke at public meetings about the failure to address the impacts on our schools, especially McKinley and Washington elementary schools that are at capacity already. The question of cumulative school impacts needs to be asked on every new housing development and pro-active real mitigation solutions discussed. I will ask those questions.

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

I am for a parcel tax. The School Board is looking to place a parcel tax on this fall’s ballot. This is the only way for us to have a local source of funding to protect our programs from the instability of state funding. I actively participated, fundraised, and trained volunteers for our 2006 Measure A parcel tax campaign. We came close to passage. Many other local districts have passed such measures.

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 believe in shopping locally and neighborhood supporting retail. I would talk and survey local businesses as to their needs and how the City can assist them in keeping them vibrant. This was done in the South Area. I see this as a major focus for our City Economic Development Office (Luke Sims) It has been shown to make good business sense (as well as reducing environmental impacts) that we need to buy goods produced in San Leandro as well as shop at San Leandro retail businesses. Legally, I do not know if we can limit chains but would be interested in exploring if such limits are imposed by other cities. I also see the City doing more marketing of our neighborhood business nodes to promote all of the City’s small businesses.

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

The implementation of the TOD vision definitely needs to be approached in Phases. I am concerned that when projects are presented to the Council that we reach out to impacted residents and businesses. For instance, the removal of major parking at BART will definitely have impacts on more cars parking in adjacent neighborhoods. The impacts of over 700 housing units, such as the impacts on our schools, need to be addressed upfront in the approval process. The recent amendment for 200 affordable housing units, the City joint proposal with BART for 300 units next to San Leandro BART must be studied carefully and ALL impacts addressed before approval.

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

Red Mountain Reality Group who owns the site has failed to produce the original mixed use project or obtain a major tenant. The City is currently in litigation with the owner. The Grocery Outlet was a poor attempt at a tenant---a chain which had no neighborhood-serving ties. The City has also hired Main Street as a consultant on improving downtown business. My hope is that they will be doing major outreach work with potential developers and retailers. My personal view is that this sight needs to have a major neighborhood-serving tenant that will attract more pedestrian traffic to support other local businesses. If not entirely retail, perhaps a family-oriented activity center to attract more people downtown. The original vision of neighborhood dining and shopping experiences, pedestrian friendly downtown vibrancy needs to be maintained.

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

I have gone through a search for both a City Manager and a Superintendent in my years of public service. I believe in hiring an executive search firm to find a pool of candidates and internal candidates also being encouraged to apply. I also firmly believe in the need for public involvement in the process. Public input sessions with key stakeholders, community organizations, and the public at large need to be held. Topics at these community meetings include what qualifications and skills citizens want to see in a city manager, what changes in management style, key issues for San Leandro. The City Council needs to make the process and timeline known to the community from the start of the selection search.

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

I would continue to work with the Alameda County Home Consortium and the EveryOne Home plan. I would implement the Non-Home Funds 2008-09 Action Plan. As a School Board Member, our District Student Services has been involved with Building Futures for Women and Children to identify and provide services to homeless and low income families. Building Futures is also the “expert” lead agency for the City’s homeless efforts. The City provides funding through CDBG, HUD and HOME funds to San Leandro Shelter for Women, Sister Me Home Safe House (Building Futures), Davis Street Family Resource Center, ECHO, Family Service Counseling, Spectrum Community Services, BACS and Project Literacy. I would also continue to work with the faith-based community such as April Showers. The Living Wage Ordinance needs to be enforced and expanded. The City needs to continue to acquire, rehabilitate (like the Casa Verde project), and construct affordable rental housing.

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

I would like to expand our use of shuttle services within the City. The Senior Flex shuttle has limited stops and should be expanded to meet the needs of our ever increasing senior population. Ridership should be expanded beyond the current restricted criteria to provide a low-cost option for our seniors. Perhaps a Shopping Shuttle between business districts could be explored. We need to continue to work with AC Transit to provide low fares for our students, disabled and senior populations while providing east-west service within San Leandro. The rapid bus system tends only to focus on north-south routes. We need to continue to work with BART and connectivity with other transportation. Street medians to provide safer pedestrian access as well as distinguish neighborhood serving businesses should be continued.

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

I would make an effort to make direct community outreach to these populations. As a school district, we have been recognized statewide for our equity work. I attend meetings of our African American, Asian and Latino Parent groups at our schools. Our PASS (Parents Achieving Student Success) is a model I would use in the City. Leaders of underserved populations are actively recruited and invited to participate in decision-making activities on a regular basis.

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? 

Yes, I believe we should look at banning styrofoam. Millbrae, San Mateo County, Berkeley and Oakland already have ordinances banning Styrofoam. San Francisco last year adopted an ordinance banning plastic shopping bags in large grocery stores and in large drug stores starting this summer. Over a trillion plastic bags a year according to the EPA go to landfills. San Leandro should follow these success models in crafting an ordinance.

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

• Bring back the Community Crime Prevention officer and other positions (as funding permits)
• Promote Neighborhood Watch and prevention strategies residents can use
• Provide real time crime information to city key stakeholders, homeowner presidents, etc (email and phone)
• Distribute monthly neighborhood information on prevention tips and crimes in the area like Hayward.
• Provide low cost lighting, alarms and other items for residents to improve their home’s safety
• Reestablish the Partnership for Youth Safety involving probation, police, SARB, both school districts, school resource officers
• Upgrade 911 systems and dispatch technology
• Upgrade technology in patrol cars—eg. License plate reader

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

I do not personally believe in the use of eminent domain. Eminent domain is a tool of last resort, to be used rarely, if at all. I would exhaust every other avenue.

G. Summary

Please state why San Leandrans should vote for you.

I care deeply about San Leandro and its future. I have devoted my life to public service. I have had experience both as a City Council Member and as a School Board Trustee. As President of the Halcyon-Foothill Neighborhood Association for over 10 years, I advocate for neighborhoods. I see first-hand the diverse needs of our young families and children in our schools and the needs of seniors in my neighborhood. I see San Leandro at a turning point. I have unique experience and vision to bring to the City Council. Together we can make a better San Leandro!