PLATFORM

MY PLATFORM BELOW SPELLS OUT CAMPBELL

LIST OF ISSUES

CARING

It was a day or two before thanksgiving, a cold night as I was driving down Budd Ave. I saw someone lying on the sidewalk beside their wheelchair. Here I was running around getting stuff together for a feast with family and friends, in a warm car and eventually would sleep in a bed in a warm house. That moment has bothered me since. Should I have stopped my car and got them food, should I have called the police to see if they could help the person. There are lot of should have would have thoughts floating around in my head still wondering why I did nothing at that moment. This is where the caring part comes in, I would like to find ways for the city to help care for our most vulnerable citizens. I have since done some searching on info about how many unhoused, we have in the city. One survey suggested that we have approximately 200 unhoused in a city of over 42,000 people.

I would like to at best find services and pathways for the unhoused to get off the street and at least have a way to get them fed daily and find them shelter on those cold dreary nights.

A recent discussion with a resident pointed out that something as simple as places to find drinking water and public restrooms that are open 24 hours would be helpful to the unhoused.

ACCOUNTABLE

The money the city has is our money, paid by all the different forms of taxes that feed the city’s coffers. As such we should be demanding that our money be spent responsibly and not constantly looking for more money in the form of raised sales taxes or other ways to get money from the citizens. When a family has financial issues they can’t go out and ask for more money from others, they reduce their expenditure and find ways of making ends meet. Government should be expected to do the same.

BETTER

We can do better in a lot of ways.
Things I have heard while walking the districts

Better Sidewalks
Better / Safer Traffic controls
Better permitting process
Better policing
Better services for the unhoused

As I knock on doors and talk to more of you I am sure you will have more ideas on hew we can Build a Better Campbell.

GREENER

There are little things we can do within our sphere of influence to reduce our impact on the environment, It does not have to be some grand project, it can be simple things like reducing harmful practices from our daily actions. As an example, I ordered sushi for lunch while at work in a neighboring city, the takeout packaging was all compostable and had no plastic. At another time picked up Sushi from a local restaurant and compared the amount of plastic waste I was contributing to the environment as well as how much wasted organic materials there just for presentation’s sake.
In the Campbell order there was even a fake bit of plastic greens for presentation all headed to a landfill. Even the little pieces of lettuce used for presentation end up contributing to greenhouse gasses.

As energy costs continue to climb, we could look at how to make the city supplement or completely reduce its energy consumption by using and storing solar energy instead of paying for it. Adding more electric vehicles to the city's fleet would be some of the other things to consider.

SMARTER

Have you ever seen something that you don’t understand and wondered to yourself “Well who’s dumb idea was that”. An example, a few years ago one of the streets was being repaved in the city, I was happy to see that the rough old street was on the city’s radar and was finally going to not rattle my joints as I drove over it. Well about 2 weeks after that part of the street was coned of and a trench dug on the nice smooth street, the work got completed and the street got patched and here we were with the first bump on the street. Apparently what had happened was that construction on a house required underground utilities to be connected to and thus the digging. So I wondered if it would not have been smarter to communicate between the builder/building department and the public works department to schedule the work before the street got paved.

I would also ask the city to look into finding smarter ways of doing things, being more efficient and as a result saving the taxpayers money.

RESPONSIVE

On many occasions, I have seen both myself and other citizens speak to the City council on items that were on the agenda. We are given our 2 minutes to address the matter at hand and request the council members to consider our thoughts or issues on the matter on the agenda. Sadly most of the time the only response you hear from them is “Seeing no one else wishing to speak, we will now close the public hearing” and then not bother to discuss or consider your request.

As council member I will make it my goal to ensure that everyone who speaks to the council is heard and to force a discussion on the subject if it is on the agenda or ask staff to put it on an upcoming agenda so it can be discussed.

EQUITABLE

Ensure residents have fair access to services, information, and opportunities. This includes investing in neighborhoods that have historically received fewer resources, improving access to affordable housing, and ensuring public safety services are consistent across all parts of the city. Simplify processes for permits and assistance, and design parks, sidewalks, and transportation options that work for seniors, families, and people with disabilities. Balancing the interests of homeowners and developers—creating clear, predictable rules that protect neighborhood character while ensuring new housing is built responsibly, sustainably, and in ways that benefit the whole community. Not having one set of rules for developers while limiting what existing homeowners can do on their property and event that being different in different parts of the city.

Currently Campbell is limited by many different planning areas. We are One Campbell! We pay similar taxes, but we get treated differently based on what neighborhood we live in.

LIVABLE

We all chose to live in Campbell and the bay area for many reasons, the weather, the jobs etc. As we grow, there are things we can do to keep Campbell livable. We all have our daily grind, heading to work, school, taking kids to activities etc. As we grow and have higher density housing mandated by the state, we can still control it’s impact on our quality of life. It makes no sense to continue to add more cars on our roads without investing in the infrastructure needed to support it. It makes absolutely no sense to put thousands of houses on a street and then remove lanes of traffic.