League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	Santa Clara County, CA November 2, 2010 Election
	Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues Mayor; City of Milpitas

The questions were prepared by the Leagues of Women Voters of Santa Clara County and asked of all candidates for this office.     See below for questions on Experience, Concerns, Balance Click on a name for candidate information.   See also more information about this contest. 1. What experience related to city government would you bring to the city council? Answer from Jose "Joe" Esteves: Experiences : Mayor, 2002-2008; Best Elected Official, 2002-2008 Councilmember, 1998-2002 City and County Commissioner and Board: Planning Commission, Community Advisory Commission Community Leader, Volunteer, Activist, .. Leader and member of various and varied organizations: civic, cultural, charitable, educational, religious, others Work Experience : Engineer, Businessman and Business Consultant, Systems Specialist Education : BS Civil and Industrial Engineering, CPIM MBA, College Scholar Government, Technology, Management, and Community Courses Leadership in the 21st Century, JFJ School of Government, Harvard University High Impact Communications Academy, Anderson Graduate School of Business, UCLA Accomplishments: (partial list) Led in Building the New Milpitas Library, from beginning to end, completed(November 2008) on budget and on schedule Proposed and presented, together with Milpitas Seniors, the new Milpitas Senior Center; chaired this project from beginning till project design and construction preparation Led in the campaign and passing of Measures H and I for library and arts funding Proposed various city ordinances Worked with the MUSD re: Raising a Reader for pre-schoolers Multitude of Awards and Merits on Public Service, Community Activities, many more...Citizen of the Year, Most Outstanding Public Servant, others.. Answer from Rob Means: As a keen observer of local politics for nearly 20 years, I am familiar with the financial, legal, environmental, structural and public safety issues confronting the City. Ten years on the Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Commission taught me the relationship between city staff, commissioners and on-the-ground projects. This knowledge and experience helped me: - get the ball rolling for the planning and construction of creekside trails in Milpitas. - put the Yosemite/Curtis crossing of the railroad tracks (near the Great Mall) on the Bicycle Master Plan, Trails Master Plan, and Mid-Town Plan. 2. What concerns are of particular importance to the city and how would you address them? Answer from Rob Means: Balance the Budget - through revenue increases, not cuts in service and infrastructure maintenance. 1. Tax what we don't want and subsidize what we do want. 2. Pollution fees, e. g. place a fee on diesel engines and fuel because diesel exhaust contains 40 known carcinogens, small particulate matter (PM2.5) that induces and worsens asthma and other lung diseases, and nitrogen oxides (NOx) that harm the environment and people's health. 3. Marijuana Tax (like San Jose and Oakland). 4. Support creation of a state bank that could save the state $5B annually and citizens even more. 5. Work for a single-payer health care system to reduce employee health costs by over $1M/year. 6. Work to restore majority rule on taxation policies (vote YES on Prop. 21). Keep the good and fix the bad in Prop. 13 Greening of Milpitas 1. Encourage energy efficiency and production. For example, adopt the Milpitas Post's recommendation to implement a solar-electric program. Require developers to build "green". 2. Continue to maintain and expand our urban forest while reducing the amount of water-intensive lawns. 3. Pursue the proposal to install a PRT "ferry" over the railroad tracks. 4. Join over 1000 cities (and every city in the county except Monte Sereno) that have signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Follow San Jose's lead by adopting many of their Green Vision Goals and employing a Sustainability Coordinator. 5. Extend the Hetch-Hetchy linear park and bike/pedestrian trail into Fremont. Election Reform 1. Public financing of campaigns has enabled many public officials to be accountable to voters instead of to big money contributors. It levels the playing field for qualified candidates without access to developer contributions. The graph shows the percent of Arizona races decided by special-interest money before Clean Money (1998) and after (2002). 2. Instant Runoff Voting (aka IRV, preferential voting, and ranked-choice voting) strengthens democracy. Implemented in over 300 American cities (including San Francisco), IRV has reduced negative campaigning and ensured that the winners of elections best reflect the will of the voters. For more details, visit http://www.meansfordemocracy.com/ Answer from Jose "Joe" Esteves: The following are key issues. More key issues need to be identified, positions established, and summaries written up for each issue. Jobs: Support local businesses Jobs: Invite new businesses to Milpitas Jobs: Milpitas, a great place to live and to work Fiscal responsibility: keep dollars in your pocket, not the city's pocket Health and human services: funding cutbacks (state level), services needed, locations, etc Public employee pay and benefits: control costs, meet legal and moral obligations, etc Public safety: ensuring best services consistent with fiscal realities and looking at innovation to support citizens Regional perspectives: assisting, encouraging multi-city, county-wide initiatives while eliminating contentious issues with other cities State and Federal funding issues: compete for state and federal money Open space protection: hillsides, parks, green space Water conservation 3. How would you balance the needs of the city as a whole with groups' interests? Answer from Jose "Joe" Esteves: There should be common goals, objectives or needs that a City as a whole should observe to benefit the community-at-large. Various groups, communities, special interests should be considered as components or sectors in a City and should also be served according to the City's overall goals and objectives. Groups' interests should conform and not conflict with the City's plan. A plan so that all with in a city are reached-out will bring harmony among all of the city's constituents. To accomplish balanced services to groups, all stakeholders should be active participants and contributors to the formulation of the City's service plans from planning, development, priorities, schedules, implementation, others. A joint and participative effort from all concerned would minimize conflict and promote balance of the needs of the City as a whole with that of the groups' interests. Answer from Rob Means: City governments are created and maintained to protect the commons upon which we all depend: clean water, sewage and waste disposal, roads, telecommunications access, fire and police protection. Other government agencies protect our food quality, public education, public health, air traffic safety, energy supplies, etc. We are all in this together. And we all do better when we ALL do better. Those groups that don't understand this fact of political life are like an organ in the body that thinks it is most important or that it can survive without support from the other body parts. Hearts stop working when the lungs and blood stop delivering oxygen. When these principles are accepted, conflicts can be resolved to the benefit of our general welfare - even during difficult times like we face now. Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' responses are not edited or corrected by the League. Answers must not refer directly or indirectly to another candidate. The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.