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Filipino Candidates Forum
Full Transcription- Council		Saturday September 15, 2007

Host: They have 2 minutes for their opening statement, and we will start with Michael Wilson

MW: Ready? Welcome everyone, my name is Michael Wilson, I’d like to start off by thanking the Filipino Community of Solano County, Incorporated and all of you for coming out today. It’s a very important election and I’m sure all of you love Vallejo as much as I do and want to make a change in Vallejo, and I really appreciate everyone coming to this event today. I’m running for City Council because I’m ready to do some hard work that needs to be done to continue to make Vallejo an even better place to live, work, and play. I love Vallejo and since I’ve moved here 8 years ago, it’s been a place where I want to live, work and play. When we moved our offices to downtown Vallejo 5 years ago, and that’s where I am the Chief Financial Officer of my company, Arc Inc. Architects downtown. What I think we really needed to do for Vallejo is to start with the basics, to really improve our streets and roads, make sure they’re clean and free of potholes and also free of crime. I’ll work harder to reduce crimes right there on our streets but we also need to bring in new businesses and to learn the businesses that are here so that we can bring jobs and opportunities to each person in Vallejo. Because there’s a variety of jobs and variety of businesses that all of us can enjoy. And with that, more attractive and diverse shopping, people will begin to see our image as improving and to love Vallejo greater and greater in the long run. But with that, we need to start an efficient transportation so that everyone in our community from our students to our seniors can get around town and have opportunities where they are working and shopping. And we need to compete effectively with our neighbors, we can no longer have our transit occupancy tax draining away to American Canyon and their little hotels. We need to have hotels and places for visitors’ right here in our community. We no longer just have people heading up to Solano Mall or Vacaville Outlets to do their shopping. We need those opportunities right here in Vallejo where we can buy anything from a pair of jeans to nice sheets for your table. We need quality homes and parks for your family and we need to make sure that the parks we got are clean and safe and that we’re working together with the City Council and the City Staff, and GVRD, the School District, the other counties, Solano County and other cities so that we come together and working as a united force for the citizens of Vallejo. And we can build that work in Vallejo. We can work hard to make it happen and we can work hard to realize our dreams together. It is no easy task that we can do alone, it’s really gonna take leadership and teamwork. And I think those are two attributes that I’m here to bring to the City Council to work hard for you – the citizens. I respectfully ask for your vote to vote for me – Michael Wilson on November 6. Thank you very much.

Host: Thank you Michael Wilson. Let’s head down the line for the opening statement. Joanne Schivley?

JS: Thank you all for being here, thank you all for coming this afternoon. It’s a beautiful day to be outside, and I thank everyone for being here. I am Joanne Schivley and I was born and raised and educated in Vallejo. I’m a retired banker executive and if there’s ever a time in our City’s history where we need someone with a financial expertise, I would say this is the time. When I first ran for City Council in 1997, Marine World, which is now Discovery Kingdom, owed the City of Vallejo 9 ½ million dollars and there was no plan in place to recover that money. I instituted a plan that recovered all of that money that repaid both the City and the redevelopment agencies. There was nothing in the charter at that time that required a structurally balanced budget or a reserve policy that I instituted both of those conditions to our charters. Make no mistake about it. This election is all about money and or the lack thereof. Vallejo is facing a severe financial crisis. You will hear from many candidates that economic development is the answer – the silver bullet is going to save Vallejo financially. Well that’s partially true. It will save Vallejo but not within the next 3-5 years and that’s the crisis that we face right now. The only way is to generate money that quickly is to cut expenses and that’s exactly what we need to do. Well that’s partially true. It will save Vallejo but not within the next 3-5 years and that’s the crisis that we face right now. The only way is to generate money that quickly is to cut expenses and that’s exactly what we need to do. 74% of the general fund goes to the public safety salaries and benefits. 78% of the general fund goes to City employees salary and benefits and that isn’t all of the figure that comes to the salary and benefits. Some of the money comes out of the enterprise fund. We must control the spending. If we do, we will not have to judge individual taxes or fees. The potholes will get filled, the trash will be cleaned up and we will have money to support our seniors, our youth and the arts. We have proof that we in the past we can depend only on additional revenue – without controlling expenses, will not solve the problem. If you bring in 10 million dollars, and you pay out 10 million dollars, you’re pretty much right back where you started from. A lot of people have asked me…

TP: Hi, good afternoon, thank you for having me come here. My name is Tony Pearsall, and I know you’ll find this hard to believe, but I have been a Vallejo resident for 64 years, which is my entire life. I went to school here, my kids went to school here, I was a member of the Vallejo Police Department for almost 36 years, retiring in 2003 – same year that I retired, for an unknown reason, right away, I ran for City Council and I was fortunate to get elected, and I am running now for reelection, and I go back to the family. And I’ve said this before, that every Friday, I go pick up my granddaughter who is 5 years old from kindergarten class. And what that kind of reminds me of is why I live here and the book by Robert Fulghum is about everything you ever needed to know you learned from Kindergarten is true, what we talked about is 1 - playing fair, 2 – putting back things where you found them, 3 – you clean up your own mess and most important thing is to never take anything that’s not yours. And that goes to where we are in this City is that you and myself, who live here, we deserve the best City services that can be provided. Unfortunately we don’t have the best City services that we can provide because we have extended contracts that are taking away from public works and from other sources that can make this City so much better. You might ask what I’ve been asked what I’ve been involved in the 4 years I’ve been up here, I can say that I’ve conducted Town Hall meetings, Front Porch forums and to go all over this entire City to find out what quality of life issue you’re concerned about. Part of that is I helped implement a community DA program that is to prosecute a quality of life issue like illegal dumping, smoke shops, graffiti because we have been inundated by that. We passed a “Big Box” ordinance to look at big box stores and make sure they don’t try to block stores out of town if they want to do that. Right now we are trying to put together a “Weed and Seed” grant which is a million dollar grant to try and revitalize neighborhoods which I was a part of for about 12 years in my career in the Vallejo Police Department and other issues. But this year, I voted with some Council members not to keep deficit spending to realize that we are in debt and we have about 9 million dollars in debt. In 2005-2006, myself and Councilmember Cloutier were the only ones that didn’t vote for the budget because there is no such thing as a short term fix, there is no such thing as deferred rates it’s long extended contracts that puts us where we are now because this year we had to pay 5 million dollars out in raises and if we didn’t have to pay that out, there wouldn’t be a problem hiring people, there wouldn’t be a problem about hiring a paramedic program, there wouldn’t be a problem with deficit spending. We need to find out better ways to do this. We had to lay off 47 employees just to pay for those raises. We need to stop that, we need to find long term solutions and I think long term solutions are gonna be the answer with the City Manager we have now and I’d still like to be a part of that. Thank you.

EH: Mabuhay. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you. My name is Erin Hannigan and I want to be your next City Councilwoman. I have a vision. I envision a community where residents work in Vallejo where schools are staffed with qualified and quality instructors that lead our youth to their highest potential. I envision a community where we value our seniors by providing them the services they deserve. I envision a community where our streets are paved, our trees are trimmed, and our structures are free of graffiti. I envision a community where we have money and choices to shop and dine. I envision a community where we value our parks and our coastal environment. I envision a community where business is welcome and thriving. I envision a community where we are safe from crime, drugs, and gangs. This vision can be a reality. In order to make it real, the entire community needs to come together and demand accountability from our City leaders. Vallejo is experiencing financial difficulty. And let’s face it, Vallejo’s financial woes did not just happen. We had leaders who failed to act upon the numerous warnings that Vallejo was heading into a financial crisis. As your Councilwoman, I will work with the City Manager, the Finance Director, and the City Council to develop a 3-5 year balanced budget that will provide necessary services our community deserves. It will take clear vision and a comprehensive action plan to attract and retain current and future Vallejo businesses. I have that clear vision. As an employee of State Farm and a long time resident of Vallejo, I took action when State Farm was looking to locate 200 jobs. We now have an increasing number of residents employed at State Farm who contribute to our local economy. At the same time, I am committed to our current business community to make sure we do all we can to help them thrive, not just survive here in Vallejo. As your Councilwoman, I won’t be satisfied until all of our neighborhoods have the services they need and deserve. If I’m elected, you can count on me for straight talk and a can do attitude. I will work hard with you and our community. And I respectfully ask for your vote for City Council on November 6. Thank you.

OE: Magandang hapon po sa inyong lahat (Good afternoon to all of you); Buenas tardes (Good afternoon). Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I would like to thank the Filipino Community of Solano County for inviting me to participate in this forum. You have made many positive contributions to the City of Vallejo. Your powerful organizations have helped determine the outcome of City elections. You have (muffled). Now you are threatened by a financial crisis resulting from the sole prime mortgage market melt down. It is our greatest threat in government. Declining revenues through poor fiscal planning. Your input will be very vital to preserve funding for social programs needed to preserve the efforts in the City of Vallejo. I am a candidate who is willing to put in wisdom. A concerned wisdom, a negotiator, a problem solver, a fighter for all your concerns. I believe in the American dream. In creating opportunities for Vallejoans to reach them. I have a plan. A plan for prosperity and others which will be our model that will harness the strength of our school, our economy and other resources with the valiance of Vallejoans the great force for profit. My plan for prosperity focuses on my 5 priorities sector development. No 1, business development, no 2, economic development, no 3, family growth, and no 4 religion and life of all devout men as the fifth one. This is an official’s platform but one that rewards hard work and makes it easier for everyone to fulfill their dreams. With this plan, all Vallejoans bring their assets and bring them together to reach a common goal for all Vallejoans prosperity. I have the leadership and experience Vallejo can have. I spent 30 years of government service and all this leadership I will give you all Vallejoans. Please vote for me on the day of November 6, 2007. I need you. Please support me.

DE: Magandang hapon. I am Darrell Edwards and thank you for inviting me to the Filipino Community Forum today. I just wanted to say I brought some notes here – a speech, but I’m not gonna read my speech. I just want to let everybody know this is coming from my heart. Vallejo really needs to reposition itself so that it could be a prosperous city. We have people that have been in this city all of their lives that are talking about changing Vallejo. Vallejo is in one of the worst mess it has ever been in. We are approaching a 9 million dollar deficit. And we are approaching, possibly in the next year receivership. Now, as far as I’m concerned, the citizens of Vallejo need to be told the truth. I am not saying that City Council members are not being upfront but we need to know from Staff what is going on to make sure that the citizens of Vallejo are well informed as to what is going on in the City and that the City Council members can vote and vote the right way every time. My experience in the City of Vallejo as I’ve worked on the Community Development Commission for 8 years, and I’ve helped fund the Christian Help Center. I’ve helped fund the Boys and Girls Club, the PAL – Police Activities League and many other service organizations - the 501c3 organizations. People that are down on their luck. People that can’t get home funding. The Vallejo housing – I helped to fund those organizations. I’ve been here for 17 years. And I’ve been in the trenches. I haven’t been here for 3 years, I haven’t been here for 5 years. I have been here for 17 years and I’ve done my part. And I just want to let everybody know I’m not gonna stop now. I am running for Vallejo City Council to make a difference. To change the mindset of this city. The mindset is a losing mindset now. We have to have people on the City Council who has some – some good people on the City Council today. But we have to change the direction in which we are going and not vote for contracts that are gonna send us into the dumps every time that we vote. So I believe that when we speak, we need to say what we mean and mean what we say and not be messing around with people’s heads. Because I just sent an email to some people the other day. Maybe we need to elect them -the police chief. So that police chief is staying right here in the City of Vallejo. So if things go down, the police chief’s housing goes down too.

LB: Mabuhay and salamat po (thank you) for inviting me to this forum today and salamat po to you for coming out on this beautiful afternoon. My name is Father Lou Bordisso and I am your next City Councilmember. I have had the honor of spending a lot of time in the Philippines traveling there about four times a year as a counseling psychologist for the Department of the Navy but also when I was a Catholic seminarian studying up here in Berkeley at the Franciscan School of Theology. I’ve had the opportunity to go back for an emerging experience for Cross Cultural studies. I have a lot of good memories of the Philippines. My most memorable of course was having lunch with the late Cardinal Jaime Sin in his palace. My other memory, however, in the Philippines is walking away from there with Dengue fever which I got from one of the mosquitoes and I was there in the hospital for about 4 months in Quezon City at St. Luke’s Hospital. So I’ll never forget the Philippines for sure. Needless to say I’ve got a great respect for the Filipino community and I’m honored to be able to have an opportunity to serve you later as a City Council member. I say “hindi” (no) to influenced by big real estate developers and big business. I say hindi to polished politicians with empty talk and slick campaigns who plunder the streets with their intrusive campaign signs. I say hindi to City leaders with no common sense with the same old same old failed politics at City Hall. I say “oo” (yes) to a clean sweep at City Hall and clean streets and safe streets. I say oo to consensus building and fairness and balance. I say oo to honesty and ethical choices and a transparent city government. I say oo to welcoming everyone to the table and everyone to have a voice at the table. And I say oo to fiscal responsibility and financial accountability and I say oo to a uhoh uhoh make up of City council members where we are all being represented at the table and everyone has a voice at the table. Again, salamat po for your vote on November 6 for me Fr. Lou Bordisso. Thank you.

Host: Thank You Fr. Lou. Now that we’ve done our opening statements, we’re going to go ahead and move on to the questions. Like I explained in the forum rules. We have 8 questions. I’m going to address a particular candidate who will have 2 minutes to answer the questions and 1 minute for the rest of the candidates after the 2 minute has finished.

The first question for Lou Bordisso – please explain what motivates you to seek the office of council member in the City of Vallejo.

LB: I think what I bring to the table is a sense of honesty. I hope a sense of integrity, a sense of balance, a sense of fairness. My leadership style is that of consensus building and wanting to hear all voices of the community. I don’t care whether somebody’s on the left or on the right or a moderate in terms of their politics I want to hear their voice. I want to be a voice of the people. I have very strong concern for those people who are marginalized, who are outcasts, I have very strong concern for those people who are marginalized, who are outcasts, who are financially challenged and my voice will represent not only a business community, not only – which I am business friendly as much as I will not be influenced by any particular business. I am business friendly, I want to be able to have a voice particularly for those who find themselves challenged and outcast. And I think I my voice will represent not only a business community, not only – which I am business friendly as much as I will not be influenced by any particular business. I am business friendly, I want to be able to have a voice particularly for those who find themselves challenged and outcast. And I think that I’m the type of a leader that can work with a variety of different political votes on either end of the spectrum and bring people together and get the dialogue started again. And I think there’s been a lot of polarizing going on and posturing on part of both the City as well for example as the public safety unions. I think we don’t need to have that posturing I think we need to come together and have dialogue consensus and some compromise..

Host: Thank you very much. The remaining candidates will have 1 minute with the same question. I’ll repeat it, please explain what motivates you to seek the office of council member in the City of Vallejo.

DE: What motivates me to run for City Council is this - I see that the City Council needs a change in their mindset. Not only that, we need to get our youth involved in the community. Our youth are being overlooked. We need something new for our young people to do. We need to get people that are disenfranchised in the City. Those people that feel they have no voice. People like in the Crest area. No one ever goes out there to ask questions except for me. I go out there and ask questions as to why are your streets are filled with drug dealers and prostitutes. I can go out there and ask that. I wonder why nobody else goes out there and does that. I want to make sure that everybody in this city has a voice in something, someone to come to, to ask questions. As Mayor Pete Sanchez says in my brochures, I am the most approachable candidate that’s sitting up here. And he knows what he’s talking about.

OE: 10 years ago, I ran for the same position. That was 1997. I thought Vallejo would be quiet, and peaceful and progressive. But what happened 10 years ago? 9 million budget deficit. I’ve lived in Vallejo since 1989. I just don’t let Vallejo down. That’s why I came back and joined politics again. I want to share my ideas and I want to contribute to this City of Vallejo my expertise that I’ve learned. What I have said – leadership and experience Vallejo can trust. And I have that experience. I would like to bring back to you again that only these years where our deficit money since 1997, 1998, 1999 and the following years Vallejo never lived quietly because every time we got an election, your politicians are promising…

EH: What motivates me to run for public office is my children. I have 2 children, a 15 year old boy Connor and a daughter Hannah who is 9. And when I look at them, every day, as they’re heading off to school, I can only hope that their future here in Vallejo will be much brighter. They happen to be students of a Catholic school but it’s a very diverse community in which I believe all members of this community are hoping for the success of Vallejo. And I feel with my leadership skills that I’ve acquired with my 17 years of living her have helped me to become the leader who will help Vallejo come up from where we are today. So our children will have a bright future. They will have places to go and things to do. It will be safe, it will be free of crime and they will be proud of the Vallejo in which they grew up in. Thank you.

TP: In 1964 when I graduated from St. Vincent’s High School on the hill, Vallejo had a completely different community than what it has now. When I went on the City council 4 years ago, it was my dream to try to bring that image back. Because we have a systemic problem, because we have a budget deficit, that’s been there for probably more than a dozen years, (muffled) I have not had the opportunity, however, I think now, at the helm, our City Manager, Joe Tanner is the person to do that. He can’t do it alone. He has to do it with the right City council members up there. With the wrong City council members, you can have pie in the sky dreams, you get pie in the sky statements about what you’re gonna do for this city but unless you cooperate, unless he has the right people up there, you’re not going to bring Vallejo back to where it was and that’s what I want to do. Thank you.

JS: Why am I motivated to run for Council? It’s a real simple answer in simple words and that’s love. I love Vallejo. I was born here, I live here out of choice. I didn’t wind up here like some people have commented about others who have come to Vallejo lately. I want to see the Vallejo that I remember when I was growing up. A vibrant, healthy downtown. My entire family worked on Mare Island. I have a history over there. I have the financial expertise that the City needs right now and the experience. One of the reasons I’m running is that there is now support for ideas that I’ve presented over the years. Partnering with other public agencies to reducing expenses is one of them.

MW: I am motivated to serve the citizens of Vallejo by working to solve the problems through Vallejo. Sometimes that’s even in little things. When I worked at the Ateneo de Manila, I’ve had the opportunity to work with the sophomore students directing their 1 day retreat. And what was happening was boring and the kids weren’t reached during this retreat. I took some of my experience and changed that way to reach the kids and to have it a more of an exciting experience for them. And I think that same attitude, we may need to bring a fresh look and to look at change but a change for the positive where the students in that case, and the citizens in this case where their voices brought to the table and we merge that with the voice of the city and together we prosper and see an improved Vallejo. That’s my motivation.

Host: Thank you. We’re gonna move on to the next question. This is for Michael Wilson. Obviously the City budget is a major issue in this election. What will you do as a Councilmember to solve the budget crisis and please be specific.

MW: Thank you. Well I think the budget is our, obviously, our major concern. The first thing I would do is to work on solving this crisis so we don’t just continue the budget crisis over and over and over again. And the problem that has been years in the making…[tape ends]

MW: [continued]…we don’t have a 5 year plan and 5 year budget where we are looking ahead and making decisions based on the long term impacts of those. I’ll immediately move to have this put into place and activate it and live by. And have all the contracts and agreements related to it tie back to the 5 year budget and the 5 year plan. I think we need to stop just voting on different budgets that come to us from the City Manager and spend time, sit down on the table, even if it takes a week long meeting of the Council members to come up with a plan that works and that can be funded and can bring success to Vallejo. And I think we need to address all area of spending in Vallejo to reduce our spending but to ensure that we still have a safe, clean city that is open to new businesses and have potential for the residents. I’d ask the City Manager to work hard to come up with priority action steps for each City department that will increase our immediate revenues and our services without hurting businesses. I think Vallejo City Hall that needs to be more customer service friendly and we can’t lose that even in the midst of a budget crisis. Even as a family where funds are less and the mortgage is higher, and the expenses are there, we still need to come together and work with even the children and the grandparents, work with everyone in the family to make it a success. So that’s where I would work with the budget but I think the focus comes on the 5 year plan.

Host: Thank you. The remaining candidates will have 1 minute and I will repeat the question. Obviously the City budget is a major issue in this election. What will you do as a Councilmember to solve the budget crisis and please be specific.

JS: Thank you. Well first there is a 5 year requirement in the charter and I know because I’m responsible for doing that. What will we do to get us out of this financial mess. Well first please realize that this didn’t just happen over night. This has been 30 years in the making. With the State taking money from the City and County. Property taxes that you pay the City gets approximately 17-18 cents on the dollar. The rest does not come to Vallejo. The only place that we can seriously look to retrieve money out of the general fund is public safety contracts. Every other division in the City has already been cut to the bone. There is very little left. As you know, when you run over those potholes.

TP: Thank you. There is no quick fix. There’s no solution that’s going to take any less than 3-5 years to fix the problems that this City has as far as the budget problem. 2 prong approach - No. 1 that has been alluded to already, is that no more contract extensions, no more deferred raises. Because of that we had to pay 5 million dollars in raises this year. We can’t do that again. We have to stop that. The second part of the 2 prong approach is economic development. Having the right type of commercial business coming into this town. Not just any type of commercial business. We already have 185 alcohol outlets. We already have 99 fast food restaurants in this town – that’s enough. That’s too many for this City. We don’t need that anymore. We need to do what the City Manager has done 3 weeks ago – he formed a task force because he was sick and tired of the slow development on Mare Island. Now he has a task force to deal with the City staff, with Mare Island, with Lennar, with Touro to try to expedite what’s going on in Mare Island and it’s working. And that’s what we need to do with all the developments and that’s what I would do.

EH: The budget is definitely our number 1 problem here in the City of Vallejo and we have to stop doing business as we normally been doing business. It has to change. As your City Councilwoman, I would meet with the Financial Director Rob Stout and City Manager and the rest of the City Council and the Mayor and work on transparency in our budgeting process. I know there are policies and philosophies that go into financing a City and those are things I would want to be aware of. I would also want to, like which has been said, about the 5 year budgeting process, it’s important that instead of looking 1 year ahead, we’re able to look 5 years ahead and plan. Same within the amount of money that we are receiving, we need to come up with what are the necessary services that we need to provide to our community, and that’s what we need to focus on. I would ask the City Manager to request all the department heads to identify those necessary services and to develop and stick to those expenses within each of those departments. I also support quality economic development proposals…thank you

OE: I know Vallejo is on a down slope. 9 million deficit in the budget. Everybody know what the budget of the City of Vallejo? The adopted budget is 85.8 million. We are in deficit of 9 million. My solution to that is first, let’s do some organizational change and development. And then second, I will adopt what you call “austerity program” for each department that is, tightening their belt – all our belt and their expenditures. No. 3, I have to sit down with City Manager, and if you have a goal to stay here 1 year, 2 months, 6 months, 4 months or 5 months, because the history of Vallejo since I came here in 1997, I experienced about 2, 3, 4 5 City managers and that process is the problem..thank you.

DE: I agree that we have to make sure that our contracts with the unions are negotiated apparently across the board from here on end. But the other thing I think that we need to understand is economic development is, it has been stopped here, basically here, in the City of Vallejo. 4.5 million dollars in the downtown of percent value in the downtown has stopped – stuck in the mud. 6.5 million dollars of percent value on the Waterfront stopped – stuck in the mud. Hopefully we can move on with the 1.2 billion dollar project o Mare Island, the Touro University Research Center. Hopefully we can move forward with the Crossroads Project on Highway 80 about urban lands. If we can get our economic development projects moving forward, I believe that we can change the direction we are going financially.

LB: First, I think it’s very simple we need to stop spending money that we don’t have. With 70% of the city budget is going towards public safety contracts, there’s something wrong with that. And that needs to be revisited and renegotiated. I will propose specifically, to have a temporary freeze on the increases for all City employees for their salaries. Temporary salary reduction by 10%. I would also require of all City employees to attrition and through new hires to live in Vallejo so that they’ll have an emotional and financial investment in Vallejo and they’re not taking their tax dollars and spending it elsewhere. I would also make City Hall a little more transparent, honest and no backroom deals [muffled] between various City leaders. I think we need City, a whole, to be a little more business friendly and not so much red tape cause there’s a lot of new businesses trying to come into Vallejo but it’s very difficult for them. So we need a case manager assigned to each person for one stop shopping.

What will you do to attract new business to Vallejo that will result in new jobs and badly needed revenues.

EH: Thank you. That is a relatively easy question for me. Let’s talk about what I have done and what I will continue to do when I am your City Councilwoman. I’ve been a 14 year employee with State Farm Insurance and in 2002, the State Farm’s president in CA announced they wanted to move 200 jobs to a diverse community in the East Bay. And I thought, wow, that is my community. And I happened to share that with a Councilwoman who I was working out in the gym and that’s a true story. And the two of us, going our directions with our stakeholders worked to get State Farm here with the 200 jobs. When we first moved here, only 5 of them were occupied by Vallejo residents. And I can tell you today, very proudly that 41 and counting of our employees are Vallejo residents. And that’s the kind of leadership courage that I will bring to the City Council. I look forward to working with the local businesses through a sub committee of the Economic Development Commission and the Economic Development Committee in finding out what is going right for them in the City of Vallejo. How can we make things better for them. What is it going to take for us to be able to attract additional employment centers to this community. And then reaching out to those employment centers. Be proactive. There’s opportunity all around us to bring jobs here. Why do they bypass Vallejo? Let’s make it attractive for them, let’s make it easy for them. We have an educated work force here, we have a skilled work force, let’s capitalize on our community members so that they live here and they also work here. What a bonus that has been for me since State Farm has moved to the Waterfront. I spend more time with my family, I spend more time in the community in which I love, I shop here, I eat here, all my friends are here. It’s the best of both worlds. So let’s make that opportunity available for all citizens in this community.

Host: For the rest of the candidates, you have 1 minute to answer the same question - What will you do to attract new business to Vallejo that will result in new jobs and badly needed revenues.

OE: What will I do to attract people here to stay in Vallejo? I’m concerned about our school image here in Vallejo. I have the triangles of life, we call it school, church and family. That is family growth. If our schools here in Vallejo is bad, nobody will come down to Vallejo and buy our properties here. First of all, I want to have the schools repaired. School is the ultimate image of the City of Vallejo in order for people to come down here and buy our property. So real estate will prosper and the school will prosper. That will be a revenue for the City of Vallejo. Another, there’s two reasons, again the image has to be changed in order to find these tourists. Without these tourists revenue will be depleted and without people coming to buy properties here, revenue will be depleted. Thank you.

DE: I agree with Oscar that our schools need to be upgraded and we need the citizens of Vallejo to get behind this idea to upgrade our schools. That has been one of the biggest challenges for the City of Vallejo. I also believe that all of the Chamber of Commerce need to work together to get business here in the City of Vallejo. Attract and retain businesses here. Each individual sitting in here can go and get a business to come here in Vallejo and I believe that if we all work together, we can bring businesses here. We can bring prosperity to the citizens in the City of Vallejo and move forward in a positive way.

LB: First I do believe that we need to, as I mentioned to you earlier, reduce the red tape at City Hall so to make it a little bit more attractive and easier for people to open up businesses specially small businesses. I think we need both big box businesses and small businesses. Not either or, providing that the big box businesses are friendly and are fair to organized labor to those people who are working hard to put on the table and feed their families. I think we need to have tax incentives for new businesses and lower the fees to attract new businesses. Recruit and partner with businesses who are going to work who have been willing to cooperate with the needs of Vallejo and not the other way around. We need to recruit and partner with businesses who will have fair labor practices and are willing to be friendly to labor.

TP: Ask any real estate agent what it takes to have someone come into town with disposable income and what type of businesses. And what they’ll tell you is 3 things. You have to have good schools, you have to have good parks and rent. That’s what you need. The other thing you need is you need to streamline the business permit process. That’s what you need. You also need what is called the synergistic approach. You have to have everybody helping. I don’t think it’s just the job of City Council to do it or City staff I think it’s a job for everybody who lives in this town to make it a better town. The synergistic approach is who you call our citizen developers, smart growth folks, environmental groups, youth, senior, labor, business, local government. It’s everybody. Solano County Economic Growth Center now involves 7 cities in Solano County. The problem is 7 cities don’t work together. We need to form a task force like the City Manager did on Mare Island where the 7 cities can work together to bring everybody synergistically, together to make this town what it should be. Thank you.

JS: How do we attract new business? Well, first and you’ve heard this from almost everyone, we need to streamline the permitting process. It is just an ordeal for any business that wants to come to Vallejo. In politics you need to have patience. Streamlining the permitting process is something I’ve been working on for 20 years and it isn’t done yet. Because I think that City Hall is making a monster out of what really is very simple. We also need to be sure that the contracts that we write with developers that we need to require time frames for performance and don’t leave it open ended as the City did for Lennar. We also need to look at what the jobs are going to be in the future and recruit the businesses that will provide those jobs. I was able to bring the Kaiser Permanente Call Center here before I got on the Council. 750 jobs for Vallejo.

MW: In order to attract new businesses to bring new jobs to Vallejo, we need to take on the leadership to go out to them and bring them to Vallejo. We cannot just sit here and wait for them to show up and do something. And we need to attract and go out and talk to and make some “small businesses” or “small entrepreneurs” who can come in into Vallejo and find a great place to work and to provide services. And to balance that with large businesses and brokers and people who can help us grow our business community that will raise the level of all the citizens so people have better and better jobs and we receive the tax revenue from a variety of businesses to improve City Hall. So we need to get out there with a program, something like “discover Vallejo, a great place to do business” and bring a package to people at the International Council of Shopping Centers and other groups outside to bring businesses here to Vallejo where they can succeed and realize it’s a great place to do business.

Host: Thank you. This question is for Joanne Schivley. The Vallejo Revitalization Plan appears to have stalled at Mare Island we at least have a University and a housing development. But no progress with regards to the Waterfront, downtown Vallejo and the Fairgrounds. What can you do as a Councilmember to move these projects forward? Please be specific.

JS: We need to elect God to do that. Well, let’s go into the reasons that some of those projects have stalled. And that is downtown and Waterfront are contingent on housing development. And as everyone in the room knows, housing market is in the tank right now so, that’s going to be pretty hard to stimulate. Business is not going to come in to downtown and the Waterfront until there is a critical mass of residence and consumers to support those businesses. I’m sorry I don’t remember the rest of the question.

Host: no progress with regards to the Waterfront, downtown Vallejo and the Fairgrounds. What can you do as a Councilmember to move these projects forward?

JS: The Fairgrounds, what the City can do is very limited because that’s County property. What I would like to see at the Fairgrounds is what was proposed to before the Mills Corporation came in which is utilizing to it’s fullest advantage prime freeway property for retail. It was planned to bring in a bass pro shop. Now I’m not a fisherman or a sportsman so I don’t know that much about it so I understand the huge height of sporting goods store. Something that Vallejo does not have, Fairfield does not have. Concord does not have. No one in the area has it. If we were able to bring that in, it would make a significant improvement in Vallejo’s business climate and we have something that we’re not competing with our neighbors for. We do have revitalization going on in Vallejo, not so much in those areas but in the neighborhood. And once again, everybody needs to work together to have that happen. Neighborhood Watches are extremely effective in fighting crime.

Host: The remaining candidates will have 1 minute. I can repeat the question - The Vallejo Revitalization Plan appears to have stalled at Mare Island we at least have a University and a housing development. But no progress with regards to the Waterfront, downtown Vallejo and the Fairgrounds. What can you do as a Councilmember to move these projects forward? Please be specific.

MW: Well we all know that the housing has definitely stalled and with my company, which is Arc Inc Architects, we’re downtown on Marin Street, also located in Benicia, but in architecture we see development years ahead of when it’s coming. When we’re drawing the plans, and seeing what’s happening and then the construction is usually a year or 2 later. And what always happens following a big boom in the housing market of new neighborhoods are built throughout the community. When that [muffled] down and slows down here comes the retail to follow to meet the needs of those people. So now is our time to make haste while the sun shines and bring in more retails to meet the needs of our community, to bring those services here. So we need to reach out and do that and my company is working with lots of new companies that are out there coming forward to do things. One is Fresh and Easy, it’s just like Trader Joe’s, The Nugget, it’s the same type of store. But Fresh and Easy or some other store maybe interested in coming to Vallejo and now’s the time to let them know, hey put us on your map, put us on out here cause we want to grow with you.

TP: What needs to be done with those projects is that, No. 1 on the Waterfront hold is that the housing market is supposed to turn around some time in a year from now. So that’s what’s going to start in theory. There’s actually progress going on in the Waterfront, a lot of the infrastructure, a lot of the permits have just been pulled within the last month, so you’re gonna start seeing construction there next year, next Spring. That’s the Waterfront. Downtown what Triad has just done is that they worked out a labor agreement with the unions because that was the big stumbling block as far as the amount of money that the unions were requesting to build on the first parcel which is the Virginia Street parcel, that looks like that could be a go next Spring. The Fairgrounds was mentioned as County property but that is also City limits, so we have some say into that. But we talked about the Fairgrounds, what needs to be done, but what’s important to be done is not just Fairgrounds in and of itself but it is to include the entire I-80 corridor. That’s our main image. When you come into this town and drive down I-80 corridor, it is not pretty.

EH: I agree with Tony, the I-80 corridor is not pretty. But I think there are things that we can do with that. You heard about the Waterfront Project, there are permits, it’s a permitting process that’s going on right now. And the downtown, the Triad, our City Councilmember will know more about the specifics on that. But I do want to talk about an insurgence of small businesses that are going on in downtown and the need for us to support them. Ken Ingersoll of Gracie’s BBQ has a very successful restaurant. He’s in the plan of putting in two additional restaurants downtown along with the shopping and the arts, we got the Empress Theater coming on line, Vallejo Music down the road. The Museum, we need to support our local environment downtown in Vallejo and dine. Gracie’s has music on Friday nights. It’s a commercial for Ken, but anyway, very successful businesses and let’s support that type of home grown business. That’s what we need to do there. On the Fairgrounds property, we should work with the County leaders. Conference center, retail shopping excellent opportunity with the freeway and Lowes is coming to Vallejo as well as we’ve got the Rite-Aid redevelopment, so, my time’s up.

OE: Let me talk about Mare Island. Mare Island way back in 1993 was turned over to the City for 77 million dollars for payment. Now I found out there’s only 50% being planned out. How could we revitalize Mare Island with a slow movement on this? If elected as City Councilman, I will want to investigate what’s going on. Is there any red tape on this one? Or what are they doing with the 77 million? Now. On the Waterfront, I heard from one of our Councilmember here that construction has been started. I have to see if that’s the truth. I want to see first before I believe. Because in Mare Island, they promised us 10,000 jobs. We’ve only got 1,650. I want to make sure that Mare Island will be fully revitalized before the end of 2010. It’s too difficult to make some adjustment at this point of time, because of the 9 million in money deficit. But bare with us..thank you

Host: [repeating the question] The Vallejo Revitalization Plan appears to have stalled at Mare Island we at least have a University and a housing development. But no progress with regards to the Waterfront, downtown Vallejo and the Fairgrounds. What can you do as a Councilmember to move these projects forward? Please be specific.

DE: What I can do first and what we all can do is work together. City Council, staff, citizens of Vallejo, work together to get the stalled project moving forward. I believe that the Waterfront Project should have moved forward 2 years ago. But a lawsuit barred against it. Even though it’s a much better project now, I think without a lawsuit it could have been just as good. The Downtown project, negotiations have been ongoing and it’s moving now. I support the downtown project and hopefully they’ll turn there tomorrow – maybe now. The Fairgrounds project, the Mills Corporation wanted to build a multiplex conglomerate type thing and I was against that. I believe that we need to have something for our youth to do here in the City of Vallejo. And I have already stated that we need an X Games complex here in Vallejo and I believe that could be situated on Fairgrounds. Pleasanton has an X Games, San Francisco has an X Games, why can’t our youth have an X Games complex here in the City of Vallejo and the adults and youth can go in and enjoy the X Games right next to Marine World? So that’s what I would do. Thanks.

LB: I think Mare Island is definitely coming along but I don’t think it’s where it needs to be or could be. I agree with the proposal in terms of the Foreign Trade zone, I think the University Village coming forth is very important. As a former employee of the Navy, it breaks my heart to look over across the Waterfront and see those docks not being used. So I would like to see dock shipping repair for the dry docks, maybe a convention center with hotel in Mare Island as well. The downtown, I think we definitely need to increase the foot traffic and create small businesses as well as retail and mixed retail housing. As well as promote cultural and arts as we have been in terms of the attractions there. I also believe that we need a multiplex movie theater in the downtown area in order to increase foot traffic. Some have said that the business in movies is going down. That was true in 1994, but recent studies in the San Francisco Chronicle had otherwise when you see…thank you.

Host: We’ll have time for only more question. I’m sorry that I didn’t get to hear from all of you, but we’re gonna have to wrap it up soon. So the last question is for Darrell Edwards. The sentiment of minority groups is that the City employees do not represent the true make up of the diverse ethnicity of this City. What recruiting or hiring practices will you implement to reach out to these minority groups?

DE: Well, I believe that minority groups have always suffered when it came to unemployment. All kinds of different types of laws and rules and regulations that have been put in place for minority groups. Lawyers and judges have tried to make it for minorities to have jobs and you know, good paying jobs, and some sort of impact was made in hiring. Why it’s not happening in Vallejo – I don’t know. I believe that hiring practices need to be looked at. We need to make sure that we have representation across the board on the City Council. The City Council needs to be a diverse City Council. It hasn’t been for the last 4 years as far as I’m concerned. I think that a city that is diverse as this city which has won awards for diversity, needs to really look at who you are voting for and why you are voting for that person, for those people. To make sure that every corner of the City and every individual group or person is represented on the City Council. Someone that each individual can go to, ask questions and get answers. Get truthful answers. Right now, I help people in other neighborhoods that don’t feel that way. They don’t feel like they can get a job. They don’t feel that they can go to any of the Council members today and ask the questions. I had one council member even tell me, “don’t call me on the telephone”, you know, and that’s not good. So I think that we need to really look at who you are voting for. If you can’t go up to that person and speak to that person today, then you really need to make sure that you vote for the right person – vote for Darrell Edwards.

Host: The remaining candidates have 1 minute to answer the question. I’m gonna repeat it - The sentiment of minority groups is that the City employees do not represent the true make up of the diverse ethnicity of this City. What recruiting or hiring practices will you implement to reach out to these minority groups?

OE: Well, first of all that Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act is not being violated. That is discrimination regardless of gender, race, color, and national origin. That’s the first thing I’ll do if I get elected I want to make sure everybody is given that opportunity. And second, I did not mention the age of the applicants. I would like to also check with the human resource directors. To implement that real good that the reason why he did not hire the guy because he’s too old. That is another violation of Title 7 Civil Rights Act of 1964. Now if these things will be introduced to City Council and the Human Resource Director will agree with my proposal, then I’ll agree with it because I got the same position when I was a student and a human resource man. That was my study. Thank you.

Host: The sentiment of minority groups is that the City employees do not represent the true make up of the diverse ethnicity of this City. What recruiting or hiring practices will you implement to reach out to these minority groups?

EH: Well that’s a good question to have for me actually. First of all, I do want to say that I think as a supervisor, I would hire the best qualified person for the job. And I think that’s the bottom line regardless of race, religion, age, ethnicity. I think that’s only fair. But recently in looking to fill 2 positions in my company, we weren’t getting any interest from the community. And I found out, that the reason was, at least I think is that we were seeking qualified employees through avenues within which they weren’t seeking us. And what it took was going out to the individual communities – Sereno Village, the Adult School, the EDD department, and telling them about State Farm, telling them about the job we have available. Entry level jobs that pay $12.29 an hour with full benefits. Amazingly enough for 2 positions I had 7 applicants because of my efforts of reaching out to the community and we need to do that. We need to support, we have a new Solano Community College…

TP: I’m not sure if the entire City employees don’t reflect the minority community but I can tell you department heads do not and we need to change that and what I would do to change that is first of all, you’re gonna have to understand that department heads have been there for a long time, so it’s not likely an overnight fix. But it needs to be more reflective of the community and we need to have qualified candidates. And how do you do that? You do an outreach program. What an outreach program is, is that you would go to minority colleges, you would go to minority communities and try recruit for those type of jobs. The testing procedures don’t need to change but the written portion would stay the same. The oral interview could be more reflective of the community and how you would do that is you would ask questions about what is your background in dealing with minority issues. We don’t do that now, that’s what we should do cause you could be equal across the board if you’re qualified, but that’s could be a part of what you need to do. We need to use interns from Solano College now, that are minorities, and do trainings for those type of jobs so they have a little bit of priority…thank you..

JS: Earlier today, I had the privilege of being at the opening and the dedication of the new Solano College in Vallejo. This is a wonder of opportunity to establish an outreach program to interest the people who are attending there to apply for jobs within the city. Very easy to do and it would not have to be elaborate. Beyond that we do need a stronger outreach program. Always keeping in mind that the best qualified people should be the ones who are hired. There have been 2 programs in this city that have either been [muffled] through neglect that I would like to see revitalized. One is the police cadet program where Vallejo natives were going through this program and right onto the police force and during the times that I was on the Council, Foster Hicks and I created the same type of program for the firefighters.

MW: Many City employees do not regret the one thing we have in common. We all live in Vallejo. And in order for our government to reflect the diversity of Vallejo, I really think we need to focus our recruiting on us, here the citizens of Vallejo. If elected, I will meet with the City Manager and Council to review our hiring policies and ensure that everyone has equal chance at employment here in this City. Next, I’d meet with leaders of major ethnic communities and ask for their input on how best we can reach out to the qualified candidates here in our community. And finally, I will strongly recommend to our City Manager that as department head positions leads to our day to day leaders of our city, as those become available that we’d ensure that we do our best to include qualified minorities and residents of Vallejo in that interview process. Thank you.

LB: The first thing we need to do is to begin to go out to the community. Don’t wait for the community to come to us. And we need to be representing everyone in the community – all people of color, all sexual minorities, no matter who it is in the community here on the City Council as well, we need to be proactive and this goes back to the school system. If we had prepared our students well and with only 81% of those people in Vallejo actually have high school degrees, I’d like to see that at 100%, then we’re gonna have more of a pool to draw from, and we will have qualified students that can take jobs in the City. The other piece to this is that not all students are going to be academically minded and we need to put back into the schools arts, education, as well as trades education so we can draw from that pool as well.

Host: Thank you and as I mentioned earlier, this will be our last question, due to time constraints. But we do have 1 minute per candidate for closing statements. I would like to start with Michael Wilson and work our way down.

MW: I think together we can improve our community but we need to include everyone in our community. One of the bright sectors of our community is our senior population. And I think we need to serve our seniors and work with them so they have a great place to live. We need to solve our public transportation and our fiscal problems in order to do that. To help them have transportation system at the lowest price. And we need to ensure that all seniors, and every student and every person, working families in Vallejo has affordable shopping options. That there are opportunities for affordable shopping, and or sometimes that specialty or luxury shopping. And we need to develop more opportunity for our seniors and our youth and everyone to remain active and engaged throughout our community by working together, working together from the City level to all the nonprofits and organizations and we need to have places where people can recreate and meet with others. That’s why we need to restore full funding to the Florence Douglas Senior Center, which provide wonderful activities, to restore that funding. Bring back the funding into the public things that happen in our community that work hard. My name is Michael Wilson, and I appreciate your vote.

JS: One of the strengths that we have recognized here in Vallejo for years is its diversity and it’s great. But we must all work together in the spirit of unity to move Vallejo forward. It is not the responsibility of any single group including the City Council. When you vote on November 6, I would caution you don’t fall for promises that are not realistic, don’t believe in fluff and don’t look for pie in the sky because it’s not going to be there. I would ask for your vote because I do my homework, I make tough decisions and I am not for sale. Salamat po [thank you].

TP: In the last couple of weeks I’ve had actually quite a few people ask me, “why are you doing this again?” it’s been a tough 4 years, and yeah it has, it’s been an extremely tough 4 years. But I go back, now it’s been 40 years that I’ve worked for the City of Vallejo. I have to go back to what I thought I was doing, what I wanted to do for 36 years and the motto was to serve and protect and that’s what I still want to do, I still want to. I can’t leave this City in it’s state right now and blame it on whomever you want to blame it on, you can blame it on the past City managers, you can blame it on City Council, I don’t care, it has to be fixed, it needs to be fixed. And this is my city, and it’s your city and I still want to serve this city and in a lot of ways still protect this city. And I have to work through the city. I’m not gonna work with special interest groups. I’m not gonna work for any individual group, I’m gonna work for everybody that’s here. I have no “hidden agendas” I don’t owe anybody anything, all I know is the city – to build it up and what it should be and what was, and what it can be and I want to do that. Thank you.

EH: Thank you again for allowing me to speak with you. It’s time for a change in how we do business in Vallejo and it’s time for a change in leadership. If you want straight talk, hard work and a councilwoman who listens, then you’ll vote for me on November 6. I will turn ideas into action and bring people together to solve the serious problems facing our community. I am proud and gratified by the support I have received from diverse people throughout the Vallejo community and endorsements from the Solano County Board of Realtors, the Vallejo Chamber Val Pack, the labor unions, and Solano Democratic Central Committee. I invite you to look at my background, and my history of work in Vallejo and to look at my website electhannigan.org. I appreciate your support and consideration as your next councilwoman when you vote on November 6. Maraming salamat po. [thank you very much]

OE: Thank you for joining us today, in today’s forum. With your help, we could bring more jobs, safer streets, fair and open government in the City of Vallejo. But in order for this to happen, you must vote for the right councilman or mayor. Don’t make a mistake or we’ll go again for another 9 million deficit crisis. I’m Oscar Estioko, running for the City Council, and together we’ll work to preserve basic social programs to preserve the diversity of the City of Vallejo. For unity is the answer to the challenges of today, tomorrow and the future. If elected, I hope you will partner with me on implementing the priority items required to help Vallejo take this economic and political place in the regional, national and global hierarchy. I don’t have nobody that’s endorsing me at this point in time, except for the hundreds of people I met while I walk around town in the City of Vallejo. I walk almost everyday, under the scorching heat of the sun. Those are my endorsements and my love for Vallejo.

DE: I know what it feels like to be left out. I know what it feels like to be left out. You know what it feels like out to be left out in the Filipino community. When I walk into the City Council chambers, I look up on the left hand side of the wall before I walk in, and I see everybody in the community except for me. I want to be on the City Council to represent the entire community but I want to make sure that that City Council is a diverse City Council. I want to make sure that people can come up to me and ask me questions and I can give them straight and honest answers. I have worked in the community for 17-18 years, in the trenches. I’ve got my hands dirty. Confronting prostitutes, confronting drug dealers, confronting people that are living on the streets and are trying to get help. Vote for me I’m Darrell Edwards. Vote for me and you. Thank you.

LB: Again, salamat po [thank you] for allowing me to share my visions, my dreams and my hopes for Vallejo. In my former religious order, we used to have a saying, it was a motto “unity in diversity and diversity in unity” and in that way all people can come together. No matter who we are. We can all be accountable for what happens in Vallejo. We can all be responsible for what happens in Vallejo. We’re not independent from each other, we are not dependent on each other, but we are interdependent with each other. As a community, we can move forward. So when you elect me to City Council, on November 6, you can be confident, that you are electing somebody who cannot be bought by big real estate developers, cannot be bought by public safety unions, who cannot be bought by big business or big corporations or special interest groups. The only special interest group that I have is you, the voter, the citizens of Vallejo, so please, remember me on November 6. Father Lou Bordisso.

Fred Pono [president of the Filipino Community of Solano County]: That concludes our forum for those City Council candidates…