Fremont is a great city. I’ve called it my home for 49 years. I love our city and have established my business and home here. I will work diligently to maintain Fremont’s unique character as the best place in the country to raise a family. My priorities include creating a strong sense of community within our neighborhoods and preserving our precious natural assets, such as our hills.
Cities are organic and must change over time in order to survive. Fremont has developed within a template that emphasizes a single type of suburban growth. Given the demands of our increasing population and the needs of our businesses, we must direct our growth in a way that responds to those needs within the context of local, regional, and global changes. Climate change and the warming of our environment demands local land use planning attention. That means we must act wisely to increasing traffic demands, energy costs, and climate change. If Fremont doesn’t adapt its growth policies to meet these challenges in a positive way, we will end up with heavier traffic congestion, longer commutes, a diminished sense of community, greater crime, and a commercial base that is diluted by suburban sprawl.
We must do better. I have championed clean technology and green regulations for the city of Fremont to make our city buildings more energy efficient and environmentally responsible, to encourage clean, responsible businesses to locate here with good paying clean & green jobs, and to promote an ecologically friendly residential lifestyle. I have publicly supported growth policies that would require new construction projects to adopt green building principles.
Additionally, I’m concerned about resource use, especially how we use our water and how we organize our streets. I urged the city to adopt the Ahwahnee Water Principles designed to spearhead conservation and drought resistant landscaping and aggressive actions to improve groundwater runoff and water quality. As your council member I’ve joined the national Local Government Commission recognized as a leader in formulating plans for smart growth to meet the needs of our society. Transit oriented development is one of its leading elements, and I believe Fremont must implement these policies in the coming years.
I’m dedicated to changing the development style of Fremont so that new residences are affordable, new construction and industries are clean and green, and Fremont remains a safe, livable, and prosperous home for its citizens and its commercial neighborhoods alike.
I have three Priorities for Fremont:
1. Public Safety
2. Economic Development
3. Transportation
Duration : 0:0:31
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From the Spring 2009 colloquium on land use planning and SB 375 at sponsored by the Institute for Urban and Regional Development at UC Berkeley, the Center for a Sustainable California produced a video highlighting the speakers and challenges from these lectures.
This video was produced by:
Gary Binger
Ashley Tindall
Troy Reinhalter
Christian Eggleton
Contact: ceggleton@berkeley.edu
http://sustainablecalifornia.berkeley.edu
Duration : 0:1:54
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From the Spring 2009 colloquium on land use planning and SB 375 at sponsored by the Institute for Urban and Regional Development at UC Berkeley, the Center for a Sustainable California produced a video highlighting the speakers and challenges from these lectures.
This video was produced by:
Gary Binger
Ashley Tindall
Troy Reinhalter
Christian Eggleton
Contact: ceggleton@berkeley.edu
Duration : 0:5:22
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From the Spring 2009 colloquium on land use planning and SB 375 at sponsored by the Institute for Urban and Regional Development at UC Berkeley, the Center for a Sustainable California produced a video highlighting the speakers and challenges from these lectures.
This video was produced by:
Gary Binger
Ashley Tindall
Troy Reinhalter
Christian Eggleton
Contact: ceggleton@berkeley.edu
http://sustainablecalifornia.berkeley.edu
Duration : 0:6:16
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After hearing three hours of public input from 30 presenters and reaction from an over-flow crowd of 150 residents of Salmon Arm on August 27th, the city councillors and Mayor unanimously defeated a motion to amend the city’s Official Community Plan to include guidelines for developing a ten acre former high school site in the downtown core that would have allowed a ‘big box’ retail outlet, fast food outlets and gas bars with little green space or residential housing. Concern for lack of input of Smart Growth ideas, affordable housing and long range planning were voiced.
Duration : 0:8:22
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From the Spring 2009 colloquium on land use planning and SB 375 at sponsored by the Institute for Urban and Regional Development at UC Berkeley, the Center for a Sustainable California produced a video highlighting the speakers and challenges from these lectures.
This video was produced by:
Gary Binger
Ashley Tindall
Troy Reinhalter
Christian Eggleton
Contact: ceggleton@berkeley.edu
http://sustainablecalifornia.berkeley.edu
Duration : 0:2:47
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From the Spring 2009 colloquium on land use planning and SB 375 at sponsored by the Institute for Urban and Regional Development at UC Berkeley, the Center for a Sustainable California produced a video highlighting the speakers and challenges from these lectures.
This video was produced by:
Gary Binger
Ashley Tindall
Troy Reinhalter
Christian Eggleton
Contact: ceggleton@berkeley.edu
Duration : 0:5:4
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The Austin Fire Chief’s decision to promote three men is causing unrest within the department. Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr is trying to increase diversity within her management team.
She wants to promote Lt. Matt Orta who is hispanic, Lt. Richard Davis who is African American and Battalion Chief Harry Evans who is white to Assistant Chief and increase their salaries to $120,000 a year.
“It’s change and change does create some conflict, we all know change is difficult,” Chief Kerr said.
Palmer Buck with the firefighter’s nnion says this kind of change is also expensive and sends the wrong message to firefighters during a tough economic time.
“Firefighters can’t have their physical fitness equipment repaired, there’s no budget for it, but we want to approve two new un-needed executive level positions,” Buck asked council members Thursday.
Representatives with the firefighter’s union are also upset that two lieutenants are being promoted to assistant chief, ahead of dozens of higher ranking AFD employees. But city officials say there is a more important goal at stake.
“There’s another struggle taking place here as well and that’s us working toward making the fire department more progressive,” said Assistant City Manager Michael McDonald.
City officials say two AFD assistant chiefs recently retired so the promotions will cost the department only $10,000 more per year.
The Austin City Council still has to approve the promotions but Thursday they voted to postpone the decision until June 11.
Duration : 0:2:54
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Green City Journal hosted a forum on November 8th, for the closing night of Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association’s (PIFVA) expo “Politics As Usual?”, which highlighted political documentaries made by local filmmakers. Here’s an excerpt from the discussion that followed the screenings where panelists discuss what they expect in the first 100 days of an Obama presidency. Participants include Jerry Silberman, from PASNAP and local sustainability movements, David Sternberg, Chairperson for Philly for Change, Jethro Heiko, Director for Organizing Iraq Veterans Against the War and co-founder of Casino-Free Philadelphia, Rob Stuart, filmmaker and founder of Evolve Strategies and Evolve Foundation, Gail Lloyd, editor of Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan and group moderator Caryn Hunt of www.GreenCityJournal.com. Video shot by Debbie Rudman.
Duration : 0:9:57
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From the Spring 2009 colloquium on land use planning and SB 375 at sponsored by the Institute for Urban and Regional Development at UC Berkeley, the Center for a Sustainable California produced a video highlighting the speakers and challenges from these lectures.
This video was produced by:
Gary Binger
Ashley Tindall
Troy Reinhalter
Christian Eggleton
Contact: ceggleton@berkeley.edu
http://sustainablecalifornia.berkeley.edu
Duration : 0:4:48
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