Perma-link to here:
http://calpensionsbrief.blogspot.com/2013/10/oct-2013-league-of-women-voters_18.html
This is a summary of candidates forum for Seat 2: Glenn Hendricks, Steve Hoffman, and Gustavo Magana (34 minute mark)
See also seat 3 (Grifith vs Merrick) here:
This is part 2 for seat 2 in the Sunnyvale City Council Election covering the 2nd 50 minutes of the 120 minute video. I made editorial decisions to select some parts and leave out others for the sake of readability.
The video of the League of Women Voters Sunnyvale City Council candidates’ forum on Oct. 15th, 2013 is available here:
Intro:
Gustavo Magana: created a program at Santa Clara University
to increase the enrollment of minority students
Glenn Hendricks: planning commission, and many other
committees.
Steve Hoffman: Active in community, attends all city council
meetings, bringing up civility and ethics.
1. 38 min: Completion
of downtown (It’s been 10 years!)
a.
Glenn Hendricks – city is too passive, try to
get parties talking, pass disincentive to the current situation, pressure the
developer.
b.
Steve Hoffmann – agrees – claims Hendricks took
his (Hoffman’s) position. Council has
been spineless about this. Notes he (Hoffman)
has not taken developer money and would not be beholden to developers. 2 years ago when he (Hoffman) ran everyone claimed
they would do something about the downtown and nothing has happened.
c.
Magana – currently in law school. Because it is in litigation there is not much
that can be done. Penalties on developer
but cannot be done easily. Why weren’t
penalties levied beforehand? Those responsible should be held accountable.
d.
Hendricks – he has received no
contributions from downtown developers – urges aggressive action.
e.
Hoffman – limits on
contributions to federal campaigns are $2600 per candidate yet Glenn Hendricks
has received more than that from an individual developer and also taken money
from the head of the largest developer PAC (SunPAC).
2.
43 min:
How would you balance the need for econ growth, affordable housing, and preserve
neighborhood character?
a.
Hoffman – we have a General Plan and we should
follow it - not look at each little pocket in isolation. Currently the city council is on a marathon
to approve millions of square feet of commercial space as if they are afraid of
losing their majority and need to get it all approved before a new city council
takes over. This is without accounting for
the burden on schools and city services, including fewer police than 10 years
ago.
b.
Magana – income disparity needs to be
addressed. People who have lived here
for years are being forced out by the rising cost of housing. The placing of buildings needs to be
considered.
c.
Hendricks – the general plan is updated every
ten years and you can get involved.
Zoning decides what goes where and that is the process – input from the
community decides all this.
d.
Hoffman – Claims Hendricks says everything relies
on community input but to Hoffman it is “open doors and deaf ears” - no one
listens. He (Hoffman) has been trying to
give input for 2 years with no response.
He (Hoffman) went to the planning commission and they wouldn’t even
answer a question. If he (Hoffman) is
elected, that will change dramatically.
e.
Gustavo Magana – If there were community input so
many people wouldn’t be upset about the LinkedIn building. Currently council listens and then ignores
the input and does what they were going to do anyway.
f.
Hendricks – was at the planning commission meeting
Hoffman attended (as a member of the commission) and notes that the meeting was
only to receive input, not to answer questions, which comes later.
3.
50 min: Is the city doing enough to notify
residents and receive input from residents about developments in their area and
if not what would you propose?
a.
Hendricks – city is not doing an adequate
job. After the input from residents that
their property values were going down because of the LinkedIn building he
proposed on the planning commission that the notification area be extended (detail not mentioned: he proposed 2,000 foot radius instead of current
300 foot radius but was opposed by commissioner Gustav Larsson who felt 1,000
feet was enough). He claims that the
idea that people don’t listen is patently false. He loves it when people come to planning
commission meetings.
b.
Magana – there seems to be a complete lack of
outreach to the community. LinkedIn is a
good example. Why didn’t they go out and
knock on doors and get input.
c.
Hoffman – the city doesn’t listen – Mr. Hendricks
blames people for not showing up but he (Hoffman) has been going to the
meetings for years and sees that everyone is ignored. There needs to be citizen groups to work advise the city.
d.
Hendricks – the commissions that currently exist are the citizens
groups Mr. Hoffman wants. We want to
hear from the public
e.
Magana – what we need is people who are actively
engaged in the community. Mr. Hendricks
is like a teacher telling a class that isn’t learning that it is their fault.
f.
Hoffman – planning commissions get nominated by
the council. Mr. Hendricks was Council
Member Jim Griffith’s campaign treasurer and shortly after was nominated to the
planning commission. Council nominates their
own kind of people with the same mind-set.
He (Hoffman) applied to the planning commission and was turned down and
now understands the reason.
4.
57 min: Do you think the city is on a sustainable
course to maintain pay and pension costs.
a.
Magana – need better communication with the
groups that receive pensions. Respects
pensions so people can have a decent retirement. Should not take away the retirement from
current retirees.
b.
Hoffman – the current course is not
sustainable. The average compensation
for full time public safety officers in Sunnyvale is $250,000. They can then retire with up to 90% of their
highest earnings (editorial comment – the
compensation includes overtime which is not included in retirement income in
Sunnyvale though it is in other cities and counties). By comparison, if you went to an insurance
co. at age 55 when police and fire officers can retire after 30 years of
service and bought an annuity to guarantee $100,000/year income for the rest of
your life, you would have to give them $2.1 million. The question is not whether they deserve it,
they do, but whether it is sustainable and the answer is no. Employees in the private sector get nothing
like this and public employees should receive similar retirement to that of the
private sector.
c.
Hendricks – the current course is not
sustainable. The employees need to
contribute more. We need to work with
our bargaining units to make it sustainable. I think the bargaining units
understand that it is not sustainable but they will want to negotiate the changes.
d.
Magana – Mr. Hoffman talks about facing reality
but this is an expensive place and retirees should not have to move from the
place they have lived all their lives just to afford retirement.
e.
Hoffman – That is not what I am saying, just that
city employees should face the same realities private sector employees will
face. As for what Mr. Hendricks said, when
the bargaining units negotiate with the city council Mr. Hendricks will have a
major conflict of interest since much of his campaign is financed and supported
by unions.
f.
Hendricks- Mr. Hoffman is dealing with half-truths
– I do not believe the unions are spending 100’s of thousands of dollars on
flyers. I will not be beholden to the
unions.
5.
1 hr 03 min: Revenues – will increased spending
on public safety, parks, etc. require more taxes?
a.
Hoffman – Sunnyvale does not have a revenue
problem so we don’t need to raise revenue in fact there are a lot of excessive
fees. The biggest expense is employee
salaries. We currently pay police and
fire $50,000 more than the second highest in Santa Clara County. If we paid only $25,000 more than the 2nd
highest we could increase the police force by 10%. We do not need to increase revenue.
b.
Hendricks – we need more revenue and we should
increase the Hotel tax which Mr. Hoffman opposes. I favor greater revenues in fees from
developers
c.
Magana – I think we can live with the revenue we
have now. We need to set our priorities
straight and make sure that we interact with the community so we give them
parks they need.
d.
Hoffman - I find it curious that Mr. Hendricks
brings up the hotel tax because that brings up the issue of integrity and
civility in the council. I spoke against
it and Mr. Hendricks has misrepresented my position despite my emails informing
him.
e.
Hendricks - Mr. Hoffman is speaking half-truths that
I have somehow violated some rule or done something wrong. The Federal campaign contribution limit does
not apply to local elections. That is a
big difference between us in that I have had a very positive campaign.
f.
Magana – we should be more civil to each other.
6.
1 hr 10 min: Campaign finance – you have
different approaches to campaigning, please estimate how much your campaign
expects to spend this campaign? Please
share your opinion on whether campaign contributions can influence thinking or
lead to conflicts of interest.
a.
Magana – I am trying to do it as grass roots as
possible because I grew up understanding money doesn’t grow on trees. I will keep my spending under $1,000. If you
are taking money from people you already agree with that is okay, but if you
are taking money from anyone that offers it, that leads to conflict of interest and is wrong.
b.
Hendricks – I am doing retail politics going
door-to-door talking to everyone but I can’t reach everyone so I have to go to
mailers. This takes money and people
have given me money to support this. I have
not accepted money from any negative organizations. Some businesses and organizations have
contributed to me they are reputable well-respected organizations or businesses
in the city and there is no reason to run away or hide from that. I do not feel I will beholden so I can do
what I think is the right thing for Sunnyvale.
c.
Hoffman – Mr. Hendricks did not answer the
question of how much he expects to spend. It is not only how much he will spend
but how much will be spent on his behalf by special interests. The Police Officer’s Assoc., which is like a
union, is spending many tens of thousands, possibly up to $100,000 when you add
all the money for all the candidates they are supporting. I am on a mission
over here – I believe I will spend about $2,000 all contributed by individuals
so I will not have any debt (editorial
comment – he is referring to “pay off the debt” post-election “parties” where people
can contribute to already elected officials). We have all seen what happens
in Washington, D.C. – it has a corrupting effect.
7.
1 hr 15 minutes: Civility – what will you do to
foster good communications on the City Council?
a.
Hendricks – there is a complete lack of
civility. I have been trained to
actively listen and hear the content rather than tone. It stops city business and hurts the
business. I have been working on the
planning commission in a collaborative style.
b.
Hoffman - You need to communicate with those you
oppose as well as those you agree with. Mr.
Hendricks has not communicated with Mr. Meyering or responded to my emails.
c.
Magana – People on the city council are not aware
of the negative impact of their bickering.
8.
1 hr 19 min – why should voters choose you?
a.
Magana – I have lived here all my life and have
seen people in poverty and homeless and beat up because of their color or gang
affiliation. I want to represent the
dispossessed.
b.
Hendricks – I was born and raised here and love
Sunnyvale. I want to work on your behalf
on the policies and general plan and make Sunnyvale a better place to live for
you and my children.
c.
Hoffman – I have lived here since I graduated
college. We have all seen the decline in
Sunnyvale in the last 10, 15 years. I will
try to get a law passed requiring all council members to recuse themselves from
voting on issues affecting their campaign contributors. This may be the last
chance to get a council not controlled by unions and developers.
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