Perma-link:
Summary of Candidates Forum for Seat 1 - Frazer vs. Larsson
See also Seat 2 - Hendricks vs Hoffman vs. Magana - at:
and Seat 3 - Griffith vs. Merrick - at:
The League of Women Voters Sunnyvale City Council
candidates’ forum on Oct. 15th, 2013 is available here:
At 1 hr 25 min 45 sec on video: Seat 1: Frazer vs. Larsson
1. Intro:
1. Intro:
a.
Frazer: 20 year resident, sustainability
commission, engineering manager
b.
Larsson: Planning commission, worked on PA Medical
Facility and took Sunnyvale Leadership course.
2.
1 hr 28:58 - Downtown
a.
Larsson: lives nearby and really wants it
finished. Favored talking with parties
but found CC tried that to no avail.
Wants CC to report every meeting on status of Downtown with more
attention. Use this as a chance to look
at city plans – less retail more open space.
b.
Canvassing neighborhoods and it is the number 1
issue. Original developer went bankrupt,
Wells Fargo took it over (ed. note - and finished some
of the buildings) and now developer Peter Paul (sp?) is suing to get it back to
complete it. At this point there is one
more lawsuit the original developer has lodged and honestly there is not much
you can do at this point except wait out the one remaining lawsuit.
3.
1:31:35 - Pension and employee costs: Is the city on track to have sustainable
employee and pension costs?
a.
Frazer: this year $30M to subsidize employee
pension costs + $5M to pay for lifetime health benefits. (Editorial comment - General
Fund budget is $150M) Pensions got me into city politics. Tap Merrick and I (Frazer) co-founded Sunnyvale
Pension Reform to educate people about the issue. The city is moving in the right direction to pay
down the unfunded liability of about $250M.
It is still 5 years out until employees pay the 8% employee share.
Our costs will go from $30M to $35M so costs are still going up. Can’t take away benefits – not fair & not
legal. Employees need to carry a lot
more of the pension costs than current plan.
b.
Larsson: We
are on track. Pensions are part of
compensation. On track but not there yet. City has started a two tier pension system
where new hires come in at a lower pension plan and city has hired an actuary
to tell how much to pay down the unfunded liability. The $30M is only 22% of overall pension costs. On my own 401K total of my contribution and
my employer’s it was also around 21-22% so it is on par with what private sector
contributes if they are saving enough.
Need to look at overall compensation view.
c.
Frazer: City
Council and employees are saying they will be paying their full share. What they mean is the minimum 8% state
mandated “employee” share which they should have been paying all this
time. Full share means half of all pension
costs like social security – I pay half, my employer pays half. Should be closer to 30-35%.
d.
Larsson – full share is not necessarily a 50-50
split. Really about total take home pay. How much city pays directly to employee or
indirectly to pension funding all works out.
4.
1:36:50 – High density development is planned
along Mathilda and elsewhere like Butcher’s Corner and at the intersection of
Mary and Fremont. Do you support this
trend?
a.
Frazer – My opponent and I disagree on this. The city has a general plan encompassing all
aspects. There has been steady stream of
developers over the last few years asking for general plan amendments to exceed
the limits to building. I am not anti-growth
but high density office buildings require state-mandated housing to provide for
all these new workers. This impacts
traffic, schools and parks. Like CM Moylan’s
plan to require all large development to come before the council.
b.
Larsson - Most general plan amendments are shot
down by staff. General Plan dates to
1997 so plans need to be flexible. High
cost of land is driving high density land.
Consider young families and older people who can’t drive. They need cheaper housing which suggests
higher density. Some development
provides parks and amenities so there are benefits.
c.
Frazer – as Steve Hoffman pointed out (ed. note – In Sept. COOL Forum see http://calpensionsbrief.blogspot.com/2013/10/sept-2013-sunnyvale-city-council.html
item 4), if denser housing lowered
rents, then NY, Shanghai, Moscow, and Hong Kong would be the cheapest places in
the world. Higher density brings in more people who wouldn’t otherwise move here.
d.
Larsson – those high housing costs are about
supply and demand and there are an incredible number of jobs there (in big cities mentioned by Frazer).
5.
1:41:40 – Mixed use development (commercial and
housing): For it or against it.
a.
Larsson – Support mixed use like Santana Row –
mutual benefit to residents and businesses. – share parking – needs retail to be sustainable in that
area. Opportunities to downsize from
house to apt and stay in neighborhood and walk to shopping.
b.
Frazer – favors mixed use in certain areas –
traffic concerns. Concern with Lawrence
Station plan in the core it is intended to be 70-80 foot high buildings (ed. note - size of Nokia Building on Mathilda about size of 8 story apt building ) which is
too dense for that area.
c.
Larsson – How does Mr. Frazer determine what is
too dense? I (Larsson) am on citizen’s advisory committee for Lawrence
Station. That group has been nearly
unanimous in support of the plan.
d.
Frazer – I do support the location – just concerned
about density – 3,000 jobs and 2,000 housing units with 1-2-3 bedrooms per
unit.
6.
1:46:20 – Revenue – Sufficient or new taxes or
fees?
a.
Frazer – revenue growth is extremely good, but
employee costs have gone up even faster for over a decade. City finance dept. told me that in past 12
years, employee costs have gone from 62% to 72% of revenue while eliminating
150 full time positions. Want a city policy
that won’t let employee costs grow faster than revenue.
b.
Larsson – Sunnyvale has an AAA credit rating - one
of 8 in CA due to well-run financial management by Moody’s estimation. Good position with 20-year budget process to
keep us on track. Supporting local
business a growing economy will bring in more revenue. Redeveloping properties
brings in raises property values which bring in more taxes.
c.
Frazer – Bond rating only means how reliably we
pay off their debts. We have been paying
off our debts at expense of city services.
d.
Larsson – we are restoring services and
expanding services.
7.
1:49:45 – Campaign finances: how much total
spending and can campaign contributions lead to conflicts of interest.
a.
Larsson - I expect to spend about $32K so far from
about 40 individuals and 25 volunteers – 11 last weekend. I can’t keep track of all those people who
gave me money so I can’t say they influence my vote. The largest is $3,000 and the smallest is $100.
b.
My budget will be $8,000 of which $6,000 is my
own. All the other money is from
residents and I do not accept contributions from developers, unions or anyone
else that will have business before the city council.
8.
1:52:24 – City Communication with residents
about developments?
a.
Frazer – Now 300 ft was the former notification
radius. Planning commission voted to
make it 2,000 feet and Larsson was the sole vote against it preferring 1,000
feet. I think 2,000 ft isn’t enough
b.
Larsson – Mailers aren’t that effective – prefer
email. Neighborhood associations work
also.
9.
1:54:50 – Why should we vote for you?
a.
Larsson – need politicians who are pragmatic,
have tangible results, and that’s me. I’ve
worked on grass roots issues and been through the school of hard knocks and on planning
commission – proud of my work there – affordable housing and cap payday lenders
in Sunnyvale – park dedication fee.
b.
Frazer – my priorities are the future of
Sunnyvale, get employee costs under control, very careful about future
development, plan to live here for the rest of my life. I would have voted against the two recent
sales of city land (ed note – referring to Murphy Park
expansion land and Raynor Park buildings.)
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