Issue and Answers

By Bill Idzerda

Bill Idzerda presents his ideas and views on important issues facing Richmond residents and businesses.

For us all and future generations, I will help make Richmond a better place to live. I will prioritize the important issues, provide leadership, and ensure that the City Council swiftly takes appropriate actions.

Summary of the Three Issues on Which I Will Focus:

1. Youth: Improve school curricula, and availability of quality textbooks and study guides; make school interesting; dramatically increase after-school children's activities.

2. Richmond's Growth: Preserve our shoreline; limit construction of large developments and large business facilities; attract businesses that offer skilled or professional jobs. No casinos.

3. Richmond's Budget: Ensure we get value for our tax dollars; balance the budget every year; do not jeopardize the city's future fiscal health; adjust existing tax levels by comparing each tax level with similar communities' tax levels, then decide which ones to increase, decrease, or eliminate; eliminate the utility users' tax; initiate a greenhouse gas and pollution tax; no other new taxes.

Richmond's Youth - Our Future: If elected to the Richmond City Council on November 2nd, my #1 priority would be to swiftly garner City Councilmembers' support for measures that will provide Richmond youth the vision of a future in which they are building and contributing to society. This begins with (1) improving schools' curricula, and availability of quality textbooks and study guides, (2) making school interesting, and (3) dramatically increasing after-school children's activities.

I would encourage the West Contra Costa Unified School District to examine the success stories of vocational/trades programs at: Oakland and San Carlos charter schools, San Francisco's Dream Schools, Ida B. Wells Continuation High School, and San Diego's nationally-recognized High Tech High. Let's use here what works well there.

With the current curricula, one certainly cannot expect kids to sit in school and pay attention for seven hours a day. Could you? School is so boring, many Richmond parents agree that if their kids merely show up and stay out of trouble . . . mission accomplished! Let's raise the bar.

To captivate kids and grab their interest, let's take part of that seven hours to offer interesting courses: perhaps the history of rap music, or Business 101 using musicians' lives as case studies, or shop/drama/art for those who are so inclined. In high school, teach trades so that kids can get good jobs upon graduating: for example, construction basics, carpentry, plumbing, welding, and electronics. Teach courses that kids believe will help them to later build and shape society: environmental protection, economics, political issues that affect them, journalism, and so forth. Take advantage of the California School Energy Efficiency Program, available to Richmond schools, which provides energy education and facility improvement services free of charge.

Plenty of time will remain to teach the kids the 3 Rs five days a week. For some students' schedules, teach academics in only the morning, with "other" in the afternoon. Businesspersons with niche-knowledge could volunteer time to teach special, interesting ¼-day high school classes.

If the West Contra Costa Unified School District does not take immediate steps to improve our youth's future, as I have recommended above, then I strongly recommend we secede from the school district and form our own.

Let's greatly increase after-school children's activities. First, keep the schools open until 6:30 p.m. or later. To do this, we need parents'/volunteers' time, ample recreational equipment, and fun stuff. Convert the closed city libraries into Kids Neighborhood Centers, and put libraries' books into expanded school libraries and senior centers. Kids can't travel far, so we'll need lots of Kids Neighborhood Centers with cool things to do and equipment that works.

Our neighborhood parks need amenities and care: skateboard ramps, play structures, and sports fields that kids want.

Let's tie in youth care with economic development by finding a developer to build a PBA tournament-quality bowling center and host PBA bowling tournaments. Build a world-class art college with a kids art school. Let's operate the Convention Center like a Convention Center and get popular artists and attractions. Let's have a broad sports offering, for example a well-equipped Richmond lacrosse league with knowledgeable coaches.

I would help ensure that we all provide Richmond youth the vision of a future in which they are building and contributing to society. Let's turn Richmond youth education, programs, and opportunities into Richmond strengths.

Steps would I advocate to address the budget crisis: Balance the budget every year, starting now. Generally: Eliminate waste ---> reduce budget --> reduce taxes ---> reduce budget ---> reduce taxes. Initially, upon assuming office, I will assign a senior level internal Richmond staff to lead a small team to flowchart Richmond's modus operandi/process, analyze each node in the flowchart to determine potential time- and money-saving opportunities, obtain similar process diagrams from similar cities, develop recommendations, present this to appropriate trade associations and stakeholders to modify the recommendations, then present certain revisions to the City Council for Resolution. Concurrently, I would hire an external auditor to perform a line-by-line budget analysis to specify where each dollar is coming from, and on what each dollar is being expended.

Immediately terminate all non-union employees in the two departments primarily responsible for leading Richmond into debt: the Human Resources Department and the Finance Department. Immediately rehire the 44 recently laid off city of Richmond employees. To save money, terminate all probationary employees.

Potential beneficiaries of studies, such as developers, will pay for them, not the city of Richmond.

Taxes: Eliminate residential utility users' taxes. Currently, we all pay these utility bill surcharges (taxes): cable - 5%, electricity - 10%, natural gas - 10%, and telephone - 10%. I propose we eliminate those taxes.

Businesses would pay utility users' taxes according to an inverted tiered rate schedule: the more they use, the more they pay per unit used. (Note: your water bill is an inverted tiered rate schedule.) There would be no cap on the billed amount that would be subject to the utility users' tax.

I believe that the world's most pressing concern is sustaining a clean environment and protecting our limited natural resources. I further believe that those who dirty the environment and deplete natural resources should pay now for the future harm that will be done. Therefore, I will author a commercial and industrial business greenhouse gas tax and a pollution tax. This would bring substantial revenues to the city of Richmond.

I would propose a Richmond personal income tax surcharge for the super-rich, which would affect less than 1% of Richmond households.

Richmond's Growth: I want to support and grow the businesses that are already here in Richmond, particularly those offering professional and skilled jobs. We need to ensure the livelihood of our present business owners and employees, before attracting new companies. Berlex, Contra Costa Newspapers, and PG&E for example are firms that we want involved in our community; we want to further their well-being, too.

For the near future, no more large-scale construction projects that would divert city resources, strain our infrastructure, exacerbate traffic, and require many city employees' time.

District Elections: I am opposed to District elections in the City of Richmond because we need a unified effort to resolve the key issues facing the entire City, rather than lobby for area-specific needs at the expense of broader goals.

Would I support an ordinance for just cause eviction and fair rent? I would advocate a "Just Cause Ordinance" that allows no-cause 365 day evictions, but no other amendments to the state law, which allows no-cause 60 day evictions.

No rent control, because government should refrain from interfering with private enterprises' strategies to do commerce, unless businesses' tactics impinge on people's rights. If the government were to attempt to regulate or limit landlords' ability to collect rents in accordance with supply and demand, then rents would likely be higher than without controls, because landlords will need to compensate for potential lost revenues resulting from this government-introduced restriction and uncertainty.

What about the proposed Pt. Molate casino and developing the Richmond shoreline? Directly across the Bay in Tiburon, undeveloped land sells for an average of $2,391,601/acre. Pt. Molate has 405 acres, so it is worth about $969 million to a developer. The Richmond City Council voted 8 - 0 to proceed with the $50 million sale to Upstream; payments would be made between 2010 and 2025! I do not support developing the Pt. Molate or the Richmond Shoreline.

My position on Richmond's Growth is: protect the shoreline; limit construction of large developments and large business facilities; and attract businesses that offer skilled or professional jobs. I will stymie all efforts to develop it, to plan to develop it, or to discuss planning to develop it.

Absolutely no casinos in Richmond, and hopefully, none in San Pablo. Casinos have unskilled low-wage labor, strain the infrastructure, and exacerbate traffic. State and city governments must stop giving preferential treatment to partnerships that profit at the expense of Indian tribes with dubious claims to the land on which casinos are built.

Eradicate Trash-Dumping in Richmond Neighborhoods/Alleys: Many residents complain about large amounts of trash being illegally dumped in Richmond. Four solutions: (1) reduce the fee to use the city dump, (2) situate free, large dumpsters where dumping is prevalent, (3) have a toll-free hotline for callers to anonymously report dumpers' license plate numbers, then aggressively pursue the dumpers, (4) sentence dumpers and litterers to an appropriate number of hours of trash and litter pick-up, and (5) neighborhood councils and neighborhood watches should sponsor one-time block-area clean-up parties; the City will provide free dumpsters and free City Dump use passes - with substantial participation, we would have a clean city pronto!

Similarly, let's have a city of Richmond litter law, sentencing offenders to clean up a city block.

Bill Idzerda's track record on environmental issues: · Currently, as an Energy Policy Specialist with the Power Policy & Planning Division of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, on a daily basis, I plan and budget energy efficiency and renewable energy projects · Member of the City & County of San Francisco Resource Efficient Building Task Force: One month ago we finalized a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Ordinance · Planned, funded, and managed the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI) project within the City & County of San Francisco, targeting a LEED Gold rating · I drive a Toyota Prius hybrid · As a market research senior project manager with Pacific Gas & Electric Company (1985 to 1993), I researched and supported alternative fuel vehicles · Support Environmental Justice as a policy

What should Richmond do to implement its existing environmental justice policy? Richmond citizens should elect me as a City Councilmember, as effectuating the principles of environmental justice would be a priority for me. Currently, as an Energy Policy Specialist with the Power Policy & Planning Division of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, I helped develop the "Electricity Resource Plan" and "Energy Resource Investment Strategy," both of which acknowledge the importance of environmental justice.

I am keenly aware of and concerned about greenhouse gas emissions, air pollutants, and asthma and other health issues, especially in the Hunter's Point area where environmental justice is an important issue to Supervisor Sophie Maxwell and area residents.

In addition, environmental justice applies to ensuring that bus lines serve the Richmond communities that need and would use them.

What are Richmond's strengths? How can we capitalize on them? Richmond's main strength is its large number of concerned neighborhood councils, trade associations, homeowners associations, non-profit organizations, Neighborhood Watches, City Commissions, labor unions, and social activists with time and ideas to contribute together to a proud and prosperous Richmond. Richmond has several attributes of a commerce center, including crisscrossing freeways, a convention center, a long shoreline, and entrepreneurial businesses.

We can capitalize on our people-strength by ensuring that City Councilmembers listen to and ultimately act on their opinions by getting them involved early in the process for potentially contentious or divisive issues. First, to ensure awareness, the Richmond city website, http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us , needs to have a specific location where these issues are presented, complete with time schedules, including how persons can communicate opinions. The city should promptly respond on the website to the aggregated concerns.

Because Richmond already has the underpinnings of a commerce center, we can concentrate our energies on accomplishing our priorities, rather than building an adequate infrastructure.

Was the City wise to offer 3 percent at 50 retirement benefits to police officers and 3 percent at 55 to firefighters? It seems unwise to pay extra to get nothing. Is the City going to pay for this by using the money that otherwise would have gone to the recently laid off 44 employees? I am not an incumbent Councilmember, but I would not have supported it.

I am an employee of the City & County of San Francisco. Last year AND this year, we are getting no raises AND we are paying our entire 7.5% contribution to our retirement plan. Next year, we are getting no raises AND we are paying 5.0% of our 7.5% contribution to our retirement plan. All unions in San Francisco approved this, some overwhelmingly. Certainly, the City of Richmond, especially the incumbent City Councilmembers, could have done better to solve the fiscal problems they created.

How would I rate public employee performance? What changes would I recommend to make for a uniformly high-quality work force at City Hall? My experience with public employees where I have been working the past four years - the City & County of San Francisco - is that we want to serve the public with a job well done. However, the bureaucracy over the years has built in so many redundant checks and balances to hinder the unscrupulous, that the other 99% of us spend much of our time dealing with the bureaucracy, rather than accomplishing our tasks and the city's mission. Unfortunately, virtually everyone gets disillusioned to some degree. Our charge as Richmond City Councilmembers then is to slash the bureaucracy.

City Councilmembers just don't seem to get along. How will I resolve conflict with fellow Councilmembers? For each contentious issue, I will take steps to ensure a thorough understanding of the issue's background, and ensure that proposed remedies are clear and concise. This will mitigate confusion and controversy over interpretation. Before the City Council votes, I will have ensured that all Councilmembers agree on the measure's intent and likely outcomes. I would have accomplished this by determining what language was controversial, and asking all stakeholders to prepare written comments addressing the controversy, which would be provided to all other stakeholders. Then I would convene a meeting to rewrite the language.

Safety: Violence prevention needs to be addressed with the purpose of ensuring a safe future for Richmond residents and businesses. We need to get at the problem behind the complex problem.

Police should dedicate more time protecting and serving the 99% of us who are law-abiding citizens, not setting speed traps or engaging in FBI-type activity. When you look in your rear view mirror and see a police car, do you think, "How nice to have a policeman following me, gee I feel so much safer," or do slow down and think, "Oh no, gotta fasten my seatbelt; I better not do anything wrong."

I believe Richmond should have more foot police and more bicycle police. Thus, residents would have greater and quicker access to police. These police would be non-threatening; they would carry no guns. Police in squad cars would be specially trained and armed with SWAT-like power to quickly and effectively respond to situations in which force may be required. We could reduce the number of squad cars and police on motorcycles. Some motorcycle police would be specially trained to very quickly respond to certain 911 calls and to emergency injury situations, so that these individuals in dire need get immediate attention; this will save lives.

How You Can Help Shape Policy in Richmond, If You Elect Me to the Richmond City Council on November 2nd: The most effective way to ensure the city councilmembers listen to and ultimately act on your ideas is to get you involved early in the process for potentially contentious or divisive issues. On matters of public policy, as a city councilmember, I intend to rely heavily on interested stakeholders, knowledgeable individuals, potentially affected residents, trade associations, community organizations, and you.

First, to ensure awareness, the Richmond City website, http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us, needs to have a specific location where these issues are presented, complete with time schedules, including how residents can communicate their opinions. To ensure that the residents know the City is listening to their concerns, the City should promptly respond on the City website + not necessarily to each individual query, but to the aggregated concerns. On a daily basis, the City should take care to update this section of the website.

Moreover, I believe it is important residents act through the city of Richmond commissions and boards, so that they can present the City a unified story. In this manner, your objective that City policies and actions reflect community priorities and values can be realized.

Thank You