Why My Candidacy is Different from That of the Other Candidates for this Office
I have 16 years experience on the City Council. Should the electorate elect 4 brand-new council members, our City Council would start with only 1 seated incumbent, Terry Nagel, who has just two years' experience.
I have the demonstrated leadership and varied council experience to lead the next council on a prudent safe path of sound policy-making. That is why I look at this election as being a CRUCIAL EVENT for our great community. I have been a centrist and have not taken positions that polarized Burlingame folks.
While I have always been the top vote-getter in past elections, this year there is a field of seven running for three slots and two running for the two-year slot. Hence, the need for extra effort.
I was first elected to the council 20 days after the Loma Prieta Earthquake that left 65 URM buildings in our downtown (Burlingame Ave. and Broadway) as well as one hotel (Amfac) that had to be demolished and a new hotel (Hyatt) that had to close down for six months to do major repairs. The economy was slumping. To help city finances, we raised the hotel TOT from 8% to 10%, dedicating the extra 2% to funding the proposed new library and sports field that would be built over the old dump (closed in 1986). Careful financial planning helped Burlingame live through the downturn of 1989 - 1994. And then came the wonderful final five years of the century that brought us unparalleled prosperity. Burlingame hotel TOT tax rose to over $13 million in 2000. But next year, it slumped to $6.8 million. We have worked hard in the intervening years to help that recover. It is slowly winding its way to better times once more. And with the abundance of new home construction and numerous remodels, city revenues from this activity has increased and all of that with the Floor Area Ratio Ordinance + Design REview Process that makes Burlingame neighborhoods among the most beautiful on the Peninsula. The code updating for our downtown is certainly the most challenging task awaiting the new council. And that will be coupled with the careful introduction of mixed use in the downtown without harming the enviable ambiance that today makes Burlingame Avenue and environs a model for small towns all over America.
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