League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Santa Clara County, CA November 6, 2007 Election
	Ron Patrick Swegles Answers Questions Candidate for Council Member; City of Sunnyvale; Seat 6

The questions were prepared by the the Leagues of Women Voters of Santa Clara County and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. What experience related to city government would you bring to the City Council?

I am a firm believer in community involvement. I take pride in the city in which I live and work. When I moved to Sunnyvale, I quickly found that I moved to a remarkable city. With this understanding, I knew that Sunnyvale was where I was going to lay my roots and take an active role in protecting the wonderful city that it was at the time and find additional avenues to make it even better. When I first ran for City Council in 2003, I felt that it was my time to "step up and be counted" and take the most active role in becoming the foundation of what Sunnyvale would become in the future. I have been faced with many challenges over the past four years but at the end of day, I am making a difference and continuing to work to ensure that Sunnyvale will continue to be a remarkable city for the next individuals to move into Sunnyvale.

I am an open minded, honest individual that will listen to all points of view, do research and make decisions based on what I feel is in the best interest of Sunnyvale. I do believe that I represent the residents of Sunnyvale fairly and impartially. I have the knowledge and understanding of what it takes to be an active City Councilmember and will continue to make the tough decisions in the best interest of Sunnyvale.

2. What concerns are of particular importance to the city and how would you address them?

• Affordable housing: As a current member of the League of California Cities Housing and Economic Development committee, I have the opportunity to see how other cities throughout California utilize their affordable housing programs. So many people believe that the BMR program is the best and only way to deal with affordable housing. I believe that we need to think out of the box and explore new programs to see how they may be able to work for Sunnyvale.

• Water: As a current member of the Bay Area Water Supply & Conservation Agency, it has become painfully clear that now is the time that we must look at options of how we can conserve water. Our main goal is to uncover new ways of conserving water. We are currently researching the idea of water meters for each house. I am looking forward to taking an active role in this study as I believe that residents will become more vigilant in the conservation efforts.

3. How would you balance the needs of the City as a whole with groups' interests?

I will be looking to the business community and residents for their input. I believe that in order to have a sustainable balance within the city, we must make sure that we do not price ourselves out of the business and housing markets. With the completion of our new downtown, we will see an increase of funds through sales tax dollars that have been going to other cities over the past few years. This increase will assist with the constraints that we have had to deal with on our budget.

We must ensure that doing business in Sunnyvale is conducive to increasing strength and profitability for our companies. We must have a balance of small, medium and large companies to employ our residents and provide a retail outlet for our residents to spend their dollars locally.

We must continue the momentum of the development of downtown Sunnyvale by rebranding Sunnyvale as the "Heart of Silicon Valley" to bring businesses, residents and shoppers back.

---

Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' responses are not edited or corrected by the League.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Candidate Page || Feedback to Candidate || This Contest
SmartVoter Home (Ballot Lookup) || About Smart Voter

---

Created from information supplied by the candidate: September 26, 2007 18:02
Smart Voter <http://www.smartvoter.org/>
Copyright © League of Women Voters of California Education Fund   http://www.lwvc.org
The League of Women Voters neither supports nor opposes candidates for public office or political parties.