Candidate for
Board Member; Livermore Area Recreation and Park District

Grave concern about the increasing obesity of America's children has caused me to become a champion of getting kids outdoors. The book, Last Child In The Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, by Richard Louv, opened my eyes. Children today spend a great deal less time outdoors than they did a generation or two ago. Many of them have become far less attuned to nature and are less familiar with free play. They also tend to have fewer minutes per week in P.E. than we did. It all adds up to less exercise, less interaction with plants, bugs, and streams--less creativity and more stress.

We in the Livermore area are blessed to be living in one of the must beautiful places on Earth. We have open space parks, streams, trails, teams to join, pools, and neighborhood parks, as well as a variety of nature-oriented classes. I want to get the word out about the importance of being outdoors and the many opportunities we have right here.

I believe in stewardship of the parks and programs we have in the Park District. Taking good care of our existing facilities, "doing it right", is wiser than spending our limited funds on new ideas. We are sometimes approached to begin programs that may be excellent, but my belief is that we need to examine them very carefully before taking on anything additional. We have a great responsibility to care for the parks, amenities, and programs that have already been put in place. As Directors, we need to make them the best they can be for the people of our area.

Budgeting carefully is a vital job of a Director. 48% of our citizens' hard-earned tax dollars that are due to LARPD are skimmed off by the State every year under a process called ERAF. Last year those ERAF funds we lost totaled $7 million. That's $7 million we could have used to better serve our community. LARPD staff has worked hard to stop this process to no avail. Therefore, we all use our resources carefully. We prioritize and we think creatively. I have worked on a number of committees within LARPD to this end. I have attended outside meetings and conferences and have read extensively to educate myself so that I can help the budget process to the best of my ability.

I listen to my constituents when they contact me. Being responsive is an important part of what I do. I work for you, and I want to hear what your needs and challenges are as well as what we're doing right. I would sincerely appreciate your vote.