Victoria answers Orinda News questionnaire

By Victoria Smith

Theatre Square is a gem, and I am proud that the City has assisted the property owner and the business owners to help make it the lively local spot that it now is. A couple of years ago, the Council rezoned the back lane of Theater Square to allow some service businesses; that helped to bring foot traffic in, and we now have highly successful restaurants and new, diverse shops for our residents to patronize. The merchants especially have been dedicated to improvement and the results are fantastic; Theatre Square is now at 98% occupancy!

How do we spread that success throughout the downtown? We continue to engage the public in workshops and informally, at the Farmer's Market Council table, during the 4th of July festivities, to discuss what we collectively want to see in our downtown--an emphasis on the creeks? how to address parking concerns?--and to plan for the future. We want to find our own identity--not that of our neighbors, large or small--and to encourage the discussion to continue.

At the same time, I recognize that each property in the downtown is unique, and ultimately it is up to the owner to bring forward a project for consideration on its individual merits. I believe that the citizens will support good projects in the downtown which respect the desire for additional housing, shops and restaurants, while at the same time preserving our small town feel and connection to the outdoors. No one likes to see buildings sit idle; I would be happy to see a proposal for Phairs, for example, and to engage in a constructive process to approve a new project there. While we continue to pursue public exploration of future options, our existing development framework allows every property owner to propose a new project for economic growth, and we can see from Theatre Square that our residents will support innovative and interesting shops and restaurants.

2. Measure L, the proposed half-cent sales tax measure on the November ballot, would help fund road maintenance. Do you agree that the passage of Measure L is necessary to curb the deterioration of Orinda's roads? What else would you propose in addition to or instead of Measure L?

In April 2009, when the banking world was in freefall, we revised the City's Investment Policy to require that all investments are kept in AA or AAA securities. At the same time, we adopted a Reserve Policy which requires an operating reserve of fifty percent (50%) of the annual General Fund, but no less than five million dollars ($5,000,000), as well as a Balanced Budget Policy; we have met these requirements each year, even though Orinda experienced a 3% decrease in property tax revenue last year.

We have balanced the budget by making tough decisions which resulted in the loss of two employees, required our employees to take unpaid furlough days, and eliminated cost of living increases. At the same time our employees have worked hard to continue to provide great customer service to the public, to keep public counter hours open, and we have maintained our police at full strength; our employees have done a great job! Despite the impacts of the recession, Orinda is the 5th safest city in California, and 98% of our residents recently rated the quality of life in Orinda as good or excellent.

But we must address our greatest unmet need. I began working 9 years ago with the infrastructure committee, which identified the enormous problem; right now, the cost to completely rebuild our roads and storm drains, never yet rebuilt since we inherited them from the County, is $52,000,000. We have squeezed all dollars available to spend on road and drain repair--over the past 8 years we have annually averaged $2,420,000 on infrastructure projects, $878,316 on roads and drains alone. With the help of the Citizens Infrastructure Oversight Committee, we will have fixed all of our major roads, and the roads around the schools, by 2015. However, we need revenue to fix our residential roads. I served on the campaign committees for Measure Q in 2006 and for Measure E in 2007; each was a comprehensive bond designed to raise the cost of a full repair. Each time we came close to success--64%, 63% of the vote--but we did not reach 67%. The numbers show that the majority of Orindans want to fix the roads and understand the need for some tax measure to do so. In April the City Council adopted a 10 Year Plan to fix our roads, the first step of which is a ½ cent sales tax. This will be followed in later years by two bond measures, so that collectively, and over time, we will accumulate the money needed to comprehensively repair our roads. While Measure L will result in a relatively small amount of money, approximately $600,000 annually, it is the first step which will allow us to show the voters that if they entrust us with tax revenue, we will use it to attack our road deficit and produce measurable results which will inspire confidence in future road measures.

3. What other areas of importance do you see for Orinda?

Enhancing our emergency preparedness by collaborating with the fire district and our neighboring communities, building new walking and bike paths to implement our Pathways Master Plan, and providing new recycling services to our citizens while stabilizing garbage rates.

4. Identify three things you have been responsible for accomplishing in the Orinda community, whether alone or part of a committee/board.

Working on the Council: rebuilding our major roads by 2015, opening the first two beautiful playing fields at Wilder for sports at no cost to the city, and bringing art to our public spaces.

5. In addition to your answer above, list any additional qualifications for serving on the Orinda City Council.

I have a bachelors degree from Cal, and a J.D. from Hastings College of the Law. I was elected to the City Council in 2004, and served Mayor in 2008 and 2011. I serve on the Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority, and was Chair of the Board in 2010. I currently serve on the Executive Board of the Contra Costa County Mayor's Conference, as Liaison to the Orinda Chamber of Commerce and the Moraga-Orinda Fire District, and on the City of Orinda Library Steering, Senior Housing, and on the Audit and Finance, Committees. Please visit my website at http://www.voteforvictoria.org for further information and to send me your thoughts for our community.