Politics & Government

Piedmont Meets Its Candidates at LWV Event

Candidates for the city council and school board aired their views Thursday night, while the audience heard two very different opinions on Measure A, the proposed sewer tax surcharge on the Feb. 7 ballot

With Dr. Dale Rogers Marshall moderating, Thursday's "Meet the Candidates" event at Piedmont City Hall moved along briskly and calmly.

Marshall, the former president of Wheaton College and a recent foreperson of the Alameda County civil grand jury, laid out the rules for both speakers and audience: time limits for the candidates, no applause from attendees until each group of candidates finished speaking. With only one or two minor breaches of the time limits, the program wrapped up in well under two hours.

All the candidates were on hand:

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—For the Piedmont City Council, with three people vying for two seats, incumbent Margaret Fujioka, Bob McBain and Tim Rood.

—For the Piedmont Unified School District Board of Education, with five people contending for three seats, Nancy "Sunny" Bostrom, Jon Elliot, Sara Pearson, incumbent Rick Raushenbush and Andrea Swenson.

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For the most part, candidates restated the qualifications and positions they've outlined on their websites and campaign materials. Questions from the audience drew out a few specifics:

Would you support renewal of the parcel tax at the current level? McBain: Yes, at the current level, not an increase; on the June ballot. Rood: Yes, at the current level, no increase or decrease. Fujioka: Yes, on either the June or November ballot.

If the city had extra revenue, how would you spend it? Rood: There's no funding now for maintenance of city property; we need to take care of Piedmont's great assets. Fujioka: We have an aging infrastructure and capital improvement projects that can't be funded now. McBain: Asset replacement. Building up city's reserves; capital improvements after higher general reserves reestablished.

What's most needed to improve the quality of education? Swenson: Technology infrastructure. Bostrom: Don't reinvent the wheel, look at what has worked well in other places, such as "little" Finland, which ranks high on international tests. Raushenbursh: Teaching is critical; reducing stress on high school students. Elliot: Piedmont's teacher evaluation program is "revolutionary." Pearson: Teacher evaluation program; supporting staff development; diferentiated instruction in classroom; technology.

Measure A, Sewer Tax Surcharge

The starkest differences of the evening came as Mike Rancer and Rick Schiller presented their contrasting views of Measure A, a proposed 10-year, 50 percent surcharge on the city's parcel tax to pay for replacing Piedmont's aging sewer system.

Rancer, chairman of the city's Municipal Tax Review Committee (MTRC), said the two big questions are whether there is really an Environmental Protection Agency mandate for Piedmont to replace its sewer system and whether the city needs to comply. The answer to both questions is "yes," he said.

The court-ordered requirements are real, and most likely Piedmont, like six other East Bay cities, will need to replace its entire century-old sewer system or face fines of $2,000 a day, he said. In the long run, the surcharge would cost Piedmonters less than the fines.

Schiller said he has discussed the situation with EPA officials and found that the material presented to the MTRC — "only one option presented" — was based on a draft plan that won't be finalized until next summer.

He also said the surcharge would raise about $11 million, while the actual costs of compliance with the EPA mandate is about $1.3 million. Money raised through the surcharge would be used for other city needs such as the storm drain system, not only the sewer system, he said.

The candidates' forum was sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Piedmont. It was televised on KCOM-TV, cable channel 27; check the KCOM schedule for rebroadcast times. It was also streamed live on the city website and is available in the archives.

For more information on candidates and issues in the Feb. 7, 2012 Piedmont election, see the League of Women Voters smartvoters.org; the City of Piedmont election page; the Piedmont Civic Association website; the Piedmonter website (Q&A with candidates for city council and school board); and the Piedmont Election 2012 page on Piedmont Patch.


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