Hi Everyone,

I hope you’ve had a great summer, and have been enjoying our commercials.   They are a kick off into the fall campaign season.  We’ve had quite a busy summer walking precincts and handing out leaflets at the summer concert series, grocery stores, and other public venues.  As very few people take the time to show up for the candidate forums or read the position papers, we will now focus on building name recognition.

As noted before, I have decided to forgo the traditional yard signs and street corner clutter for a more environmentally friendly approach.  To this end, I am driving my wrapped campaign car for all my in City trips, and may begin parking it in strategic locations to catch high traffic flow.  I also have a handful of banners we would like to put in high visibility locations.  If you can help with a site for a 2′ x 5′ sign, please let me know.

For those who would like to support the campaign with a sign in your windows, we have been encouraging the display of the dual purpose  bumper sticker sized door hangers we have been dropping to voters’ doors.  For a slightly larger display, we have posted a few different designs under the “participate” tab (to the right).

Thanks for helping to get the word out.  I look forward to seeing you in front of a grocery, the library, Back to School Night, or at your front door.

Kathy

Hi All,

As many are already aware, I started “test walking” a bout a month back, and began a regular schedule of daily morning precinct walking on June 9 (after the primaries).  So far, I’ve walked about a thousand homes in Ardenwood, Irvington, Weibel and Warm Springs.  I’m experiencing, first hand, the need for sidewalk repair.    You may already have seen me tripping down the streets .  I plan to continue walking every weekday morning ’til election day  to reach as many of the 20,000 odd households as I can.    I look forward to meeting many of you.

I wanted to comment today because yesterday, we met some amazing people in the Irvington area, and they deserve to be recognized.  I feel a special sympathy for Irvington not only because of the unusually high impact the NUMMI closure has had on these residents, but also because of the strong sense of community I have encountered.  It has consistently been the friendliest place, and I always look forward to walking there.

I want to recognize just three of the special people who stood out yesterday:

• There is an artist who allows all the neighborhood children to use her backyard pool.  Her home is marked by tiles around her front door that she hand-made to honor her faith.   In this time of  suspicion and concerns over liability, it is heartening to see someone step forward to do a good thing, just because it is a good thing.
• I also thank the thoughtful young gentleman who offered us waters for our walk.  A simple act of kindness says so much about his character, and I really respect his parents for having raised such an empathetic child.
• Finally, I must acknowledge the most talented chocolate lab (perhaps, ever).   On top of the standard tricks, he could count,  hold dime size treats  in his mouth until cued, and even tell jokes…with a little help.  His owner (perhaps the actual source of the talent),  was an inspiration.  The gentleman, whose organic garden (put mine to shame) was already producing several foot long English Cucumbers, not only shared his time, and gave us a great show, but even gave us a cucumber!

I guess I’ve acknowledged four individuals.  Thank you so much for your time and generosity.  It was a pleasure meeting you.

As fruits of this walking, I just wanted to comment on a few observations:

1. Issues in Fremont neighborhoods vary, but by far, the most common concern to citizens is jobs.  My fortune to meet many of the residents is a direct correlation to their misfortune of unemployment.  Promoting Fremont to create local, living wage employment opportunities must be our first priority.
2. Other than jobs, our neighborhoods have differing priorities of pressing issues. Below are a few I can quickly recall:

• • shortfall of City services (code enforcement, street /sidewalk /public tree maintenance)
  • housing over-development and the correlated issue of school overcrowding
  • increasing break-ins and crimes of opportunity–feeling of no recourse but to be more careful
  • a lack of in-fill development –people would like to see businesses take advantage of the smaller, commercial/industrial, prime lots in their neighborhoods
  • weak development of inner-city public transit
  • traffic and related traffic safety–need for signal lights to help neighbors enter/exit their neighborhoods from high traffic areas
  • the priorities of City spending –feeling that regular citizens are ending up at the bottom of the list

Thanks to all those who highlighted these issues to me.  I will continue to insert and promote  them in public discussions going into the fall.  I will walk again this morning…hope to meet many more lovely people today!  Please let me know if you would like to get out in our beautiful Fremont sunshine and  join in these walks.

Thanks,

Kathy

The City finally released the results of its survey regarding the land use preferences for the NUMMI /Warm Springs area.  As it turns out, Fremont residents are overwhelmingly prefer opportunities that do not negatively impact city budget, or create excess traffic and parking issues, but still create real wage jobs.  The City’s own survey evidence shows that the residents overwhelmingly opposed the stadium.   Perhaps this will finally convince our City Council to stop spending time and money on the stadium.

Click Survey Results for details of resident preferences or go to : http://www.fremont.gov/DocumentView.aspx?DID=3820

Kathy

It might sound like a broken record, at this point, but I’ll do it again….

We are not taking any money from developers wiith interest in Fremont.  This is a grass roots campaign focused on ensuring that we finish this campaign beholden only to the citizens of Fremont.  We will work with less money, significantly less money than the incumbents will raise.  This means we have to work smarter, and do things more efficiently than has been done in previous campaigns. 

In this effort,  we have “wrapped” my car.  My little black coup, is now a little red coup with my face and campaign access information plastered all over.   It is an unique and dramatic move designed to increase visibility, decrease clutter and waste, and maximize our campaign dollars.  I’m sure no one will miss recycling that extra piece of mail, but it will be hard to  miss this car.  It costs about a tenth as much as one mailing to Fremont residents.   I admit, it is a little more “public” than the kids (or I)  like to be full-time, but it does publicize the campaign to thousands of Fremont citizens, that I am fully vested in our city.  This is the most visible thing we are doing to show that we will walk the talk–fiscal responsibility.  With a little innovation, we can do more with less.

Kathy

I thought I’d link some of the interesting reading I have come across today (late of course)…lot’s of excitement in the campaign. 

Matt Artz/s blog article about rejecting combined fire fighting capabilities with other cities

 http://www.ibabuzz.com/tricitybeat/2010/05/19/fremont-definitely-keeping-its-fire-department/  

can be interpreted much more clearly when read with Matt’s article last month citing our city salaries

http://www.ibabuzz.com/tricitybeat/?s=fremont+salaries . 

How Mr. Diaz could not see a financial  benefit arising from combining forces with another organization when our FD pays forty-five fire chiefs, but only employs 44 firefighters, and only has 11 fire stations (one on rotating brown outs), is really as shocking as his inability to think of  anything to do with the NUMMI land.

Fremont City Salaries can be found at:  http://www.insidebayarea.com/public-employee-salaries#results 

Matt did not disclose that the database can be manipulated to sort interesting data.  So, just for curiosity, I looked at how many dispatchers it took to man our police force of under 20 officers on the road/shift.  I was stunned to find that we employed 28  dispatchers (sort for Fremont, pol-dispatch–looks like 3 were PT).  Assuming 21 eight hour shifts/24 x 7 week, and that each worker works 5 shifts, that is nearly 6 dispatchers/ shift (w/o the PT ees).  On shifts where we only have 9 police officers to dispatch, this seems a wee bit superfluous.

It is unfathomable that our top city salaries and hiring levels are so out of line with today’s reality.  The simple fact that we employ over 1400 people, and that nearly 800 are full time, tells us we are top heavy, and over compartmentalized.  This is bureaucracy and poor resource management.  We need more flexibility and responsiveness.

Please consider the City of Irvine, CA –somehow, spending $29.453 Million LESS than the City of Fremont, on public safety (nearly a third of our public safety spending), they have become the 8^th Safest City in the US.  BTW, they contract their fire services from the county, and it doesn’t seem to be hurting them.

http://www.mcdonald2010.com/my-position-papers/my-position-paper-on-public-safety/

Reading the job titles and salary levels, it is clear that we do not deprive citizens of services because we don’t have the money.  We are very generous by any standard.  We are  depriving citizens of services because we don’t have the money doing the right things.  Our City Manager must do what he is paid to do.  He must reallocate our resources to increase benefits to citizens.  It’s  his job to make the tough decisions, and negotiate the hard line.  That is why he is at the top of the salary chart.

.

Congratulations and THANK YOU, NUMMI and Toyota!

Looks like Toyota and Tesla are listening to President Obama to bring green manufacturing back to the NUMMI site.  When this project gets underway, it is projected that a thousand manufacturing jobs will return to Fremont.  It’s a great start.

According to news today, they will work jointly to build electric cars at the old NUMMI plant.  Toyota putting the NUMMI property up for sale seems to have forced pen to paper, and lead to the first steps to create a green manufacturing center in the Warm Springs site.  Now, to take this first step and use it to encourage other manufacturers to work similar deals at this site.  But for now, time to be happy for a win/win!

Read more at:

http://www.ktvu.com/news/23625639/detail.html

http://green.venturebeat.com/2010/05/20/tesla-and-toyota-teaming-up-to-build-electric-cars-schwarzenegger-lets-slip/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=twitter-publisher-main&utm_campaign=twitter

http://www.insidebayarea.com/business/ci_15127824

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Toyota-to-invest-50M-in-Tesla-apf-3699120540.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15131672?source=most_viewed&nclick_check=1

Dennis,

Thanks for your lengthy reply.  I will just make a few quick notes.  Posting a new message allows others to read my reply directly.  I’m answering your question for all who might have the same type of questions.

Old rhetoric about stadiums:  Please refer to data on SF expenditures for ATT Park at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T_Park .   If you want a more current experience, you can check out an interesting NY Times article (11/3/2008) at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/nyregion/04stadiums.htm — and this is a deal negotiated by Michael Bloomberg–one of the wealthiest businessmen in the world.  Finally, please refer to the conceptual plan from our city website http://fremont.gov/DocumentView.aspx?DID=2951 .  Fremont is not talking about building a privately funded park (like AT&T Park).  Mr. Diaz proposed a plan where the County taxpayers pay for all the land (120 acres, Alameda doesn’t have this money, and has not been consulted), Fremont taxpayers buy the infrastructure, and forfeit property tax.  There is no mention how we would pay for all the public safety service costs associated with ongoing operations, and the A’s have not jumped onboard, yet.

Substitution Effect:  You are right, we don’t spend much money here, but there are businesses here that would like to survive.  Are you forfeiting them for the stadium? 

Thank you for bringing a business to Fremont.  I don’t know what type of business it is but, did Fremont offer to help grow your business?  Could you create jobs that last more than two years, if Fremont could help?  Is there another investment we could make that doesn’t bury Fremont in debt?  Are there other businesses that could thrive with some minor partnership with/assistance from the City?  Is there some new industry or opportunity that we have yet to explore?  One that will pay taxes?  Could Fremont offer business development loans?  If you want to go way out there, I have an idea posted (admittedly far fetched) under my “position papers”.  You could probably poke a million holes in it, but at least I am offering a vision that I think could improve our city. 

My point is that a stadium would cost us a lot of money.  Money we don’t actually have.  Borrowed money we could be using to build something else, incent some other business that will bring us more than the 2000 part-time (meaning that they are paid hourly with fluctuating hours, usually without benefits) construction jobs for two years?  We could even invest in our future by replacing some crumbling school structures.  I’m just saying that there are other possibilities…potentially less costly, creating more jobs, and less risk to our city.

I received an often heard claim from a stadium supporter, see Dennis’s comment on my blog (http://www.mcdonald2010.com/obama-puts-money-behind-his-words-wants-nummi-area-refreshed-for-new-manufacturing/#comment-14). Here is my position in response to Dennis’ interpretation of the information I have presented as rhetoric.

Hi Dennis,

I welcome your discussion. As at FCN, I would like to hear from all who can discuss issues civilly. Listen to each others’ point of view, and learn from the research some have done. You ask some specific questions about substantiating my comments, and I will answer them here, but I also ask that you take the time to reply me with substantiation for your claims. I hope that you will comply.

First, you quote me saying that some view the stadium as a panacea. Yes, that is the impression I get from sitting in on numerous City Council meetings where the Mayor, Mr. Diaz, and a number of speakers have given just such glowing comments. These can be accessed on the city website by viewing any of the CC meetings that involved discussions on the stadium. I agree that I am interpreting their attitude, but the motivation for their devotion to the cause cannot be interpreted as much less. Why else are they still spending our money (over $150,000 since the A’s decided to back out) to pursue the stadium through the MLB, a third party?

I fully agree that there is no simple answer to our city’s economic issues. I have also written about it on this site. I believe we will need a multi-pronged approach including an active outreach by our elected officials to all potential new businesses, stream-lined processes to help those that comply start making money quickly, and close cooperation with the federal government to foster the green manufacturing industry that the fed wants to help us develop and grow at the NUMMI site.

We need many things in Fremont. We need restaurants and theaters, entertainment venues so that we do not continue to spend our leisure dollars out of town (and begin attracting out-of-town dollars to Fremont). We even need housing for the smaller households that could be attracted to “try” Fremont once the BART comes in…but mostly, we need to create these opportunities to create the jobs we need most.

Now, it’s your turn.
Read the rest of this entry »

안녕하십니까
Fremont 시의원 출마를 결정한 저에 대하여 알아보실 시간을 내어주신 점, 대단히 감사드립니다. 이 웹사이트는 여러분께 중요한 결정을 내리시는데 도움이 되도록 충분한 정보를 제공하려고 만들어졌습니다. 그 첫째는, 우리 시 정부가 새롭고 긍정적인 지도력을 필요로 한다는 것과 둘째, 제가 그 지도자로서의 능력을 충실하게 이행할 수 있는 사람인가 하는 것입니다. 고용자문역(직원 채용 컨설턴트)으로 일했던 경험으로 지금 이 시기에 지도력의 변화가 필요하다는 것을 절실하게 느끼고 있었습니다. 우리가 필요로 하는 보다 공정하고 밝은Fremont 시는 지금의 관료주의로는 만들어 질 수 없다는 것은 지난 시간이 말해 주고 있듯이 우리 모두가 잘 알고 있습니다.
저는 이 웹사이트에서 저의 근면, 정직의 가치관과 직업 윤리의식 그리고 저의 경력을 모두 보여드리려고 노력 했습니다. 학부모이자, PTA mom으로서, 저는 이러한 가치관을 우리 모두가 함께 갖고 있다는 것을 믿고 있습니다. 안타깝게도 지금 현재의 지도력으로는 이러한 것들이 반영되지 않고 있습니다. 여러분께서 저에 대해 알게되고, 그럼으로써 여러분들로부터 신임과 확신을 얻고 적극적인 후원을 받을 자격이 있다는 데 동의하시리라 믿습니다. Fremont시에 활기를 되찾아 가장 살기 좋고, 일하기 좋으며 즐길 수 있는 도시로 만드는데 함께 해 주십시요.
이 웹사이트의 글을 읽으시면서 궁금하신 점이나 의견이 있으시면 남겨주시기를 바랍니다. 저는 언제나 여러분으로부터 많은 이야기들을 듣게되길 기대합니다.
저에 대한 선거운동에 귀한 시간을 할애해 주신 점, 다시 한 번 감사드립니다.
류 상 은 (Kathy Rhyu McDonald) 올림

Hola a todos,

Gracias por hacer el tiempo para investigar mi candidatura para el Ayuntamiento de Fremont.

Este sitio web está diseñado para darle información suficiente para tomar dos decisiones muy importantes. Una de ellas es con respecto a la necesidad de un liderazgo nuevo y positivo en nuestro gobierno de la ciudad, y la otra para evaluar mi capacidad para desempeñar esa función.

Mi experiencia como consultor de selección/reclutamiento me dice que estos tiempos difíciles requieren un cambio de guardia. La historia nos dice que los cambios estratégicos importantes que tendremos que llevar a cabo para una ciudad de Fremont que es más justa, y más brillante no vendrá de la burocracia actual.

El contenido de este sitio web refleja mis valores, mi ética de trabajo, y te da una muestra de mi trabajo. Como padre de familia, y sí, como “la mamá de la PTA”, creo que todos compartimos estos valores fundamentales. Por desgracia, no son reflejados por nuestro liderazgo actual. A medida que aprenda más acerca de mí, espero que estén de acuerdo que nos hemos ganado su confianza, y merecemos su apoyo. Únase a nosotros en esta campaña para revitalizar Fremont como el mejor lugar para vivir, trabajar y jugar.

Al explorar mis papeles, espero que se tome el tiempo para participar con migo en sus preguntas y comentarios. Espero con interés escuchar de todos y cada uno de ustedes.

Gracias de nuevo, para hacer el tiempo para aprender más acerca de mí y esta campaña.