As your newest councilmember, I will focus on these issues and solutions.

Responding to the economic crisis that threatens basic city services.

We face an economic situation that is unparalleled in the lifetime of most residents. We must develop a smart plan to see us through this difficult time.

The top priority is the speedy and successful completion of the downtown construction.

In the meantime, we will need to make difficult budget choices, and the first priority must be to preserve essential services. The first step must be to look at our revenue shortfall and see if our service-level set-aside reserve fund can see us through this difficult.  If not, we must eliminate or defer non-critical discretionary spending in the short term. We need to refrain from all spending beyond the existing operating budget, except for what is needed to maintain critical services. Any additional spending should be eliminated or deferred until the current crisis ends.

The second step should be to encourage economic growth. Sunnyvale must keep the completion of the new downtown as its highest priority for economic recovery and growth. Sunnyvale must also encourage and support its Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Association, which are the City's most effective forces for commercial success.

Preserving and improving Sunnyvale's high level of public safety.

Sunnyvale's unified Department of Public Safety has allowed us to maintain a high level of public safety with less manpower and a lower cost to the taxpayer. In recent years, we have put Public Safety to the test, starting with a reduction in force during the economic downturn in 2003. Our Public Safety officers have risen to the challenge, and Sunnyvale's crime has steadily decreased in the years since then.  And our current per capita crime rate is significantly lower than that of Mountain View or Santa Clara.

But the new and improved downtown area, plus the surge in housing in the northern part of the city, will dramatically increase the demands we place on our Public Safety resources, and response time to calls has significantly increased in the past few years. I believe that telling Public Safety "please just work harder" is no longer an acceptable answer. The City intends to dedicate a significant portion of the additional revenue generated by the City's new downtown to hiring additional Public Safety officers.  I fully support this plan. I also believe that we must examine the fire response throughout the northern part of the city covered by Fire Stations 5 and 6, as well as response in the southeastern-most portion of the city, and determine if that response is still adequate to guarantee the safety of our residents.

The City sets metrics and monitoring performance for all City services, and this is a good practice. But Public Safety is the one area where we must be proactive, not reactive. Waiting until Public Safety service levels drop means waiting until people are injured or property is destroyed. This is not acceptable to me.

Creating and maintaining a transparent and responsive government.

We live in the heart of the high-tech capital of the world. And Sunnyvale does a world-class job of gathering information on all aspects of the City's operation. Yet Sunnyvale does a poor job of using technology to present information to its citizens and keep them informed of available services, and of the actions and intentions of Staff and Council. As an engineer who has devoted his career to developing information technology, I am keenly aware of the City's technological shortcomings. We can and must do better.

Our first task should be to dramatically upgrade the City's web site, which is disgraceful in its ineffectiveness. The City's web site is the first line of support for every City service except Public Safety. Yet the City's web site is incomplete, often out of date, and difficult to navigate. As a citizen, I advocated on behalf of establishing a full-time web site administrator, a position specifically recommended by City staff. As a Councilmember, funding this position will be a priority, as soon as it is reasonable to do so. There is no greater issue of transparency in city government

But this is only the first step, and the City can and must do a better job of informing its citizens.  A City system similar to Google Alerts could automatically email residents notice of new information on topics of personal interest. The City's notice policy should be changed, to increase the area of notice from a 300' radius to a minimum of 500' - the same distance used in California's conflict of interest rules. Wikis can be used to make governing, decision-making, and community-building a collaborative effort. City staff needs better technology training and infrastructure, so that residents can get essential information as a matter of everyday practice. City practices must never be the hurdle that prevents residents from getting involved.

Preserving and protecting the environment and our natural resources.

The reality of climate change and the increasing scarcity of water and energy resources is changing how we interact with the world around us. We face a global crisis that must be responded to locally. Sunnyvale has led the way in striving to become a zero-waste city, to reduce our carbon footprint, and to meet our growing water and energy needs. As a citizen, I've advocated for stricter green construction standards, solar initiatives, and other environmental issues. Most important, I argued for the hiring of a sustainability coordinator to act as the city's green advocate and a citizen resource, and to lead the effort to conduct the City's carbon audit. But we must maintain this commitment and strive to do better.

We must pursue more aggressive but common-sense options, such as increasing the span of the recycled water system in northern Sunnyvale, for use in landscaping. Every gallon of recycled water we use in landscaping is a gallon of potable water we conserve. And we must fully measure and understand the extent of our carbon footprint, both as a City and as individuals, so that we can find ways to reduce that footprint. Simply put, we cannot know where to go next, if we don't know where we are now.

But most important, we must reconsider our transit solutions and plan for a city that places a greater emphasis on cycling, pedestrian access, public transit, alternative fuel vehicles, and multi-modal transit options. Beyond the huge environmental benefits, this better serves seniors, reduces traffic, fosters a greater sense of community, and improves the quality of life in Sunnyvale.