John Dutra announces his intent to run for Fremont City Council

Following Vinnie Bacon’s lead, John J Dutra announced on facebook his intent to run for Fremont City council in November 6, 2012. Dutra’s statement on his facebook page:

Friends,
My wife, AnnMarie, and I are proud to call Fremont our home. Fremont is where my parents, John and Bernie Dutra, chose to settle and establish Dutra Realty in 1972 and where our family company, Dutra Enterprises, Inc., continues to thrive. It is where my wife and I have raised our three kids. It’s where I umpire Little League games, help out on weekends with Niles Rotary, and serve on the Economic Development Advisory Commission, helping to guide our city’s business development plan.
Over the years, Mom and Dad have always stressed the importance of “paying it forward” and serving the community that has given our family so much. Now, I would like to share with all of you, that after a great deal of consideration, I have decided to run for Fremont City Council in November.
Before deciding to launch my candidacy, I thought very seriously about this race, the experience I would bring to the table and my ability to help achieve our goals. My career in business and finance taught me the importance of vision, effective leadership and financial responsibility. As an EDAC Commissioner, I understand the importance of stimulating the local economy and a place to create jobs. As a parent, I know that families depend on high performing schools, places to shop, and public safety that is second to none. I believe that my combination of civic involvement, dedication and proven leadership can bring people together to help realize Fremont’s fullest potential in all these areas.
This campaign includes family and friends who share a vision of how politics should be and how government can better serve us. We believe in careful planning for a sound, promising future. Collaboration and input are cornerstones of the decision-making process. Above all, we are guided by our core convictions and the highest standard of integrity at all times.
With the election just months away, there is a great deal of work to be done. Over the next few days, we will be setting up an office, creating a website and planning a comprehensive strategy for reaching neighbors in every corner of the city of Fremont. In the meantime, I would be grateful for your guidance and support. I’d be proud to add your name to our growing list of neighbors who believe in my campaign. If you want to talk, you can reach me at (510) 364-0764 or e-mail me at john@dutraforfremont.com.
Thank you for standing again with me as my campaign for Fremont City Council gets underway. And I am humbled by your commitment to make it a winning one.
Respectfully,
John Dutra
Member, Economic Development Advisory Commission
Candidate for Fremont City Council

Nadia Lockyer resigns

Supervisor Nadia Lockyer has resigned. Read more about it here.

Vinnie Bacon announces for council on Facebook

Vinnie Bacon has officially announced on facebook (of all places) of his intent to run in the 2012 election for Fremont city council.

“I’m kicking off my campaign for Fremont City Council in 2012. Please ‘like’ my page and tell your friends to do the same.”

Vinnie Bacon has his website up and his ticker is starting to countdown to election day. Presently, it says there are 203 days to election day. Will Vinnie Bacon pull this off or will he go defeated again?

Sue Chan recuses herself again from Kimber Park

As expected, Sue Chan recused herself from the discussion on Kimber Park at tonight’s council meeting. This time she mentioned that she had close relationships with several residents at Kimber Park.

Fremont Mayor’s Race 2012

It looks like the political season is about to begin as mayoral candidates gear up for November. As of now, the big three contenders for the vacancy are former councilmember Steve Cho, Councilmember Bill Harrison, and Councilmember Anu Natarajan.

Cho has already been meeting with folks seeking endorsments and contributions since the beginning of this year. Cho already has a website up and running. Quote from Cho’ website:

No matter how large or small a city is, the Mayor must be available to every single citizen who wants to voice a concern. This is my single most important commitment to you.

Literally overnight, Councilmember Anu Natarajan’s website has been updated to include details of her run for Mayor. Here is a link to Natarajan’s website. Quote from Natarajan’s website:

I am pleased to announce that today I am kicking off my campaign for Fremont Mayor, and I hope you will join me! I am running for Mayor because Fremont is a great city, and I want to lead Fremont into an even brighter future.

Councilmember Bill Harrison has also been making moves, and everyone assumes he will be announcing soon as well.

Stay tuned…the 2012 year is about to heat up.

First Fremont Homicide 2012

Read more about Fremont’s first homicide here.

City Council meeting April 3

The city council meeting had a few interesting topics:

NILES CANYON TRUCK RESTRICTION
In February, 2011 the city council at the time autorized city staff to study the possibilty of closing Niles Canyon Roadd to restrict trucks over 10,000 pounds to help improve safety on Niles Canyon. The study found the exact opposite of what the council had been lead to believe. Apparently, the study revealed that large trucks are not involved in higher rate of accidents than other vehicles on Niles Canyon.
Key points:
Nile canyon road (state Route 84) shows that road is very safe and the speeds are about the posted limits. Staff recommends not stopping trucks. Traffic is a zero sum game on Niles canyon Rd. Any calming or delay will result in the traffic going elsewhere.
-straightening road could be done
-don’t recommend widening since it will just speed up traffic
-look at spot improvements at few areas on route 84
-limited applications of safety measures at key points

As expected, Vinnie Bacon came to speak. Here are a few blurbs from Bacon:
“Caltrans doesn’t care” “it’s not a safety project” “they (Caltrans)don’t care about environmental review”

CLIMATE ACTION PLAN
The Climate Action Plan was attacked and scrapped by the council. Mayor Gus Morrison suggested to have study sessions to re-do the climate action plan. If you want to see examples of long winded council members check out the online video. Although planning Commissioner David Bonaccorsi voted to move the plan forward at planning commission, he came to council as a “private citizen” suggesting that the council scrap the plan. Leaf member Rich Godfrey and real estate agents felt that the plan lacked any metrics to determine continuous improvement.

COUNCIL REFERRALS
As we get closer to election season, council members are eager to show how smart they are. There were two referrals from council members Chan and Natarajan and both were moved to proceed with further discussions.
Here are the referrals as written in the agenda:

COUNCILMEMBER CHAN REFERRAL: Energy efficient electric cars are
becoming more prominent in the Bay Area. Per our updated General
Plan, we have committed to building Electric Vehicle (EV) charging
stations and the associated infrastructure.
ABAG, the Bay Area Climate Collaborative (BACC), EV Communities
Alliance, and the Bay Air Quality Management District have developed
Ready, Set, Charge, California! A Guide to EV Ready Communities,
which provides CA public agencies with guidance on how to advance
community electric vehicle (EV) readiness. This guide
provides standardized policies, ordinances and
best-practices, providing a consistent framework for deployment of EVs
and EV infrastructure including information on signage, ADA compliance,
permitting and other key matters. The guidance will support local
governments enabling acceleration of electric vehicle adoption to deliver
cost savings to drivers, healthier communities, and safeguarded natural
resources. I am proposing that we use this resource to establish our own local EV
guidelines as appropriate.

2. VICE MAYOR NATARAJAN REFERRAL: As a follow up to the
culmination of initial consultant studies for the Warm Springs/South
Fremont area around the BART station, I would like for the Council to
consider as a next step the City’s participation in a National Technical
Advisory Panel of the Urban Land Institute (ULI).
ULI has panel options. I would recommend the three-day panel in order
to obtain a detailed analysis of the possibilities with a focus on design
and implementation strategies that will feed into the development of the
Community Plan. The fee for this program is around $60,000.
According to the ULI, the advisory services panels provide strategic
advice on land use and real estate development issues. Panels link
developers, public agencies, and other sponsors to the knowledge and
experience of ULI and its membership. Established in 1947, this feebased
program has completed over 600 panels, in 47 states, 12
countries, and 4 continents.
I would like staff to research the various options with ULI and report
back to Council

Gas bags on council

I read an interesting article in The San Jose Mercury. The fundamental question asked was, “Who was the most talkative council member?” The SJ Mercury scientifically analyzed the council meetings and found that the following councilmembers were the biggest gas bags (most to least):
1. Ash kalra
2. Sam Liccardo
3. Pete Constant

That lead me to ask…who is the gas bag on Fremont’s city council? Vote in this poll: