An Interview With Kathy Miller
(Compiled from various candidate questionnaires.)
Why are you running for this office?
I believe that the upcoming elections are critically
important for us all and we must have elected officials who listen, are fair
and accessible, are willing to put in the hard work to educate themselves
and understand the issues and who make decisions based on their own
understanding of what’s best for the entire community – not just special
interest groups or favored individuals. As the Executive Director of the
Downtown Stockton Alliance, and even before as President of First Night, I
successfully worked to build coalitions which police, fire, code
enforcement, mental health, parole, public works, business, property owners
and residents, to address downtown issues. The results speak for themselves
and are visible in the renewed economic vitality and increased security in
downtown. I believe these proven, successful strategies should be applied
city-wide to address neighborhood issues. The
high number of council seats turning over in this election highlights the
need for candidates with hands-on experience.
While the Alliance is an outside, non-profit organization, I have
been actively engaged with most City departments for the past four years and
have a strong working knowledge of our City’s process – what’s working and
what isn’t. I believe that my
experience in developing and managing budgets, as well as human resources,
will be an asset to the Council.
What qualifications do you bring to this position?
After relocating my family to Stockton in 1997, I became
involved as a volunteer with First Night Stockton, the City’s alcohol-free
New Year’s Eve Celebration of the Arts.
I worked my way up through the organization selling admission
buttons, coordinating sales and volunteers, fundraising, programming of
entertainment and visual arts and, eventually, as Board President for
several years. As the Executive
Director of the Downtown Stockton Alliance, 2004 – 2008, I have experience
in developing and executing an annual budget of over $1 million, as well as
coordinating the operations of thirty employees, ranging from street
maintenance crews to hospitality guides to economic and marketing directors.
I have not only signed the paychecks, but also been responsible for
the thousands of decisions necessary to keep a diverse organization
performing at the highest level.
I chose to be a working member of the many Downtown Action Teams, teaming
with City staff to coordinate downtown revitalization.
I have established excellent working relationships with City and
County staff, as well as other elected officials.
I am effective in forming teams and coalitions, experienced in
soliciting community-wide support and have a proven track record of
achieving real results. Under my
leadership the Alliance was successfully renewed for the next
ten years of operation with the support of more than 83% of its property
owners. This overwhelming
support was a validation of the benefits to property and business owners of
the marketing programs, special events and public policy leadership
developed under my guidance. This experience clearly sets me apart, and I am
the only City Council candidate with the ability to “hit the ground
running”.
Describe your top priorities and the policy areas that
will be of most interest to you as City Councilmember.
Public Safety must be
enhanced with more active neighborhood involvement, community policing
programs, increased outreach into our schools, enlarging and staffing the
County jail, support for Peacekeepers and other programs to reduce gang
activity and aggressive treatment programs to stem the drug epidemic.
The City Budget must be balanced to ensure sufficient funding for all departments and
the budget process must be reformed to include meaningful multi-year
budgeting. I support a regional
approach to growing our Local Economy
and Stockton’s Economic
Development Department should be taking a driving force in this effort.
Teamwork and regional partnerships must be enhanced to bring more
family-wage jobs to our community. I will work to leave a legacy of renewed
trust in our local governing process, of fiscal responsibility and support
for a wide range of educational and economic opportunities for the young
people in our community.
What are some other key issues facing
Stockton?
Stockton
faces some tough issues and there are some hard choices and decisions to be
made. With so many Council seats
turning over, it is critical that we elect experienced decision-makers.
Stockton’s negative image keeps us from attracting
higher-paying employers, contributes to a “brain drain”, joblessness, crime
and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. We must have an expanded jail with
drug rehabilitation and workforce development programs, but we cannot simply
incarcerate our way out of our crime problem. We need to direct more of our
public safety dollars “upstream” to crime prevention. We need creative after
school programs that are available to all our children. We must
significantly expand drug and gang prevention programs - especially those
that we know work in our community - to prevent crime before it occurs and
keep our children safe. As a community, we must support a wide variety of
educational and economic opportunities for our young people.
Not all students are meant for college, but all are meant for
meaningful employment, which benefits the whole community. I know that these
programs take money - money we don’t have right now.
But that doesn’t mean we can afford to do nothing. We need to be
planning, developing alternative sources of funding and laying the
groundwork so that when the economy recovers we’re ready to take off. The
national economic downturn has severely impacted state, county and community
budgets across the country. This
has led to an unprecedented number of home foreclosures, an increase in
joblessness, neighborhood blight and crime.
It has also led to a feeling that our problems are somehow worse and
more insurmountable in Stockton than in other communities. I believe
that with teamwork, engaged citizens and real leadership in our local
government we can, and will, address
Stockton’s challenges and make significant
progress in reaching solutions that are
right for us. The first solution we must achieve is electing a strong,
honest, experienced and hard-working Mayor and City Council.
How do you propose to combat tagging, property crime, violent crime,
gangs and youth violence?
I believe we need to direct more of our resources to crime prevention.
San Joaquin County Judges report that for every $1 spent on crime
prevention, we reap a $38 savings “downstream” in the judicial system.
These are dollars that we must put to better use. Community
facilities must be better utilized to provide safe havens for our children.
Our partnerships with the school districts should be constantly strengthened
and new avenues for collaboration explored. We must develop new partnerships
and secure creative funding to grow these positive programs.
What ideas do you have for improving Stockton’s image?
I have provided leadership over the past two years in
developing a city-wide brand for
Stockton.
This process involved having an outside consultant “mystery shop”
Stockton, resulting in a rather scathing report on
where we were lacking from a visitor’s perspective. It led to a more
in-depth process to “rebrand” Stockton for the 21st Century. The
most important element to this process was that the brand be built on hard
market research – not what we thought Stockton
should be known for, but what the outside public with dollars to spend
thought Stockton should be known
for. This is not about making us feel good.
It’s about capturing our share of the huge outside dollars being
spent in other communities to drive our local economy. It has been an
interesting journey. For every recommendation we receive, there are locals
who scream, “It can’t work in
Stockton”.
I disagree and believe that the recommendation to fully utilize our
huge investment in world-class venues and earn the brand, “In
Stockton, there’s always something to celebrate”, by recruiting a
steady stream of festivals and special events to relocate in
Stockton, has great promise. To do this, we must
change our City culture to be more customer service oriented, streamline our
processes, challenge the police and city staff to embrace the goals and
facilitate events rather than squash them, and bring enough small to
mid-sized events to downtown that even our most vocal, local critics can’t
help but agree that there’s always something positive going on in Stockton.
Given the current City Budget crisis, describe your
experience in working with complex budgets and/or fiscal oversight?
As Executive Director of the Downtown Stockton
Alliance, I was responsible for developing and implementing an annual budget
of more than $1 million. The
complexities of the City budget are far greater, but there is also much less
direct implementation required of Council members than by the Director of a
non-profit. I believe we must
insist on a meaningful, multi-year budgeting process to ensure adequate
funding for all City departments and prevent interruption of critical
services in an economic downturn.
I would like to see Council take a more active role in this process
with staff presenting more of a “menu” of budget solutions, rather than a
“thumbs up or thumbs down” approach.
Beyond cutting expenses, we must look for ways to create additional
revenue. I believe we should be
taking a serious look at Naming Rights.
Other cities market their sports facilities to corporate sponsors and
generate significant revenue for the general fund.
We have an Arena and Ballpark that are prime venues for advertising.
With 150,000 cars a day passing by on I-5 and the Crosstown Freeway,
I believe there are companies out there that would be willing to purchase
those rights to offset the debt service for the facilities.
At a minimum, we must find a way to make those facilities pay their
way without draining the general fund.
The current situation is unacceptable.
It is important for our elected officials to keep the “big picture”
in mind and long range goals in our sights. The most long-lasting solution
to our current budget crisis is to increase revenue by getting our economy
moving. We should fully engage
our Economic Development Department and get them “off the bench” – we can’t
wait for outside forces to improve the local economy.
We need to get people working.
Our focus must be on better – not just more – jobs for Stockton.
More local jobs mean more dollars being re-circulated into our local
economy and an increase in sales tax revenue to the City.
What is your opinion on the Neighborhood Renaissance
Program and the shift towards decentralization?
I am a strong supporter of the Neighborhood Renaissance
Program. This program is based on strategies developed to revitalize
downtown – strategies based on
building effective, action-oriented teams - and which we already know work
in Stockton. It is a dynamic
program, which will allow City services and resources to be developed and
implemented in way that best suits individual neighborhoods. I believe it
holds great promise for Stockton, but will require
community leaders who can energize and engage the neighborhood teams,
effectively facilitate a positive working environment, and honestly hold the
teams accountable for results. I firmly believe that I am the most qualified
and experienced Council candidate in this process. I am excited to see these
community leaders emerge and I believe we will see our next generation of
young leaders find their voice through this program.
What are your views on growth and development?
The question is not “Will we grow?”, but rather “How
and when will we grow?”
California
will continue to grow and much of that growth will take place in the Central Valley. Some of the growth will come from new
residents, but a significant portion of our projected growth is “home grown”
– that is, driven by the birth rate of our existing residents. None of us
want to see our children priced out of our housing market and forced to
leave the community. That being
said, it is critical that we have quality growth, that we construct
infrastructure to serve that growth and that new development does not come
at the expense of our existing commercial and residential neighborhoods. In
the near term, the City must deal with a glut of single-family homes, the
result of a historic collapse in the housing market.
Many of Stockton’s neighborhoods
are facing challenges of crime, joblessness and dislocation.
How do we help homeowners who are in trouble and need assistance to
stay in their homes? The City’s
Housing Department and local organizations such as Visionary Home Builders
of California are holding seminars to help educate local homeowners. This is
a good first step and we must increase this outreach.
We need to increase our First Time Home Buyer Down Payment Assistance
Program, to take advantage of the newly affordable homes and move the large
supply of vacant homes on the market. This will be challenging with the
current budget shortfall and creative public-private partnerships need to be
developed to provide funding. The long-term housing needs of the community
will be for more sustainable neighborhoods that are less auto dependent,
more walkable and transit-friendly. Global-warming and the rising cost of
oil are definitely causing people to rethink how they live. Communities that
are proactive in responding to these challenges will continue to attract new
residents. I support the recently approved settlement between the City of Stockton, Sierra Club and California Attorney General.
The settlement still leaves many issues to be refined but, in
general, supports policies already contained in the Stockton 2035 General
Plan. If elected, I look forward to working with City staff and all
stakeholders over the next 24 months to craft a working Climate Action Plan
and implementation of other elements of the General Plan. I support the
City’s commitment to becoming a “green” community because I believe it is
good business, good for the environment and good for Stockton.
The approved settlement of the Stockton 2035 General Plan supports downtown
revitalization and infill development.
What do you think about the direction and pace of downtown
development thus far?
The City and Redevelopment Agency have been responsible
for the major catalyst projects in downtown over the past ten years. But
it’s important to note that downtown’s turnaround has not just been about
big, public projects. These
projects have been supported, on
daily basis, by the smaller, street-level programs and work of the Downtown
Stockton Alliance. As Executive Director of the Alliance, I coordinated
economic development, marketing, special events, community outreach and
Hospitality Guides, and a maintenance team responsible for power washing
sidewalks and public spaces and daily litter abatement across more than a
100 block district. All of these elements – both large and small – have
played a part in downtown’s revitalization. The results – a 50% drop in
crime, 400% increase in new businesses and 100% increase in property values
– and are plainly visible to everyone who visits downtown. I am proud of the
role I have played in supporting our downtown because I believe that a
community’s downtown accurately reflects the community’s overall health and
plays a major role in the ability to attract high-quality employers to the
community. Downtown today represents a huge community investment in our
future and we must ensure that the completed projects deliver the greatest
return on the investment of those public funds. That being said, I do
believe that some of our other neighborhoods have not received enough
attention or resources. This is the basis for my strong support of the
Neighborhood Renaissance Program and why I resigned my position with the
Alliance
to focus on community-wide problem solving of neighborhood issues.
What does transparent government mean to you?
Transparency in government means that all aspects of
the process are conducted with honesty, openness, accessibility to the
public, respect for differing views, and a full commitment to an inclusive,
teamwork approach to addressing community needs, issues and problems. As an
elected official I would hold myself, and all staff, to this standard.
