With a nod to the challenges the winners will face, the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce hosted a virtual forum Oct. 6 for five of the six candidates running for three seats on the town council in November.
“Yet again, this election is as critical as it’s ever been,” said Chamber board president Jim Foley, who moderated the forum. “The candidates we elect will face the challenge of certifying a General Plan that currently faces a referendum, certifying a housing element, as well as overcoming the town’s structural deficit. We need to make sure the right people are in place to navigate the challenges and set Los Gatos up for a bright future.”
The five candidates in attendance were incumbent Mary Badame, Rob Moore, Mayor Rob Rennie, Margaret Smith and Rob Stump. Candidate Reza Tavana was not at the event due to a prior commitment. The winning candidates will join Vice Mayor Maria Ristow and Councilmember Matthew Hudes on the town council.
Foley asked how the candidates would go about drafting a fair General Plan if elected. The council voted last week to reinstate the town’s previous growth and development standards while staff and council decide how to address the two elements of the 2040 General Plan under scrutiny by the Los Gatos Community Alliance, whose members filed a referendum arguing that it calls for an unnecessarily high number of future housing units.
Badame said she voted against the land use and community design elements of the General Plan approved by council earlier this year.
“My vote was consistent with preserving the character of our town,” Badame said. “I support targeted areas for growth, areas that make sense, that being in proximity to employment, services, transit corridors and walkability.”
The alliance got the 2,200 verified signatures required to stall the General Plan. Moore said he was concerned about the signature gathering process.
“When I was approached at the grocery store and encouraged to sign the petition, the signature gatherers line to me was, ‘Do you support building tens of thousands of new homes in Los Gatos in the next five years?’ Of course I don’t want that; no one wants that, but that’s simply not what the General Plan does,” Moore said.
Foley next asked how the candidates would bring affordable housing developments to Los Gatos.
Stump said addressing the affordability gap in town is important. Many workers like teachers, firefighters and cashiers cannot afford to live in the town where they work.
“We need to go out and find ways to close this gap,” Stump said. “The town is neither a land bank, as we know, nor a financier.”
Smith said one of the main challenges is getting developers to build in Los Gatos.
“The first thing we need to do to have affordable housing is to attract developers who want to come in to do it,” Smith said. “I believe a new era can dawn and we can encourage them to come to Los Gatos.”
One of the new developments in town, the North 40, was met with a lot of pushback from residents, mainly over traffic concerns and aesthetic choices. Foley asked how candidates would draw in businesses to set up shop in the mixed-use development.
Rennie said he’s “done it before” and “can do it again.” When he was mayor in 2018, he made it a priority to revitalize the downtown.
“Coming out of the pandemic, we are the place to go again,” Rennie said. “I would say that’s one of my biggest accomplishments on council was working through that.“
Smith had an idea to bring in “interesting and vital businesses” throughout Los Gatos, not just in the downtown area.
“I believe we need to be proactive in bringing in what you’ve identified in this question as first-class businesses,” Smith said. “I have suggested that we look at a medical device company at the now-available Netflix space.”
In line with business support, Foley asked how much of a role council should play in boosting tourism to increase local revenues.
Badame said the council should support the Chamber in “destination marketing” that would bring more tourists or encourage people to host events in town.
“Destination marketing has the potential to bolster our transient occupancy tax, luring weekend events such as weddings. It’s a perfect setting for a weekend wedding,” Badame said.
The town is projecting a $4 million annual budget deficit, which would drop its general fund from $21 million in 2022 to $4.7 million in 2028.
Stump said the business license tax on the ballot could help bolster local revenue, but council would need to take further steps.
“Staff needs be directed to work with the finance commission to identify opportunities for cost reduction while maintaining service levels,” Stump said. “Staff also needs to assess the possibility of increasing a sales tax, perhaps transient occupancy tax. … We need to understand our options.”
Asked whether Los Gatos needs to improve its reputation following hateful speech and council meeting disruptions from a far right group last year, Moore said several residents he’s talked to while campaigning said they do not feel welcome in Los Gatos given recent events.
“One tangible step our town can take to be a more welcoming community is to empower and invest groups in the community who are already doing work,” Moore said, citing AWO and the Los Gatos Anti Racism Coalition as examples.
Rennie said that while steps have been taken in the last year, council needs to “keep the effort going.”
“We need to persist because even if we may not change these few people, we need to make sure that other people don’t think that this type of behavior is acceptable,” Rennie said.
Brian Bernasconi, real estate broker and host of Los Gatos podcast “Pod Cats,” asked a series of “lightning round” questions of candidates to end the night. Candidates had two minutes to answer everything from pop culture trivia to personal hobbies and biggest accomplishments.
Attendees learned that Smith went to law school while raising two kids on her own, and Stump worked at an orphanage in Romania. Moore said he helped run a homeless shelter in Santa Clara County.
Rennie said he wants to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and used to have the nickname “Boo-Boo,” and Badame wants to learn a new language.
Source: www.mercurynews.com