Issues

Alga Norte Pools: Our population has doubled since 1990 creating long waiting lists for swim lessons at the current pool. Swim lessons are a public safety issue.
Alga Norte Park: The skate park, ball fields, dog park, and other features will be used by all ages. Skate parks throughout North County are being demolished with no alternatives in place.
Open space: restore trust in calculations and reflect public's will for open space. My idea is an open-air museum celebrating North County's rich agricultural and floral history, with an amphitheater, trails, and special areas for plein-air artists, photographers, and art lessons.
Water: protect ocean and groundwater through public education and involvement; prepare for drought.
Carlsbad Village: foster merchant mentors, pairing experienced with new or struggling; partner with schools to develop student internships; recruit and train volunteers to conduct thematic walking tours; coordinate between the owners of vacant storefronts and local artists and schools to create a "Phantom Gallery" to display art or school projects in empty windows (creating a new reason for people to visit and stroll through the Village; could be themed, juried, or rotated monthly/quarterly depending on interest; events could kick-off new rotations), secret shopper program staffed by volunteers to provide merchants with input; merchant-to-merchant discount to increase collaboration.
Carlsbad Village Artist Colony: promote the arts community year-round within Carlsbad and outside via websites; network the hundreds of local full-time and part-time artists and artisans to increase collaboration and new business.
cBad4Good: manage an online small project clearinghouse where Carlsbad merchants, self-employed, retired, students, homemakers, everyone can be matched with new or struggling businesses on short-term project basis; residents can create listings in order to form new interest groups, donate excess building materials locally, landlords of vacant storefronts could be matched with artists or classrooms (for Phantom Gallery), and other non-monetary community bulletin board functions.
Municipal wireless: look into a WiFi "umbrella" starting with the Village and Barrio for municipal, business, and residential use; many advantages to seniors, students, merchants, organizations, and tourists but also a vital tool for emergency and disaster response communication and coordination. See the FAQ page for how it could help.
Empty office buildings: invite colleges and career training programs to evaluate Carlsbad as a satellite campus site (demand for these schools is forecast to steeply rise).
City smoking ban: expand it to include shopping and entertainment areas.
High litter areas: target with "Not an ashtray" stencils etc at intersections where drivers dump butts.
Disposable plastic bags: set reduction benchmarks.
Leaf blowers: ban them from Carlsbad.
Bullying and cyberbullying: lead a North County effort to get law enforcement and parents involved.
CityStuff (program that introduces 3rd graders to the city): coordinate with anti-bullying effort, expand to all schools, create booster curriculum for middle school and high school students; promote volunteerism and create a youth Corps-of-Volunteers.
McClellan-Palomar Airport: support the airport's important role in training new pilots, keeping in mind that the airport has more flights than any in the county. I do not support runway extension.
Disaster preparation: conduct online classes, senior visits, community drills for a variety of scenarios.
Carbon neutral government: reduce waste, increase online resources and interface, lead by example.
Pensions: as with all issues, I believe that critical thinking and a fair, balanced, logical approach are necessary to find the facts and the best plan. The mayor has ordered a study to assess various scenarios for pension plans. Current estimates by the City are at odds with the unions and predict that some of the suggested plans could result in dire financial consequences for Carlsbad. While I am curious for the study results, I can say without hesitation that I would always need to see, in hard numbers, how any plan would work before I could support it. As I've said in the candidate debates and forums, there are many other factors in addition to money that go into the decision to work and live in Carlsbad.
"Green" campaigning: I'll run for City Council and contribute ideas to the election without contributing plastic signs to the landfill. As with carbon neutral government, using the internet and other clean technology to discuss the issues enables me to dramatically reduce the cost of running for office. Other candidates are spending several thousand dollars on postage alone! Think of the fuel that is spent delivering that mail.
"Lean" campaigning: In addition to choosing digital over paper and plastic campaigning, I'm also writing my own speeches, designing my own website and everything else. For example, rather than spending thousands of dollars on voter surveys, I've been and will be listening to people directly.
Special interests: One thing that comes through loud-and-clear is voter skepticism about the significant increase in campaign spending funded by large donations and the potential impact on decision-making. Because of my convictions about the power of technology, the importance of our environment, and the integrity of transparent goverment - - including campaigns, I will not be accepting donations from anyone. I appreciate the many people who have offered and their graceful understanding when I turned them down. My decision is one step I can take against special interests and the spiraling trend of runaway campaign spending that disconnects local government from the people. I will run my entire campaign for less than $1000 of my own money and my goal is to keep it closer to $100. (As of mid-October, I'm just under $100.)
Independence: Because I am not funded by anyone, I am not scripted by anyone. Although I belong to some groups and agree with some groups about some issues, I don't agree with any single group on all or even most issues. I think most issues are more complex than soundbites distill them down to for easy consumption. It's worth it to take the time to do the research, have conversations, and come up with the facts rather than buy into the polarization and labeling of fellow citizens. It's possible because I don't have any special interests whispering in my ear.
Endorsements: I appreciate the many local (and even regional, national and international) organizations which have offered to publicly support and endorse me and have gracefully accepted my decision to say "no". Thank you to everyone for your phone calls, emails, faxes, and letters and your patience waiting for me to respond. I'm not seeking or embracing the endorsement of any organization for the same reason that I'm not accepting donations. I'm listening to you, the busy people of Carlsbad--most of you are families with children--and you want a voice in City Council. You are reasonable people who love Carlsbad and want to enjoy and build a stronger community. Turning down endorsements is another way I'm demonstrating a commitment to listening to you rather than maintaining the status quo or advancing the agenda of a specific group. When you tell me that Carlsbad is faced with problems and opportunities that require fresh ideas, you call for independence and boldness. If endorsements tell you about other candidates' alliances with incumbents or union sympathies or like-mindedness, my decision to say "no thanks" tells you a lot about me. Having an open mind is key to fresh solutions: an entrenched mindset not so much.
Grass roots: There won't be any fancy fund-raisers sponsored for my campaign to pay for ads. If you've found yourself nodding your head while reading this page, tell people about my campaign. Word-of-mouth in person or via email will get the word out around Carlsbad. Thanks!