Fremont: Khan for Council
By Matt Artz
Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 7:10 am in Uncategorized.
Here’s a list of people who have taken out nomination papers to run for office in Fremont this November:
Mayor:
Bob Wasserman (incumbent)
Gus Morrison
Steve Cho
City Counci (two seats up for grabs)l:
Bob Wieckowski (incumbent)
Vinnie Bacon
Linda Susoev
Dirk Lorenz
Fazlur Khan
So far, no Suzanne Chan and no minutemen.
The only surprise (to me) on the list is Khan, a Realtor and member of Fremont’s Senior Citizen Commission. If elected, he would make Fremont history as the first council member to have his name stitched into a jacket he frequently wears. It’s actually very helpful to someone like me who now covers three cities. I never mistake him for anyone else.
As expected, there are no challengers so far in Union City. The only two people to take out nominating papers so far are Mayor Mark Green and Councilman Jim Navarro.
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July 17th, 2008 at 8:19 am
I’m still waiting for someone half way decent to file papers to run in Fremont. I think Fremont has a lot more to offer to the voters than these typical “run of the mill” candidates that simply take the middle groung leading up to the election telling us things like…
“I want to make Fremont a better place for our children, with better schools and parks.”
“I want Fremont to be safe with a vibrant downtown.”
“We must work together with the residents of Fremont.”
How about some substance! I feel sorry for the residents of Fremont!
Are there any other candidates out there worthy of my vote? Because it sure isn’t this guy…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g75xwTqgQH8
July 17th, 2008 at 10:56 am
I’m confused. Mr. Kahn announces in his opening statement he is running for a seat on the 30th Assembly Dist. Central Committee representing Fremont, Newark and Union City. I didn’t feel like listening to a “talking head” video for 10 minutes to find out how this jibes with Fremont City Council. Can you run for more than one office?
July 17th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Doug, I believe that I can provide some clarification on this one.
Mr. Kahn says, “20th Assembly District Democratic Central Committee.”
He’s referring to his attempt to win a seat on the County Central Committee (D) back during the June 3rd CA state-wide direct primary election. Mr. Kahn failed to secure himself a seat on the 30 Member Committee with only 2.06% of the vote.
You can get the details here…
http://www.smartvoter.org/2008/06/03/ca/alm/party_committee.html
*Scroll down to the middle of the page and you’ll see the results. You can click on his name to see what he’s all about as well.
I guess Mr. Kahn would like to try his luck with the Fremont City Council in November’s election. To answer your question though… Yes, candidates can run for more than one elected-position, even at the same time. In Mr. Kahn’s case though, he was not sucussful back in June and now, he wants to try to run for something different.
We’ll have to see what the people have to say in the up-coming election.
The Smart Voter Site (listed below) is great for voters to use and get election-information for federal, state and even local races.
http://www.smartvoter.org/
July 17th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Danny,
Check out Vinnie Bacon
bacon2008.com
July 18th, 2008 at 7:39 am
Thanks Walter. Very helpful info. I’m bookmarking this site.
July 27th, 2008 at 6:03 am
I have noticed a lack of community sponsered activities for young people in this city. How is it that Newark, a poorer city by my standards, has erected a wonderful civic center, while the best Fremont can do is try to beef up it’s police force to chase the growing number of misdirected kids on the streets at night. I hear their sirens trying to chase criminals out of the bushes. Where are the active community security patrols, where are the mandated fines for parents who can’t control their children, where are the centers for youth after school activities? This is the kind of stuff we need; not newly paved roads around the Hub trying to impress the Starbucks crowd.
July 27th, 2008 at 6:12 am
On the As moving to Fremont. What a rediculous idea! Our traffic is already a nightmare. Will the proceeds go the the City of Fremont, or will they line the pockets of the wealthy group of people looking for taxpayer handouts to fund their new stadium? Are we to become the next ‘Oakland crime center’? Look at the areas around any sports stadium in the country. They are disgusting, completely paved, and over run with low income housing. I for one am dead set against the idea of the As coming here unless some safeguards are put in place to ensure the quality of surrounding neighborhoods and the fair distribution of profits is worked out.
July 28th, 2008 at 7:40 am
NO TO THE A’S IN FREMONT!!!!!!
July 28th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Newark has a huge tax base from the mall. Fremont’s lack of retail kill’s its budget. If a worthwhile deal is cut, a stadium would directly bring more tax money in that the cost of police and other services. Then there would be a bonus from people using Fremont businesses when heading to and from the game.
July 28th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Hey Coyote Bill - thanks for the tip on Vinnie. I could like this guy a whole bunch. But, I need some positions on some difficult issues - here’s a few I would really like to hear his thoughts on - Fremont Redevelopment, development of Cisco Stadium/A’s, how to keep public employee pensions/costs in line with private sector, how do we obtain accurate projections of city tax (and other) revenues, residential alarm policy - how could we turn this denial of service to constituency into a revenue-producing opportunity for the city ? - just for starters.
July 29th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Hey Bbox, Fremont Bill sends his greetings
Vinnie Bacon will have his position paper on the A’s and Cisco field on his website today or very soon.
I believe on his website He is listing all the position papers He is in the process of writing.
http://bacon2008.com/
You need to check his website to find out what a really good guy He is. You can also leave comments on his website.
This is a grass roots campaign. Vinnie is accepting no donations from Developers, so we are depending on grass roots small donations.
I am a volunteer on his campaign committee. Vinnie has no paid staff members or consultants. We are all volunteers.
July 29th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Here’s a link to my position paper on the A’s.
http://www.bacon2008.com/ballpark.html
I have position papers on redevelopment and crime on my web site in the next day or two. I’ve written about the City’s burglar alarm policy on my comments page (June 24).
The pension issue is a tough one. We need to make sure our employee benefits are in line with other nearby cities. Overall, we need policies that will help our city’s finances for the long term. For example, we can’t allow continued development that won’t pay for itself in the long run. We also need strong, conservative fiscal policies.
Tax projections are fairly predictable for property taxes. Sales taxes vary more with the economy. This is relevant to the A’s as the property taxes would go mainly to the Redevelopment Agency and the sales tax would go to the General Fund. We can only pay for police and fire services from the General Fund.
Good questions! THANKS!!
Vinnie
July 30th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Vinnie -
Thanks for the timely and thoughtful comments on the A’s development. I encourage all city residents to review your comments, whether or not they choose to vote.
Mr. Bacon puts forth, in relatively few words, a fair and balanced representation of the trade-offs that sit on the margins of this important decision.
I, for one, am impressed with Bacon’s ability to, in realtively few words, make this highly complex issue approachable by most electorate. His balanced views and careful positioning of contrasting considerations is a breath of fresh air and contrasts sharply with the hyperbole and obfuscation that I feel has surrounded public discussion of this issue to date. Thank you, Vinnie.
I appreciate your comments on tax projections. If, as you suggest - these are fairly predictable, how do you rationalize the seeming wild swings in position by City Managment - one minute driving for a tax measure under the auspices of insufficient tax revenue and the next minute declaring a relative surplus ??
July 30th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Maybe we should apologize to Mr. Khan here - I feel like we’re using his “thread” to discuss Mr. Bacon’s position(s).
But - with that in mind, I encourage Mr. Khan (or any of the other prospective council members) to join in the conversation and I hope they all feel free to post their respective positions on the issues mentioned earlier.