General Approach:
Directing aggressive policies on the clean up of Alameda Point (formerly Naval Air Station Alameda), comprising 2800 acres, 1/3 of the city's area. This conversion of a former military base is being developed as an important source of new businesses, jobs, housing, recreational facilities, community and cultural services.

Regional Development:
As the Alameda City Council’s representative, I serve on the Environmental Quality Policy Committee of the League of California Cities and have advocated for regional environmental sustainability, particularly in promoting transit- oriented redevelopment of brown fields (SB 375). Reducing urban sprawl is a major component of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. One of the ways to achieve that is providing adequate and affordable housing close to job centers in the Bay Area, such as Alameda Point. That is one of the reasons that I have consistently supported a mixed use redevelopment of Alameda Point with open space and a range of public and private amenities with a compact footprint that would reduce vehicle trips. My major supporters would like to see a mixed use development at Alameda Point that provides variety of housing types with significant open space and public amenities.

Wildlife Refuge:
It would be ideal for the USFWS [Fish and Wildlife Service] to create and manage the wildlife refuge at Alameda Point, but the agency is concern about accepting liability for the clean-up costs. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has been negotiating with the Navy for a 549-acre portion of the base in order to build medical clinics and an above- ground cemetery. That process is undergoing an environmental review process. I think responsibility should rest with the agency that has the funding resources to remediate the site of toxics. I support establishing an National Wildlife Refuge upon cleanup of toxics.

Alameda Point Environmental Restoration:
--About half of the 2,700 acres that comprise the former naval air station (including1,100 acres that are underwater) needed to be cleaned up. According to the Navy, 40% of the former naval base is cleaned up and has already been transferred or is ready for transfer and 35 percent is being cleaned up now. Another 25 percent is being assessed in order to determine what, if any, cleanup needs to be done.
--Some $466million has been committed toward cleaning up the base to date, and it’s anticipated another $122 million could be spent. The Navy currently funds the clean-up from the sale of other former military sites and from Congressional appropriations.
--Final cleanup efforts are expected to be complete in 2015, and as a councilmember, I have consistently insisted on cleanup standards that will protect public and environmental health and safety.
--Because Alameda Point is one of last sites to be added to the Superfund list, it has benefited from cleanup experiences and new cleanup technologies employed at other closed military bases that have helped shorten the time frame for base cleanup projects to about one to five years per project.
--310 acres of former Naval Air Station property has been transferred to date, including the land used to build the Bayport housing project, Coast Guard housing and land that is expected to be home to a future sports facility with the East Bay Miracle League.

Transportation hubs with high density and low-income housing
Master planned communities, instead of hodge-podge or ad-hoc planning, will be needed to create major transportation hubs with housing that is affordable to the workforce. There needs to be adequate funding that comes from housing density and increased ridership in order to support such transit-oriented projects. I have advocated (and continue to support) planning principles that provides a variety of housing for the community to reduce vehicle trips. I worked to abide by these principles in the Alameda City Council’s guiding policies for the redevelopment of Alameda Point and other housing opportunities in Alameda, e.g. housing for the disabled near City Hall, close to transit, the library and stores.

What characteristics must a business development project have for you to consider it sustainable economic development that would benefit the local community?
Fiscal neutrality continues to be a key principle in business development, particularly in re-development. The funding generated by the project by increasing the tax base should sustain the development for the local community. Risks to existing taxpayers for economic re-development must be minimized.

Pro-environmental actions candidate has taken regarding Alameda Point:
--Urged federal government (EPA) to insist on cleaning up toxics at Alameda Point to community- accepted levels.
--Supported policies, plans and legislation that promotes sustainable community strategies--reduce greenhouse gas emissions by curbing urban sprawl and cutting back the time people have to spend in their automobiles, encouraging compact development.