Candidate profiles: Carol Rowley for mayor Comments on Stories, posted by , a resident of , on Oct 21, 2011 at 7:39 am
San Ramon mayoral candidate Carol Rowley says her experience is why people wanted her to run for mayor. "I've been a parent and teacher, a principal and now a city council member," Rowley said. "Abram (Wilson, San Ramon's current mayor) has termed out and I decided to run because I care about the city and I had a lot of people urging me to run."
Read the full story here Web Link posted Thursday, October 20, 2011, 11:07 PM
Posted by Member, a resident of San Ramon, on Oct 21, 2011 at 7:39 am
Ms. Rowley is part of the one sided old school on the city council that voted together. After reading the profiles of both her and Mr. Clarkson this morning I thought Mr. Clarkson's discussion on communication, not holding public comment at the end of meetings and a general desire to cooperate with the citizens was the most telling. Ms. Rowley seems to pander the the generic "quality of life." What does that mean? Is that a program to do something different? It's not that Mr. Clarkson articulated new ideas either but starting with a open discussion was the first step. Ms. Rowley will just be more of the same.
Posted by mloliver, a resident of San Ramon, on Oct 21, 2011 at 9:23 am mloliver is a member (registered user) of San Ramon Express
The San Ramon City Council is a non-partisan office and IMHO that is as it should be. I am proud to support Carol Rowley for Mayor and I neither know nor care how she is registered. I feel she has done an excellent job in her role as a Council Member and Parks Commissioner.
As much as some candidates would like you to think the city is in trouble financially, they are simply wrong. Thanks to the foresight of those council members like Ms. Rowley, belt tightening took place early enough that the city is healthy financially during this serious downturn. From some of the literature I have read from other candidates and their supporters, it appears they don't understand the difference between debt and (budget) deficit. The only time the city stepped into the realm of deficit spending, was during the reign of the "gang of three."
Has anyone asked Ms Rowley if she would support moving the "Public Comment" section of the agenda back to the beginning of the meeting? I don't know the answer, but I do know she listens to the residents and respects their opinions.
Posted by Denise , a resident of San Ramon, on Oct 21, 2011 at 2:04 pm
"The main things are the quality of life here and safety" Really that's is headline new Carol....what city does not have that motto? What about bringing in new business, and restaurants, look around San Ramon and notice all the vacancy signs.
Cafe Esin gone to Danville, Incontro, gone to Danville...and the list goes on.
Just imagine the tax revenues being brought into neighboring cities with their restaurants alone.
Posted by Bob P., a resident of another community, on Oct 21, 2011 at 2:28 pm
Denise, if you support increasing tax revenues, bringing in destination retail and restaurants, then you should support the City Center plan as well as the North Camino Ramon Specific Plan. Carol supports them as well, as does Bill, and any responsible city leader would too.
Posted by kevin, a resident of San Ramon, on Oct 21, 2011 at 7:38 pm
I can hardly believe someone would tell us that we don't know the difference between debt and a budget deficit, REALLY????????? A deficit is when we have a budget and see it's going to be short. A debt is when we spend money regardless and borrow it!
What do we have in San Ramon???????
We have a deficit and will until we re-do our budget. We also have a debt because we have spent 8 million dollars more than we took in the last two years instead of re-doing those budgets.
The City officials continually say, "No worries, we have a AAA bond rating". I.E. we can still borrow more money. Is that what the City officials think we want them to do? We may have a small amount of reserves but next year better be a balanced budget or they will be adding to the 17 million dollar bond, which is going to cost 41 million when it's paid for, unless they go to Herb Moniz for a loan.
The same people have been trading seats in City Council for over 8 years. They have a record. They have voted unanimously for the past two years(except for one dissenting vote on placement of the police station.
It is time for some new leadership, a new assessment, new ideas....New people
Posted by John Madison, a resident of San Ramon, on Oct 22, 2011 at 9:37 pm
Can't we keep building, building, building? We have so many green hills to convert to tax generating properties, Abram was right. We certainly don't want to be like Danville..Dublin has got it right, if it is green, PAVE IT...
Posted by Roz Rogoff, the San Ramon Observer, on Oct 23, 2011 at 12:36 am Roz Rogoff is a member (registered user) of San Ramon Express
It's Baaakkk! Public comment at the beginning of the meeting. See next week's City Council Agenda Web Link .
It's two, two, two Public Comments in one, well in two. One is at the beginning of the meeting and the leftovers get to stay to the end. Scott Perkins suggested this at the Candidate Forum. Go Scott!
Posted by Ronald Simms, a resident of San Ramon, on Oct 25, 2011 at 1:56 pm
Kevin,
What is your list of expenses to cut in the budget? And don't be cute and keep dwelling on the Moniz salary theme. I know it's funny and gets a lot of political mileage, but it is a freckle on an elephant's behind, when compared to the actual budget dollars. The Moniz salary-bashing all sounds well and good, but seriously, WHAT are you willing to cut in the budget to make it truly "balanced"? Street cleaning?, police services?, senior center?, parks upkeep?, street repaving?. The city budget is available at the city's website. Please go through it and list precisely what you recommend to have cut. You'll have to cut expenses, because you don't want to see any new development in the city - - so forget about proposing new sources of revenue. The city has cut costs down the bone for the last 6 to 8 years on the expense column. I'd like to see you get any more meat off the bone without ticking of specific groups of citizens (i.e. parks users, seniors etc...). Instead of complainging about everything - how about proposing some constructive solutions to the problems that you feel exist? Looking forward to your input on ideas to cut the budget expenses.
Posted by Jonathan, a resident of San Ramon, on Oct 26, 2011 at 2:15 am
Based on my personal experience of both candidates, the choice for our next Mayor is simple...Bill Clarkson.
I contacted both Carol Rowley and Bill Clarkson to see if I could attend a meeting in which they were going to speak about their vision for our city and where they stood on certain issues.
Carol Rowley responded first and told me to come to the Town Hall meeting at the Community Center on 8/22. I specifically told her that I wanted to hear about her vision and stance on issues facing our city, so I have no idea why she told me to go to that event. It was simply a group of City employees justifying their jobs or positioning themselves for another job or elected office. She didn't say anything that made me feel like she would be a good mayor for our city.
I met Bill Clarkson the following week, but it wasn't at a gathering with a bunch of city officials looking for the limelight...it was at Peet's Coffee. I couldn't believe how genuine and accessible he was, and how important it was for him to know what was important to me. I quickly realized that not only was he a great communicator, but he was also very genuine and had a vision for our city to make it even better. The thing that really impressed me was how inclusive his approach was to working with people and how he wanted to bring our diverse groups together across our city. This is true leadership, and this is what San Ramon needs now more than ever.
Carol says she running because she "cares about the city" supported by her vague statements of "quality of life" and "safety". Well who doesn't care about our city, the quality of life and safety? Our next Mayor needs a vision and the leadership skills to make it happen. Carol simply doesn't have it.
Bill has a vision, supported by specific things he wants to improve and accomplish. I am confident that Bill Clarkson is the right person to take our City to the next level.
Posted by Just Sayin', a resident of San Ramon, on Oct 26, 2011 at 3:07 pm
That's great that Bill Clarkson has all of these things that he wants to do but Carol Rowley actually has been doing them! It is time to let Carol work as Mayor in a more collaborative style, out from underneath Abram's rule. She is the only City Councilmember to hold regular office hours at City Hall and at the Farmer's Market. She even produces a newsletter to communicate with residents. I am confident she will be an excellent Mayor.
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