How many years have you lived in Maine?: 35 F/T 52 P/T

What experiences,  motivations, and leadership styles will make you an effective City Councilor?:
a.    Experience: Business Development Representative for the City of Portland Department of Economic Development, Graduate with a Masters of Public Administration from the Muskie School of Public Policy, elected to two terms on the Casco Bay Island Transit District, Trustee of Portland Trails in addition to having the experience of living and working in Portland since I was 18 years old, raising a family sending two daughters through the Portland school system, owning property in Portland for more than 25 years and operating small businesses in Portland for more than 25 years.  I have been involved with political campaigns, participated in local and state studies and committees and carefully followed Portland and state policy-making.
b.    Motivations: My primary motivation is the future of Portland; my family and my wifes family have had the opportunity to live and worke in Portland for generations. My motivation is to create opportunity for my children and their generation to be able to live, work and raise their families here also.  I intend to use my position on the council to create those opportunities.
c.    Leadership Style:  I listen to all points of view and respect those views that not only differ from my own, but also are of differing political philosophies.  I make informed decisions based on what I hear and what I believe will best serve the people of Maine.  I prefer actions to delays after a policy has been thoroughly analyzed.  I believe I have the ability to move Portland forward.


If elected, what would your top three priorities be?  How do they affect Portlander's aged 18-35?:
a.One.  Sustaining established businesses in Portland, expanding markets and employment for those established businesses and attracting new business to Portland that can pay salaries consistent with our needs.  There is also a need to support start-up companies that seek to create new wealth in our city.
b. Two. Addressing the impacts of vehicle usage on the human and natural environment in the City.  We need land-use policies that creatively address traffic and access.  We need to encourage transit use through better bus stops, better bus routes and through expansion of passenger rail service locally, intra-state and inter-state.  This city should facilitate safer pedestrian and non-motorized transportation methods.
c.Three: Transparency in local decision-making.  I intend to bring information to the residents of District 3 through regularly scheduled meetings with constituents that will provide information to residents about what is going on and in turn, provide me with feedback for good decision-making.
I trust my decsions and policy initiatives will halp all residnts of the city from our young prople trying to get established here in work and families, to the middle class who struggle to pay the bills and to the elderly whom we all should be aware of.

Please share one positive change you have seen on City Council AND in Portland over the last year?:
The newly elected City Councilors from District 1 and District 2 are challenging the status quo  clearly a positive development.  As for positive change in Portland, the revitalization of the Bayside neighborhood is a significant positive development.

Please share one frustrating change you have seen on City Council AND in Portland over the last year?:
Councilors are promoting their political parties, which is frustrating to me as I support the City Charter that states that the Council should be non-partisan.  A frustrating change in the City has been the Citys elimination of the Union Branch Railroad line through the Bayside which is being replaced by a parking garage.  The City of Portland now has no (zero) railroad Right of Way serving the peninsula.  Commercial Street was paved over years ago and the bayside is almost gone.  The current planning for the Bayside is entirely focused on the internal combustion-engine propelled single-occupancy mode of transit (cars) from widening roads, to surface parking to building parking garages.

What competing responsibilities do you have: professionally and personally?:
I am a professional commercial realtor and I have to support my family financially. I know that the time devoted to the City Council will compete with my need to earn a living.  Personally, I attend all my childrens school activities, sporting events etc., both here in Portland, and to the extent possible my daughter in New York.  I need to assist my younger daughter in her college search, which may also compete with my time on the council.

Are you a homeowner or a renter?: Homeowner

Do you support reducing the parking requirements for new construction (Y/N)?: This is not a yes/no question.  Land-use policy has many considerations not the least of which is location.  In addition, I am of the opinion that we need to be creative in addressing transportation in the City and that not all policy should be dependant on the car and its requirements.
Do you support increasing housing density to build more units (Y/N)?: Again, land-use policy is never a yes/no issue.  There is a need for an inventory, analysis, and projections of impacts of various options based on historic and current land-use patterns.  Generally speaking I support the urban centers and oppose large minimum lot-sizes that encourage sprawl.
What are you thoughts and ideas about housing in Portland?:
The problem in Portland is the same as that of many parts of the country in that housing costs far exceed the ability of most first home-buyers to acquire a home and in many cases for those who wish to rent.  At the same time, homeowners are facing escalating costs in taxes, utilities and maintenance.  However, Portland is an ideal place to live and local policy-makers should find the balance between providing affordable housing and opportunities for Portland residents to afford housing.

What is your primary mode of transportation?  How can we improve transportation in Portland?:
a.    My primary mode of transportation is a car that gets almost 30 MPG.  It was built in a foreign country and has over 200,000 miles on it.  During the summer I spend a lot of time on a Casco Bay island where I do not use a car and move about only via bicycle and walking.
b.    We need a full evaluation of the METRO service in regards to routes, bus stops, shelters and costs.  We need to encourage people to ride-share to their jobs in the city from the surrounding suburbs.  Too many cars are single-occupancy.  We need to make it safe and accessible for people to walk from their homes to shopping, work, transit, schools and other destinations.  Crosswalk signals in Portland are an embarrassment.  Portland resident should become involved in Portland trails and look to link trails and sidewalks as a way to reduce our dependency on vehicles.


What economic development ideas would you bring to City Council?:
It is my opinion that the City Economic Development Department should not be located in City hall, that it should not operate under the directorship of the planning department and that it should be funded as a joint effort between the City and private marketplace.  We need to market various segments of our city businesses better.  For example, rather than ban national companies from downtown, the city should invest in a marketing campaign that highlights the unique small business environment that exists downtown.  In addition, the city needs to attract a national employer to the city that can provide good jobs and that will provide opportunities for small businesses to sell products and services.

How do you think the current Council has processed the Maine State Pier development?:
The process by the Council has been open to all who wanted to be involved.  There have been very few times in the history of the city decision-making process where so many public hearings have allowed for multiple presentations by residents.  I personally have been allowed to speak at five (5) CDC meetings.  This is critical in the development of the project as new information comes along that allows the public to re-evaluate the proposals.  The perception that one party was allowed to change their proposal after submittal, overlooks the idea that the parties need to listen to the public, and not just to a few who were privy to the design prior to the public hearings.

Do you think it is important to increase regional collaboration?  Why or why not?  If so, what would you do to collaborate more?:
It is critical in these days of increasing costs and environmental impacts that there be regional collaboration.  However, it has been my experience that the Maine independent spirit significantly restricts our ability to address real regional cooperation.  Each town wants to act in its own best interests.  Transportation, waste disposal, water and environmental protection and energy costs are all issues that cannot be addressed individually by municipality.   The Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation Committee (PACTS) is one of the best methods for addressing regional collaboration on many of these issues.  This group recommends where federal transportation dollars should be spent on the region.  And it all comes down to dollars.

What do you think of Portland's overall tax structure, and specifically, about current tax rates?:
The total budget for the City in the current fiscal year is about $287 million dollars.  For a city the size of Portland and a city that is the economic engine of the state, this is not an unrealistic amount.  However, that single-family homes in the Deering area of the City are paying property taxes in excess of $600 a month is a huge burden.  I suggest two areas need to be addressed.  (1) a close review of all expenditures in the City budget and in the school budget to make certain that every dollar is being spent on needed services.  We cannot afford any waste. And (2) state revenue sharing formulas are unfair to the states urban center, particularly a service center the size of Portland.  I believe the local tax burden would be reduced if Portland received its fair share of state tax revenues.  I support a local option sales tax.

What do you think Portland should do to encourage the arts and the creative economy?:
The downtown arts district was a major success in the revitalization of Congress Street.  But not enough people are enjoying the downtown.  Portland should do more to encourage people who live in the City, particularly those who live off-peninsula, to shop and eat downtown.  Land-use policies, like the formula business ordinance, discourage shopping downtown.  The more we can make it attractive to residents to get out of the malls and into our downtown, the more support the arts and theater communities will have.

What role do you think neighborhoods, and neighborhood associations, should have in our city?:
Neighborhoods are the reason Portland is a great place to live.  Neighborhoods are defined by housing, close to business centers, schools, churches and services, including transit.  This is what defines our way of life from that of the surrounding suburbs.  Our neighborhood associations should be the vehicles for providing input into the city policy-making.  As city councilor I intent to support neighborhood association forums on a regular basis as a basis for my own decision-making.

What specific steps do you think Portland can make to become a more sustainable city and to safeguard a healthy environment?:
The City has comprehensive plans for almost all aspects of policy, from parks and Recretaion, land Use, green ways, trasnpsortion, Bayside, education etc.  Many of these plans were developed a long time ago and in most cases may not apply to our current enivironmental conditions.  We can't go back and change the plans, new planning takes years.  So I suggest that the principals of sustainable development be consider whenever new policy is being decided that is based on these older plans.  The bayside and Eastern Promenade plans are good examples as we move forward in the land-use development of both these parcels.  In addition to asking if the proposed developemnts meet the guidleines of these two docuemnts, we should also see if the developemnt can sustain jobs, protect environemntal quality and reduce our dependancy on autombiles. I would like to participate in a comprehensive planning process that looked at city-wide sustainable development planning.