Last night I had an event where I explained to my supporters why I am not running for re-election to the Hayward City Council. I felt that I owed them an explanation and promised they’d understand once I got done with them!
It started this way. What did I promise when I ran for the 2-year term in 2008?
- Fresh voice (fresh indeed!)
- Putting Hayward on the map
- Bringing together business and government
- Focusing on Senior Citizens and Kids
- Bold leadership
What am I proud of during my term?
- Filmmakers came to Hayward, increasing our City’s attractiveness to the public and bringing in employment and a jolt to economic development (I didn’t say this last night but I’m taking the Hayward Film Task Force with me when I leave the City Council!)
- Business & Government further involved with each other, i.e. finally having a Council Member with extensive business background serving, leading to the first ever Hayward Chamber of Commerce mixer at City Hall, which had the highest number of attendees at a mixer in Hayward, (ever! from what I’ve been told)
- Increased focus on City of Hayward-centric issues and being the only Council member to speak out against exporting dollars outside the City limits to fund outside groups. We MUST focus on helping to strengthen the groups that ARE located within the City of Hayward first and foremost!
- Hayward-Yixing China Sister City relationship. Yes, China is the next super-power and we can learn from each other. (Ask me about my trip to China last year when the Vice Mayor of Yixing told me that I should be proud of having ancestors from the Hunan province of China, since Chairman Mao was from there!)
- Proudly earned the nickname “Pest” for being relentless
Schools are THE most important factor that families consider when buying a home and even rental rates are affected by the quality of the schools. As both a real estate broker and City Council Member, I know from every-day life how important this issue is in my community. There’s NOTHING the City Council can do that’s more important than what the School Board can do in this community right now.
Last year I started asking folks in the community if they’d be interested in running for school board for the November 2010 election and NOBODY was interested until I said I’d step up to do it, then joined by another high-profile running mate. Now SO MANY people have been inquiring about being our third running mate! Where was everybody last year when we were trying to get others to run?? I suppose now people have HOPE.
(Since I’m leaving the City Council, by the way, I will be moderating a Candidate Debate next week for the Hayward City Council candidates for the June election.)
