VOTE - As If Your Kids' Future Depended On It
Foster City has some significant issues facing it in the near and not-too-distant future. We have tens of millions of dollars in unfunded pension liabilities. We have a structural deficit in our budget. We have a $90 million Levee Project that we need to bring in on time and within budget. We are responsible for about $150 million of the $550 million Wastewater Treatment Plant Project that also needs to be completed within budget. We have a decaying Recreation Center that needs millions of dollars of repairs or a complete replacement. Those are just the internal issues.
Regionally, we are faced with a housing crisis, making living in our area unaffordable for far too many. We have horrific traffic resulting from the lack of housing close to the employment centers. We have ever increasing unfunded State mandates that we will have little choice but to follow with no money coming to us for the implementation.
What our City needs for our future is qualified and intelligent Council Members with a proven record of a willingness to put in the time to study, collaborate and resolve these issues. We need people who have demonstrated vision and leadership in helping make our City what I have always called “Paradise on Earth.”
During this most recent campaign we have seen a number of people come out for or against some candidates. What you need to know is that some of these “endorsements” are given only because candidates promised those giving the endorsement that they will vote on certain issues in certain ways. That, my fellow Foster City residents, is the last thing we need. We need people on our City Council who will devote the time and attention to studying issues as they arise and voting ONLY in the best interest of the City, not because they are obligated to the people who got them elected. Once elected, a Council Member is obligated to care for all of us, not just some of us.
My point, therefore, is to urge you to disregard the rhetoric, disregard the attacks, regardless of the source. We have seen on a national level, how the rhetoric is tearing our Country apart. We cannot let that happen in Foster City. We must not let that happen in Foster City.
I urge each of you to meet with or independently study the qualifications of each candidate. Ask them for real solutions, not sound bites. If someone tells you they are going to fix the traffic in 90-days, be wary, be very wary. Electing a person to City Council because you believe they represent you on just one issue, begs the question of how they will handle the other issues. Are they prepared? Do they have the necessary background? Do they fully understand the issue? Those are the questions you should be asking.
I have been serving Foster City for over twelve years, nine years on the City Council and three and a-half years on the Planning Commission. I did that service because I am passionate about Foster City and I know that many of our residents feel the same. Make sure that passion is not misguided by others with undisclosed agendas. Vote for a candidate because you have done your research and you believe that the person you vote for will always decide matters in Foster City’s best interest. If you do that, our City will continue to be the Paradise on Earth that we have come to know and love. Remember, you are voting for your kids’ future. Don’t let someone else decide what kind of future that should be.
Those are my thoughts. You can always share your ideas with me by email at cbronitsky@fostercity.org.
