Answers to Good Times Santa Cruz City Council Candidate Questionaire
- Name and occupation?
- Thomas Leavitt, Entreprenuer/Unix Systems Administrator
- What is your public service/political background?
- Lifelong community activist. Currently serve as Chair of the City of Santa Cruz's Living Wage Advisory Committee; also served on the City's Homeless Issues Task Force. Have served in a leadership role in nearly every organization I've been involved in. See the experience section of my web site, at http://www.thomasleavitt.org/cc/experience.html, for details.
- Should you win in November, what are your top three priorities for the next two years?
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- Mentor new leaders by reaching out to youth, and facilitating the establishment of neighborhood organizations and business improvement districts.
- Fix the bottom rungs of the housing ladder: encourage construction of market rate affordable housing via regulatory reform.
- Restore downtown as a center of community and culture via establishment of a pedestrian plaza downtown.
- How well do you think the current council has handled conflicts downtown? What else should be done?
- Not at all well. We need an ongoing dialogue about our downtown that empowers and engages all sectors of the community and focuses on non-authoritarian, non-legalistic solutions such as mediation, support for public space downtown (such as a pedestrian plaza) to minimize conflicts between uses, and alternative recreational venues for youth.
- Should voters approve the utility tax repeal, where should budget cuts be made?
- We would need to immediately explore new means of generating revenue, broaden the dialogue about community development beyond Big Box retail and Downtown to include the Beach Flats area and other community commercial districts. Police and Fire should not be exempted, and preventative social services should be protected to the maximum extent possible.
- What endorsements have you received? (NOTE: THESE CAN BE UPDATED AS YOU RECEIVE THEM.) How much do you plan on raising and spending on your campaign?
- Endorsed by the Coalition to Free Mumia Abdul-Jamal and All Political Prisoners, and numerous prominent progressive activists, including several former City Council candidates. See http://www.thomasleavitt.org/cc/endorsed.html for details.
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