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San Mateo County, CA November 8, 2005 Election
Smart Voter Political Philosophy for Jeffrey J. "Jeff" Ira

Candidate for
Council Member; City of Redwood City; 4 Year Term

[photo]
This information is provided by the candidate

I grew up in Redwood City. My grandparents came here in 1932 and I plan to retire here. My parents and sister live here and my children attend our schools. I have a great stake in our City's future. I have pride in our community and will strive to improve the quality of life for everyone in Redwood City.

Keeping Our Community Safe

The Council just authorized additional overtime for police officers to fight gang violence and authorized the hiring of two additional police officers. We just completed the new Police Activities Building which provides programs to reduce the risk of juvenile crime. I will continue to keep our city safe by maintaining sufficient police officers to fight crime and expand youth programs to provide our youth with alternative choices.

Youth

We established after school programs, expanded our playing fields for youth sports, built a skateboard park, created family centers, expanded library services and created homework centers. These were accomplished by partnerships with the elementary district, the high school district and the county. Our youth are our future and I will always fight for our kids.

City Finances Protecting Our Tax Dollars

As a CPA I will use my financial skills for our community. I established the reserve policy that allowed us to save money in the good times. We were then able to utilize these reserves during the recent budget reductions to soften the cuts in city services to our residents. One time revenues were not spent on new programs, but put into capital projects like expending our parks and flood control measures. As a result, residents did not suffer the cuts in city services experienced by many other cities.

Quality of Life

Programs to bring people together to meet their neighbors and learn more about the city are thriving. Concerts to bring families and friends together are extremely popular. When people are involved in their community, it is a better place to live for everyone. I have worked hard with community leaders when there have been differences and established task forces, like the recycled water task force, to design workable solutions to accomplish our goals. Citizen involvement is extremely important to us and we use their advice on the budget decisions, water rate increases and sewer charges. I will continue to involve the citizens in our decision making process.

Seniors

We have a wonderful working partnership with our seniors and are currently working together on a plan to provide shuttle services to the community. Our senior center attracts seniors from all over and has been a great example of community building to the rest of the peninsula. We have fought for them on health insurance issues. Seniors need and deserve more programs and I will find the funding to make it happen.

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: November 2, 2005 15:22
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