LAMORINDA, CA —Patch reached out to all the candidates for Orinda City Council.
Four candidates are running for three at-large seats on the Orinda City Council.
We sent out questionnaires and reprinted their answers verbatim. Below, read the responses of Brandyn Iverson, a candidate for a seat on the Orinda City Council.
Brandyn Iverson, 56, is running for a seat on the Orinda City Council. In the questionnaire, Iverson identified fire preparedness, support for local businesses, and housing development suited to Orinda as priorities.
What is your educational background?
JD/MBA from Kellogg and the Pritzker School of Law at Northwestn; BA from Stanford University (Economics w/ Honors in Humanities)
What is your professional background?
Commercial Real Estate Developement, Investment, and Asset Mgmt since 2000; before that, technology transactions (CNET and Wilson Sonsini) and finance at The Walt Disney Company
Have you ever held public office, whether appointive or elective?
Current on Orinda's City Council and serving as Mayor. Before that, I was in my 3rd term on the Planning Commission, where I served as Chair 2018-2020
What are the top three issues facing your district right now?
Fire preparedness and community resiliance; supporting small businesses and filling vacant spaces downtown; responding to State housing mandates with projects that fit our city's needs and character.
What is one specific policy you would implement in your first 100 days?
We're working to study and chip away at the traffic and congestion issues caused by our highly constrained roads through the city, including analysis, safe routes to school investments and grant requests, and working with our school and transit partners to relieve the worst congestion around school times.
What is your plan to enact this plan and how would you measure success after one year?
Starting with a matter initiated, I would empower our TSAC to make it a project to gather and analyze date and come back with recommendations. I would also continue to leverage our strong relationships with Lamo School Bus and County Connection, as well as our partners at CCTA. Our smart signals project will be a key tool in making and measuring changes. Success is any relief in the current crush of traffic around school times.
What is one specific change you would make to improve livability in your district?
See above.
How would you improve transparency or accountability in your local government?
We're working on converting an underutilized space by the community center into a video meeting enabled, dedicated meeting space to improve the A/V and remote participation experience for both our city council meetings and for our commissions and committees.
What makes you a better choice than your opponents?
All three of us incumbents are really focused on doing the work and delivering results. We don't always agree, but the open-mindedness and mutual respect among the current Council have made my first term one where we were widely supported and made a lot of measurable progress. I think my knowledge and experience in development, housing, and urban planning make me a great complement to whoever else is elected, as I bring that unique subject matter expertise to that critically important set of topics.
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