Incumbent Wants to "Keep South SF in a Leadership Position"

Name: Richard Garbarino

Age: 68

Occupation: Vice Mayor, City of South San Francisco. Retired from San Francisco State University Fiscal Affairs Department.

How long have you lived in South San Francisco?

48 years.

Why are you running for office?

I am running for re-election to continue to be an advocate for neighborhoods, good governance and sound, responsible fiscal policies. Our City is a leader among cities in San Mateo County, and I want to continue to be a policy maker that will keep South San Francisco in a leadership position. We are facing many difficult decisions in the coming months and it will take experienced leadership to meet these challenges. I believe that I have that experience to make the difficult decisions that lay ahead.

How long have you served on the council and what previous public offices and community leadership positions have you held?

I have served on the Council for 9 1/2 years, being appointed to fill the vacancy left with Gene Mullins' election to the Assembly in 2002. I was re-elected in 2003 and 2007. Previously, I served on the Park and Recreation Commission for a total of 18 years, with four terms as Chairperson. I also was appointed by the Council to serve as the hearing officer for Code Enforcement issues (2 years of service). I also was appointed by Council in the early '70's to serve on the BART Citizens Advisory Committee when the County was considering having BART service. I served as president and board member of the Avalon-Brentwood Homeowners Association for 16 years.

What in your experience best prepares you to serve on the city council?

9 1/2 years of service on the Council have prepared me to continue to serve as a representative of our community. I also have extensive experience in multi-million dollar budgetary matters, having prepared and managed budgets of that complexity in both the private and public sectors.

What are you most proud of in your time on the council?

There is much to be proud of; our forthcoming ferry service and terminal, growth of the bio and life science sector in South San Francisco, completion of our Centennial Park, constructed without the use of pubic funds, but with grants received by our Park and Recreation Department, completion of the Downtown Parking structure, construction of affordable housing, with two projects completed, one under construction and two additional projects planned.

What will you do to improve downtown and bring in more businesses that appeal to consumers (question submitted by reader Cynthia Arias)?

I will continue to seek ways to attract new businesses to the downtown area, One method is to offer low cost loans to new businesses to help them establish themselves in our City. We have been working with the downtown merchants to help them improve their properties with modifications to their stores, e.g. Brontein Music, which underwent an expansion and complete interior renovation. We're working with several restaurants to help them expand their operations as well. Our Economic Development Office is constantly seeking other businesses that will enhance our downtown area.I believe when the economy improves, opportunities for attracting new business will become readily available.

Reader Marcy Escobar asks why the city continues planning building projects when some apartments and businesses are vacant? More generally, how do you respond to criticisms of development plans such as the El Camino Real/Chestnut Avenue Area General Plan? How do you square concern from some residents about development with the city’s requirement to provide more housing?

With regard to the El Camino/Chestnut Area General Plan, what was approved was just a plan,  a roadmap for the future development, not an approval for a specific project.  It is just good sense to have some idea of what kind of project may be developed so that future Councils' will have guidelines to assist them in projects that may come before them for approval. With regard to housing, every city is required to provide a certain number of housing units by the Regional Housing Needs Assessment commission. Our last assessment called for the creation of 1635 housing units. The new assessment numbers have not been released. For reader Escobar, I stated publicly that I had serious reservations about the creation of housing units that exceeded 5 stories in height. My suggestion was for housing units to be varied in height from 2 stories to a maximum of 5 stories. I would not approve a 12-15 story project. Again, I only approved a conceptual plan, not a specific project.

Many surrounding areas have renovated Safeway stores, but locations in South San Francisco are “a disgrace,” according to reader Melissa Yoshida. What, if anything, will you do get encourage Safeway to improve its local stores?

I agree with Ms. Yoshida, our Safeway stores are indeed a disgrace. The Economic Development Office has been working with Safeway and othe major grocery retailers to establish a facility here in South San Francisco. Several plans are in the development stage, but at this time, nothing final has been completed. Safeway missed a golden opportunity when the space now occupied by the exercise facility on Spruce Avenue became available. Safeway was too late in making an offer. Talk was that the existing store in the Spruce shopping center would expand and possibly merge into the former Long's Drug Store space. Rest assured that we will diligently continue our goal of having a major grocery store in South San Francisco.

City leaders and police officers pledged to try to reduce violent crime after last December’s fatal shooting, but just last month a 14-year-old boy was shot and killed on First Lane. Have the additional officers on the police force and new Old Town substation paid for from city reserve funds been successful at curbing violence? What more will you do to address this problem? What do you say to residents who argue that more funds should be committed to youth programming?

The Neighborhood Response Team has made has made a difference. The residents of Old Town now are beginning to have trust in the officers and that the City will address their issues.   We will continue with the Community Coalition meetings that bring increasing numbers of residents to discuss their issues and concerns with the City leadership and the police. We are looking at ways to commit additional funding for youth programs. A partnership with our schools certainly makes sense, using their facilities for after school programs and events. Sadly, violence has increased throughout the County and the State. The proposed early release of "non-violent" prisoners into our cities creates more problems. These individuals will have unsupervised parole. Law enforcement officials throughout the State are extremely concerned on what effect this will have on their departments and ability to monitor criminal activity.

South San Francisco currently has a voluntary ban on plastic bags, discouraging their use at large retail stores. Would you support a more general, countywide ban on plastic bags, as has been recently proposed?

I would support a general ban of plastic bags countywide.

What, if anything, do you think the city of South San Francisco should do to encourage the biotech and clean technology industries?

South San Francisco has been proactive and planned well to encourage and attract bio and clean tech industries. We have installed the necessary infrastructures (sewer lines, water lines and roads including the Oyster Point fly-over off ramp) that are key elements in encouraging these types of industries to our City. Five new bio science/clean tech companies now call South San Francisco home; Takeda Pharmaceutical, Onyx Pharmaceutical, Solarzyme, Sutro Biopharma and Portola Pharmaceutical.The competition to attract new businesses is keen not only within the State, but from out of state entities as well. The City will continue to work to attract new businesses to South San Francisco. After all, we are the birhtplace of biotech and have the largest concentration of life science/clean tech businesses in the U.S.

In your opinion, what is the most crucial budget issue the city faces, and what would you do about the problem?

We have had four years of balanced budgets with no lay offs or  furloughs of employees, our fire houses remain open and fully staffed, we've hired new police officers and our libraries maintain regular hours. The challenge is to find new sources of revenue so that we can maintain a level of services that are acceptable. I have proposed to our City Manager that we create a task force to seek out new businesses, both large and small. Opportunities exist with businesses located in other cities that have created financial burdens for small businesses.

What’s something that voters don’t know about you?

I would like the voters to know that I am committed to preserving the integrity of our neighborhoods and to making our City a comfortable place to live with good schools, recreation facilities and affordable housing so that our residents can live where they work. I also would like the voters to know that I volunteer my time for senior citizens, reading to school children and along with my wife, Elaine, help to maintain a small planted area in our local park.