Jeff Lewis' Platform for RPV City Council Campaign

By Jeff Lewis

I am running for City Council this November to preserve the character of our neighborhoods. During my four years on the Planning and Traffic Commissions for our city, I have voted against the construction of McMansions, a CVS Pharmacy and other high density projects that technically can be built through variances and exceptions under our city's existing laws but which would damage the look and feel of our neighborhoods. As chair of the Planning Commission in 2009, I led the effort to prevent the construction of student dormitories on the Marymount campus. Although over development is an important and foundational reason for my candidacy, it is not the only reason. Once elected to our City Council, I pledge to address these other concerns as outlined below.

Financial Reserve Policies Prior RPV city councils allowed our reserves to fall close to zero. Under our current city council leadership, our city has a very conservative reserve policy to get us through these economic times and periods of "borrowing" our city's funds by the California Legislature. Due to term limits, the existing city council will not be in place in four years. I pledge to continue the city's course with respect to maintaining a conservative financial reserve. In addition to setting conservative levels for our reserves, future annual expenditures should be matched to annual sources of revenue to avoid deficits in future years. I would pledge to carefully consider whether any addition to our city budget is funded by a commensurate revenue source in future years.

Open Space and Parks Our current city council leveraged modest private investments to gain millions of dollars in public grants and donations for open space acquisition and preservation. That open space is a legacy to be preserved and carefully managed for future generations to enjoy. I would build on the efforts of the current city council by ensuring that our open spaces are properly managed. Our city has an important role to play in guiding the future use and enjoyment of our open space. With respect to the parks within our borders, I would make it a goal to identify any parks that, due to lack of parking, infrastructure or other access, are under-utilized by our residents. As a father of two young children, I would try to maximize the availability of all of our city parks for active recreation use.

Planning Our current standards for building homes within our city are uncertain, subjective and leave developers, homeowners, neighbors and city planners to guess on what limits the city imposes on building new homes. As a council member, I would push to reform our building code to minimize the subjective elements of our planning process and incorporate into the planning process the floor area ratio ("FAR") as many of our neighboring cities do. The neighborhood compatibility process needs to be examined to ensure that it is the most effective and cost-efficient means of preserving our quality of life in our city. I have consistently voted to strictly enforce our city's view ordinance and would favor strengthening it to consider all views that are blocked when height variations are sought for larger structures.

Infrastructure Our arterial streets and city storm drains are failing. I would make repairs to our arterial streets and storm drains a top budget priority. In my view, this is one of the most vital roles our local government can play and these improvements directly impact our property values and safety. I oppose the cancellation or reduction of taxes that are needed to fund infrastructure repairs unless and until the city truly has significant and recurring revenue surpluses.

Consensus Based Decision Making Our city council works best when it works towards the best interests of our city rather than advancing the individual agendas of one or two council members. In the past few years, there have been instances where a single council member has sought to put matters on an agenda and have staff research matters that the city council has no purview over or for which the amount of staff time spent on the matter was disproportionate to the issue at hand. Such practices simply waste our tax dollars and the time of the public at city council meetings. I would strive to work as a team with my fellow council members towards the good of our city. In this regard, I am the only candidate for city council who has the endorsement of three sitting council members: Mayor Larry Clark, Mayor Pro Tem Steve Wolowicz and Council Member Tom Long. Their support demonstrates that I already have the confidence of a majority of the city council and that confidence will translate to a solid foundation to work with the city council and make effective decisions with them in an efficient manner.

Developments in Neighboring Cities Our city does not get a vote when it comes to the proposed high density building projects in our neighboring cities. Nonetheless, it is important that RPV's leaders speak out on these important issues as the traffic and quality of life within our city limits will be impacted. I oppose many of the high density/mixed use projects that the City of Rolling Hills Estates has already approved, or is contemplating on Silver Spur Road and Deep Valley Drive. I similarly oppose the change from R-1 housing proposed by the Ponte Vista project on Western Avenue across from Green Hills Memorial Park. Western Aenue cannot accommodate the existing volume of traffic as it is and a high density project will make traffic worse for residents of RPV and San Pedro.

Crime and Technology In 2008, our city authorized the use of California Law Enforcement Equipment Program (CLEEP) funds and General funds to purchase one radio car fully equipped with the Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) software system. The ALPR is currently being evaluated as a pilot program on the Peninsula. The ALPR system uses advanced optical character recognition (OCR) to read and record vehicle license plates and can operate in almost all lighting conditions. When installed in a Sheriff's radio car, the ALPR system continuously reads and checks the license plates of vehicles it passes as the deputy drives through a jurisdiction. Radio cars are typically equipped with cameras mounted to the lightbar with two pointing forward and one pointing outward from the passenger side (to read the plates of parked vehicles). As the radio car drives, the system is continuously reading and checking the license plates of vehicles in front of and behind the car against the specified parameters. All vehicle license plates are then automatically run through a "wanted" system. This system will automatically notify the deputy with an audible and visible alert of any "hits" it receives, such as stolen vehicles, stolen license plates, felony wanted vehicles, Amber Alerts, etc. The system is completely automatic and the deputy in the patrol car does not have to operate the system in any manner. The ALPR system can read/recognize one license plate every four seconds in vehicular traffic. The system can scan and read up to 1,000 license plates per hour or 8,000 plates during a typical 8 hour shift. This is vastly superior to the traditional manner of a deputy manually checking license plates. Unless the results of the pilot program in the Peninsula differs widely from the ALPR use in other jurisdictions, I would support the expansion of the ALPR system on the Peninsula.

RPV Needs Your Help Do you want a say in how our city's policies are shaped over the next four years? Would you like to see the progress of our current city council continue over the next four years as all five sitting council members are replaced due to term limits? If so, I would urge you to support my campaign by lending me your endorsement, donating your time or contributing to my campaign.