Issues & Solutions
Engage Residents
Residents are my priority. I engage on critical issues that concern residents.
Engaging with residents around their priorities is my strength. Throughout my first term, I collaborated to help solve critical issues on behalf of residents:
- Short term rental fines
- Butcher Hill development
- Cox Communications reliability and performance upgrades
- Frontier Communications fiber-optic deployment
- Dreiling/McCrary Police Department study and recommendations
- Stabilize Palos Verdes Estates Police Department staffing
- Code enforcement attention on encroachments
- Landscape maintenance and fire clearance
- RV ordinance development and passage
Continue Improving the City’s Financial Position
A stable City financial position is necessary to serve residents. My leadership delivers prudent and responsible fiscal management.
The City’s financial position strengthened between FY’18 and FY’21 with prudent and responsible fiscal management:
- Total fund balance increased from $29MM to $33MM
- General fund balance improved from $13MM to $18MM, net of transfer activity
- Additional debt payments to CalPERS totaling $1.82MM
- A new pension funding policy established:
- Contribute a minimum additional payment of $250K per year within budget
- Drive funded ratios up by allocating 30% of any annual surplus to pension debt
On a forward-looking basis, the upcoming expiration of Measure E requires replacement, taking long-term resident and city needs into consideration. Short-term fixed-dollar parcel taxes have proven to be insufficient to keep up with inflation. A replacement measure, reinstatement of utility taxes, and a blend of non-taxable revenue sources are needed.
Protect the Character of our City
Local control of zoning and planning decisions is under continued attack by the state legislature. Protecting and investing in the city’s character requires continued collaboration and partnership between residents, the Palos Verdes Homes Association, and the city council. Throughout my first term, I invested heavily in protecting Palos Verdes Estates residents from one-size-fits-all state overreach, collaborating with numerous organizations in opposition to increasing density. Increasing investments in landscape and parkland maintenance, fire clearance, and tree trimming are needed to preserve the bucolic feel our residents desire. I will continue my dedication to these efforts.
