Candidate Sieferman distributes campaign letter
The following is a campaign letter distributed by Woodland City Council candidate Frank Sieferman, Jr:
Dear Neighbor,
I am a life long resident and active community leader in Woodland, and I am writing you this letter to personally request your vote on June 3rd for Woodland City Council. I am running because I know as your community voice on the City Council, together we can make a difference that will create positive changes in Woodland and transform this city into a model for others to follow.
Our City needs a strong, authentic voice for the community on the council, one that operates on principle, not political convenience. As your City Councilmember, I pledge to be that voice.
As your councilmember, I will:
• Keep Neighborhoods a Safe Place for Families and Children, by ensuring we have the best possible police, firefighters and paramedics to protect our neighborhoods and schools.
• Protect Seniors, by increasing services and programs to help meet the needs of seniors on fixed incomes.
• Increase Fiscal Accountability, by making the City accountable for all expenditures.
• Build Strong Partnerships with Educational Leaders, by bringing more teen centers, youth programs, sports fields and parks to our children.
• Bring Quality Jobs and Economic Development to Woodland, by ensuring Woodland is a good place to grow or start a business.
My record as a veteran, small businessman, former Supervisor, and active community member, firmly establishes that I am willing to fight for all of the people who cherish Woodland and call her home. I believe that family relationships and friendships developed through mutual respect are the cornerstones of our community. I believe that by working together we can accomplish more to enhance our city than by doing it alone.
I would be honored to have your vote on June 3rd, so together we can make Woodland the best city it can be.
All my best,
Frank Sieferman Jr.
Business Owner
(530) 383-5464
Posts
35 comments:
Hey Frank, I voted for you today, sent my ballot back in the mail.
Here's my Vote
Monroe
Harris ( for REXROAD)
Frank
My top three. Harris vote was purley for Matt Rexroad!
An active community member? You? That is hardly true, Frank. And another candidate who thinks that a failure to move is a qualification for elective office. And those promises? You mean like did on the Board of Supes, Frank. Where you where none for spending four years and not accomplishing a darn thing?
Frank has my vote. He is not a politician and that's why I am voting for him. I met him a few months ago at a grocery store. I introduced myself to him. He was very warm and interested in my points of view. I can honestly say he listens and cares. God speed Frank.
"Where you where none for spending four years and not accomplishing a darn thing?"
He was none where spending people meeting where money darn things and so forth.
I guess Art and Martie must be running their campaign together. I only see Dote signs where Art's are. That is funny.
I think they are the only two with lawn signs, hence you may sometimes see them together. Collusion? Doubtful. They are not exactly buddies if you're aware of their history.
Franks' greatest strength is that he can relate to the average person. He is not pretentious like most politicians.
I don't get why a Republican like Rexroad would support such a green person like Dotie- this is strange. If he runs for higher office, I hope this ultra liberal support bites him in his conservative behind.
Frank has and always will be a man of the people for the people.
Dear 10:39 - Make of it what you will, but I think Matt endorsed me because he worked with me for two years on council and he knows the wide experience I would bring to the job. City Council is non-partisan, and although Matt and I have differing world views, labels are not useful at this juncture. Endorsements are not about politics, or at least they shoudn't be, but rather who you think would do the best job. Supervisor Duane Chamberlain, former Councilman Neil Peart, Vice Mayor Skip Davies and Councilman Bill Marble have also endorsed me, and none of those gentlemen are politically on the left.
Neil said it best when he and I were talking to a third party who remarked about how we had worked together on council - that even though we differ politically, when we worked together we set those differences aside and both put the good of the community above all other considerations. That's called public service, and that is what I was always about. I've been proud to serve Woodland for ten years as an elected or appointed official.
PS -Art and I are not running our campaigns together -it's pure luck our signs show up in the same areas. Thanks for noticing them - I think mine have better design, but then I would.
PPS - Frank ran for supervisor twice, I think, before he beat Tom Stallard, then again when he lost to Matt, now for City Council. That's four or five campaigns. I'm puzzled what your definition of politician is if that doesn't describe Frank's activities for the past 12-15 years? This is my third campaign, so I guess that would make me a politician, but I don't feel detached from people, cold or un-caring. Maybe the word politician doesn't describe what a person is, but only what they do - run for election to public office.
Martie Dote
Frank is a very nice person but doesn't show me any leadership skills. Making everyone happy doesn't make for a good leader that will accomplish anything. Our leaders have to make hard decisions that don't make all citizens happy, but that the job.
One thing to remember about Frank Jr....as a Supervisor, he was all in favor of using Eminent Domain to take the Seveenteen Thousand Acre) Conaway Ranch from its true
and rightful owners. Yes, he and three other supervisors plotted
this greedy "land-grab" The
attempt failed,...ONLY because the
Winton Indians bacled out of
financing the deal.
Does this give you a clue about his
willingness to use Eminent Doimain
to take YOUR Woodland property if the City wamts to hand it over to Petrovich......or any other developoer...to make a profit.
Vote "YES" on Proposition 98.....
put a stop to "land-grabs."
Nice letter. I have always liked Frank and am happy to see him return to public service. He is a public servant.
Martie Dote Wrote:
"Dear 10:39 - Make of it what you will, but I think Matt endorsed me because he worked with me for two years on council and he knows the wide experience I would bring to the job."
Martie I like you and I will vote for you over Pimental.
However please don't spin the facts.
Fact: Matt encouraged you and endorsed you simply to have someone on the ballot to try and keep sieferman out that is the truth.
Harris was not going to present a challenge, Lopez is an unknown. Matt knew sieferman had very strong chance of winning therefore Matt was out recruiting people to run against Sieferman.
Woodland Voter
Well said- I agree that Martie was a Rexroad recruit.
All politics is local whether or not the race or seat is partisan. I personally would hate to be be viewed as the anti-Frank vote.
I will vote for Frank, Art and nobody else. I liked Frank as a Supervisor.
BTW MD- why criticize the Sieferman record, your Council record was not so stellar. What leadership skills did you exhibit?
I agree that Frank is not a politician- regardless of MD's classification. He is a public servant. A politician is Rexroad- the master of being a spin-doctor who makes his living electing crazy Republicans all over the country. Typical Rexroad- making this race about him. If memory serves me correct- he only beat Frank by under 700 votes- hardly a mandate- especially when he outraised Frank running a $100k plus race to his modest campaign. Smells like buying an election to me.
Ms. Dotie- I urge you to stand on your own 2 feet and separate yourself from Rexroad. Any decent Democrat should know better.
Hi 10:28 - no spin. I made the decision to run independent of Matt. No recruitment involved. For me, it was a matter of timing. His support was not the determining factor.
Martie Dote
I saw Frank out walking this weekend.
Last election Frank got 3,858 just in the 3rd district alone. The 5th district would have more woodland votes than the 3rd I would guess. I am sure Frank has a strong base in the 3rd district as well.
It only took 6,589 to become Mayor in the last City election.
Hi 12:49 - since Dr. Jorge Ayala endorsed me, am I a Jorge recruit? Or a Neal Peart recruit? I have endorsements that span the political spectrum. City Council isn't about partisanship. To my knowledge these people are endorsing me because either they liked what I did before or they think I'll do a good job on council again.
I said nothing about Frank's record as a Supervisor, I only was asking for clarification of what the definition of "Politician" should be for purposes of discussion, and what I am seeing is that it is a matter of personality. So be it.
If you want to seriously talk about my four years on council, I'm happy to. In four years I never missed a meeting. I served on the Water Resources Association, the county LAFCO (dealing with annexations and preservation of ag land), I was a board member of the then Woodland Economic Ren. Corp., I was the first chairwoman of the Yolo County Habitat Conservation JPA, Neal and I were the subcommittee to work out the kinks in the Spring Lake Master Plan (that was hundreds of hours), including the affordable housing element, we got the new police station built and I was one of the ones pushing design-build, which saved us a lot of money, set the location and plan for the Community/Senior Center, I lobbied in DC for city projects, I served on the city-county 2x2, and at the state level I was one of the city reps to the League of Calif cities and served on their resource subcommittee, again dealing with legislation about waste water and other resource issues. The list goes on. Leadership is a nice catch-word, but what it really takes is someone who can form coalitions to get the job done - as someone said at one of the forums, nothing happens without three votes. You can have any number of good ideas, but without support from the other councilmembers, they will not go anywhere.
Martie Dote
Martie, I have a real question for you.
I bought a house last year in Spring Lake. I am paying taxes for Parks that were promised to be in during 2008. Now because of the Housing downturn, the parks are on hold permanently. Why am I still paying taxes for a service I am not receiving and will I get a refund? Only some of the walk ways have benn completed, I moved next to a park so my children could enjoy it and now they will probably be in High School before they get completed. I feel ripped off.
I really like Frank. He is a caring person. As a lifelong Republican, I support him. I am a senior on a fixed income. He shares a lot of the same concerns as me.
Frank is not a rich man and works everyday. Why should he be criticized for not being a part of an organized group or coalition.
He doesn't need a list of supporters to make him shine. He is running a grassroots campaign and I applaud him for that.
Martie,
Among your accomplishments, you listed that you "set the location and plan for the Community/Senior Center."
How did the center end up there? Weren't there other locations considered - like adjacent to WCC and PHS as a group of joint-use facitites?
I'm not trying to single you out, just trying to see what the heck happened.
Martie, do you think Measure E put our wants in front of our needs? Clearly, the elected officials knew we would need money for Storm drain issues, but instead of asking for that money first we passed E. Now it is impossible to pass a storm drain increase.
I may be incorrect, so give me your view on that.
Hey Frank,
Your campaign letter makes reference to these two items;
"Build Strong Partnerships with Educational Leaders, by bringing more teen centers, youth programs, sports fields and parks to our children."
How do you think our educational leaders can afford these programs and purchases? Or do you suggest that the City Council should approve more City funds?
And,
"Bring Quality Jobs and Economic Development to Woodland, by ensuring Woodland is a good place to grow or start a business.
How would you seek out these new businesses, and what would you do to convince them that Woodland is a good place to do business?
Current City staff have not figured it out yet. Council currently has no clue either. Tell me why your ideas would be enough of a substantial change from current leaders?
Red
Let me see if I can answer. First, Measure E. Measure E was the extension of Measure H, passed in 2000. It (H) was a half-cent general sales tax collected only in Woodland, with four advisory measures for street repairs, police station, community/senior center and playing fields (most likely soccer and baseball). The measure and advisories were put on the ballot by the council from the 1996-2000 term - I wasn't elected until 2000, so my job was to implement the voters' will. Measure H sunset in 2006, and was extended 12 years with Measure E plus advisories for street repairs, finishing the community center, improvements to the city hall complex, and expansion of the Opera House, library and sports park improvements. This time the advisories were put on by the 2004-2008 term council members. If I'm elected, again it will be my job to implement the voters' will. Needs versus wants? Both of these measures enjoyed broad community support. I think people who have lived here for some time realized that as a city we needed some civic improvements beyond the obvious street repairs. All the advisories passed with over 50% voter approval, which tells me people want their city to have civic facilities such as the community center, police station and library upgraded, and updated. These are capital projects for which there are virtually no other funding sources that a city such as Woodland can tap- even street repair funds are scarce, and without Measure H (and E) there is no way we could have done the infrastructure work we did. True, a general sales tax can be passed for operations, such as Davis did for their community services, but it is much harder to do for operations than for capital projects. There was an increase in water/sewer fees in 2002 or 2003 (I think) with a Prop. 218 vote - that's the way the state sets up votes for fee increases. As we know the attempt for a fee increase for storm drains failed. We could use the general sales tax for the infrastructure replacements for the storm drain system, but I don't know if that's the best vehicle. The general half-cent tax (Measure E) may not have raised enough funds over 12 years, and may have needed a longer extension. Besides, these special taxes sunset, whereas a fee would stay on permanently. Generally I don't think special sales taxes are good for on-going expenditures, unless you're LA county with a permanent 1% sales tax for transportation projects. Would I have put it on the 2006 list of advisories for Measure E? I really don't know. Maybe. I wasn't involved with the decision, but the advice to council may have been that another project for infrastructure improvements might have killed the Measure E extension, which was really needed for the other projects for which there are no other funding sources, whereas a fee increase could have funded the storm drains.
Dino- community/senior center. Hopefully you got the point that the whole council takes action on something like that project, not one individual. That's one reason why it's hard to point to individual accomplishments when really it's the group that acts. Yes, we looked at lots of other places - Crawford Park, Freeman Park, the lot at Ashley and Main, the basin by Station 3 for soccer fields, land the county owns north of Beamer, etc. A problem with the WCC or Pioneer location is too much of that Spring Lake area is taken up with public uses- the jail, juvenile hall, animal control, college, high school and 20 acres set aside for another middle school if needed, (but I don't think they'll use it for that). The financial plan for that area was squeeky as it was without taking more land for public use, i.e., no property tax. When we talked about putting it into a park, we got concerned reactions from neighbors who 1) didn't want to loose their local parks, and 2) didn't want the extra traffic and activities in their neighborhoods. The other consideration was what the footprint was going to be. Several folks wanted something smaller, but some of us wanted to look out 30-40 years and build a center for the city Woodland is going to become. We thought that was the best use of the tax dollars. Then we got the idea to combine two advisories- the center and playing fields- into one project, the forty acres south of the mall expansion area was available, and when we moved the sports park west from SpringLake to the 40 acres east of the center, we wound up with what I think will be a gem for Woodland, a community/senior center and sports park complex that will hopefully be used year -round for tournaments, state-wide events, etc. Settling on a design and location took years, with input from the Parks and Rec Commission, Commission on Aging, public meetings, etc. I've been there for a couple of events, and it is a marvel.
Hi Anon 1:49 I'm concerned to hear your problems. When we finished and adopted the Specific Plan and design Standards, phasing of infrastructure, such as parks and roads, walk-ways and sidewalks, was supposed to be simultaneous with housing development, so we didn't get the problem we had in Gibson Ranch (north of Gibson) where some half roadways, landscaping and sidewalks, were un-finished until the last house was built. I know there have been some Specific Plan amendments come through the Planning Commission, and some have gone directly to council, but I don't recall anything that would allow what you're describing, unless it happened and I didn't know about it. Can you email me with which development you're in so I have better information to ask staff about, or if you don't want to chance loosing anon. status, just list it here. I'll see what I can find out.
Martie Dote
It is listed on every Parks and Rec report, every month. First the parks were just delayed one month at a time, then they were put on hold, with the first park not even scheduled until the end of 2009.
Here is the May 5th report to the City Council.
Read the last line under Spring Lake. It says the parks have been delayed 3 years.
Wow- I love all this Frank interest.
Martie,
Thanks for the explanation. Obviously, we have what we have now - but I question the evolution of that Community Center project. I think there could have been better planning for joint-use facilities adjacent to the college and the high school (the sports and park part of it).
I think a new senior center could have been a good infill project for downtown. Is it impressive now that there's a lot activities in one place? Yes. Is it an architectural marvel? Hardly. It's nice and new, I'll give it that.
I'm sorry I'm not as excited about it as you. I know many people are and that's a good thing. Hopefully it will be kept in nice shape.
I know that was off the subject of Frank... but I saw the opportunity to ask you about.
Dino, I know this is off topic as well,,, but, (maybe a new post topic???)
Went out there to the Taj. on Sunday after Church. One lady in the small dog park area. The large dog place was empty. We had the only car in the lot. The place was a ghost town. Where was the community? where were the children using these new facilities? Wouldn't you think that the place would be over packed on a Sunday when most people have the day off?
You are right, Dino, the place looks great, new, clean, and all that. Too bad I could not get in to see the whole thing.
Woodland Parent
Woodland Parent,
We are all in church, where you should be.
Sunday School
8:25,
I almost don't want to respond to that IDIOTIC advice.
Just for your information: Our Church does not have activities after the service.
A nice Sunday activity could be at the Community Center. If the money collected (measure E taxes) is for the Comm Ctr., then why can't the community use it??? That was the point I was trying to make.
Please Dino, I have other issues about the Comm Ctr. that I would like to raise. This post should be about Frank. He does not seem to know about this Journal, and does not seem to be responding. I would like to invite responders like Martie and any other candidates the opportunity to adress some of the WCC questions.
Please email me your discussion topics about the Community Center and/or Woodland Community College.
dino@woodlandartcenter.org
You won't be identified in a new post, unless you want to be, but I'd like at list bullet points for the story.
Anyone get a new mailer from Frank? I heard someone saying they got something yesterday but I have not. What does it say?
Looks like Rexroad predicts that Sieferman wins this race. I have to agree.
Lord help us. Here we go again. The same outlandish behavior, the same empty threats, the same empty promises. Pathetic.
Anon 7:24
Are you talking about Rexroad?
Nice signs Frank.
Sieferman's sign are up now on his main funder Jim Borchard's land. Borchard wants to annex to the City. Guess where Frank's signs are?
Post a Comment