Ron Leone makes case for Concord Council seat
August 30, 2007
The following statement is from Ron Leone on why he should be appointed to the Concord City Council. Any candidate or resident is free to submit their own moderated posting or comment at any time. BGR
My wife Maria and I have lived in Concord for 29 years. We’ve raised our three children in Concord. I’ve demonstrated my leadership as an elected official by serving for four-terms as Director of the Mt. Diablo Hospital Board. As director for 16 years on the hospital board, I kept my pledge to save millions of dollars through prudent fiscal management while delivering exceptional services, and keeping our Mt, Diablo Hospital vibrant and our Emergency Room open. I was chairman of the board for the John Muir Health System, which is a billion dollar Private Corporation with 6,000 employees. I was chairman of the John Muir/ Mt. Diablo Community Health Fund board that gave $1,000,000 in grants annually to unmet health c are needs in our community. I was the Teacher of the Year in the San Ramon School District. I am currently the Director of Student Support Services in the Antioch School District. As the director of a large school district’s Student Support Services and former high school administrator, I worked hand-to-hand with law enforcement. I firmly believe in prevention, intervention, and enforcement. I have traveled with the Concord police in the monument corridor. My oldest son worked for the Concord Police Department. Consistent enforcement of city codes and keeping our neighborhoods safe and attractive is essential for our quality of life in Concord. Last year my daughter’s boyfriend was viciously attacked in Concord. And although violent crimes have only risen marginally, we must reverse this trend. When you analyze the FBI statistics, it becomes clear that the more sworn officers a city has, the less violent crimes occur in a city. I will support the hiring of more police officers.
I will continue the efforts to keep Concord a safe and appealing place for all sorts of businesses and employers. We need to continue to encourage businesses in town that provides our residents with plenty of places to shop, and the high-paying corporate employer that will support our standard of living. Concord should continue to develop a vibrant and thriving downtown. (A downtown that rivals those of our neighboring communities.) Combining restaurants, retail shops, and cultural interests that will make downtown Concord a destination with a broad spectrum of appeal. We need to continue to maintain our city’s strongest per-capita sales tax base in the county. I support the expansion of events such as the farmer’s market, summer concerts, and other downtown events that make our city a fun and unique place to live. I also support the redevelopment and the revitalization of the Monument Corridor. This should become a cultural highlight of our city.
I also serve on the city’s Design Review Board. I understand the issues in Concord; in the last city council election I walked door-to-door receiving 10,000 votes. I am able to make the tough decisions. As the last city council’s election runner-up by a razor-thin margin, I have the most legitimate claim on the vacant seat created by the untimely and tragic death of Michael Chavez. My views on the Concord Naval Weapons Station development mirror Michael Chavez. Like Michael Chavez, I would like to stop the over-development of this area. I will preserve plenty of open-space and our natural resources. Permanently protecting our hillsides from over-development. I will only support a reuse plan that enhances our overall community with a combination of developing additional parks, recreation, baseball, soccer fields, trails and plenty of open space, and an intelligent use of the land around the North Concord BART station that will not have an adverse impact on the surrounding neighbors. We need open-space buffer zones to insulate our older established neighborhoods. I also do not want to have the quality and the character of our neighborhoods destroyed by added traffic, increased crime, crowded schools, and strains on other city services. Reducing traffic, supporting the transportation infrastructure and public transportation is a high priority for me. With the Naval Weapons Station development this provides us with many challenges but through this development plan we need to find the finance mechanisms to fund long-needed traffic improvements in our city. The city council should establish a dynamic plan to alleviating both our current and potential traffic problems. We need to manage traffic in a sensible way to keep our people moving in our main streets, but not speeding through our neighborhoods. Concord has been, and is a great place to raise our children; however it won’t remain that way if traffic congestion prevents us from getting in, around, and out of town. I will continue to encourage community involvement through the reuse process. And I believe that any development plan on the Naval Weapons Station should be placed before the voter’s approval.
Sincerely,
Ron Leone
925-680-1776
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4 Responses to “Ron Leone makes case for Concord Council seat”
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It has been a long time since I have seen so many sound bites strung together in one letter. The problem with all this is that there are so many points to questions one does not know where to begin. To start: The margin of loss Mr. Leone suffered last year was not quite so razor thin as he would have us believe. And, to lose to a first time candidate with no political experience, and to a candidate who did not even campaign, should be enough to make one draw in one’s horns and run for cover. As to his often stated intent as to what he would do with the CNWS - he has first to deal with the written opinion of the City Attorney who has already advised him that he lives too near the station and is conflicted - that is he can not vote on any reuse plan as a council member, nor can he debate any such plan, nor can he even talk to any other council member about a plan. Sounds to me like a vote for Leone is a vote wasted. And all this is not even to question what he really did - or did not do - in his sixteen years on the Mt. Diablo Hospital Board.
In response to Bill’s points:
1. I do live within 500 feet of one tiny section of the Concord Naval Weapons Station. However, I am not sure why this issue has resurfaced again. This issue came up last year when I ran for city council. When it did, last year I called the Concord city attorney’s office. Craig Labadie told me that this potential conflict could be avoided just like the city council voting on the city’s general plan. All council members live within the boundaries of the city, so sections are sub-portioned out surrounding each council member’s residence and then they vote on the rest of the plan without a conflict of interest. The Concord Naval Weapons Station is an area of potential development that is more than 5,100 acres or about 8.2 square miles.
In addition, I‘ve spoken to another attorney that deals with city matters. This attorney told me that there is another solution to this issue. There is an exception to the conflict of interest law (Cal. Admin. Code tit. 2, s 18707.9 Public Generally) that exempts a person from a conflict of interest if the decision affects at least 10% of the residential property units in the jurisdiction of the public official he or she represents. Considering the potential impact of the development of an area of the Concord Naval Weapons Station, the size of Pleasant Hill, this has a potential impact on all 100% of the residences of Concord.
2. With the exception of Helen Allen appearing on the televised debate, Mrs. Allen did not campaign, however there were four mass mailings that went out on her behalf that probably cost over $20,000 a piece.
3. I received 10,000 votes. I only lost by 359 votes; the next closest candidate was almost 1,800 votes behind me.
Regardless of how the city council votes on Tuesday September 4th, I pledge my continuing efforts to stay involved and to help make Concord an even greater place to live.
I just read the critique of Ron Leone’s statement of qualifications, an amusing attempt by the Bjerke camp to discredit Mr. Leone. Bill, or whoever you really are, if you want to see or read sound bites, check out Guy’s statement of qualifications. Better yet, take a look at his website. What a crock…a absolute altar to the liberal hall of shame in Contra Costa County.
Give me a break, Ron Leone was the second highest vote getter. The voters in the election selected him as their next best candidate.
Mr. Leone should be appointed to the vacant seat. By the way, any one know where Helen Allen really lives???
To avoid having my chops busted unnecessarily, the “Bill” in question is not me, but another Bill (not Shinn) who served as former Concord Mayor and Councilmember.