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last update: Friday, October 1, 2010

DAVE TROTTER
Contra Costa Association of Realtors® BORPAC Candidate Questionnaire

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1.

Please list the issues, in order of their importance to you, which compel you to run for elective office:

I ran four years ago because I wanted to make a difference in addressing the important issues facing the Town of Moraga. My family and I moved to Moraga 22 years ago for its excellent public schools, semi-rural feeling, spectacular open space and exceptional quality of life. My strong desire to preserve and enhance these mainstream values, and to serve the Moraga community and the broader public interest, continues to be what motivates and energizes me to seek re-election to the Town Council. There are still many things that I believe we can and should be doing as a community, and that I would like to get done. These include:

1. Preserving and protecting our remaining ridgelines and open space areas from inappropriate development, in compliance with the General Plan and MOSO.

2. Implementing the Moraga Revenue Enhancement Committee’s roadmap, and developed stable funding sources for ongoing maintenance/repair of Town roads, storm drains and infrastructure.

3. Planning for and building a community gymnasium.

4. Taking steps to fully implement the Moraga Center Specific Plan, revitalize our two commercial shopping areas, and extend and beautify School Street as the new “heart of Moraga.”

5. Approving a Rheem Park Specific Plan that has a positive, financially viable vision.

6. Opening up the Hacienda de las Flores to greater public uses benefiting the Moraga community.

7. Sustaining our record of fiscal discipline, balanced Town budgets, and a cohesive Town Council.

8. Retaining and encouraging the Town’s tradition of concerned, effective and well-informed volunteers working for the betterment of Moraga.

2.

What would you like to see accomplished in your City in the next four years?

Please refer to my campaign flyer and to my other answers herein for a further description of the goals I intend to pursue if I am re-elected on November 2.

3.

What is your position on the following issues?

1) Housing:

Please refer to my campaign flyer and answers to previous questions above.

2) Crime:

I strongly support the need to provide the necessary funding to local law enforcement (i.e., the Moraga Police Department) so that we can detect and arrest criminals and maintain public safety. Both historically and during my tenure on the Moraga Town Council, the Town of Moraga has benefited from one of the lowest per capital crime rates in the State of California for cities of comparable size. If I am re-elected, providing the necessary resources to our police department will continue to be a major budgetary priority.

3) Schools/ Education:

My wife Debby and I moved to Moraga in 1988 for its semi-rural quality of life and excellent public schools. We have raised four children, all of whom attend public schools (Rheem Elementary, Joaquin Moraga Intermediate, and Campolindo High School). They received great educations, and I am proud to say that our three eldest children have attended Stanford, while our youngest boy is an entering freshman at UC Davis this year.

Thus, I am and have been a strong, 22-year supporter of Moraga’s excellent public schools and the Moraga Education Foundation. I fully appreciate that the quality of our local public schools in Moraga is one of the principal reasons for the sustained high home and property values here in Moraga (along with Moraga’s beautiful and serene setting well off Highway 24 and bordering on publicly owned open to the south, east and west). I have consistently and publicly supported Moraga School District and Acalanes School District bond measures and parcel taxes designed to improve and maintain the quality of school facilities and educational programs which benefit the youth of Moraga and make our community a great place to live and raise a family.

4) Community and Economic Development:

I am a committed advocate for community and economic development here in Moraga. As a member of the Town Council’s Specific Plan subcommittee from 2007 to the present, I shaped and in early 2010 approved the Moraga Center Specific Plan. I worked effectively with stakeholder groups and the affected property owners including the Bruzzone family, ultimately gaining their trust. The MCSP covers more than 180 acres, including approximately 90 acres of undeveloped land in the center of town. The Plan is the first step in the Town’s plans to revitalize our two commercial areas and creating new energy in the heart of Moraga. If re-elected, I will work to implement the Plan’s vision.

Despite initial resistance from the Bruzzone family, it is my understanding that shortly after adoption of the Specific Plan the Bruzzones began receiving inquiries from numerous merchant builders and developers who have expressed interest in doing residential projects within the Plan area. Such contacts and meetings continue to take place. For the past four years, I have consistently said that the role of government in a specific plan project such as this is to development a vision for the property that meets the needs of the community for housing, is aesthetically pleasing and physically attractive and financial viable for the property owner, and sends a message to the marketplace that attracts the interest of developers and builders who have the resources and expertise to fairly compensate the property owner and get projects that are consistent with the terms of the MCSP approved and built. To be sure, it will take years for that vision to become a reality in Moraga, but achieving that vision is a major priority for me.

If re-elected, it is also my intention, hopefully with the support of other Councilmembers, to begin a comprehensive specific plan and visioning process for the Rheem Park Specific Plan area, in accordance with the goals laid out in the Town’s 2002 General Plan. I hope to complete that planning effort during the next four years, and to develop a strategy that will fill the many empty storefronts in the Rheem Center with quality retailers and tenants.

Finally, as Mayor in 2009 I appointed and served on the Moraga Revenue Enhancement Committee. The Committee consisted of a group of citizen volunteers, who over the course of seven months produced an extensive and well-documented report that has been unanimously approved by the Moraga Town Council. The report provides a roadmap for future financing and repair of Town roads, storm drains and other essential infrastructure.

If re-elected, I will work with other Councilmembers and Moraga residents to implement that roadmap and develop stable funding sources for ongoing maintenance/repair of roads, storm drains and other Town infrastructure. The goal is to prevent their deterioration and decay and develop cost-effective solutions in the next 2-3 years – before the problems get even worse and the cost of repair becomes an even greater burden for the Town ande its residents. Moraga needs to avoid the problems that now plague the roads in Orinda. Again, the current Town Council seems to be committed to addressing and fixing these conditions in a responsible and timely way – instead of just “kicking the can down the road” and leaving this problem in the lap of a future Council..

4.

Please provide a list of the groups and/ or individuals that have endorsed you?

5.

Is there anything you would like us to know about you prior to our interview?

I am a political moderate. My actions as a Moraga Town Councilmember reflect a record of sensible, mainstream decisions in the broader public interest. Perhaps the best evidence of my moderate credentials and philosophy as a public official is that fact that I am lifelong registered Republican who also enjoys the endorsement and support of the Sierra Club. I believe that responsible government has a necessary role to play in providing essential municipal services to residents, and protecting and preserving core community values.

For the past decade I have served on the board of directors of Save Mount Diablo, including stints as the Secretary of the SMD, on its Executive Committee, and on its Land Committee (currently). I am a longtime member and supporter of the Moraga Chamber of Commerce and local businesses in Moraga.