May 4, 2006

ELECTION ‘06

Mulcahy takes the stage

Mayoral candidate answers some difficult questions

Editor’s note:
The Times newspapers interviewed the five major mayoral candidates and these interviews will appear in the next few issues culminating in the Times endorsement of a candidate for mayor. The interviews appear in the order that they took place. Last week we featured David Pandori’s interview. Today we are featuring Michael Mulcahy; May 11: Cindy Chavez; May 18: Dave Cortese; May 25: Chuck Reed; June 1: Times endorsement.

By Daniel DeBolt
Staff Writer

While mayoral candidate Michael Mulcahy, 40, may be an outsider to the current political circle ruling San Jose, he and his family are well known to the movers and shakers in the valley.

Mulcahy is the grandson of Frank DiNapoli, co founder of Sun Garden Packing Co., a large cannery in the days when orchards dominated the valley and its economy. Now the family is a major real estate holder in the city and Mulcahy manages the day-to-day operations.

It’s not a bad family to be a part of when running for office. Mulcahy’s uncle J. Phillip DiNapoli was an important supporter of Gov. Jerry Brown and who also helped to start other political careers. Subsequently, his nephew, Mulcahy has deeply rooted connections in the valley.

Although Mulcahy has never held public office before, he talks with the confidence of a seasoned politician. He is a businessman who stresses he has learned that big projects must “pencil out” and he promises to bring that tool to city government.

His experience running a nonprofit and working in grassroots groups has given him insight into the issues, and his drive to learn has accelerated during the race. He was a founding member of Baseball San Jose, a group dedicated to bringing in Major League Baseball. He is also a member of Team San Jose, a group linking hotels, the arts, and labor to promote downtown.

As a former professional actor and director of the children’s musical theater, Mulcahy has learned many skills that have enabled him to run a very powerful campaign. His presence is seemingly more captivating than any of the other candidates and his striking good looks have earned him comparisons to that other handsome Bay Area mayor to the north: Gavin Newsom.

Mulcahy’s wife, Kimberly brings her own wealth of experience to the table. Before starting a family, she worked as a policy analyst to former San Jose Mayor Susan Hammer. The couple lives in Willow Glen where their three young daughters are so involved in local theater that Mulcahy affectionately refers to them as his “theater rats.”

For more information on Michael Mulcahy visit his Web site at www.solutionsforsanjose.org.

Q and A

Cost of living/city budget

ATW: Many Silicon Valley workers are leaving the area because of the high cost of living. What can be done to make more affordable housing available in this area?

MM: We haven’t revisited the general plan in many years. Housing development has become a protracted fight all down the line. It’s lead to rezoning industrial land and short changing future job development for short term residential development. We need to do an infill opportunities audit of where residential infill can happen. If we are successful in getting BART that will present an opportunity for housing development also that we need to start planning now.

Photos by Jeff Frazee

ATW: How can we attract more jobs to San Jose?

MM: You need a mayor that is selling San Jose everyday. At the end of the day the most important thing we have to do is bring more jobs.

As jobs leave here to go overseas we need to make sure the jobs that can stay here, do, and that we don’t lose companies to other states and cities who are recruiting them. The mayor needs to have the phone number of every CEO in the valley and the ability to meet with them to find out what they need. We need to focus on the incentives for living here such as providing good housing and transportation.

ATW: There is a concern that the process for opening up a small business in San Jose is too arduous. Should this process be streamlined? If so, how?

MM: Yes, and I think the how needs to come from the people that are struggling with small businesses. I know a gentleman who opened a club called Smoke. It took him 16 months to open the club, which is at least 12 months too long! He’s got a mortgage to pay but three different inspectors are coming to tell him three conflicting things. He’s not a contributor to the city’s sales tax for 16 months.

We need the city staff to be experts in these businesses. We need inspectors of record so inspectors who are familiar with a project stay with it, on site with a PDA to make sure they can figure out what the next steps are for a business. A lot of these business owners don’t have professionals helping them along; so the city needs to participate in an education process so people can be walked through it.

ATW: In the face of the city’s current budget problems how would you allocate funds differently?

MM: We spend $294 million a year on goods and services. If we were able to save one percent that would be $2 million. We can be doing so much more to save here, for example—we don’t have a trained staff that takes the procurement process from start to finish.

The public and the council don’t see a line-item budget. That’s not right and we need to change that. There are good ideas out there. Let the public have an opportunity to input their creativity.

ATW: What can be done about the loss of our community centers and their staff?

MM: Nonprofits can work better with money then anybody I know. They can take $500 and make it work like $2,500. We need to reach out to our community partners—set down guidelines and expectations to hold organizations accountable so they can step up to the plate and operate these centers.

Transportation

ATW: Should BART be brought to San Jose? If so, what can be done to prevent it from taking funding from other projects in neighborhoods it won’t serve?

MM: For BART to get to San Jose we have to take advantage of BART as an opportunity rather than have it take away from city services. I’m most likely going to vote yes on measure A, but the process of letting politicians spend that money how they want to concerns me.

BART was the right thing 30 years ago and it’s the right thing today. There’s a real opportunity to generate revenue that will support BART with rail stations such as those in Oregon and Seattle. The downtown needs to be a destination point with vitality

ATW: What can be done to mitigate the major traffic problems there could be with future developments and an expanding city population?

MM: We need to work with other Bay Area cities to make sure the Bay Area gets paid attention to on the federal level. Legislators have committed that they are working towards an agreement of $34 billion dollars, which is a great step forward in terms of infrastructure. I’m hearing stories all the time from people about potholes causing damage to their wheels. We have a real problem.

Development

ATW: Recent decisions about Coyote Valley development have lead to the project being criticized as another example of urban sprawl. What would constitute acceptable triggers before building homes in Coyote Valley? How many jobs should there be first?

MM: I’m not going to commit to the number of jobs because the strategy has changed. But I want people working in buildings before there is housing built.

ATW: What can be done to make sure Coyote Valley development isn’t detrimental to other neighborhoods in San Jose by draining city resources? Should developers be responsible for a percentage of infrastructure improvements?

MM: The development has to pay for itself and city services cannot be impacted, nor other neighborhoods. It’s as simple as that. Until we move forward that needs to be demonstrated. And not just for the first 10 years—hat’s the easy part. It’s over a 30-year horizon that this needs to take place.

ATW: With plans for continued housing growth in the Evergreen area (4,100 to 5,700 homes), how will you, as mayor, ensure that any negative impacts on traffic, schools and city services will be minimized for Evergreen residents? How will you balance the interests of the local residents versus the interests of developers?

MM: By getting them together to continue to do what they are doing now in the task force. Good planning is very important.

I’m still not convinced the 300 acres of industrial land should go to housing. While some of the experts say it’s very hard to get jobs out there I think we should be careful. If we take those 300 acres away we have got to make sure we’ve got industrial land somewhere else for jobs.

Crime/police

ATW: Although San Jose has a low crime rate compared to other cities it still has a gang problem. What do you intend to do regarding gangs?

MM: I think prevention is key. There are many wonderful community-based organizations. We need to get back to the basics. We cannot hire more cops without more money in this city. We need to streamline the budget, stop wasting money and invest as much as we can to help these programs grow.

ATW: The city paid $1.8 million to the family after the police shooting of Bich Cau Thi Tran. Can an expensive tragedy like this be prevented? If so, how?

MM: We need to grow our police force not just in numbers, but in diversity. Invest in technology and education and have a strong link between the community and the police. Some work has been done since that killing but more needs to be done. There needs to be more training for dealing with a diverse community.

Sports

ATW: Citizens throughout the city complain they don’t have enough sports fields, especially in Almaden where citizens have spent years trying to build fields for their kids. How would you address this issue?

MM: I look at the county fairgrounds as a great opportunity to do something special for a community playground. For example, there is a Home Depot-sponsored community playground in Southern California. It’s got soccer fields, volleyball and a lot of wonderful assets. It’s very active in a community without a lot of money. It actually makes money. I think we need to do that throughout the city.

I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on the Almaden situation. It’s not just about having places to play it’s about the core value of having physical activity. We’ve got a growing obesity problem among youth.

ATW: If elected mayor, will you continue the city’s pursuit of bringing Major League Baseball, namely the Oakland A’s, to San Jose? If so, how will you go about doing this, considering that the San Francisco Giants have territorial rights to San Jose? Should the city spend money to buy land for a park before the territorial rights issue is resolved?

MM: I think the city investing in land is a smart idea, regardless. I was a founding member of Baseball San Jose which stirred up a lot of community interest but we didn’t stir up political interest until eight or nine months after we had been in business when we got a call from the mayor who said “by the way I’m going to bring major league baseball to San Jose and ‘undercover’ I’m going to go buy this land.” That’s not how you gather momentum from the community on a tough ballot initiative that will require a 2/3 majority from voters. If it doesn’t pencil I’m not going get behind it.

ATW: If elected mayor, will one of your goals be to bring Major League Soccer back to San Jose? If so, will the city of San Jose be able to provide the new team with a new soccer-specific stadium, as previously asked for by the owners of the San Jose Earthquakes?

MM: We had an opportunity to be creative about building a stadium. While the Earthquakes screamed and yelled for a few years, the city did nothing, like they have done on a number of occasions. Frankly, we did ourselves a disservice. It’s hard to get somebody back after you have lost them. There are creative people involved in this and I still think there is a way to make this happen in San Jose.

City Hall

ATW: There seems to be an anti-city hall feeling brewing during this election regarding issues such as the Nor Cal garbage deal scandal and the late notice given before subsidizing the Grand Prix. What, specifically, must be done to get the community to trust city hall again?

MM: You need a new mayor, a new city manager, a new planning director, and a new vice mayor—a re-organization of city hall. I like having a strong city manager, but it starts with the mayor. Eleven million is a lot of money, but it was the stigma after years of hiding the truth that is the problem.

ATW: The Mercury News requested information on the San Jose Grand Prix after the council voted for the $4 million subsidy. The information given to the Mercury News had pages with information blacked out. Was the city right in keeping information confidential?

MM: No. There are two people in this race who have the right to say no. There are three candidates who are part of the people who blacked out that information.

When is it appropriate to keep information from the public? I think if you are trying to protect the city from paying too much in a land acquisition, than full disclosure of information shouldn’t be required until the deal is over.

ATW: Should a Sunshine law be enforced through fines or censure or dismissal of those who violate it?

MM: I think all of those things are on the table. There are people in this city who have been pushing for this for a while. I want to know what is taking so long? I don’t want to pass a law with no teeth in it.

ATW: Mayor Gonzales is proposing that city elections be publicly funded, a policy some other cities have adopted. Do you think this would be an appropriate policy for San Jose?

MM: It’s an election year and you have five candidates out there trying to raise $700,000. Why now? Why not eight years ago or four years ago? We need to make sure we’ve got people onboard who understand the downsides and upsides of this issue to not just get it done but to get it done right for San Jose.

ATW: How would you go about selecting and working with a new city manager?

MM: We need an open process for selecting a city manager who is not a yes person to the mayor. Someone who is able to turn back around and tell the mayor “we can’t do that” or “we should do it this way” when they have to.

Your campaign

ATW: What political party do you affiliate with?

MM: I’m registered as “decline to state.” I have been a registered Republican since I was 18. My mother, who has been a big influence on my life, was a Republican since way back and so was her family. My father is a Democrat; my sisters are Democrats. I’ve never gone to a Republican meeting or given to the Republican party. My wife is a liberal Democrat. We love to talk about politics from the standpoint of each opportunity and each person based on merits not political affiliations. This is not about party politics to me. It’s about my desire to change this city. I haven’t made any new friends in the Republican party or gained any in the Democratic party as a result of this decision.

ATW: Who is endorsing your campaign and of those endorsements which is the most important to you?

MM: The San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce. I never sat on that board but I won a 2/3 majority of their support. It’s a great symbol that the business community wants change and is willing to take a risk with a guy who knows how things work but is an outsider to city politics. I’m not going to get the big political endorsements. I’m running against government and I’m not sure I’ve made many friends there.

ATW: How does your campaign deal with lobbyist contributions?

MM: I’m not taking them. I was the first candidate to refuse contributions from lobbyists. It’s a disadvantage. The reporting that’s been done is interesting about who is taking these contributions. But it’s really about the bundling issue—who they are getting money from.

ATW: In the past have you proven you have the management skills necessary to lead a group and the skills necessary to convince other council members to vote with you to get things done at city hall?

MM: I got the job at the children’s musical theater because I was the 20-something-year-old volunteer in the boardroom saying we can do more. The executive director retired. I ended up writing a 10-page business plan for how I wanted the theater to go. My fiancée encouraged me to go after the job after reading the business plan. When I got in there we hired the right people. It was about being a collaborative leader. I was sensitive to the constituents. We empowered the parents. It’s a microcosm of the way I’ve always worked.

While we’re going through this challenge with Bev Mo, (one of the buildings owned by Mulcahy’s family is trying to lease to Bev Mo) myself and Ed Rast are coming up with a plan for what Willow Glen wants to be when it grows up. I’ve been getting my hands dirty while the council candidates have been flushing money down the toilet.

ATW: Will you work to fix the city’s relationship with the county?

MM: What’s good for San Jose is what is good for surrounding cities and vice versa. It should not be about ego. The problems with the county leading to this expensive lawsuit started years ago. I think it’s been a problem of communication. I’m not afraid to go out and meet with people to solve problems.

ATW: San Jose is the largest city in the Bay Area, though most people still refer to the area as the San Francisco Bay Area. What specifically needs to be done to “put us on the map” so to speak? What big projects would you pursue? What is your vision for San Jose?

MM: The convention center needs to be expanded and we need to make sure the mayor can sell that to San Jose. It is the lifeblood of this community. Sports are on my list but one isn’t necessarily more important than the other. SJSU is an incredibly important resource to this city and needs to expand. Guadalupe River Park has incredible potential. I want to see 10,000 new housing units in downtown San Jose. If Tampa Fla., Oakland and LA can do it, we can do it.

ATW: And finally….Why do you want to be mayor?

MM: I want to be part of the team, someone who has the leadership skills to make sure we’ve got all the creative people in this city moving in the right direction. We’ve got a lot of great people who want to be led.