December 10, 2007

From the Mayor’s Desk

Campbell 2007 in review

By Mayor Dan Furtado
Special to the Times

This year has gone by quickly. I’d like to review some of the projects we’ve worked on in 2007.

Cities provide basic municipal services, including police and fire protection, land use planning, public works services, and recreation and community development programs.

Early in the year, we joined the Santa Clara County Public Health Department in developing a plan to address the pandemic influenza should it occur in California. Along with our continued efforts to improve our disaster preparedness, which includes more effective public safety interoperable communications, we in Campbell want our residents to be safe in their homes and in the community.

As a city and a nation, we began efforts to address green house gas emissions. I signed the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, and we are working on developing green building guidelines, consistent with standards accepted throughout our state. We were successful in being able to certify that our Community Center met sustainable building operating standards, and we are developing an energy component of our city’s General Plan.

Residents are encouraged to reduce their own carbon footprint by switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs and consider other actions to reduce energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission. In California, the major source of carbon dioxide is our vehicles.

There continues to be additional business development in the city, both in the downtown and surrounding areas of the city. We’ve added more homes, too, but we’ve tried to increase the number of affordable units and build what is considered “smart growth” planning standards.

This past year, we have undertaken studies to assess economic development in Campbell. Most cities in our region still suffer from a slow economic recovery that, along with the higher costs of maintaining and providing municipal services, leaves us with little opportunity for capitol improvement projects, such as infrastructure and street repair.

Campbell again fulfilled requirements to be designated a “Tree City USA” for the 25th year, which we celebrated at Rosemary and Capri Schools. We planted an additional 19 trees in previously unplanted tree wells. Recently, we acquired the Stojanovich property on Union Avenue for a new park. Working with the Water District we also completed a significant upgrade to the percolation ponds at Winchester and Hacienda Avenues.

Since there is limited space for this article, I want to close by mentioning the community groundbreaking ceremony held on Veterans Day for the Campbell Veterans Memorial to be located in civic center plaza, near an olive tree at City Hall.

I hope you are able to take time to enjoy the many activities planned for the upcoming holidays!