Marie L. Gilmore
All responses remain in their orginial forms without any editing of content, language, grammar, and spelling.
Educational Background
I graduated from Stanford University, received my law degree from Boalt Hall, University of California, Berkeley.
Alameda Civic Experience (Boards, Commissions, Community Groups):
During the past fifteen years, I have served Alameda as a member and Chair of the Recreation Commission (3 years), President and member of the Planning Board (7 years) and currently, as a Councilmember (5 years).
Brief professional history not including civic experience:
I was a litigation attorney in San Francisco and practiced in the area of Labor and Employment law.
What particular qualities or experiences will you bring to the city council, and how will they benefit the city?
As a lawyer, I am trained to be analytical, logical and to consider all sides of a matter before making up my mind on a particular issue. I express myself clearly, cut through to the main issue and am a good advocate for my position. As a Councilmember and a member of various boards and commissions for the last fifteen years, I have dealt with every major issue facing the City and have met personally with hundreds of residents to learn their opinions about issues affecting the City and their quality of life. I bring these traits, accumulated knowledge and experience to the council in order to steer Alameda in a direction that allows us to benefit from our opportunities while minimizing our exposure in these uncertain economic times. Alameda doesn’t have the luxury of waiting for months while a councilmember becomes familiar with issues pertaining to Alameda Point, the City budget or public safety negotiations.
List the top 5 issues you see moving forward (short explanation ok) and a brief description of how you would like to deal with them?
The development of Alameda Point, traffic, fiscal sustainability, the city budget and retail sales leakage are important issues confronting Alameda. Alameda Point comprises about one third of the island. It must be developed so that it becomes an integral part of the City. We must give residents who don’t live or work at Alameda Point a reason to go there. Accordingly, the best way to achieve that is through a mixed-use environment: housing, retail and commercial, as well as recreational opportunities. Along with the development of Alameda Point comes an increase in traffic. I believe that a viable, concrete plan to cope with the traffic must be in place on day one regardless of what type of development is pursued at Alameda Point. Moreover, other large-scale developments must be responsible for mitigating their own traffic impacts.
The City has made commitments to its employees, particularly public safety, for retirement and post employment medical benefits that total millions of dollars. We must start paying for these liabilities now, instead of pushing it off into the future. Paying for these commitments and managing the City budget in order to continue delivering the level of services residents desire is a challenge. We need plan for the future and take advantage of our economic opportunities so we can meet these needs and not overburden our residents with too many taxes.
Incumbents, why do you feel you should be re-elected, what are your top accomplishments of the past four years? Challengers, why do you feel one or both of the incumbents should be replaced?
I have served our City as Councilmember for five years. During that time, exciting changes have taken place in our community. We have a new state of the art public library and completed the restoration of the historic Alameda Theatre, thus allowing residents to go to the movies locally for the first time in over twenty-five years. Park Street and Webster Street have significantly enhanced their streetscapes, attracting new businesses, including restaurants, to the retail mix. Alameda Towne Center has received a significant facelift, bringing in new tenants such as Bed, Bath & Beyond and Borders Bookstore.
At the same time, we still face challenges. Growing our tax base, the need for open space, the redevelopment of Alameda Point and traffic congestion are critical issues that must be addressed if Alameda is to thrive without sacrificing the culture and atmosphere that makes this community so special. As your Councilmember, I will continue to provide leadership that focuses on creative and thoughtful ways to allow us to benefit from our opportunities during this difficult economic time.
