Candidate’s name: Frank Matarrese

Candidate’s contact: f.j.matarrese@gmail.com (510-759-9290)

Campaign Committee ID: FPPC# 1407858

1. Transportation: As a city council member or mayor, what specific early actions will you take to get people out of single occupancy vehicles?

As Mayor, I will insist on implementing the Council-approved Alameda Transportation Choices Plan so we can meet its approved goals:

• Reducing drive alone car trips 
• Improving safety
• Increasing bicycling, walking, carpooling, and bus and ferry use
• Reducing the total number of cars on the road

I will also insist that we follow the prioritization strategy set in the Plan until new data or evidence suggest otherwise.

I want to make sure that a critical review of progress of the Plan is made to be sure that what is done meets current and future needs, changed if circumstances require change.

The Plan’s implementation section lists potential funding sources, and since the impact of new development must be mitigated, I want to continue city partnerships, such as with Line 19 bus service and the future Sea Plane Lagoon Ferry Terminal. I will look for creative solutions to extending Lines 19 and 96 bus service all the way to the Main Street Ferry Terminal.

In special circumstances, I think the City should contribute to transportation solutions from its own funds (as with Line 19).

2. Sustainable Development: What does sustainable development mean to you as applied to Alameda? What are three specific measures that the City can undertake that you would endorse?

To me, sustainable development means doing as much for the natural environment as for the built environment. It is striving to ensure that our consumption and use of resources does not exceed the ability to replenish or offset those resource uses.

Local measures that I would encourage in order to create a more sustainable community:

• Moving to an all-electric fleet of city vehicles.
• Bringing EBMUD’s East Bayshore Recycled Water Project water line, currently operational in parts of Oakland and Emeryville, into west Alameda and Alameda Point as currently proposed but not yet implemented. I would support funding strategies that help realize this goal. New infrastructure at Alameda Point will include recycled water lines to accept the EBMUD recycled water when it gets here. Uses will include irrigation of parks and use in wetland restoration.
• Enacting greater incentives for residential and commercial rooftop solar, parking lot solar canopies, battery storage systems, and small scale solar facilities.

As Mayor, I want development designs that encourage its inhabitants and commercial users to be able to reduce their carbon footprints (use of mass transit, biking, walking in place of single occupant cars and designs that promote minimal energy usage).

New development and adaptive reuse of buildings should meet or exceed recognized standards and other factors such as: re-use of existing structures/materials (which I supported and as was done with Buildings 9 and 91 at Alameda Point) and recycling demolition material.

Additional measures that the City can take are:

• Set and continue policy that evaluates every Master Plan and development against sustainable development criteria that applies to Alameda.
• Include this policy in the update of our Local Action Plan for Climate Protection, including prioritizing based on our highest risk.
• Get expert help and community input to continue to refine what “sustainable development” means for Alameda.

3. Resilience: What does resilience mean to you as applied to Alameda? What are three specific measures that the City can undertake that you would endorse?

Resilience is Alameda’s ability to function during and after disasters (man-made and natural, immediate and long-term). As Mayor, I want to make sure protect and serve residents when the disaster hit us and adapt to post-disaster conditions so we can continue to protect and serve.

Three specific measures that the City can take are:

• Update the City disaster plan (which is about 10 years old) and strengthen agency- community coordination disaster preparedness
• Preparedness Drills, taking advantage of the WETA and Alameda Emergency Operations centers now that they are built
• Include an evaluation of every Plan that comes before the City Council for disaster preparedness and adaptation.

4. Sea Level Rise: In order to protect Alameda from sea level rise, are you more in favor of further hardening or armoring the perimeter of Alameda or a soft living edges approach?

As Mayor, I want to seek policy that uses a combination of soft living edges and hard shoreline protections. There are opportunities to enhance Alameda’s soft living edge, especially along the government owned and future parklands along the west and northwest edges of Alameda Point.

Given the City’s elevation and existing structures, the cost of protecting Alameda with hard-scape infrastructure will almost assuredly require an infrastructure bond measure, which I support, similar to what was approved by Foster City, a city comparable to Alameda when it comes to sea-level rise vulnerability.

5. Energy: Would you support a city ordinance that requires new construction to include electric vehicle charging facilities or be EV ready, and comply with solar net Zero Building Standards? Would you support energy efficiency standards beyond those required by CalGreen? How would you address our existing buildings to reduce their carbon impact?

Using my plug-in all electric vehicle since 2006 (GEM e2), and depending on it still for getting around Alameda, I know first-hand the importance of home-based charging capabilities.

I think this requirement should be among the updates to building code for new residential development.

CalGreen building standards must be met and it is up to the City to anticipate future standards based on the risks we have identified in Questions 2, 3 and 4 above. As Mayor, I will seek policy that lays the path to Alameda building requirements that both meet current standards and prepare us for the future.

For existing development, AMP rebates should be considered for the cost of outfitting charging facilities, and other upgrades that reduce carbon footprints (i.e., converting gas stoves and water heaters to electric induction or standard electric stove and water heaters). Building permit rebates should be considered for other energy saving replacements/remodels.

6. Zero Waste: How would you enforce the City of Alameda’s Mandatory Recycling Ordinance (Alameda Municipal Code Section 21-2.1(b))? Would you support siting a Center for Hard to Recycle Materials/Education Center in Alameda (similar to the El Cerrito Recycling Center)?

Compliance with Alameda’s Mandatory recycling ordinance depends on doing everything we can to make recycling convenient, including better ways for residents recycle hazardous and electronic waste. Further, frequent reminders of the importance of recycling are needed. In egregious public safety violations, Code enforcement citations should be involved.

This could be implemented with improved programs through our solid waste contractor, ACI (Alameda County Industries).

In the long term, Alameda has to embark on a mission to reduce “use-and-dispose” aspects of our lives. A concerted campaign to instill a culture of waste reduction is critical to reaching a “Zero-Waste” goal.

7. SF Bay Ecosystem: Alameda may soon be designated as a HOPE spot by Mission Blue. What specific actions can Alameda take to protect and restore the life of our bay and waterways?

The city currently has installed and maintains more than 70 full trash capture devices within the municipal storm drain system. As Mayor, I would support augmenting or upgrading these systems as technology advances. I want to continue our program of capturing urban waste before it enters the Bay and work with Mission Blue to further reduce discharge of harmful materials into the Bay.

8. Climate Action Plan: Given the recent California wildfires, extreme weather events and rising global temperatures how will you support the increasingly urgent funding and implementation of the measures identified in the Climate Action Plan update?

As Mayor, I will do everything I can to promote seeking regional, state and federal funds for implementation of our Climate Action Plan (these efforts have a better chance of succeeding when Alameda passes its own infrastructure bond, which I support, that includes sea-level rise and climate change flood protections). We need urgently to:

• Obtain the best scientifically based projections for sea level rise and other climate change factors directly and highly impacting Alameda (i.e., storm water/tidal surge run-off, extended drought, strong winds, etc.).
• Identify, evaluate and rank solutions that mitigate the impact on Alameda, starting with the most severe.
• Propose a funding mechanism for solutions (infrastructure bond and potential changes in how we spend current General Fund or Other fund monies).
• I support Measure FF, the East Bay Regional Park District’s ballot measure that continues a $12 a year parcel tax that will, in part, help fund park operations to reduce fire danger. I will work to get it passed.

I see this as an urgent and on-going process that demands the combined efforts of the City, members of the public and credentialed experts in the field of climate change.