Brentwood mayoral candidates have varying ideas on job, housing and development plans
Attracting new businesses and good- paying jobs, managing growth and helping solve fire service response times are among the top issues Brentwood’s new mayor will have to tackle.
Seven candidates in the Nov. 3 election, including an 18-year-old and two incumbents, say they are up to the task. The winner will succeed Mayor Bob Taylor, who
is retiring after 17 years at the helm.
The contenders are high school student Ryan Raimondi, Vice Mayor Joel Bryant, Councilwoman Karen Rarey, former councilman
Steve Young, artist Brian Carleton, deputy probation officer Edward Shuck and Paul La Follette.
Raimondi, a Liber ty High School senior, would become one of the nation’s
youngest mayors in history if elected.
He says that after graduating in December he’ll put off attending community college until next fall
so he can fulfill his mayoral duties.
R a imond i s a id he thought about going to the Naval Academy but decided to stay because the mayor’s job offered him the opportunity make an impact on the city. “I could serve people as soon as I get out of high school and that’s exactly what I want to do,” he said.
Raimondi says making Brentwood more conducive to business is one of his top goals, noting it’s considered the “least-friendly” city in eastern East Contra Costa County. Raimondi said the city needs to review its red tape and throw in some perks because it has lost a lot of business to nearby cities.
More companies are establishing satellite offices and Brentwood could reach out to them to meet that need, he added.
He also would like to see local businesses partner with Los Medanos College, offering micro-internships to students who in turn could offer marketing and other types of support services.
Councilwoman Rarey, who was first elected in 2016, says the city is already doing things to attract certain businesses, such as zoning 430 acres in its northwestern section for high-tech, advanced manufacturing and clean energy.
She also notes she pushed to spend $11.5 million for infrastructure to ensure that the land, now dubbed the Innovation Center@ Brentwood, will be shovelready for potential businesses.
In addition, a new ordinance the council passed allows restaurants to extend their outdoor seating during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Our small businesses are the backbone of our community and we need to help them recover and grow,” she said.
Vice Mayor Bryant also noted he promoted a plan that now offers incentives for business and streamlines applications.
“Helping our local businesses is absolutely the heart of Brentwood,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of large tax revenue source but we have a lot of small businesses that provide that.”
Like Rarey, he pats himself on the back for Innovation Center@Brentwood and noted that having broadband high-speed internet service available in the city, which he helped land a few years ago, also will help draw businesses.
“We can be part of a very much larger solution to these tech companies,” he said, adding that satellite offices help reduce traffic and greenhouse gas emissions.
Bryant also said he would encourage John Muir Health to expand even more than the $25 million promised.
Young, who previously served on the council in 1998-2000, said Brentwood “needs more real jobs and businesses instead of a dollar store, gas station, car wash mentality.”
“Our City Council should also be asking what they can do to help and support business owners during these challenging times,” he said.
To attract high-paying jobs, Young says the city should focus on recruiting “start-up, entrepreneur and innovation types of businesses” that don’t require many prerequisites such as tax breaks.
Schuck, a deputy probation officer, said he would push to “reopen the city and the economy immediately,” encourage high-paying jobs and work to reduce regulatory hurdles so the city becomes less reliant on development dollars.
“We need to attract tech, industrial, and other highwage jobs so that we are not completely reliant on commuters in the city,” he said, noting the city’s population has doubled in the past 20 years and that growth is “unsustainable.”
Schuck said new housing should be limited until infrastructure is in place and fire services are fully funded “by any means necessary.”
“We need to pause housing development until these issues are addressed, unless the developers are willing to pay to significantly improve services long-term for the rest of the city.”
Carleton, a local artist and longtime member of the Brentwood Arts Commission, said although the city does not have a strong job base, it could make up for that in other ways. “It’s the little things that attract people to town,” he said.
“Politics as usual” won’t get Brentwood where it needs to go and the city needs a mayor who can find “creative and pragmatic solutions to the challenges we face,” Carleton said.
“Brentwood needs to wean itself off of the big developers who have, through no fault of their own, been for profit only,” he said. “We are coming to the end of that cycle anyway. Since it has been a big revenue generator, it will call for some fiscal restraint on our part.”
Candidate La Follette did not return calls or emails for this story.
In his candidate statement he says he decided to run when he saw other candidates “focused on turning Brentwood into another metropolis.”
Young, a community activist, led a grassroots group against urban sprawl and has successfully argued against changing the county urban limit line. He also recently worked to defeat Measure L, which would have allowed development outside that growth border.
What the city does need is more affordable housing, Carleton said, adding that Brentwood should fasttrack a pilot project partnering with homeowners to create much-needed accessory dwelling units.
Bryant has also long pushed for more small houses so students can afford to return and seniors to stay, and “we can keep our families together.”
But Rarey notes that the city shouldn’t deviate from its general plan. “Most importantly, we can no longer allow commercial (zoned areas) to be changed over to residential,” she said.
Rarey said she doesn’t want any new growth without funding for fire services. In 2018 she called for all new development to include annual fire service assessments and supported increased impact fees.
Young said he too would like to see more funding for local fire services.
“I have a vision that we will pass a version of the Emergency Response For All Initiative,” he said referring to a citizen initiative that would require the city to spend millions of future property and sales tax revenue for additional fire protection. “This could happen quickly if we elect a brand new City Council.”
Carleton says volunteer firefighting should be considered. “Roll up our sleeves and join together as we should and reopen the station downtown and man it with volunteers,” he said.
Raimondi says a temporary solution to slow response to medical calls is for the city to add its own life-saving service unit.
Bryant noted talks will begin soon on the feasibility of merging with Contra Costa Fire and the city manager is looking for revenue it can reallocate to fire services.
“To reduce the response times, you must have adequate response — that is the only answer,” he said.