Meet Karla Brown, Candidate For Pleasanton Mayor

PLEASANTON, CA — Patch reached out to all candidates for Pleasanton Mayor and and City Council with identical questions. Here are the responses from Karla Brown, the incumbent mayor. Responses have not been edited.

1. What is your personal, educational, and professional background?

I am proud to have served 4 years as the Mayor of Pleasanton, and previously, 8 years as a City Council Member (two years as Vice Mayor). I have a Bachelor of Science Degree and have been employed as a Global Account Manager in the Semiconductor and Rigid Disk Drive industries, and more recently as a local real estate agent.

2. How long have you lived in Pleasanton?

I have lived in Pleasanton for 25+ years.

3. What brought you here?

Pleasanton is a beautiful historic community with a charming downtown, and homes that were well suited to raising my family. I moved here because Pleasanton is a family- friendly city with heart. Neighbors host potlucks and social gatherings, there are 46 community parks, the city hosts multiple parades for soccer, Veteran’s Day and the Hometown Holiday Parade to name a few. In Pleasanton our crime is low, and I could live and raise my family in this beautiful community.

4. How have you been involved in the community?

• As Mayor Secured over $4 million in grants for Pleasanton for funding ARU, Traffic Impacts,
• Water quality, the result of in-person lobbying with Sacramento Elected leaders and Washington
• DC Leaders and Staff
• I have given 4 “State of the City Speeches” in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce,
• setting a new attendance record in 2023.
• I am a current Board member Wheels/LAVA (former Chair) -12 years.
• I have been sitting on the Projects and Services Committee (former Chair) LAVTA -12 years.
• Commissioner on the Alameda County Transportation Commissioner -4 years
• Commissioner on the Alameda County Local Area Formation (Current Chair) -4 years
• A member of the Alameda County Mayor’s Conference -4 years
• A commissioner on the Projects and Services Committee/Alameda CTC – 4 years
• A member of the City of Livermore Liaison from Pleasanton – 12 years
• Liaison to the Pleasanton Unified School District – 4 years
• A member of the Waste & Recycling Committee – 12 years
• A city liaison to the Zone 7 water board – 12 years
• Tri-Valley Water Roundtable member – 12 years
• Livermore Pleasanton Fire Department Joint Powers Authority (former Chair) -4 years
• Tri-Valley Mayor’s Committee member – 4 years
• Former Audit Committee member – 4 years
• Former Fair Board Liaison – 8 years
• Former Dublin Services District Liaison – 8 years
• Former Altamont Landfill Community Monitor – 2 years
• Former Tri-Valley Transportation Council member – 2 years
• I have written and/or approved over 100 letters to Federal and State officials to lobby for the
• best laws for the Tri-Valley Region -4 years.
• I Record/Tape Pleasanton’s Mayor’s report on Local TV30 twice per month.
• And I represent the City of Pleasanton at over 250 events.

5. What do you feel are some of the biggest challenges facing the city?

WATER:
The health and safety of our residents is my #1 concern. Historically the city of Pleasanton sourced 15-20% of our drinking water from ground water wells in Pleasanton. We have the water rights to pull up to 3500-acre feet of water per year from ground water resources. Water from the wells was available at a lower cost per unit than from our water wholesaler Zone 7, so Pleasanton residents could enjoy lower water bills. Federal organizations asked communities like Pleasanton to test for PFAS (a family of Teflon products) and small amounts were found. Then out of an abundance of caution, in June 2019, I and the council (at that time) closed Well #8 and continued to test the last two wells #5 and #6. All water met legal drinking water standards, but new data showed possible safety concerns. At that time, the city began supplying water from Zone 7 that is virtually PFAS-Free. Currently, all 3 wells are no longer in use, and 100% of our water is purchased from Zone 7, a water wholesaler, but at slightly higher prices.

Closing down 3 wells, each with their own 3 pumps, meant additional pressure was needed to balance the system throughout Pleasanton. Some pipe modifications and upgrades were required, so the city spent $12.8 million improving our water distribution system and balancing the water flow pressure. Many do not know, the city has 300 miles of pipe to deliver drinking water, 14 pump stations and 20 tanks for water storage. It is critical we have proper maintenance to deliver safe drinking water – all day - 365 days a year to approx. 22,000 water customers.

And regarding recycled wastewater, as Mayor I do NOT support drinking highly processed wastewater, there are too many risks to our health. However, my opponent voted to continue the expensive process of evaluating drinking toilet-to-tap water (former wastewater).

Measure PP Sales Tax: As Mayor and a candidate for reelection, I am the only candidate that is a strong supporter of Measure PP, the ½ cent sales tax. This is a decision that the voters should decide to keep Pleasanton the wonderful place it is today or give us the mandate to make significant cuts to services and maintenance across the city.

I am also endorsed by our International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 1974 which serves Pleasanton and Livermore (LPFD). I am also standing WITH our Fire and Police unions and our city union employees who have all voted to support the ½ cent tax in November. This tax is needed to fund our aging infrastructure and keep our city solvent, without making MAJOR cuts to our services. Cuts may also affect emergency response times, park maintenance, city maintenance, city operations and response times, library days, swim center days, and much more. The quality of life we enjoy is at risk. Measure PP will also help to fund our aging infrastructure and equipment such as fire trucks, repairing leaky roofs, replacing aging water and sewer pipes, and keeping our public parks in quality shape.

However, my opponent voted in a council meeting to BLOCK the voters’ ability to voice their preference on this critical issue. By not supporting Measure PP, candidate Balch is campaigning AGAINST our own police and fire fighters about funding these critical departments.

6. What are your plans for addressing them?

See above.

7. What makes you the best candidate?

I took office during one of the largest and most challenging times in Pleasanton’s history. In 2020, the world was struggling with a pandemic/COVID health scare, changing retail habits that negatively affected the Stoneridge Mall, PFAS in our drinking water, inadequate infrastructure funding (called Asset Management), and an economic downturn of commercial, hotel and retail industries that affects our city budget today. As Mayor and the City Council, we have removed two large park amenities, the Skate Park expansion and are making the Century House ADA complaint to meet current legal requirements. We have merged departments and cut jobs. We have made the cuts to be proactive and responsible.

We have done everything we can do in the city. However, Pleasanton is a city of service, Police, Fire, Planning department, Parks and Recreation, Operations and Park Maintenance, Economic Development, Accounting, Library services, and more. The next level of cuts will be painful and reduce the services we offer to our community. Which is why I support the ½ cent sales tax.

8. Outside of politics, what do you enjoy doing?

I enjoy going to Concerts in the Park with friends, playing tennis, hiking and traveling.

9. Any other comments?

I have been a full-time Mayor for Pleasanton for 4 years. I am running my re-election campaign based on my commitment to Pleasanton’s excellence, with 12 years of elected city experience, and a great respect for the experienced city professionals in our Fire and Police Departments, our finance and accounting professionals, with decades of government experience, and our seasoned professionals in our city management department. I work well with my city council members, and I try to find common ground on issues that come before the council.

I will not accept donations from builders and developers, which often try to buy influence. My opponent is a CFO working full-time for his family’s builder, developer and property manager firm. His campaign is well-funded by himself and his family members. I think residents deserve a transparent disclosure of jobs, his campaign funds and his experience.

I am also endorsed for Re-Election by:

• Chair of the Alameda County Supervisors, Nate Miley
• Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert
• Livermore Pleasanton Fire Fighters, local 1974
• Teamsters local 70
• Julie Testa, Vice Mayor
• Jeff Nibert, Councilmember
• Valerie Arkin, Councilmember
• Debora Allen, BART Board member
• John McPartland, BART Board member (former)
• Laurene Green, Zone 7 Board member
• Sarah Palmer, Zone 7 Board member
• Catherine Brown, Zone 7 Board member
• Kelly Mokashi, PUSD Board member
• Cindy McGovern, Councilmember (former)
• Jerry McNerney, US Assemblymember (former)
• Karen Stepper, Mayor (Danville)
• Carol Dutra-Vernaci, Mayor (Union City)
• Mark Salinas, Mayor (Hayward)
• Dave Hudson, Mayor (San Ramon)
• Bob Woerner, Mayor (Livermore)-former
• Stephanie Wedge, Planning Commissioner
• Matt Gaidos, Chair Planning Commission
• Greg O’Connor, Planning Commissioner (former)
• Cindy Cook, Human Services Commissioner
• And hundreds of residents in Pleasanton.

Community Endorsements

• Independent Newspaper endorses Karla Brown for Mayor
• Pleasanton Voters Endorses Karla Brown, Valerie Arkin and Matt Gaidos