The four who will appear on the primary ballot include small- business man Rich De La Rosa, Evergreen College District Trustee Nancy Pyle, Almaden Country School Board member Ronald Siporen and community activist William J. Garbett.

If none of the four win a majority of the votes in March, the top two vote-getters will meet again in a November runnoff. The candidates will have a little less than three months to convince District 10 voters—which includes some 90,000 residents of Almaden Valley and Blossom Valley—that they deserve their votes.

Among the issues facing San Jose that the candidate will focus on, they say, are the city's business climate, financial situation and affordable housing.

"Citywide, the huge issue is the city's financial situation. There's a real need for common-sense management of city business," said De La Rosa, who owns an insurance agency. "And to me that is the No. 1 city issue. No. 2 would be affordable housing in the city, and another would be the promotion of business and getting industry back into San Jose."

Pyle, who has run for this office twice before, also said she would focus on the business climate in San Jose.

"The economic situation is certainly one that affects the city of San Jose," she said. "We need to bring the jobs here. We need to be busy, almost looking under every rock, making sure there is outreach to businesses that have any potential in coming to San Jose and talking to businesses that are here to make sure they stay.

"Then we need to make it easy for businesses to relocate here or stay here," Pyle added. "One of the constant gripes I hear is about too much red tape and not enough incentives. There has been a healthy start to streamlining the city services and departments one needs to apply to get located here, but it needs to continue."

Siporen, who is a former banker and entrepreneur, said the district needs a council member who will speak for its residents.

"There are lots of little issues that are important to people, but one overriding concern is that people want someone here who will be an advocate for them, someone who will listen to them and present their wishes to the city council," Siporen said.

"They've been watching the city council and see two entrenched interests—big business and labor—and they see they're butting heads and the little issues get caught in the crossfire. The residents want someone who will stand up for them, be their advocate and tell the city council: 'This is what we want for our community.'"

On the local level, De La Rosa noted San Jose's recent ranking as the safest big city in America. "Certainly one of my major concerns, because of the financial situation facing the city, is how we're going to keep our city services intact," De La Rosa said. "We're the safest big city in America. How do we keep it that way? Fire and police departments need equipment, and we need to maintain the staffing levels to keep that ranking."

Pyle said that on the local level, she wants to make sure the district's youth have access to the facilities they want and need.

"We need to take a look at what we provide for youth after school, especially for sports," she said. "We really need, on a citywide level, to make sure there are facilities available for kids as an outlet."

Siporen also noted the proposed sports complex as something important to the voters in District 10.

"I'm an advocate for the fields, but I'm concerned the issue has been going on for a long time and [I'm also concerned] about the adversarial approach the city has taken. I'm concerned it will lead to litigation, which will lead to more delays. I'm for the fields, but I'm concerned about the process."

Garbett, the final candidate, was unavailable for comment for this story. He is a frequent speaker at city council meetings and ran for the District 10 office in 2000, garnering nearly 4 percent of the vote.

In 2002, he ran for Santa Clara County Open Space Authority District 5 and picked up 5,469 votes—26 percent. Richard Forst won that election with 74 percent of the vote.

Vice Mayor Dando, who was appointed as vice mayor this January, will complete her second term representing Council District 10 at the end of 2004, at which time she will be termed out. She was elected to the city council on May 2, 1995 and re-elected March 7, 2000.