The three incumbents—Jeanette Watson, Jane Kennedy and Dan Furtado—share a common desire to complete projects they helped get started.

Watson, first elected to the city council in 1985, said she's asking voters for one more chance to serve them because she cares about making the city financially responsible and wants to complete the Heritage Theatre renovation project as well as remodel the Campbell Police Department.

"We need to be very vigilant when looking at city revenues, and I think it takes someone with experience to reach that point of understanding," Watson said. "I think I have that experience to offer."

The Heritage Theatre's grand opening is scheduled for the fall of 2003.

"I want to see it up and running," she said. "I want to see it going in the proper direction."

The 71-year-old Watson said she must remain on the council to assure that the city's police force develops adequate facilities. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks created an immediate need to heighten security at the local level.

Watson has long been a leader in city politics, having served as mayor four times—most recently appointed by her peers on the city council in 2002. The position rotates annually among those on the council.

Many Campbell residents consider Watson the matriarch of the community. Her family's connection with Campbell dates back to the 1800s, when her grandfather, Joseph Gomes, purchased a ranch on Llewellyn Avenue.

She has a degree in education from San José State University and has taught classes in Campbell schools.

In 1963 she helped found the Campbell Historical Museum. In 1967 she worked on the bond issue that funded the city hall and the library. She helped form the Civic Improvement Commission and launch the fundraising group Friends of the Heritage Theatre. She was also the first female president of the Campbell Chamber of Commerce.

Yet even with all of these accomplishments, Watson said, "you can't sit on your laurels and assume people know who you are. There are a lot of newcomers in our community, and I want to reach out to them."

Watson remarked that she often hears many families new to Campbell praise the feel and look of the community.

"I think that's something I've helped to create," she said. "I'd like to continue that."

Dan Furtado, 58, Campbell's vice mayor, is also well-known in the area. He was elected to the city council during a special interim election in 1996 after serving on the Civic Improvement Commission for more than 10 years.

He was reelected in 1998 and was appointed mayor, serving in that capacity in 1999.

He has a doctorate in pharmacology and a master's degree in public administration. He works at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Furtado noted that he has kept several campaign pledges that he made during the last election.

"I wanted to improve and repair city streets, which had become very neglected," he said.

The city didn't have the funding, Furtado said. But when the city refinanced its debt, Furtado worked to have an estimated $10 million allocated toward road repairs.

"Now the city has a $1 million annual budget for road improvements, so we can maintain the streets," he said.

During the last election Furtado also pledged to refurbish the city's parks. Many of them have been renovated, he notes, with the latest contract—approved in September 2002—to refurbish the Budd Avenue side of John D. Morgan Park.

He also worked to vitalize the downtown. He wanted to help create a place that brought people into the "core" of the community both day and night.

"I think that has been successful," he said.

His decision to run again, he said, is based on a desire to continue working on a variety of projects.

As the joint powers authority vice chairman for the Santa Clara County Library system, Furtado wants to continue working with other cities in the county to improve the library system.

For the last four years he has been the chairperson of the Santa Clara County Emergency Preparedness Council, and as a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve for the past 37 years, he wants to help residents understand the meaning of homeland security at a local level.

"By being part of the county's emergency preparedness council, I can help bring the information to Campbell," he noted.

After almost two terms in office, Furtado thinks there is still much more to be accomplished.

"I love this city and being part of public service," he said. "I am looking forward to working with the city in that capacity."

The third incumbent is Jane Kennedy, 60, who was elected in 1998 to her first term on the council after serving for 16 years on the Campbell Planning Commission.

Kennedy, who has a bookkeeping and tax planning business in downtown Campbell, helped start the Campbell chapter of Women in Business and served as one of the directors for the Campbell Chamber of Commerce.

During the past four years, Kennedy said, she has worked to improve the city's fiscal solvency. She has helped expand police and city services, fund after-school programs, complete the city's General Plan update with housing assistance provisions, and capture additional Measure B funding for street improvements.

One of her biggest projects is serving as vice chairperson of the Vasona Light Rail Project Advisory Board for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. As an integral member of the board, she helped negotiate the funding and building for the light rail through Campbell and neighboring communities.

"This is a project I want to see all the way through," she said.

Kennedy is also a founding member of the Silicon Valley Animal Control Authority Joint Powers Board.

The organization is planning to build a new animal control shelter that will benefit Campbell and surrounding communities.

She also wants to see the downtown and the Pruneyard Shopping Center continue to grow.

"I feel like I have accomplished a lot in the last four years, but there is still more to be done," she said.