Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

Candidates (from left) Mike Abkin, Sandy Decker, Paul Dubois and Steve Glickman get used to the KCAT camera.

Canned and Candid

Town council candidates are more alike than different, which makes the subtle differences that much more important

By Nathan R. Huff

Photographs By Kathy De La Torre

Remember those games in the Sunday comics where the reader is given two pictures that at first glance look identical? Below, the instructions state: "Find 10 differences between pictures A and B." This year Los Gatans are faced with a similar challenge when they head to the polls on Nov. 7. Four candidates are vying for two open council seats. Similarities abound, but it takes a closer examination of where each candidate comes from and is headed, to find differences.

They are the differences of emphasis. Getting any of the four candidates to speak negatively--on the record--against another candidate is nearly impossible. The debates and forums held by KCAT and the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, the Neighborhood Alliance, the Town of Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce and the League of Women Voters helped inform voters of the issues, but failed to draw out dramatic differences in philosophy. The cordiality between candidates, while impressive in the face of mudslinging races on the state and national level, has done little to cast light on differences.

All four wax poetically about the beauty of our hillsides, their desire to alleviate congestion, the need to expand downtown parking and our lack of affordable housing. When pinned down to specific issues, small differences between the candidates arise, but are quashed beneath general support for such issues as the need for a senior services coordinator, a new library and retaining local businesses. So what are the real differences?

When it comes down to marking the box on the ballot, Los Gatans will be choosing between candidates who speak from and to different segments of the community. Target audiences range from the business community to the town's young families; from preservationists to the masses of service workers who can't afford to live in town. While all the candidates attempt to appeal to the entire Los Gatos population, each council hopeful also looks to a specific group for support.

This look at the four candidates touches upon the issues Mike Abkin, Sandy Decker, Paul Dubois and Steve Glickman have in common, but it also focuses on the stances and perspectives that make each of them different. For more details on the issues they have in common, visit the candidates' websites.

Mike Abkin

Mike Abkin brings a plethora of planning experience to the table, with a unique regional emphasis. The 57-year-old San Fernando Valley native has worked in systems science--the study of interactions and cause and effect--since his days at graduate school.

Abkin was on vacation leave during his stint in the Peace Corps in Nigeria, wading in the ocean and thinking about the urban unrest that was happening that summer of 1967. It was then that he had the revelation that systems science offered a holistic approach, deciding to go back to graduate school and get his advanced degree. As part of his Michigan State post-graduate education, Abkin did simulation modeling for agricultural development planning and policy analysis in Nigeria and Korea.

He arrived in Los Gatos in 1981, moving here to be closer to his parents. He began working at Sunnyvale-based ATAC Corp. in 1984, and currently does simulation models to aid in air traffic planning. Abkin leapt right into the town government, applying to be a planning commissioner in 1984. He was rejected, but was recruited for the community services commission. In 1988, in his third attempt, he was tapped to serve on the planning commission at the same time as Councilman Randy Attaway.

Abkin says an understanding of the town's planning process is absolutely critical to be an effective council member. Those who do not understand the process tend to feel abused or antagonistic toward it, rather than working with it, he says. Abkin and Decker, both former planning commissioner, support each other's campaigns for council.

Stepping down from the commission in 1997, Abkin joined the General Plan Task Force in 1998. He believes his experience on the task force gives him an understanding of the intent of the new General Plan and the ways in which it should be implemented. But Abkin's emphasis on planning experience is wider than just on Los Gatos.

"We're a small town and we want to preserve our identity, but we're not an island," Abkin says. "There's no way we can preserve our identity simply by acting locally." To this end, Abkin has been representing the town in the Bay Area Alliance for Sustainable Development during the past year, a coalition of nonprofit agencies, social groups and government agencies.

Abkin also volunteered to serve on a subcommittee of the League of California Cities. He attended an Association of Bay Area Government (ABAG) meeting on sustainability last year, and has worked as a seminar organizer and facilitator for the Foundation for Global Community.

Abkin certainly appeals to the town character-preservationist segment of the local population--he puts high demands on development and emphasizes community benefit. But his planning record has also shown he is more likely to think "outside of the box." He introduced the idea of promoting "edible landscaping" in the new General Plan, a concept he says is gaining prominence. The idea made it as far as the town council where several council members poked fun at the idea, before deleting it from the plan.

Abkin stands by the suggestion, pointing out that the Mercury News has a community garden and many schools grow vegetables. Abkin is affiliated with the Valley of the Heart's Delight, a group dedicated to preserving and recapturing Silicon Valley's agricultural heritage through such concepts as planting edible landscaping rather than grass at industrial parks. He is the only candidate endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club.

Abkin's views on downtown parking also show a particularly different approach to issues. While both Decker and Abkin all but state they would never support a large garage, Abkin is the only candidate to speak--at length--about the demand issue. "We hardly have any bike racks downtown," Abkin says.

His view on the limited scope of the holiday shuttle service approved by the town council comes from the same perspective. Abkin wants to study the possibility of a shuttle system that serves the entire town, including school children, an idea Glickman has also supported. "I'm afraid people will point to [the failure of the current shuttle system] and say, 'see, shuttles don't work.'"

Abkin's stance on traffic issues, namely the idea of closing the southbound ramp to Highway 17 on S. Santa Cruz or opening Highway 85/Winchester as a full interchange, is less unique. In his campaign literature and previous statements, he said he supported the idea of closing the ramp, but he has since softened his position. He says the more he thought about it and talked to mountain residents, the less sure he felt about the idea.

However, Abkin does support--contingent on a study being done--metering the on-ramp to better manage the flow of cars on Highway 17. "If the freeway flows better, people will feel less need to get off," Abkin says, adding that the meters would also have to be installed at the southbound entrance to Highway 17 from Highway 9.

On the issue of making Winchester Boulevard and Highway 85 a full interchange, Abkin says he was in favor of a full interchange when the highway was first proposed. However, subsequent traffic studies and the issue of commuter traffic in a residential area dissuaded him. He is now firmly opposed to the idea.

Abkin's own pet issues include increasing public participation in local government. He applauds the wiring of the council chambers and said he would like to explore making the meetings truly interactive for viewers at home. He would also like to see better public notification of impending development applications--both in area coverage and in clarity.

"The more people are aware of how government works," Abkin says, "the more understanding and accepting they are of it." He cites numerous provisions in the new General Plan calling for ad hoc committees to study different aspects of Los Gatos, as well as the declining number of applicants for town committees, as evidence of the need for increased community involvement.

A senior task force member, board member with the Live Oak Adult Care Service and a speaker at Los Gatos High School's first volunteer day, Abkin believes strongly in volunteerism. "I'm a listener and a consensus builder," Abkin says. "That's the hallmark of who I am."


Candidate Mike Abkin checks his notes while Sandy Decker responds to a question.




Sandy Decker

Perhaps more than any of the other candidates, Decker represents the populations trying to preserve Los Gatos as the small town it was when she moved here three decades ago.

"I only intend to run for one four-year term, and I am going to give it 150 percent, just as I did on the planning commission," Decker says.

Born and raised in Southern California, Decker says she grew up watching the same changes occur there that are happening in the Silicon Valley now. She attended San Jose State University and would frequently travel to Santa Cruz with friends. When the car would break down or need gas, they would stop in Los Gatos, which is how Decker says she first came to know and love the town.

After marrying and traveling around the world teaching, Decker returned to the area and found a rental on Bachman Avenue for $75 a month. She says she finally had time to get involved in the town in the early 1990s. She joined the town's board of appeals, which at the time was helping the town meet the Americans With Disabilities Act accessibility requirements.

She applied to the planning commission and was appointed on her first attempt in 1994. Her experience remodeling and renovating her own home and several others taught her how to read plans, she says, making her a quick study for the position. At the same time, Decker began serving on the General Plan Committee and the conceptual design advisory committee. Following a very public personal attack on her actions as a planning commissioner by a frustrated applicant earlier this year, Decker resigned, stating her desire to speak out more freely on town issues and her related decision to seek a seat on the town council.

Like Abkin, Decker believes her planning commission experience and familiarity with the town's documents are a critical part of her qualifications for council. "So much of what happens in this town has to do with land use, and the planning commission is at the center of that," Decker says. "The reason you are valuable when you have a planning background is you know the rules."

Decker says her reputation as being outspoken--she occasionally drew heat from planning applicants for harshly criticizing their proposals--comes from her belief that she knows what she is talking about.

"I think I spend a great deal of time researching all the applications in front of me," Decker says, adding that she did not have an outside job when she was on the commission as other commissioners did. "I'm going to continue to demand what should be demanded." Decker places more emphasis on excellence in design of new projects than any of the other candidates.

But Decker resists the idea that requiring such excellence discourages the building of affordable houses. Decker's approach to an issue all the candidates profess to feel strongly about is to work with developers to build smaller units in places such as the Los Gatos Boulevard Area and the Vasona Light Rail Corridor that can house singles, single parents and the elderly.

Building truly low-income housing is nearly impossible, Decker says, because of both the price of the land in Los Gatos and the town's definition of "high density," which matches many cities definitions of "medium density."

"We don't do high density in this town--we never have," Decker says. "We don't even know how to do it."

In keeping with her emphasis on Los Gatos' reputation for small-town character, Decker joins Abkin in an "only if hell freezes over" attitude about a downtown parking structure. Together with developer Dave Flick, Decker approached the town last July with a plan she says could create 200 new spaces at a fraction of the cost of a structure with an equal number of stalls. The plan focuses on the reuse of existing resources, and exploring two properties in the downtown area Decker says are in squalid condition and could be purchased by the town and converted to parking.

"To let [existing resources] get past us and commit to building a new structure is really irresponsible," Decker says. She adds that a new structure would allow regional growth to impact Los Gatos, by encouraging more cars to come to town.

Decker's concern about outside impacts transfers to her stance in favor of closing down the southbound Highway 17 entrance ramp off S. Santa Cruz. "The reason I came out more strongly on the issue than Mike [Abkin]is because I live downtown," Decker says. "I'm not backing off of it at all."

Decker says she used to defend the highway entrance, but after watching the numbers of cut-through commuters swell, she has changed her mind. She supports the idea of metering the on-ramp, and then using the feedback from that to justify closing the exit to Santa Cruz.

Decker, as part of her "economic viability" platform, is also one of the strongest advocate for some sort of retail or commercial use on the North Forty, the last largely undeveloped piece of land in Los Gatos. "The point I would make is you've got to generate some revenue out there," Decker said, adding that language in the General Plan requiring developers to provide a community benefit gives the town leverage on applications.

As part of the planning commission that reviewed the North Forty Specific Plan that was put on the shelf by the council early this year, Decker says she realizes what the town wants now may not fit what it wants when the area actually opens for development. Developing specific plans, however, helps give a timeline and historical context to whatever plan is eventually acted on.

Decker says her experience and knowledge of the North Forty Specific Plan is just an example of the advantage a planning background gives a council member. "Planning permeates everything we do," Decker says. "When you have [that knowledge] you walk in with a real understanding of how this town evolved."

Paul Dubois

Paul Dubois' campaign message has stayed the same from the beginning. Ask him what he thinks he'd bring to the council, and he'll answer quickly: a voice of reasonableness.

"I think the council needs to look at things from a different perspective. It's kind of one dimensional right now," Dubois says.

Dubois' emphasis on public safety--which infuses his views on all aspects of government and planning--can easily be traced back to his career in law enforcement.

Raised in Hawaii, Dubois came to California to attend college, receiving degrees in both business and administrative justice. He began his law enforcement career in the Newark Police Department and rose quickly through the ranks, becoming a sergeant at 23 years old.

In his last few years with the department, Dubois began to work extensively in crime prevention. That's where he got his start in planning issues, looking at developments--from schools to apartments to office buildings--in terms of crime prevention. He served as a law enforcement representative on the town's development review committee.

At the same time, 57-year-old Dubois became involved in designing a state crime prevention program, focusing on planning. After receiving his teaching credential from California State University at Hayward, Dubois began teaching planning from a law enforcement perspective to planners and police departments throughout California.

Dubois arrived in Los Gatos in 1981, coming to the Bay Area to be closer to his parents. He now runs his own business designing comprehensive security systems for major companies and public agencies. He's also working on San Francisco's security program for its bid for the 2012 Olympics. He is president of the Los Gatos Community Foundation, chairman of the Los Gatos Community Services Commission and a member of the mayor's task force on a children's hospital.

Dubois says that, while a planning background should not be considered a prerequisite for serving on the council, he has a unique planning perspective. "Yes, I didn't serve on the planning commission," Dubois says, "but that doesn't mean I don't have a daily, practical understanding of the planning process."

His stance on hillside development is one example of a different perspective he brings to an issue about which all the candidates express concern. Dubois questions why the council is not addressing the sudden oak death syndrome that is sweeping the Sonoma area. If the disease reaches the Los Gatos hills and oaks begin to die, Dubois says it could lead to higher incidences of mudslides. He adds that both tree and road safety are covered in the General Plan but are not being acted upon.

"We have substandard roads up there; we have substandard water supplies," Dubois says. "We have a number of problems developing up there, and the council is not even looking at this."

Dubois' views on in-town traffic also center on the same sort of safety-related issues that come from his law enforcement planning background. He is strongly against closing the southbound S. Santa Cruz Avenue on ramp to Highway 17, describing it as "putting a plug at the bottom of the bathtub."

While he does favor metering the on ramp, he says the core of the traffic problem, at least downtown, has to do with the poor "signalization" at the Caltrans-controlled Highway 9 intersections. To have a real effect on traffic, Dubois says the town needs to take control of the road away from Caltrans and commit to the necessary improvements.

"The town can't effectively manage traffic without re-signalization," Dubois says.

Dubois' approach to the issue of a downtown parking garage is conservative, but equally straightforward. While Dubois wants to look at using whatever resources the town has to maximize current spaces, if a garage is necessary he wants to build it sooner rather than later.

"Do we honestly believe we have the [parking] stock to solve the parking problem in the long term?" Dubois says. "That has to weigh somewhere in the equation." He adds that if and when a garage gets built, the town could do it for less than half the current $10 million estimate if it mimics the simple design of town Lot 4.

Dubois would also like to apply his fiscally conservative attitude toward town hall. While he hesitates to name any one department as being overstaffed, he says that, if elected, he would like to do an efficiency analysis of the entire town government.

To reprioritize the police department, without actually cutting personnel, is another goal Dubois lists. Specifically in the area of traffic enforcement, Dubois says the police department could do a better job on education programs and targeted enforcement. However, Dubois is a strong supporter of Police Chief Larry Todd's emphasis on drug prevention and crime.

Dubois' thinking on affordable housing is less conservative than his approach to other issues. He presents a more detailed strategy for developing affordable housing than any of the other candidates, often citing the need for the town to be able to house its own law enforcement and emergency service personnel.

Dubois advocates the use of an intergovernmental council, with representatives from private industry, and the creation of a housing trust similar to the town's open space trust. The town would buy empty or developed property as a nonprofit, then put deed restrictions on the land that would keep it as affordable housing.

"We're facing an economic apartheid," Dubois says. "Let's create a mechanism that will [create affordable housing]. We have to think outside the box."

Dubois may also hold the firmest position on the issue of a senior coordinator. Wanting more than just a "face and a place," Dubois says the town must hire a full-fledged employee to coordinate senior services. Dubois also feels strongly about the need to dramatically alter the town's Neighborhood Center, which houses a number of senior services.

"The Neighborhood Center is the most inefficient architectural facility I've ever seen," Dubois says. "It's probably the coldest, most uninviting building in Los Gatos." In the candidate forums, Dubois also stated that he would be open to bonding possibilities for senior services and a new library, saying it would allow voters to assess the need.

Finally, Dubois is the lone candidate who stands fully behind the idea of building a children's hospital in Los Gatos, specifically in the North Forty. Dubois says that, counter to some of the other candidates' beliefs, the need has already been demonstrated. He adds that a children's hospital, appropriately designed, would fit into the historical agricultural theme the town states it wants for the area.


Steve Glickman offers his thoughts on needs in the community.




Steve Glickman

Glickman could easily be described as the outsider candidate who doesn't understand why anyone considers him an outsider.

Glickman is an unfamiliar face to the downtown regulars and town government gadflies, which he believes is his strength. Glickman speaks from and to the perspectives of the town's newer arrivals, young couples and families. The emphasis of his campaign has been on the town's failure to meet the needs of these communities.

"There are two Los Gatoses," the 56-year-old Glickman says. "The town has tended to focus on a subset of the town's residents."

Glickman grew up in Brooklyn, attending New York City College and later going to Syracuse University. He has a doctorate in physics and quickly became interested in medical imaging technology. He was part of the team of scientists that developed the first CAT scanner in the 1970s.

Glickman moved to Los Angeles where he served as an assistant professor of medicine at UCLA. After several years he divorced and, faced with the task of supporting two children, he moved north to work in the Silicon Valley and into Los Gatos because of its schools' reputations. Glickman now runs his own software company.

In 1990, while working as a clinic escort for the National Organization for Women, Glickman followed the local chapter president's lead in Saratoga and ran for the Los Gatos Unified School district board. He has since been reelected twice, and has also served on the county committee on school district organization. Glickman has been a volunteer computer science teacher at Fisher Middle School for eight years and served on the county's juvenile justice commission for four years. Most recently, Glickman has served on the park commission's skateboard park subcommittee.

While Glickman takes issue with the idea that a planning background, and specifically time on the planning commission is a prerequisite for serving on the council, he says he nevertheless does have extensive planning experience.

"The major responsibilities of the school board is exactly the same type of planning the town does--site studies, facilities, hiring personnel," Glickman says, adding that the school board has the same type of decision making power as the council.

On the issue of planning, Glickman has been loudest in his support for clearer design guidelines. He says people pay a premium to move to Los Gatos because of its location and good reputation. If word gets out that the town is arbitrary or punitive in its planning process, Glickman says the town's reputation, and corresponding property values, will slip. He points to the numerous applications that bounce back and forth between the planning commission and council as evidence that guidelines aren't clear enough.

"It's not a matter of being more or less strict, it's a matter of preserving the town's reputation and that's money in everyone's pocket," Glickman says. However he's quick to add that people wrongly perceive him as a pro-growth candidate. Glickman says that, from a school board perspective, the town can't handle much growth right now.

That attitude comes through in Glickman's position on the North Forty. He believes the first priority, should the land become available, is setting aside a chunk for a new elementary school. After that, Glickman wants to see recreational facilities--such as a community center and playing fields. He says he realizes funding such development would be difficult, but he points to the $10 million to $12 million the town council is considering spending on a parking garage, and says he'd rather see that money go into community facilities.

"Look at what Campbell has," Glickman says, referring to the town's community center and adjacent playing fields. "Once kids get beyond the teeter-totter stage, what is there for them to do in Los Gatos?"

Glickman also looks at the idea of a downtown shuttle system from the perspective of serving school-age children and simultaneously reducing traffic. Like Abkin, he would like the town to study the possibility of developing such a shuttle, and he believes the school district--which discontinued busing for financial reasons--would chip in. Glickman would also like to see the shuttle service elderly residents who want to travel downtown but don't want to deal with parking. He adds that, to attract riders, the shuttle would initially have to be free.

Glickman says the town's traffic problems need to be confronted with accurate data. He advocates funding an outside, townwide traffic study--with an emphasis on school areas, the Vasona Light Rail Corridor and the North Forty.

On the specific issue of closing Highway 17, Glickman says he is strongly against the idea. He is also unsure on the idea of metering the ramp, saying that while it may improve flow on the freeway, it may have little effect on in-town traffic.

Glickman's ideas on affordable housing center on his belief that low-income units should be integrated into the community rather than segregated. "It is better if we have a spectrum of [incomes represented] in high-density housing," Glickman says.

While he does not have specific programs or plans in mind, he says the town can use multiple sources of funding, such as state and federal grants and redevelopment money, to encourage developers to include affordable housing in projects. He also says the town needs to support affordable projects, since neighbors will inevitably object. "The town council too often acts on the last person to yell in their ear the loudest," Glickman says.

Finally, Glickman's pet issue is the building of a skateboard park for the town's youth. He helped organize children and parents, who persuaded the town's parks commission to study the idea. Glickman served on the subcommittee, and presented the group's findings to the town council.

In the presentation, Glickman presented a dissenting opinion on the issue of the skateboard park site. The committee had rejected building it in Oak Meadow Park, saying the activity would not mix well with the park's emphasis on small children and seniors, as well as possible plans to locate the historic Lyndon cupola near the potential skateboard park site. Glickman disagreed. "When it comes to a choice kids and a cupola, that's not much of a choice," he says.

Glickman says the parks commission's position--and the council's support of it--are indicative of the town's failure to represent Los Gatos' newer, less historically-oriented populations. "That group of people is relatively invisible to the people who believe they represent all of Los Gatos."



Other Voices

With Abkin and Decker constantly referring to the importance of their experience in town planning and Dubois and Glickman's quick defense of their own planning experience, Councilwoman Linda Lubeck says the candidates may be losing focus of larger issues.

"Let's remember while it's planning issues that get the largest amount of press, it's not the biggest thing we do," Lubeck said. "Yeah, it helps when something comes up on appeal, but what matters most is that you have intelligence, dedication and, god knows, a sense of humor."

Lubeck, who some argue is usually the best prepared council member on planning issues, never served on the planning commission. Nor did Joanne Benjamin, whom Lubeck regards as one of the best council members in the town's history.

Lubeck, who is running for town treasurer, is making no public endorsements. She said part of that decision has to do with the fact that she's friends on some level with all the candidates, as well as her desire to avoid the appearance of "picking" her own successor.

Jan Hutchins, the other outgoing council member, is taking a different approach. His name appears on the endorsement lists of both Abkin and Dubois.

Mayor Steve Blanton, who has two years left in his third term on the council, is also making no secret of his endorsements, putting his support squarely behind Dubois. Blanton was on vacation and unavailable for comment on his endorsement of Dubois, or if he supports any of the other three candidates.

Neither Councilman Joe Pirzynski nor Councilman Randy Attaway have endorsed any of the candidates.

Candidate websites

Steve Glickman: www.glickman2000.org

Paul Dubois: www.dubois4council.org

Sandy Decker: www.votefordecker.org

Mike Abkin: www.mikeabkin.org

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