7/27/2019 Portsmouth City Council candidates 5

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A4 PORTSMOUTH HERALD WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2013 WWW.SEACOASTONLINE.COM

P O R T S M O U T H C I T Y C O U N C I L R A C E

Stefany ShaheenAddress: 77 South St.Age: 39

Bob ShouseAddress: 555 Dennett St.Age: 65

Ken SmithAddress: 298 Myrtle Ave.Age: 48

What is your solution to thecurrent parking shortage indowntown?

Do you support the conceptsof form-based zoning as a

way to encourage respon-sible development?

Do you feel the cityhas enough publictransportation?

Give us your philosophyon the budget and what yourpriorities are when it comesto funding education andpublic safety.

Do you support extend-ing last call for bars inPortsmouth until 2 a.m.?

Where do you think the cityshould build a senior centerand why?

What is your overall positionon overtime wages?

With many union contractsexpected to expire in 2014,what do you hope the cityachieves through the collec-tive bargaining process?

In what ways can the citybolster public participationand input?

Identify an issue notmentioned above thatyou feel should bea priority in the comingyears.

Eric SpearAddress: 49 Mount Vernon St.Age: 44

Candidates ata glance

The 23 residents running for thePortsmouth City Council answereda series of questions provided bythe Portsmouth Herald for profilestories. As an additional help toreaders, their answers (somereduced to fit this space) will bedetailed in this format this week.

For their complete answers, visitwww.seacoastonline.com.

Continue to create and expand parking areasaround the perimeter of the downtown so as tocontinue the balance of paid and free parkingto lessen the impact of parking in the neighbor-hoods while preventing tra c congestion onour already tra c-burdened downtown streets.

Yes. Having a one-size-fits-all zoning for ourdowntown is no longer sustainable. We needto encourage developers to consider size andmass while allowing properties to be develop-ment to the scale of surrounding buildings. The

concept of form-based zoning gives the citythe tools that are needed to allow developmentto take place without losing the integrity of ourhistorical past.

Over the past few years, the city has expandedits public transportation, i.e. COAST and trol-ley services. What is needed is better signageand education of schedules and routes. Weneed to encourage ride/share programs andexpand our senior transportation, which shouldbe a priority for the next council. Portsmouthprides itself on being a sustainable city, so weshould continue our work on transportationand lessening the vehicles on our roads. Addingshuttle service from outlying parking lots to thedowntown should also be a priority.

My philosophy is to keep a budget at or belowconsumer price index. All of our current unioncontracts are tied to CPI at a 10-year rollingaverage. I believe municipal government isresponsible for public safety, education andinfrastructure. These should always be of thehighest priority for funding. Beyond these itemsare quality-of-life issues. The city needs to beable to maintain a budget that funds all of theseitems while not taxing citizens out of our city.Over the past few budget cycles, I have pro-posed and achieved cuts to the budget that havehelped maintain a more sustainable tax rate.

No. A majority of our bars and lounges closewell before the current 1 a.m. closing time. Amajority of the bars that remain open have dem-onstrated responsibility of not overserving theirpatrons. Currently at 1 a.m. there are still activi-ties in the downtown associated with getting abite to eat until 2 a.m. Extending bars to 2 a.m.

would extend the latter activities beyond 3 a.m.,which would also impact extended police, etc.

Paul A. Doble Reserve Center because it hasmany appealing features such as parking,easy access, commercial-grade kitchen andclassrooms, to name a few, and would providefor an outstanding senior center with room formultiple concurrent activities to take place.

While the city budgets will always include over-time, I believe the City Council has done a goodjob of tightening that line item, not only in thecity budget but in the union contracts. I believewe need to look closely at the balance of over-time versus hiring a new employee. Currently, itis more cost-eective to have overtime in somedepartments than to hire new personnel. This isa balance that I will continue to oversee.

We need to finalize our two outstanding unioncontracts. We then we have to work with ourcurrent contracts. I have proposed a healthinsurance committee with a representativefrom each of the bargaining units, city staand councilors. This committee would reviewcurrent health insurance coverage and costs aswell as review alternate plans, payment meth-ods and funding sources.

We need to continue to have more listeningsessions. A give-and-take between the citizenand council should be allowed and not havethe council just listen. It can be frustrating asa councilor that when a citizen speaks to uswe are not allowed at that moment to respond;instead, the public speaker has to wait untilthe end of the meeting to hear a response fromcouncilors. Much of the time, misinformation is

maintained because of lack of communication.Citizens have questions and they deserve theanswers when the question is asked and notheld up due to parliamentary procedures.

First: The renovation of all of the elementaryschools. Second: The issue of senior transpor-tation. Third: Succession process of our citymanager. Fourth: the celebration of our citys400th anniversary.

I feel the city needs to build a parking garage inthe downtown, consider satellite parking and atrolley system to support satellite parking, anda city-run valet parking system. The downtownparking problem is only going to get worse,to the detriment of downtown businesses,employees and visitors, and a solution shouldbe a top priority.

Yes, I feel form-based zoning is the key tosolving the problem of building height, build-ing mass, open space, compatibility withPortsmouth architecture and associated park-ing.

While the city has COAST public transportation,this service could be expanded to service moreof the city and more frequently. In addition, thecity should introduce a new trolley system tosupport satellite parking in lieu of downtownparking.

My philosophy on the budget is that it needs tobe adequate to fund the citys needs in orderto provide a level of services that the citizensdeserve. Funding for education cannot bediminished, as the education of our youngstersis of critical importance. Likewise, the fundingof both the police and fire departments needsto be su cient to ensur e public safet y, with aclose look at overtime.

No, I do not support a 2 a.m. last call. I believeextending the hours to 2 a.m. begs for moredrunken and rowdy behavior, which is unwise.

I feel the senior citizen center should definitelybe built at the Doble Army Reserve Centerbecause of its availability, spaciousness, cen-tral location and single-story architecture withroom for parking, handicapped services andexpansion.

Overtime wages should be avoided at all costsunless needed to cover operational necessitiesof both the police and fire departments, aswell as Department of Public Works for snowremoval.

Residents are well served by our dedicated cityworkers and they are essential to the properrunning of the city. The city should negotiatethat all 15 unions change their health insurancefrom Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield to Cigna,as several unions have already voluntarily done,for a huge cost reduction to the city.

The city can bolster public participation andinput by increasing the recording and broad-casting of all board and committee meetingsand better advertising public hearings toencourage the public to attend and speak.

I believe an issue that should be mentioned isthe development of the Northern Tier and theexpansion of the port of Portsmouth to encour-age more trade and more tourism be broughtto the city. Also, the enhancement of the waterand sewer plants, due to U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency mandates, will be a big issueand will have a great eect on water and sewerbills for the next several years.

Given the critical need for additional parkingspaces downtown, we must consider everypotential municipal and private location. Weshould also push more aggressively to obtainthe federal McIntyre building and ensure park-ing is an integral part of any redevelopmentplan for the building. Finally, we should promoteexisting satellite parking locations and identifyother satellite options with adequate shuttleservice.

This approach has the potential to preventthe construction of buildings inappropriate insize, scale and appearance for the area. It willbe important for the community to carefullyevaluate and understand the implications of thisapproach over the current zoning ordinances.Conceptually, I support formed-based zoning asit has the potential to address issues related tothe character of the buildings in town, includingheight, volume, scale, massing and design.

Portsmouth does not have enough publictransportation and the transportation we dohave is inadequately publicized. To addressthese limitations, I would suggest several steps:1. Expand trolley and shuttle service as a wayto connect neighborhoods to the downtown.2. Publicize current bus and trolley routes. 3.Continue implementation of the Bicycle andPedestrian Plan. 4. Add bike racks. 5. Workwith bus service providers to add routes whereappropriate.

Ensuring public safety and strong schools aretwo essential responsibilities of city govern-ment. As a parent of four children attendingPortsmouth public schools, I know how impor-tant it is for our schools to continue buildingon success. Given the public safety demandsplaced on the city by the approximately 40,000visitors who travel here each day, exploringways to oset expenses related to public safetywill be critical. Residents cannot aord fortaxes to increase at a rate faster than inflation.

The limited economic benefit relative to seri-ous safety concerns compels me to keep lastcall at 1 a.m. Trouble often happens after barsclose. Extending last call would require thePolice Department to change shift schedulesto prepare for potential arrests and bookingsafter bars close. Portsmouth is a destination

for many and will continue to be even if last callis at 1 a.m.

We must create more opportunities for ourseniors. These same seniors also share theirconcerns about the risk of having to leavePortsmouth if taxes and living expenses continueto rise. The Blue Ribbon Senior Committee isconsidering all viable locations for a senior center,and it is important for this work to continue. TheDoble U.S. Army Reserve Center is one potentiallocation because it may be repurposed in a high-quality, cost-eective way and done so quickly.

Emergency readiness requires careful manage-ment of sta ng levels. Finding the balancebetween paying overtime wages and hiringnew people is a delicate one. Often, the costof overtime is less than the cost of training andmaking a new hire, but that calculation must bemade in context of keeping the public safe.

I do think its possible to achieve a sharedsense of value through the upcoming collec-tive bargaining process. Those who dedicatetheir lives to serving the public teachers,sanitation workers, police and firefighters should be fairly compensated. With resourcesstretched, the city must budget carefully. Byworking together, I am confident that we canprovide readiness in the face of emergency,excellence in the classroom and clean streets.

Organizations such as Portsmouth Listensalong with the public comment period duringcouncil meetings provide invaluable opportuni-ties for participation and input. However, I fearsome voices are left out of the debate. The cityhas a responsibility to ensure those who wantto participate have the chance. If elected, Iwill encourage the council to hold meetings inother public locations throughout the city and

listening sessions to invite public commentson issues without the constraints of a regularmeeting.

In 10 years, Portsmouth will celebrate its 400thbirthday. Decisions we make and the workwe do together will help shape Portsmouthsfuture. More than any one of the choices indi-vidually, how we make these decisions will saymore about what we want our future to looklike and who we are as a community.

We must build a new and attractive parkingfacility on the Worth lot. Too many of our busi-nesses on the upper floors of our downtowno ces are suering. Their employees cantget to work, and their clients cant meet themfor appointments. Our own residents who liveoutside of walking distance should be able toenjoy their downtown, and they need park-ing. Finally, more parking should never costmoney, but instead reduce our tax burden. Ifthe Worth lot proves impossible, then I willaggressively look elsewhere downtown.

Soon after I was elected mayor, I calledthe council to a special meeting to discussways to protect the historic character of ourdowntown. The outcome was a concept calledform-based zoning. Since then, the sta,consultants, the Planning Board and the com-munity have put together a draft document toimplement form-based codes. This new wayof looking at our zoning laws will provide muchmore guidance to developers and to our land-use boards in terms of what the c ommunityexpects and demands when it comes to archi-tecture in our downtown.

No, I think we need more bus routes and morefrequent trips on each route. Unfortunately,the state provides no funding, and federalfunding is diminishing. Transportation (likehousing, to which it is closely related) is aregional issue, and it deserves a regional solu-tion. I know Portsmouth is willing to contributemore to this eort, but we need more coop-eration at all levels of government to makeit a success. Within the city, we continue toexpand our senior transportation eorts, and I

want to build on that.For the past five years, weve had taxes goup less than 1 percent per year. Meanwhile,public services like education are the best inthe state. This is an amazing achievement, andsomething Im most proud of with respect tomy record on the City Council and as mayor.The city now has a AAA S&P bond rating, theonly such S&P rating in the state. My intentionis to continue the policies that have broughtus this success: low taxes, strong public ser-vices and economic growth.

No. We must remember the bars inPortsmouth are also co-located with resi-dents. I think at some point people need toget some sleep, and so I think that we shouldkeep the last call as it stands.

I created a new committee to look into seniorservices, and its members recently toured theformer Doble Center. I look forward to hearingtheir feedback as they continue their process.I will simply say for now I think we can moveahead with some speed to get something inplace. Meanwhile, we can also think long-termabout a community center that could meet alot of needs for residents of all ages.

On the surface, it appears overtime wages area bad deal for the taxpayer. However, whenemployees are required outside of normalhours due to circumstances like a blownwater main, snow or fire, they should be fairlycompensated. Overtime used to fill shifts stillmight be less costly than hiring new person-nel with all of their attached benefits. We andthe departments analyze dierent sta ng

scenarios and choose the path that brings themost value to the taxpayer.

Our first objective is to deliver c ompensa-tion that allows us to hire and retain the bestpossible work force. The second and equallyimportant objective is to contain cost escala-tions (like health insurance) that force us tomake unacceptable choices between fewerservices or excessive taxes. On this point,I will continue to be an aggressive taxpayerrepresentative.

Over the next few years, I think we will see arevolution in the use of technology as a meansto distribute information about road construc-tion projects, health inspections and buildingpermits. Further, city sta and elected o -cials will continue to establish relationshipsthrough traditional and nontraditional meanslike Portsmouth Listens, Facebook, e-mail and

Twitter.

Some of us are concerned about the rapidgrowth downtown. In order to manage thatresponsibly, I have voted for reducing themaximum height of our buildings, once in Apriland again in September. I have appointeda preservationist to the Historic DistrictCommission. I have voted to expand theHistoric District twice. Finally, I have pushedto give the HDC tools and sta to enable themto more eectively do their job. While theseeorts may take time to bear fruit, the seedsare planted for reasonable economic develop-ment that will protect everything that makesPortsmouth a city we love.