2024 Concord City Council Candidate Questions: Myles Burks

Concord, CA (Sept. 18, 2024) — The Pioneer newspaper presented a list of questions to the candidates running for Concord City Council in the 2024 election. To read other candidate answers, click here.

What is your name, age and occupation?

I’m Myles Burks, 24 years old, small business owner.

Why do you want to run for a City Council Position?

The best way I can describe it is this. I was born and raised in Concord, and I grew up watching my father who loved this city, always giving back to the city and its people.

I grew up watching my father feed the homeless, raise money and donations for the Monument Crisis center, and always lend a helping hand to those in need. So when he died unexpectedly two years ago, I had to step up and take over the family business to help support my family. It was only then that I started realizing that something was wrong with the city I grew up in.

As a small business owner of a family eatery I started looking around and seeing that business all around me, that has been here for years we’re starting to close.

New customers and old ones that had been coming for years stopped coming around because Concord had lost its appeal as a destination for entertainment. Why??

Because it has developed a bad reputation, with homeless wandering the streets, petty theft, shoplifting, robbery, auto break-ins with smash and grabs.

I realized things were getting bad in Concord, the city my father loved, and taught me to love!

So that’s when I decided that the best thing that I could do was to honor my father’s memory and to follow his example.

What experience or training do you have that qualifies you to make decisions for the City of Concord?

You don’t have to be a genius or an economist or an expert in government to look around and see something wrong in Concord. As a small business owner, I make a lot of decisions that can either benefit my business or be detrimental. But before any decision is made, I thoroughly do my research for the best outcome.

What engagement have you had in Concord civic affairs? Do you regularly attend city council meetings?

I was an applicant for the homeless strategic plan in 2023. I do attend city council meetings and when I’m not available to attend in person. I watch online.

A community driven Grand Jury identified a City Council lack of transparency in regard to financial reporting of Concord Naval weapon station Reuse Project.   What changes, if any, would you make in response to the report?

Hold accountability, by always being transparent. I would change the way we notify our community to be more visible and efficient. Also encourage the community to be more involved in the city meetings.

There has been some discussion among residents that the Naval Weapons Station development is too big a project for the City Council, and that the project should have regional oversight. Do you agree?

No. The City Council should make the right decisions to move forward by working all together , knowing all the qualifications and information that a developer would need.

The major issues in the city have been homelessness, roads/infrastructure, safety and housing.  What have you done, or would you do to address these issues? Are there other issues you would champion?

With homeless camps on the rise, bad roads, insufficient traffic lights, infrastructure down, a very strict rent control, affordable housing and crime at an all time high are my issues that need to be addressed. I  have worked with the local police department, Churches  and other businesses to feed the homeless. I was also an applicant for the homeless strategic plan.

A recent press release from the city announced the potential rezoning of selected areas of Concord to accommodate high density housing (Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Projects).  What are your thoughts on this proposal? 

There’s no question that a city like Concord needs to build more housing. In many cities which are landlocked the only solution is to build more high density housing projects by rezoning by removing restrictive city ordinances of height or converting commercial zones for residential.

Projects in the downtown area could be viable shared space developments with retail centers on the bottom and residential housing up above.

Concord, however, is in a unique situation or it has vast open space with the Concord naval weapon station that could be developed and has been under review for three decades. Unfortunately under the present mayor’s watch, nothing has been developed while millions of taxpayers money has been spent yielding no results.

The long-term success of any city like Concord depends on new development of housing that brings new businesses and increases tax revenues.

When I’m elected, I will work to make sure taxpayers money is well spent and new housing development projects are approved.

If you had an extra $1 million in the general budget, what would you do with it?

If the city had a $1 million surplus, that would be a great situation to be in.  My goal would be to use those resources to first look at a way to best manage the homeless situation in the downtown area. There needs to be a fine balance between humanitarian aid and preserving the safety and functionality of our downtown streets and parks for its residence.

Secondly, I would take some of those resources and ask the Concord police force what they could use to effectively implement strategies that would reduce the rising tide of crimes such as petty theft, robbery, shoplifting, and auto theft, which are at an all-time high in Concord.

Unfortunately, under this Mayor’s watch a surplus of $1 million is unrealistic and probably won’t be due to the punitive citywide rent control ordinance that was pushed through last March which will stifle any long-term economic prosperity for the city and its residents.

If you had to cut an extra $1 million from the general budget, what would you cut?

Common sense approach would be to look at where the money is being spent right now and where cuts could be made. Some people would say looking at the inflated cost of city staff such as city manager and city attorney salaries are not in line with other cities. It’s my understanding a lot of federal grant money that was received during the Covid pandemic for Covid support services found its way funneled to many tenant advocacy groups.

If that turned out to be the case, then perhaps some of that money could be redirected for better uses for Concord and its residents.

How do you feel about putting “red light” cameras at high-use intersections, and why? What about in parks?

Many cities have active red light cameras. I would need to look at the data regarding the effectiveness of programs and other cities to make a definitive decision, but my gut reaction says that if the program can reduce fatalities from drivers running red lights and I would be supportive of such a program if the data and the studies prove it to be effective and not just another waste of taxpayers’ money.

How would you improve transparency and accountability in the city’s decision-making process?

The best way to increase transparency of the City Council decision-making process would be to encourage citizens to the participants in the meetings and discussions, encourage public comment and actually listen to the data being presented and either reduce or eliminate closed door sessions.

Unfortunately, Mayor Birsan tends to limit public comments when the topic conflicts with something he disagrees with and admonishes speaking down to residents who make the sacrifice to show up to council meetings to actively participate.

How would you address discord or disagreements between council members and/or with city staff?

I suspect discord between council members and city staff is no different than working with one’s co-workers or employees in the workplace. My approach to conflict resolution is first to keep calm, use professional language, and try to remove personal emotions from the conversation by sticking to the facts and topic at hand. I always try to remember that maybe this person is just having a bad day. I always try to treat other people the way I want to be treated.This is how I would handle any disagreements with other council members or city staff personnel.

Do you feel the current measures taken by council on rent control and tenant protections are the correct ones for the city of Concord?

In my opinion, the current rent control ordinance was unnecessary and overreach by city government which state law of Costa Hawkins was designed to protect from happening. Select members of City Council kept using the term housing crisis. The fact of the matter is, there was no crisis post Covid pandemic rent had stabilized and had begun falling. Much of this was fueled by Bay area residence leaving the area for more affordable cities with lower cost-of-living such as Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, Tracy, and Manteca. At the time the ordinance was put in place. There were thousands of vacant apartments available. Concord sits between three cities, Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill and Martinez–none which are experiencing a housing crisis. Their City Council’s rejected rent control by tenant activist coalitions. Those cities have new development projects and strong business sectors compared to Concord with its closing empty buildings, no new businesses emerging and decline in housing quality. If Concord is going to survive and then thrive once again, the first step is to attract quality business and residential development to our city. Historical data on rent control is conclusive. Cities with rent control do not attract developers in rent control communities that limit a return investment. That is why it’s imperative for the future economic growth of Concord to depend on rescinding the current rent control ordinance.

To read other Concord City Council candidate answers, click here.