2024 Concord City Council Candidate Questions: Edi Birsan
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?
Edi Birsan
Age 74 *looking forward to my midlife crisis
Occupation: Small businessperson Surveyor of Maritime Equipment and Councilmember
Why do you want to run for a City Council Position?
I have put in motion substantial policy directions on Homelessness, Road Plans, Community Unity, crime reduction and avoidance, that I want to follow through on and have so much more that I can contribute to making Concord even better.
What experience or training do you have that qualifies you to make decisions for the City of Concord?
I have proven my leadership on the issues that Concord residents tell me matter most to them: public safety, affordable workforce housing, moving the unhoused into housing, improving roads, and investing in economic development to boost our local economy and create local jobs.
What engagement have you had in Concord civic affairs? Do you regularly attend city council meetings?
I received a recognition from the city of 15 years of perfect council attendance which goes backs years before I was elected.
I have participated extensively for the entire time the Community Advisory Committee on the Base was in operation for their 34 meetings prior to their recommendation in 2010. I have been on the Federal Restoration Advisory Board on the Base, I have been on the Community Service Commission, I have represented the city for years on various regional boards.
No candidate has as an extensive civic engagement as I have.
A community driven Grand Jury identified a City Council lack of transparency regarding financial reporting of Concord Naval weapon station Reuse Project. What changes, if any, would you make in response to the report?
When I first ran for office, my motivation was to be accessible and to create a more transparent council and local government. We can do better here, and the city has acknowledged what actions will be taken moving forward and has done them.
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 WAY. We already have regional oversight to a degree that is mandated by state law and where we engage in the regular process of projects such as EIRs, etc. NO WAY am I going to support further interference in our city. We do not need to be ordered about by outsiders. When the plan was made by the Community Advisory Committee, we did have regional representatives in the 20+ members but remember they were advisors not deciders.
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?
We have a 28% reduction in homelessness. I was an architect of the strategic plan that resulted in this reduction and have successfully advocated for an additional $5.2 million to push our success further.
We have a 10% reduction in crime. I put body cameras on the police, brought in drones which have played key roles in rescue of lost dementia victims and kids. Drones have reduced police need on site and added to efficiency and the capture of criminals. The license plate readers we employed now helps us recover a stolen vehicle each week.
With my support we now have the Myles Hall Center that dispatches non-police response to mental health crisis. Concord now leads the county in such response.
As for infrastructure, in 2018, I began working on what became Measure V – a tax measure on the ballot in 2020 that I helped to pass. I worked with Council to make sure we have $120 million in road work now. This measure keeps funds raised locally, local for infrastructure and other needs in Concord. I personally campaigned for the measure and contributed financially to the campaign. Today, work is completed or has begun on Oak Grove, Treat and Monument in our district.
I will continue to champion:
- Affordable Housing.
- Revitalization of current housing.
- Helping first time home buyers.
- Unity- role modeling that “anyone can represent everyone”.
- Get the Base rolling and making sure OUR plan goes forth.
- Fiscal balance.
- Expansion of youth services and opportunities .
- Economic development to attract light industrial and protect small businesses.
- Further climate actions such as the 100% green electric I brought to the city, free shuttles to the malls and downtown.
- A live theater to downtown for shows.
- Fully connected traffic lights with modern cars so you are not at a red light in the middle of the night on an empty road.
- Elimination of illegal food trucks in the Monument hurting our Latino restaurants.
- Expansion of school-city interactions by more visits to and from schools.
- Placing of at least 10 historic markers around the city to highlight some of the aspects of neighborhoods and the city at large.
- Having a diverse cultural center where all can share their backgrounds.
- Renaming some of the offensive streets like Kirker Pass.
- Follow through on the $4 million grant proposal for a library upgrade that we got support in March from Senators Padilla and Butler.
- Extend our youth intern program for the city.
- Bring more art to the city.
- Explore converting commercial office space to mixed housing.
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?
This is another mandated issue from the state and somewhat the Federal government. While it makes sense not to concentrate low-income housing in one place, which we do suffer from in the Monument Corridor, it also needs to be a balance in the community. Sticking 4 and six story building randomly in the city is not good policy. I would like to see a determined effort to have housing reflect neighborhoods that have a less stark comparison of density. This is one of the challenges and we are now working with the community in outreach and study to see what can be reasonably done. My emphasis is on affordable not on high density. We want neighborhoods not big city housing projects.
If you had an extra $1 million in the general budget, what would you do with it?
Hire 2 more Code Enforcement Officers, hire two more Community Service Officers to free up more cops, get a small theater downtown for live shows, expand a room to the library.
If you had to cut an extra $1 million from the general budget, what would you cut?
Outsourcing of work even if it took a little longer to get some service aspects done.
How do you feel about putting “red light” cameras at high-use intersections, and why? What about in parks?
There appears to be some concern about how effective they are as well as protection of Civil Liberties. I think at the major crash intersections such as the White Picket Fence and Galindo it might help more in the understanding of what is happening. The city might be up for an experiment at two or three places and then a review.
As for cameras at Parks, while I don’t think the purpose would be to track high speed joggers, maybe at the parking lots so we can take down thieves, otherwise have not seen a case for it.
How would you improve transparency and accountability in the city’s decision-making process?
I have:
- made myself available to anyone on anything and close to anytime or where though I do prefer Peet’s Coffee at Oak Grove
- long supported the position that we should have OPEN two-way discussion in the council on future agenda items.
- proposed a directly elected mayor and will continue to.
- supported Districts, another step in the right direction. Going to 6 districts with a directly elected mayor would help.
- for years I maintained the Pulse of Concord to get people’s views, now after 11 years the city is starting a regular program along those lines
- supported the position that all council standing committees should have a workshop on agenda items to DISCUSS with the people
- advocated for public recording and broadcast of committee and commission meetings
- increased direct communication with the people through email newsletters and extensive social media. This is working.
- established Mayor’s office hours outside of City Hall on Saturday
How would you address discord or disagreements between council members and/or with city staff?
Having gone through this over the years I have demonstrated that we can disagree to disagree. In fact, one of the most telling things is my innovative approach as Mayor that if any two Councilmembers wants to put something on the agenda to talk about regardless if I agree or not on the subject, I will automatically be the third that is required to put it on the agenda.
Looking at the council over the last 4 years we have had various split votes on things but there is a shifting between us on different topics so those who disagree on this topic may not disagree on another and back and forth.
As for staff we have respect for each other and differences are not allowed to interfere with our cooperation.
Do you feel the current measures taken by council on rent control and tenant protections are the correct ones for the city of Concord?
The Rent Stabilization and Just Cause Eviction was the result of an extensive set of compromises and public comment and investigation that resulted in a 4-1 vote. I am sure that there are many who would like to see improvements in different areas.
I support affordable housing for all income levels, including owners and renters. Some renters in Concord were facing double-digit rent increases that were above the norm and in jeopardy of eviction. The rent stabilization measure we enacted is just that – it provides a predictable maximum rent increase allowed each year for a limited number of apartments. Additionally, the measure has a yearly review of rates. Rent stabilization provides certainty for both tenants and landlords.
The nature of local government is that as consensus builds on the data and experiences there will be adjustments as warranted
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To read other Concord City Council candidate answers, click here.