Concord City Council candidate questions: Laura Nakamura, District 5

The Concord Clayton Pioneer newspaper presented a list of questions to the candidates running for Concord City Council in the 2022 election.

To read other candidate answers, click here. For our story on all the candidates running in this race, click here.

Age: 58

Current Occupation Pediatric Cardiac Sonographer

How long have you lived in Concord?

Concord has been my home for 30 years. I raised two children here (CVHS grads).

Why do you want to serve on the Concord city council? 

In Concord I’ve identified three issues which undermine quality of life on a daily basis:  housing affordability and stability, homelessness, and our lack of healthy and sustainable transportation infrastructure. Cities our size around the country are making impressive strides on these and similar issues, and I believe we can, too. But this takes better leadership and policy guidance. I want to be part of a new era of governance that inclusively addresses issues that matter for all Concord residents.

It’s time for change. We deserve leaders who listen – residents should take priority in Concord City Council decisions, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized. We need policies rooted in the values which represent the best in us so that families and individuals of all types can live, work and thrive in Concord.

What experience or training do you have that qualifies you to make decisions for the city? 

I have been working to improve Concord life for a number of years. For example, in 2016 I joined the Bike Concord advocacy team to make streets safer for bike commuters and people who walk. This involved regularly participating in meetings of Concord’s Bicycle and Pedestrians Advisory Committee. Then some of us identified a much broader list of topics to work on for Concord residents. So in 2017 I helped to co-found the Concord Communities Alliance, an organization working towards just and equitable conditions for all residents.

In Spring 2018 I took part in the Concord Community Institute, a great program which offers a deep introduction to City government and services. Through my work in healthcare, I’m a union steward (NUHW) and have been a member of the contract negotiating team – I note that the City of Concord has contract renegotiations coming up in 2023. In 2021 I joined the Boards, Commissions and Leadership Institute of Urban Habitat. This is a program which prepares participants to employ equity principles in policy work on land use, transportation, and housing. In my faith community, I have led a social justice ministry and facilitated JustFaith programs; most recently in 2020 on racial equity.

I’ve been involved in the Contra Costa Transportation Authority’s Citizens Advisory Committee through its Vision Zero working group since 2019, and am currently a member of the working group. In 2021 I was appointed to the City’s Community Services Commission that is tasked with identifying and prioritizing funding for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) recipients.I the tools to be the leader Concord needs.

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

I have been very active and engaged in City Council and civic affairs more broadly since 2016. In addition to bike advocacy, I participated in the City’s Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee meetings and helped with Bike Rodeos at National Night Out events. Most recently I showed up at 5am to set-up the Pine Hollow Safe Streets pop-up event.

Starting in 2016 and 2017, I collaborated with many other volunteers to advocate for immigrant and tenant protections – this during a challenging period when vulnerable families often found themselves kicked onto the sidewalk, and possibly even at risk for being broken up and deported. In 2018, I advocated for the City’s adoption of voting districts, and in 2022 supported the adoption of Map 3 (aka Lupe’s map – a term coined by a coalition of community members) in the post census redistricting effort.

During 2019, with members of CCA I engaged Concord residents to poll them about the building of a downtown soccer stadium. Many of the current City Council Members encouraged the downtown stadium project despite opposition from an overwhelming majority of residents.

All of this involved regular participation and commenting at City Council and Committee meetings, and one on one meetings with Council Members and City staff. I continue to be a regular commenter and advocate in front of the City Council on a variety of other issues, all of which affect the quality of life for families here in Concord (housing, immigration, homelessness, the Concord Naval Weapons Station, support for allocating ARPA funds to Concord childcare workers, flavored tobacco and vaping sales to minors, gun safety and more).

Mostly recently, I’ve advocated for the City Council to cut ties with the Seeno developer group based on their statements that they can’t get the financial returns they need without cutting labor costs, affordable housing, and community benefit.  Things that benefit Concord residents take priority for me.

I’m sufficiently engaged with both the City Council and with Concord residents to realize that voters in Concord are growing increasingly unhappy about being ignored.

What do you see as the three most important issues immediately facing Concord and how do you plan to address those issues?

Concord’s three most immediate challenges are quality of life issues: housing affordability, homelessness, and outmoded transportation infrastructure. These three areas offer the greatest opportunities for improving the daily life of Concord residents. Behind these loom the realities of the naval weapons station development, the City’s budget, and our zoning structures.

For example, building thousands of homes on the Naval Weapons Station before making Concord much more transit oriented will increase congestion in our cities and roadways, making life worse for many current residents. Making buses and bikes real and ubiquitous transportation choices across Concord will be a great help to Concord’s working families by offering alternatives to unsustainable and expensive cars and gasoline. These are steps towards sustainability and “transit equity” and also traffic improvements.

Similarly, simplifying the process by which current residents can add affordable “in-law” units could be  a win-win – the City Council should reduce fees and pre-approve “standard” designs so that capacity can be added quickly.  . We need to take our Regional Housing Needs Allocation seriously, but there are many ways to do this beyond large scale private development projects. In fact, our experience in Concord with private developers has been – for years – that even entitled projects don’t “pencil out.” We need to start looking at the many alternatives which exist.

And finally, we need to begin addressing homelessness with both intelligence and compassion. We cannot afford to waste money repeatedly performing costly “sweeps”  which don’t actually solve any aspect of the problem. Our unhoused neighbors need comprehensive services, not simply a roof; and we need to challenge every dollar spent to focus on the needs of the unhoused and on producing meaningful constructive outcomes.

Good answers already exist on these issues. That’s not the problem. Our challenge is to elect leader who will  actually implement solutions.

What are your priorities in making public policy?

My priorities are equity, sustainability, and quality of life for residents. I also recognize the great value of transparency, deeper engagement and growing the partnership between City government and residents, and finally, greater accountability of City government to residents.

My approach will be to focus on issues that impact the busy lives of working people and families of all types. I believe that Concord will thrive when the needs of residents come first, especially the vulnerable and the marginalized. Concord has given priority to outside interests long enough, it is time to focus our time and energy on the needs of the real people who call Concord home.

Do you feel the current compensation is adequate for the job of a councilmember?

Under our current structure as a general law city, yes.  While current compensation is similar to cities of a similar size and meets the requirements of California guidelines, many Concord residents do not feel like taking public office to affect change is a real possibility because the compensation is too low for the time requirement.

Having said that, I also think it would be a constructive project for Concord residents and City government to have a serious conversation about whether being a general law city meets our needs, or whether becoming a charter city would have benefits worth pursuing. I can imagine that one outcome of that conversation might be a re-definition of the role of City Council member, which would warrant revisiting the question of compensation, as well as seeking opportunities to remove barriers to public service which can exist for working class people.

Would you vote to increase it/decrease it? 

I think council pay increases should be made regularly in alignment with adjustments to salaries that city staff and police receive. The process should be designed to be automatic so that council members only receive the level of increases they are willing to approve for City employees.

Do you feel the current city council is representative of Concord?

Roughly 40% of Concord residents are tenants, only 58% are white, 62% of the labor force is female, 9% live in poverty, and 24% were born in a foreign country. Concord is blessed with an amazing diversity of faiths and cultures, and more than 36% speak a language other than English at home. By these and similar measures, the City Council isn’t quite representative of Concord itself. But the real test is not whether the Council exactly reflects demographics, since that can be a difficult goal to achieve. Rather, the best assessment is whether the Council empowers the diversity it represents in its decision making even though that diversity may not be the lived experience of its members. To me, this is an essential part of what it means to “represent” someone. I will work to ensure that the diversity of Concord is represented on City boards and commissions.

Do you feel city employees are adequately compensated? Why or why not?

In light of inflationary trends, my sense is that city employees are not paid adequately enough.   Like other employers, the City is experiencing the “great resignation” – and the related labor shortage – because employee compensation falls below the living wage line.  In a review of the MOU between the City and Teamsters Local 856 I noted that a handful of pay scales were set at less than MIT’s Living Wage Scale. As the largest city in the County and as a city that needs to be competitive for quality workers in the Bay Area, we need to be paying well above the minimum wage of $15/hour.  Based on the cost of living in Contra Costa County, we need to be paying at least $24/hour.  In a candid conversation with two city employees, both admitted that they could be paid a much higher wage in a nearby city.  We can and should do better for those who provide City services.

What does “defunding the police” mean to you? Police budget is 57% of the city’s total budget. Would you change this allocation? How?

“Defund” is both a poor choice of words and a poor policy framework. When it comes to policing, the budget, and the needs of Concord residents, what is needed is not sound-bite sticks to beat each other with, but rather a good partnership between the police and residents. What is needed is data and dialogue – a real willingness to listen and learn from each other, and a willingness to be open, transparent, and accountable to each other. Only on this basis can policy challenges as complex as this one be addressed intelligently.

The question of changing the allocation of the police budget is unanswerable without information, a healthy partnership between the police and all stakeholders, and the skills to balance diverse perspectives with mutual respect. Even members of the Concord Police Department recognize that they may be given tasks which they are not best suited to handle. Many Concord residents have experiences with “small” property crimes which can be nearly impossible for police to address directly.

Before any consideration of a change in budget allocation can be made, I support the creation of a police – resident forum where information can be shared and expectations managed and adjusted. A good model for this kind of forum could be the Walnut Creek Chief’s Community Advisory Board. Collaboration and communication should be the starting point, not budget percentages.

Should the city dedicate land for homeless encampments? If so, how much land and where in your specific district?

Yes, land within the City should be dedicated for homeless encampments. But it is important to recognize that the City itself may not directly control property that is best suited for this. It is also important to consider that the best land for homeless encampments will have important characteristics: basic infrastructure, and easy access to food, transit, and critical services. Locations that meet these criteria may not be equally distributed across all Concord districts.

How much land is needed? An intelligent answer requires defining a target population, the type of services and structures intended in the solution, and whether or not the project has sufficient “managerial” support to be viable. Opportunity Village in Eugene, OR has 30 tiny home units on a single acre and has good administrative and volunteer support. Concord has a homeless population that may measure closer to 500 unsheltered people. Do we have the capacity to deliver 5 or 10 projects like that?  We could, if we had the leadership to foster it.

In addition, the best place to locate homeless encampments is where they are supported by neighbors; delivering solutions for homelessness improves the quality of life for everyone. In District 5, Newhall Community Park certainly has the physical space and meets some of the location criteria. One of our current council members lives close by. Would his neighborhood support such a project? This is actually the harder question.

I have served as a volunteer serving meals to our unhoused neighbors, and I can tell you that while many people in Concord are already doing outreach on their own or as part of nonprofits, they know that greater scale is needed. They want leadership for better, more comprehensive solutions. Part of the challenge of leadership at the City Council level is to guide Concord residents into making compassionate choices within our capacity if not necessarily our preference.

Do you support a “safe parking area” for campers/RVs in your district?

Yes, when adequately managed as a part of a well defined program, and when there is appropriate and underutilized parking available, whether City or privately controlled. This is also a solution which requires consideration of necessary infrastructure – campers and RV parking solutions work best with water, sewer and electrical connections. Security and length of stay parameters should also be defined in a well designed program. Short term parking due to a housing emergency is different from a near permanent stay.

This question doesn’t ask about it, but there are Churches and similar groups who would be willing to devote parking to overnight “safe sleep” programs. These are very short duration but when well managed offer a respite to people who work, have cars, but no dwelling place. The City of Concord actually owns parking which might be suitable for this type of program, such as the BART overflow parking and the Waterworld parking lot.

As with any solution, this is not just a question of supporting an idea or location, but doing so in the context of a well managed program.

Do you support camping in the public parks? If not, how should the city deal with individuals that refuse shelters, mental health/substance treatment or transitional housing?

I support well managed encampments which use appropriate and available space in public parks. I view unmanaged and unsupported free camping as a moral failure of leadership, especially when the response is to repeatedly waste taxpayer dollars in “sweeps” which do not solve anything for anyone. I believe challenges like homelessess can be addressed with both compassion and intelligence.

People refuse various resources for a variety of reasons. Often we assume that the person who refuses some form of shelter is simply behaving irrationally. In some cases this might be true, but certainly not all. I know of one unhoused neighbor who struggles with addiction but has succeeded in remaining clean and sober – living in a tent with a stable community in a public space. Her encampment was swept, her “house” destroyed, and she was offered a drugs-ridden hotel “solution” and understandably rejected it. Similarly, there are unhoused people with mental health challenges who are simply not prepared to live on their own in transitional housing. Housing alone is never enough; a comprehensive array of appropriate resources – including mental health support – are needed in a well managed environment. There are no easy solutions, and wishing doesn’t make it so.

How should we handle the situation where individuals refuse resources? We can start by engaging them, listening to them, and taking their perspectives seriously. When solutions fail because we don’t start in this way, that’s on us. When we view our unhoused neighbors as problems to be “dealt with” and not as people to be listened to, we are starting off on the wrong foot.

There are currently a number of prime properties in the downtown that are undeveloped. Do you support a tax or fine on empty storefronts?

Owners of vacant commercial property in Concord should be encouraged to recognize that other stakeholders in the property deserve consideration. Empty storefronts decrease the quality of life for Concord residents.

Instead of increasing the burdens on the owners of vacant commercial properties, City government should be eliminating the barriers which might impede broader uses than retail. As shopping habits have changed and more purchases are made online, retail space should be redeployed for other uses. Whether these are revenue generating uses is a separate question; if the store front is vacant, zero revenue is already acceptable to the owner. A positive, active strategy could be to encourage property owners to donate use of empty storefronts to nonprofits or community supporting uses, and the City’s role might be to find ways to finance the insurance coverage which would be required. For example, some vacant retail space might be suitable for conversion to inexpensive or transitional housing for our unhoused neighbors.

Vacant storefronts exist because property owners believe it is more profitable to leave the space empty than to rent it. As a result, vacancy taxes on commercial retail properties frequently don’t work because a marginal increase in taxes probably isn’t going to change that picture sufficiently.

This might require changes to zoning. Re-zoning vacant properties for a wider array of uses might make them more profitable to rent while diversifying the types of businesses available to neighborhood residents. Increasing taxes isn’t typically a constructive way to encourage redeployment, and there are other strategies which might be.

How do you feel the rest of the Bay Area sees Concord? What impression does Concord make?

I think Concord is now perceived differently, in some ways, than it has been in the past, both by residents and others around the Bay Area.

Concord seems to be recognized for a mixture of potential and an inability to realize that potential. The fits and starts of the naval weapons station development has led some to ask openly if Concord has the ability to handle such a project. Residents frequently ask if City Council members can be trusted with that responsibility. What many observers also see is an inability to do simple things to make life better for our working families and our most vulnerable residents. Concord is a combination of wonderful diversity, car-choked streets with very little public transit, empty lots and storefronts, and probably a little more comfort with the status quo than is justified.

Concord is also a place which has attracted people – despite being terribly UNaffordable to many current residents, it has been seen as affordable relative to other places in the inner Bay Area (although that may be changing). And there is no question that Concord attracts visitors from surrounding towns for events like Music and Market.To improve quality of life for residents, Concord needs to tap into its unrealized potential – this is the opportunity. I want Concord to be a place where working families of all types can live, work and thrive. But that requires working together to make the kinds of progress shown by many cities our size around the country. Just as those places have already done, there are many good changes we can make in Concord. We just have to act on the realization that we can do better than the status quo.

What can be done to make Concord a better city?

Our challenges are clear: we need to work on affordability, sustainability, and quality of life in Concord, especially for working families. Good ideas are plentiful and have been implemented elsewhere. We just need to get started.

First, traffic and transportation infrastructure can be improved in ways which make life better for people who drive cars AND for people who walk, bike and use public transit. I want to look at innovative ways to mitigate traffic and improve transportation options throughout the city and the region. Infrastructure for those who walk and bike has long been neglected and is a major safety concern.  As a bike commuter, I have seen the needs for safer roadways in our city and multimodal options.  Making safe space for all types of transit on the same byways will improve traffic and the quality of life for Concord residents. Attractive, affordable, safe and efficient multimodal transit would certainly make Concord a better city.

I support smart growth proposals that address climate change, transportation and gridlock challenges, housing shortages, and promote a jobs/housing balance. We need to imagine and foster communities where residents can live AND work AND play. And where children who grew up here can afford to live when they move out on their own. Making sure our streets, parks, and neighborhoods support safe and healthy movement is important to our quality of life.

I will work to help the City and Concord residents focus on increasing sustainability measures, opting for green technology and transitioning to green jobs that will have a big impact on our carbon footprint. I think developing good, long-term, union “green” transition jobs could make Concord a better place in multiple ways.

Un-housed in our community are Concord residents. Multiple studies have verified that typically between 65% – 80% of homeless in any given city were formerly housed residents of that same city. Those who are unsheltered are our neighbors, our friends, our family and we need to find solutions. Homelessness affects everyone in the city in different ways, but it is not healthy for anyone to ignore the situation.  Residents and City government should come together, and  work more collaboratively with the County, regional, and State resources to provide services to our homeless populations, with a goal of providing real solutions and reducing the number of our residents who are un-housed. Coming together to really address homelessness would definitely make Concord a better place.

Finally, affordable housing is an essential need to our total housing picture in Concord. We need to work to increase affordable housing stock and options in our community for current residents, future generations, and new neighbors. There are more ideas on how to do this than can be listed here – check out Roadmap Home 2030. The point is that it’s not a lack of ideas that is our problem, it is simply an inability to get started. I feel strongly that housing affordability and stability would not just make Concord a better city for those who live here, but it could also give people more disposable income with which to support local small businesses.

My plan to achieve these goals is straightforward: active and focused leadership. I will work tirelessly to pursue these goals through engagement, collaboration and partnerships with other leaders in their field of expertise on these issues. Let’s examine other communities that have been successful and borrow what we can implement in Concord. One model that I find very useful is the Strong Towns approach, which emphasizes steady, incremental change. I also believe that we must achieve our goals together, as a community – council members listening to residents’ needs, priorities, and ideas. Concord is home, let’s work on it together!

What personal information do you want to share: 

I grew up in Pleasant Hill, graduated from San Jose State University, moved to Concord and started a family.  I later enrolled at City College in San Francisco to learn echocardiography (diagnostic cardiac ultrasound).  It’s estimated that in my healthcare career I have seen over 25K hearts, from birth to death, but more importantly is the many people I have helped care for and who I have been at bedside with.

My involvement in Concord extends back to years of coaching soccer for both of my children and helping with Silver Spur Outdoor Education.  I’ve been active at my church having served on St. Bonaventure’s parish council and in a leadership role with the social justice ministry.  In my own neighborhood, I organized a successful National Night Out event where neighbors came together to meet and eat and chat with members of our police department.

My road to advocacy began in a bike lane shortly after I started to bike commute from Concord to Walnut Creek.  I care deeply about our environment and the progress we can – and must –  make to reduce emissions. I’d like to see more adults and children be able to safely opt into a multimodal approach to getting around – walking and rolling is fun and healthy.  Our buses are clean, safe and comfortable (just not free-quent).

I’m an environmentalist in that I care deeply about our common home.  I take steps to reduce my household waste, especially single use plastic; our food scraps literally go to the worms; our next household purchase is a heat-pump water heater; on-line orders are infrequent due to the magnitude of packaging materials; our household water consumption is half that of an average person. I also have been overjoyed at discovering our local Buy Nothing group where neighbors share their abundance from lemons to blankets for the homeless and furnishings for transitional housing units.

My inspiration for wanting to serve our community and to make a difference locally comes from transformative faith-based programs, such as JustFaith. I’m a Catholic deeply moved by the social teachings of the Church on topics like care for creation and for our neighbors, justice, labor and solidarity, and welcoming the stranger. I’ve also been influenced by ideas which directly address the challenges of mid-sized cities, such as the incremental approach of Strong Towns; and Urban Habitat, an organization focused on land, housing and transportation equity.

In addition to the support of countless individuals and community members, I’m proud to have the endorsement of:

• Democratic Party of Contra Costa County (DPCCC)
• National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW)
• Concord Communities Alliance (CCA)
• Central Labor Council of Contra Costa County AFL-CIO
• Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
• League of Conservation Voters of the East Bay
• Lift Up Contra Costa Action (LUCCA)

Regarding pledges and contributions from special interest groups:

• I pledge not to knowingly accept campaign donations from any CNWS Developers, their partners, staff or agents. Any campaign donations that are unknowingly contributed will be returned.
• I am a Moms Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate
• I have signed the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge
• I will not take money from law enforcement associations or agencies. However, I welcome contributions from individual peace officers who support my vision for greater community partnership and the goal of public safety for all residents.

If you like what you have read here today and want to get involved to help my campaign win in November, please join our team at L4C.vote/Help or help with a financial contribution at L4C.vote/Donate