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The community survey

The same questions the candidates answer: the core 12 first, then every optional question from the full bank of 100. Your responses join a pool that shows, in aggregate, what residents care about. Every question is optional; answer one or all of them.
Responses are grouped by where your connection appears to be from; ones that don't look local may be removed. For that screening we privately keep your connection's network address, the town it points to, and a scrambled code that limits repeat submissions. If you choose to have your edit link emailed, that address is kept for delivery only. Only the survey admin can see any of it, it lasts only as long as your response, and nothing that could identify you is ever published.
Location screening is approximate. This site includes GeoLite2 data created by MaxMind, available from maxmind.com.
1 → 100 Core · The data center and the development process
The council's 2024 approval of the data center project on the former golf course site was the right decision for Pittsburg.
2 → 100 Core · The data center and the development process
The single biggest lesson the city should take from the data center process:
3 → 100 Core · The data center and the development process
Later phases of the project should proceed only after Phase 1's water, energy, and noise commitments are independently verified.
4 → 100 Core · Budget and city finances
The next council should close the city's roughly $5 million budget gap primarily through:
5 → 100 Core · Public safety and policing
Police staffing should grow over the next four years even if that requires cuts elsewhere in the budget.
6 → 100 Core · Homelessness
The city's homelessness response should prioritize expanding shelter and services over enforcement of encampment rules.
7 → 100 Core · Housing and growth
Pittsburg should allow more multi-family housing near downtown and the BART stations.
8 → 100 Core · Economic development, jobs, and downtown
When the two conflict, attracting large employers matters more than supporting small local businesses.
9 → 100 Core · Waterfront, parks, and quality of life
Waterfront development should be one of the city's top three capital priorities in the next four years.
10 → 100 Core · The candidate, the race, and accountability
Which single issue should get the council's most attention in 2027:
11 → 100 Core · The candidate, the race, and accountability
In two or three sentences: what should Pittsburg look like ten years from now?
12 → 100 Core · The data center and the development process
Name three things you want to accomplish on the council that have absolutely nothing to do with the data center.

That was the core 12

88 more questions below cover the budget, safety, housing, and everything else the candidates can answer. Keep going as long as you like, or submit now.
13 → 100 The data center and the development process
The settlement terms (100 percent renewable energy and recycled-water cooling) are a sufficient standard for any future data center proposal in Pittsburg.
14 → 100 The data center and the development process
For future large industrial or energy-intensive projects, the trigger for community meetings should be:
15 → 100 The data center and the development process
Pittsburg should adopt a specific data center ordinance (setbacks from homes and schools, noise limits, water and energy disclosure) rather than handle each proposal case by case.
16 → 100 The data center and the development process
The tax and lease revenue from the data center should be earmarked for the neighborhoods nearest the site rather than flowing entirely to the general fund.
17 → 100 The data center and the development process
On a scale of 0 to 10, how much ability does the incoming council actually have to change the outcome of the already-approved project?
18 → 100 The data center and the development process
If you had been on the council in 2024, describe the specific motion you would have made when the project came to a vote.
19 → 100 Budget and city finances
Pittsburg should not place any new tax measure on the ballot until the council has published a line-item review of existing spending.
20 → 100 Budget and city finances
If cuts are required, the first place you would look:
21 → 100 Budget and city finances
Public safety budgets should be on the table in a deficit year like any other department.
22 → 100 Budget and city finances
What share of the general fund should public safety consume at most, as a percentage?
23 → 100 Budget and city finances
The city should publish a public, plain-language dashboard of budget versus actual spending, updated quarterly.
24 → 100 Budget and city finances
Pittsburg relies too heavily on one-time revenues (fees, land transactions, development payments) to cover ongoing costs.
25 → 100 Budget and city finances
On unfunded pension liability, the council should:
26 → 100 Budget and city finances
Every new development approval should include a fiscal impact analysis, published before the vote, showing whether it pays for the services it consumes.
27 → 100 Budget and city finances
Rank these four as claims on any new revenue:
1 = highest priority. Use each position exactly once.
28 → 100 Budget and city finances
The city keeps adequate reserves today.
29 → 100 Budget and city finances
Name one specific line item in the current city budget you believe is too large, and what you would do about it.
30 → 100 Public safety and policing
The bigger staffing problem today is:
31 → 100 Public safety and policing
What is the maximum average response time for high-priority calls you would hold yourself accountable to as a councilmember, in minutes?
32 → 100 Public safety and policing
Pittsburg should expand non-police response teams (mental health clinicians, community responders) for calls that do not require an armed officer.
33 → 100 Public safety and policing
The city should publish response times, clearance rates, and staffing levels on a public dashboard, updated monthly.
34 → 100 Public safety and policing
Automated license plate readers and camera networks in Pittsburg are worth their privacy trade-offs.
35 → 100 Public safety and policing
On retail theft and street-level crime, the most effective near-term investment is:
36 → 100 Public safety and policing
Traffic enforcement (speeding, sideshows, red-light running) deserves a larger share of police attention than it gets today.
37 → 100 Public safety and policing
Community trust in Pittsburg PD is strong today.
38 → 100 Public safety and policing
Describe one specific public safety program from another city you would bring to Pittsburg, and what it costs there.
39 → 100 Homelessness
Encampment rules that exist should be consistently enforced, provided shelter is actually available.
40 → 100 Homelessness
The county, not the city, should lead on homelessness; Pittsburg's role is mainly:
41 → 100 Homelessness
Pittsburg should site at least one additional shelter, navigation center, or transitional housing facility within city limits in the next four years.
42 → 100 Homelessness
If such a facility is sited, the honest answer about location is:
43 → 100 Homelessness
RV and vehicle dwelling on city streets needs a designated safe-parking alternative before stricter enforcement.
44 → 100 Homelessness
By the end of your term, what percentage reduction in unsheltered homelessness in Pittsburg would you consider success?
45 → 100 Homelessness
What is one thing the city is currently doing on homelessness that you would stop doing?
46 → 100 Housing and growth
The city should approve housing at the densities required to meet its state housing targets even where neighbors object.
47 → 100 Housing and growth
The biggest barrier to new housing in Pittsburg today is:
48 → 100 Housing and growth
Pittsburg has absorbed more than its fair share of the region's growth compared to wealthier Contra Costa cities.
49 → 100 Housing and growth
The city should require a higher percentage of below-market units in new projects, even if some projects become infeasible.
50 → 100 Housing and growth
On accessory dwelling units, the city should:
51 → 100 Housing and growth
Protecting existing renters (anti-displacement measures, relocation assistance, stronger code enforcement on landlords) deserves as much council attention as building new units.
52 → 100 Housing and growth
New residential growth should be conditioned on funded street, drainage, and utility capacity, in writing, before approval.
53 → 100 Housing and growth
Rank these housing priorities for Pittsburg:
1 = highest priority. Use each position exactly once.
54 → 100 Housing and growth
Name a specific parcel or corridor in Pittsburg where you would support significantly more housing, and at roughly what scale.
55 → 100 Economic development, jobs, and downtown
The city's most effective economic development tool is:
56 → 100 Economic development, jobs, and downtown
Pittsburg's industrial land is a competitive advantage and should be preserved for employers rather than converted to housing.
57 → 100 Economic development, jobs, and downtown
How many net new storefront businesses in Old Town and downtown would you consider success by the end of your term?
58 → 100 Economic development, jobs, and downtown
The city should create a vacancy program (fees or incentives) targeting long-empty commercial buildings downtown.
59 → 100 Economic development, jobs, and downtown
Pittsburg residents should not have to leave the city for most of their shopping, dining, and services; closing that retail gap is a council-level priority.
60 → 100 Economic development, jobs, and downtown
On large logistics and warehouse employers, Pittsburg should:
61 → 100 Economic development, jobs, and downtown
The city should tie any business incentive to published local-hire or wage commitments.
62 → 100 Economic development, jobs, and downtown
Pittsburg markets itself poorly; the city's image lags years behind its reality.
63 → 100 Economic development, jobs, and downtown
Name one employer or industry you would personally spend council time trying to bring to Pittsburg, and why it fits.
64 → 100 Roads, infrastructure, and transportation
Road maintenance should be funded as a fixed, protected line in the budget rather than competing year to year.
65 → 100 Roads, infrastructure, and transportation
What pavement condition index (0 to 100) should Pittsburg commit to reaching within eight years?
66 → 100 Roads, infrastructure, and transportation
The city's worst infrastructure liability today is:
67 → 100 Roads, infrastructure, and transportation
Pittsburg should build protected bike lanes and safer pedestrian crossings even where that removes street parking or a travel lane.
68 → 100 Roads, infrastructure, and transportation
Traffic congestion on and around Highway 4 should shape how much new development the city approves, not just how it mitigates it.
69 → 100 Roads, infrastructure, and transportation
The areas around the two BART stations are underused and should be a top focus for investment in the next four years.
70 → 100 Roads, infrastructure, and transportation
On street lighting and sidewalk repair, the most honest funding answer is:
71 → 100 Roads, infrastructure, and transportation
Name the three specific street segments or intersections in Pittsburg you would fix first.
72 → 100 Waterfront, parks, and quality of life
The best near-term use of the waterfront and marina area is:
73 → 100 Waterfront, parks, and quality of life
The city should commit to a funded, dated plan for the waterfront rather than another vision document.
74 → 100 Waterfront, parks, and quality of life
Existing parks are maintained well today.
75 → 100 Waterfront, parks, and quality of life
If parks money is limited, prioritize:
76 → 100 Waterfront, parks, and quality of life
Illegal dumping and blight enforcement should be a measurable council priority with published cleanup response times.
77 → 100 Waterfront, parks, and quality of life
Air quality and industrial legacy pollution deserve more council attention than they currently get.
78 → 100 Waterfront, parks, and quality of life
What is one place in Pittsburg you take visitors to show the city off, and one place you avoid taking them? What changes the second one?
79 → 100 Transparency and how the council governs
Residents should never learn about a major development project for the first time from a construction fence; current noticing practices need to change.
80 → 100 Transparency and how the council governs
All council subcommittees should be subject to public agendas and minutes, whether or not the law requires it.
81 → 100 Transparency and how the council governs
The city should publish a public dashboard of every active development application, its status, and its next public hearing date.
82 → 100 Transparency and how the council governs
Closed-session real estate negotiations for major projects should be:
83 → 100 Transparency and how the council governs
Councilmembers should publish their meeting calendars with developers and their representatives.
84 → 100 Transparency and how the council governs
Campaign contributions from parties with business before the council should trigger recusal above a stated threshold.
85 → 100 Transparency and how the council governs
What contribution amount, in dollars, should trigger that recusal?
86 → 100 Transparency and how the council governs
Council meetings should include translated materials and interpretation reflecting the languages Pittsburg residents actually speak.
87 → 100 Transparency and how the council governs
I will hold regular, calendared open office hours in my district or citywide, at least monthly, for all four years.
88 → 100 Transparency and how the council governs
Describe a specific vote or decision by the current council you disagreed with, and what you would have done instead.
89 → 100 Youth, seniors, and community
The city should fund a youth jobs and internship program in partnership with the school district and Los Medanos College.
90 → 100 Youth, seniors, and community
The most valuable city investment in young people is:
91 → 100 Youth, seniors, and community
Pittsburg's senior services (centers, transportation, programs) are adequate today.
92 → 100 Youth, seniors, and community
The city should have a formal role for youth in government, such as a youth commission with a council liaison.
93 → 100 Youth, seniors, and community
Library hours and services in Pittsburg should expand, and I would fund that within the existing budget.
94 → 100 Youth, seniors, and community
Name one community organization in Pittsburg you have personally worked with, and what you did.
95 → 100 The candidate, the race, and accountability
Rank all five of those same issues in priority order.
1 = highest priority. Use each position exactly once.
96 → 100 The candidate, the race, and accountability
A councilmember who changes a position should publish the reason; I commit to updating my answers on this survey when my views change.
97 → 100 The candidate, the race, and accountability
With eleven candidates running, ranked-choice-style coalition building matters: I will name other candidates in this race I could work well with. (If agree, name them in the caveat.)
98 → 100 The candidate, the race, and accountability
How many hours per week will you realistically dedicate to council work, including preparation, if elected?
99 → 100 The candidate, the race, and accountability
My strongest qualification is:
100 → 100 The candidate, the race, and accountability
What is one campaign promise you have heard in this race, from anyone, that you believe is not actually achievable, and why?
One response per household connection. After you submit, you get a private link for changing your answers anytime.