Page One

To the Editor: 

Since your June 25 article on the District 8 city council race interviewed only two of the three candidates, but not the best one, please let me give your readers some good reasons to support Gordon Wozniak.  

Gordon has extensive experience on three different and crucial city commissions. He has managed to transcend the usual boundaries in Berkeley politics in order to find creative solutions to difficult problems. He tackled the budget as a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission and was able to work out a new approach. It saved the Parks budget and increased the funding for our local parks without increasing the tax rate, by requiring that Measure A funds could only be spent on parks. He brought science and logic to the often emotional arguments of the Community Environmental Advisory Commission and won the respect of many of his fellow commissioners, moving up to the rank of vice chairman. He is currently a member of the Planning Commission and is successfully balancing the need for more affordable housing with protection of existing neighborhoods. Gordon is committed to working on the city’s and District 8’s toughest issues: traffic and pedestrian safety, parks and open space, housing and improving our roads and sewers. He would bring an intelligent, calm and independent voice to the City Council. It is time for Berkeley to move beyond the old politics that have paralyzed the city for 30 years. Gordon Wozniak could help open a new era of cooperative and independent thinking in Berkeley politics. 

Linda Schacht Gage  

Berkeley