I hope everyone takes an interest in the information we develop through the work of this committee. Many of the issues discussed on these boards center on financial constraints and choices our community faces (redevelopment, Measure H, etc). Having a good understanding of the financial outlook of the City government will help everyone make better choices about what services and resources citizens value most and thus how the City should allocate its limited resources.

In regards to concerns about the diversity of the Committee: the purpose of the Committee is to give an objective, impartial assessment of what the City finances will look like into the future (5-10 years from now). We are not passing judgement on the validity or importance of how/where the City spends its resources, we're simply looking at extrapolating the trends into the future to see what it looks like. This of course requires a lot of assumptions about future trends in things like sales taxes, real estate trends, salary/pension trends, etc. The Committee memebers were selected for their expertise in these key areas so that we could develop the most accurate, customized assumptions to use in forecasting. I'm proud of the group we've assembled, and look forward to getting to work. I'm also thankful for the citizens who stepped up to volunteer for the Committee but were not selected– the talent and expertise in this City is very impressive, and we will be tapping this resource during the course of our work.

I really hope all Alamedans take an interest in the conclusions we'll reach (January 2009). I'm committed to presenting this info in a way everyone can understand, and make it accessible to everyone. It's imperative for the public to have their voices heard as to how the City applies its increasingly limited resources to provide services and keep our town strong.