Election: Piedmonter John Roberts Seeks Election to the East Bay Regional Park District Board
Piedmont resident John Roberts explains why he wants to be on the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) Board of Directors:
I, John Roberts, am a candidate for the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) – Ward 2.
My ‘CAT’ platform stands for Community, Accessibility, and Transparency. Community involvement makes for the best parks, and helps the essence of democracy flourish. Accessability provides park visitors fair treatment despite socioeconomic, race, handicap, or recreational diversity. Transparency means the public should be informed of all park decisions because we all fund its function through our tax dollars. In essence, if my platform were implemented, the structural updates would ensure the community was being heard, park visitors were greatly served and treated equally, and our taxes were being used efficiently. For more information, please see the tabs above covering different topics, or for a one-page summary, please see my Candidate Statement.
I am married to Amie Garcia and we have three children, Yanela (13), Andres (11), and Emilio (5). We enjoy visiting our nearby parks, as well as camping in the Sierras. We also love various types of recreation. My father served in the U.S. Navy aboard a ship during WWII, my mother is Mexican, and I was born and raised on the border in Baja California, Mexico. I am fluent in Spanish and also have a working knowledge of Brazilian Portuguese. I have a B.A. in Economics from the University of California at San Diego, a Master of Finance degree from the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico, and hold the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Financial Risk Manager (FRM) designations. I work for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as a Senior Complex Financial Institution Specialist. I conduct continuous bank monitoring, participate in examinations, and cover risk areas such as operations, audit, and regulatory reporting. I earn a fixed salary yet make recommendations that can adversely affect the salary prospects of bankers who make millions; I do this to protect our deposits from bankers taking undue risks. This experience will help me advocate at EBRPD for the little guy, the visitors of our parks.
Ward 2 represents most of Oakland, Piedmont, Canyon, Moraga, Orinda, Orinda Village, Rheem Valley, Lafayette, Rossmoor, and part of Walnut Creek. Parks in this ward include: portion of Briones, Anthony Chabot (north of Keller Avene if extended east), Claremont Canyon, Huckleberry, Leona Open Space, a small portion of Las Trampas, Redwood, Roberts, Sibley, and Temescal.
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I am running because the East Bay Regional Park District has only about 24 miles of tight singletrack for mountain bikes and almost half of that is in one park, Crockett Hills Regional Park, even though the EBRPD reports to have 65 parks, and over one thousand miles of trails. I, of course, am an avid mountain biker after I hurt my knee and can no longer hike. I often ride with my kids, one of which rides with a middle school mountain bike team.
John Roberts, EBRPD Candidate and Piedmont Resident
Go to the link below for photos and campaign information.
www.JohnRobertsDemocracy.com.
Editors Note: PCA does not support or oppose candidates for public office.
