I am a current school board member in Pleasanton and have been on the Board for 12 years.  I was also a Library Commissioner in Pleasanton for 8 years.  I'm a 27-year resident of Pleasanton and I have raised my 3 children here.  I have a BS degree in Health Science and a MBA degree.  I am a Manager at Hively, a nonprofit in Pleasanton that provides resources to families in need.  I have been involved in various other volunteer opportunities over the past 25 years, including being on the board of the YMCA as well as the Pleasanton Cultural Arts Council.  I'm been involved in the Pleasanton Tulancingo Sister City organization, as well as being involved in PTA and other volunteer activities in our schools.  As a school board member, I have contributed to the financial stability and award-winning programs that make our school district rank in the top 10 in the state.  As an elected official, I have always been accessible and responsive to community input and I always take the time to listen and egage the public.  That will be a continued priority of mine as a city council member.  

I believe in the pillars of Oversight, Transparency, and Accountability.  Communication is also vital in any public agency.  I believe in engaging the public and I reach out to the public for input before making decisions.  That is vital to the public process and I will continue to do that.  I make thoughtful, informed decisions by researching issues and asking questions.  With education in both science and business, I am uniquely qualified to handle issues such as safe drinking water and COVID recovery.  Currently, I hold an elected position and thus, I am held accountable with taxpayer dollars.  I have experience in making tough budget decisions, negotiations, and personnel decisions.  I will continue to make decisions that are in the best interest of our community.  I have also pledged to not accept developer donations in order to prevent any appearance of a conflict of interest.  

I grew up on the Sunol / Fremont border and went to Sunol Glen Elementary School. While there I raised pigs through the Sunol 4-H project and showed them each summer at the Alameda County Fair. During this time I fell in love with Pleasanton and have wonderful childhood memories in town; from riding the waterslides at Shadow Cliffs, walking the ridge, and getting ice cream downtown.

After college, it wasn’t a hard decision to return to Pleasanton - and I’m proud that my wife and I, like many families, have been able to celebrate many first’s in town, including our wedding reception, the birth of our son at Valley Care, coaching his first Pleasanton Little League baseball team, and now watching him get Ice Cream downtown (maybe a bit too much at times)!

My family has been serving this community for decades and I’ve had the honor to serve Pleasanton for over a decade myself. Over 11 years ago I became a Parks & Recreation Commissioner where I served for nearly 5 years, and now I am honored to be a Pleasanton Planning Commissioner for the past 6 years.

I’ve been a Certified Public Accountant nearly my entire adult life and I’ve been in a professional Business and Finance role for more than 21 years.

As we look to our future in these complicated economic times, I believe we need experience for Pleasanton now, more than any other time in our city’s history. As a CPA that understand the numbers, understands how our City operates, I’m ready to serve.

 I will focus on;

• Promoting our economic recovery
• Recommitting ourselves to keeping our neighborhoods safe
• Strengthening the city-school partnership
• Ensuring our city government and finances are fiscally sound, transparent and accountable.

Let there be no doubt that we have complex issues to address in the future – but I understand the numbers, understand how our City operates, and am ready to serve - day 1. I ask for your vote on November 3^rd.

Pleasanton is an amazing community with growing diversity and an exciting future – thank you all for being a part of our community’s story -- please consider volunteering on a City commission or committee or attending a city meeting or two, need everyone’s voice for our vibrant future.

To learn more about me, please visit my website at www.JackForPleasanton.com and Thank you for your consideration.

Please vote on November 3^rd.

As a former Parks & Recreation Commissioner and current Planning Commissioner, I have experienced how our wonderful lifestyle in Pleasanton came from our ability to work together for the benefit of all – and we must continue to do this to address future challenges!

There are tough issues facing us, and people want leaders who approach tough decisions calmly and fairly through open meetings and dialogue. I believe we have a world-class community worth preserving. That can only happen when we remember that tough choices have to be made and require civility, an open mind, and a willingness to work together.

I am a registered independent / decline to state and will listen to any and all ideas that can benefit our community, regardless of who suggests them or what political party they belong to. Let’s focus on solutions, not political party affiliations.

My family and I came from Afghanistan as refugees on May 15, 1981. I was eleven years old, in a land with an unfamiliar language and customs, where my only possession was the clothes I was wearing. My father drove a taxi cab to support his wife and seven kids. Within two years of our arrival, an unfortunate car accident caused him to become disabled and very depressed, which threatened my family’s livelihood. Thus, at age 13, my mother asked me to find work to help support the family. According to my Social Security Income (SSI) statement in 1983, I earned $1,821 when the minimum wage was $3.05. I had to overcome cultural and language barriers, but I worked hard and did well in middle and high school.

I graduated from James Logan High school and was the first person in my family to attend a four-year university: University of California, at Santa Barbara (UCSB). Following in my footsteps, my younger sister went to UCSB and studied political sciences. She is now an attorney. My younger brother went to University of California, at Los Angeles (UCLA). He is now a medical doctor. My youngest sister became a chemist at UCSB and now works in the Silicon Valley.

For me, success has always meant helping others. I was a researcher at UCSB and UCLA for nine years, as well as a Real Estate agent for another twelve years.

Through volunteering with International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Oakland, and MCC in East Bay, I found my true calling.

Three years ago, I was honored to be appointed to the Housing Commission by Mayor Jerry Thorne. There, I learned that discussions on affordable housing can be uncomfortable, complicated, and difficult, but also learned that through these conversations real change can take place.

After publication of Blueprint 2050, Covid-19 reports, and Plan Bay Area 2050 I believe our communities are ready to acknowledge and embraced the housing challenges ahead of us. We are ready to address it in ways to solve not just the housing issue, but transportation, environmental and economic growth for everyone. I am proud to part of this historical social-economic movement.  

After three years serving Pleasanton on the Housing Commission I am now running for City Council with a platform that centers around three major issues in our city: affordable housing, investment in social services, and building a stronger community through inclusion. This focus on the needs of our city has already earned me the endorsement of the Alameda County Democratic Party.

I believe that I embody Pleasanton’s value of service, compassion and leadership.  Before serving on the housing commission, I had a long history of volunteering at schools, churches, mosques, and other non-profit organizations.  I have been fortunate to be able to help the unhoused through my involvement as a housing commissioner and earlier, as a board member at MCC East Bay.  The unhoused individuals and families have touched my heart and put me in search for solutions at the community level.  At this critical juncture, when the 6th RHNA cycle is being discussed and the housing element is being modified, I believe that I can be more effective as a council member.  I plan a persuasive, collaborative and effective approach to modify policies to rezone, and allow for building of very-low, low- and moderate-income homes, and to prevent further homelessness and displacement.  

I believe that my voice resonates with many people because of my long-standing commitment with activism concerned about the school-to-prison pipeline, environment, homelessness, and BLM. As a council member, I will initiate a Division of Equity and Community Engagement to involve the disenfranchised youth stakeholders at Pleasanton Unified School District (PUSD), Youth Commission, and the community at large. I will work closely with the Youth Commission to address peer pressure, mental health, social services and equitable job opportunities to meet this diverse community’s needs and to build a stronger Pleasanton.   

While a board member at MCC East Bay, we held two “training sessions” with Pleasanton Police Department to bring cultural and religious awareness to our police force. These sessions were well received. Similarly, the Council can plan training sessions for racial sensitivity with diverse community members to address their need through education and awareness. In addition, we can address suicide prevention and mental health issues by allowing mental health workers to go on 5150 calls. This will free PPD to focus their resources on more urgent police matters.

The economic stability and prosperity of the region hinge on how well we embrace diversity. COVID-19 has been emotionally and economically challenging at all levels and we need strategies beyond this pandemic by adopting Blueprint Plan Bay Area 2050. This plan provides integrated strategies for transportation, economy, environment and housing with diversity in the forefront.  There is an advantage in diversity. I will bring a diverse viewpoint to the City Council and will help Pleasanton address its challenges, and improve our city for the next generations.

Thank you for your time and attention, and I hope I can help the city of Pleasanton move forward with pride.

With an established career in sustainability and reusability, a strong background in IT support, and a pull-himself-up-by-his-bootstraps determination to simply make the world around him and his family a better place, Chiman Lee seeks your vote for Pleasanton City Council in November 2020.

To understand Chiman’s motivation is to start at the very beginning. The son of Hong Kong immigrants and the youngest of three siblings, he experienced tragedy early on with the passing of his father when he was only 8 years old. His mother struggled to bring up all the kids alone, working long hours in restaurants and struggling to make ends meet in order to keep a roof over their heads.

A product of the San Francisco public school district, Chiman enrolled in a local community college but was eager to get out in the working world. He cut his teeth in several blue-collar jobs, including car valet and cook in a Japanese restaurant. But his interest in technology ultimately led him towards a career in IT support.

In 2008, Chiman joined GreenCitizen, an e-waste recycling startup, as a Technical Service Manager. He helped grow the staff from five people to over 50 and developed a multimillion-dollar revenue-generating business line. He then helped Goodwill of San Francisco, San Mateo & Marin counties rebuild their electronics reuse and recycling operation to divert over 3 million pounds of electronic waste annually. He was promoted to Director of Sustainability where he ran three different business lines each with multimillion-dollar annual budgets. He currently is the Director of Operations – Northern California for Corporate eWaste Solutions, an R2 certified electronics recycling company with a social impact focus.

In 2014, Chiman, his wife Julia, and two boys moved to the Val Vista area of Pleasanton. Wanting to give back to the community the best way he could, he joined the Pleasanton Economic Vitality Committee in 2016 to improve the business climate. He was a board member of a non-profit organization to refurbish laptops for under-funded after school programs. In 2020 he joined the National Stewardship Action council as their Advisory committee member to advocate for the Circular Economy and Extended Producer Responsibility. 

The Lees love the Pleasanton community and enjoy hikes around the local parks and bike rides in the neighborhoods.