The Interviews: Brad Langford

Brad Langford, 41, technology marketer for Cisco. I've lived in Bay Area for 14 years, 9 of it in San Carlos. Married with two girls who go to Central and White Oaks.

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 Matt Grocott: I'm wondering why a person would choose to run for a six-month period instead of waiting for the fall and running for a full-term.

BL: This presents a unique opportunity for me to see how the process works. This feels like an internship and a way to commit to city government. I’m highly considering running in the future and this is a way to see how the process works.

Randy Royce: You've spoken a lot about creating a direct link between schools and city government. Can you talk more about that? What are some ideas to create a link between government and schools.

BL: To me, there’s quite a gap between citizen apathy and the amount of communication coming from local government. That’s my strength, is bridging that gap. One thing I proposed is the city council being more out there and having more transparency....It’s those kind of small steps that will help educate the public.. I want to help promote open dialogue and close that gap. For the affluence and intelligence of our city, our voter turnout is staggeringly low.

Opportunities between school district and city government: I don’t really have a silver bullet on that issue. I’m very collaborative.  Without actually getting in and speaking with those leaders I don’t have a silver bullet, but it’s a priority.

Bob Grassilli: When I came into this I came from a business background. What I found is government works differently. So how do you think you’re going to react when you come up with a great idea and someone says we need a committee, or a consultant?

BL: I come back to the collaborative style. I don’t see it as that different from what I do now. There are frequently those types of clashes in my current job, especially if you have a strong team. I don’t really see it as that different.

Bob Grassilli: Working together isn’t the problem, it’s this wall you have to go through. I only bring it up because it can be frustrating.

BL: There’s a lot of compromise involved. You have to play by the rules and be respectful of those walls.

Andy Klein: If you could do one thing, king for a day, what would that be?

BL: From my perspective, a full development of Laurel Street, especially, south of Arroyo, has frequent turnover and it doesn’t seem to catch fire. It’d be beneficial to have that nice long drag with a more diverse retail. To fully develop that would be great because it really does just stop at Britton. 

Editor's Note: San Carlos Patch has published the highlights of each applicant's interviews.