Don Kuehne Background Information
— by Jeffrey Wisniewski — 17 September 2008 — 1 comment below »
Here is some background information on Don Kuehne, candidate for City Council, culled from Smart Voter, since Kuehne ran in 2004…*
Biographical Highlights
- Occupation: Research Engineer
- 14-year Hercules resident [now 18]
- 25 years R&D experience with major company [now 29]
- President, Foxboro Village HOA, 2000-03
- Church Treasurer, 1995-99; Elder, 2002-04
- Proponent of Measure M to Protect Franklin Canyon
- Member, Friends of the LibraryTop Priorities [in 2004]
- Slow down runaway development. There are 40 projects worth over $2 billion already in progress. Balance residential and retail development.
- Address the education crisis. We need to secure sites for new schools, restore program cuts, and improve relationships with the school districts.
- Reduce traffic congestion on local streets and highways. Encourage carpooling, use of mass transit, and better local and regional planning.Key Endorsements
- Sierra Club
- Friends of Franklin Canyon [now Friends of Hercules]
and the full biography…
Dr. Donald Kuehne has lived in Hercules for 14 years [now 18]. He is married and has three children attending Hercules schools. He has worked in research and development for a major company over 25 years [now 29].
Dr. Kuehne is originally from the East Coast. He grew up in New Jersey and received a BS degree in engineering from Cornell University in 1973. He pursued graduate studies at California Institute of Technology and received a PhD degree in 1979.
Kuehne entered the political arena in 1999 when Foxboro Village had a controversial recall election of the Homeowners Association Board of Directors over the exorbitant cost to repair developer construction defects. Kuehne and the new Board managed to trim the costs from $3 million to $1 million so that a special assessment on homeowners was not necessary. He has served as President, Vice President, and Treasurer on the Board and also worked on all of the Association’s committees.
As a volunteer in the community, Kuehne has been active in a local church where he served as Treasurer from 1995 to 1999 and Elder from 2002 to present. He is a member of the Hanna Ranch PTA and Friends of the Library. Kuehne joined the Friends of Franklin Canyon two years ago [six years ago] and initiated the campaign to place Measure M on the ballot, which protects this environmentally sensitive area from over development.
* My annotations to account for the four year difference are bracketed.
This is very helpful. I am supportive on all counts except for the priority of slowing down “runaway development”. I’m looking at the huge brown fields by the Bay that were expected to become a walkable shopping district by 2004 and the dilapidated, abandoned houses on the bay side of Railroad Avenue and I’m having a hard time seeing “runaway development” there. Do we really want to slow this down further? I’m hoping Mr. Kuehne does not think so.