If you want to anticipate what someone will do in the future, it’s important to know what they’ve done in the past.

Please allow me to share my record of accomplishment across 15 years of service as a City Clerk, City Councilmember and community volunteer.

It is important to recognize that very few things happen through the work of just one person, but that collectively we can do great things.

In each case below, I’m proud to have been a member of a team working for the benefit of Santa Clara.

Together, we can continue to make Santa Clara a great place to live, work and play.

- Rod Diridon, Jr.
City Clerk and Auditor

• Ethics Ordinance Committee: Founding member of the City’s Ethics Ordinance Committee responsible for the first, award-winning Code of Values and Ethics for the City of Santa Clara.
• Vote Ethics 2006: Co-lead for this robust, award winning outreach and communication effort to engage voters in Santa Clara’s 2006 election cycle.
• California Ethics Project: Founder and Chair of this state-wide effort to engage City Clerks in the implementation of ethics programs across California.

• Campaign Finance Reform: Proposed and Chaired the Campaign Finance Reform Committee.
• Helped to author and pass Santa Clara's First Campaign Finance Ordinance.
• Revolving Door Lobbying Policy: Helped to author and pass Santa Clara’s First Revolving Door Lobbying Policy.
• Charter Reform: Championed the creation of a blue-ribbon panel of community leaders to review the City Charter for the first time in over 30 years.

• Schools: Co-Chaired the successful Santa Clara School Bond Measure, yielding $145 million to fund new, state of the art science buildings and performing arts centers at each of the high schools, and more than thirty other major projects.
• Main Library: Supported the successful completion of a $48 million new public library that will host a minimum of 100 public access internet terminals, as well as CD-ROM and other electronic mediums.
• North of Bayshore Library: Required property to be set aside for a library in Santa Clara's North of Bayshore region.

• Police: Helped launch a new $18 million Police Station that allows officers to be more effective and better utilize technology to serve the public. Also, fought for the creation of a new Police sub-station and community center for Santa Clara's North of Bayshore residents.
• Fire Department: Fought to implement a cooperative ambulance transport agreement between the Santa Clara Fire Department, American Medical Response, and Santa Clara County and championed a new fire station to serve Santa Clara's North of Bayshore residents.
• Paramedic: Completed arduous and comprehensive classroom didactic, hospital internship and field internship to become a licensed EMT-Paramedic.

• Homesafe: Successfully defended the need to provide $2.6 million in land as a prime site for Homesafe, a 24-unit shelter for women and families victimized by domestic violence.
• Childcare: As a member of the Childcare Committee, fostered the first comprehensive discussion regarding childcare issues in Santa Clara and the award of two grant proposals: The Neighborhood Self Sufficiency program, which helps families on two school sites learn parenting skills and The Even Start Family Literacy program, which focuses on adult and family literacy on four school sites.
• Downtown Santa Clara: Proposed and Chaired the Downtown Revitalization Task Force. Construction on Phase-one of Santa Clara's downtown revitalization is currently being completed.

Environment

• San Tomas Aquino Creek Streamside Trail: Encouraged the funding to complete the San Tomas Aquino Creek Streamside Trail.
• Open Space/Park Area: Funded the Ulistac Natural Area and other parks, protecting a total of more than 75 acres of open space and park land.
• Burrowing Owls: Assisted in protecting 20 acres of burrowing owl habitat in Santa Clara, and funding $702,000 to protect 58 acres of habitat in Byron, California.

• Santa Clara Youth Soccer Park: Championed and voted in favor of funding three professional caliber fields and a sports complex to serve Santa Clara youth soccer teams.
• Skateboard Park: Aided the push to complete the Santa Clara Skateboard Park, serving more than 28,000 people last year.
• Teen Center: Voted to fund a new Teen Center, to include a coffee bar, computer/homework center, lounge and conference rooms.

• Housing: Advocated for more than 4,700 new housing units in Santa Clara.
• Affordable Housing: Advocated for more than 550 units of affordable housing in Santa Clara.
• Housing Trust Fund: Backed the effort to contribute $500,000 to the Housing Trust Fund.

• City of Santa Clara: Championed an increase in use of technology by the City of Santa Clara. This includes 500 new computer terminals in 5 years, an online permitting process and the creation of the Santa Clara City's internet home page. Also, the creation of the Department of Information Technology, including a Director of Information Technology, Network Administrator, Systems Administrator, and Webmaster.
• Schools and Libraries: Organized a public-private partnership to create a countywide card catalog. Required Santa Clara’s new public library to have at least 100 new public access internet terminals.
• Corporate Campuses: Supported and recruited economic development and expansion in the high tech industry, including Sun Microsystems, Applied Materials, Intel, Nortel Networks, and many others.

• Measure A/B: Supported and volunteered for the 1996 Measure A/B transportation campaign, yielding $1.6 billion to fund a comprehensive transportation strategy for Silicon Valley.
• Measure A: Supported, fundraised and volunteered for the 2000 Measure A transportation campaign, yielding $5.9 billion to fund a comprehensive transportation strategy for Silicon Valley.
• Transportation Committees: Worked towards the proper implementation of transportation strategies through membership on the VTA Policy Advisory Committee, and the Tasman/Capitol Light Rail Policy Advisory Board.

• Silicon Valley Power: Supported policies, which reduced Silicon Valley Power debt, from $1.1 billion in 1996 to $790 million in 2004.
• Rates: Maintained least expensive combined utility rates of all 105 Bay Area cities and jurisdictions from 1996 – 2004.
• Generation: Supported the implementation of eight new power generators in Santa Clara to provide an additional 10 megawatts of electricity during the energy crisis.