— Photo by Sara Hall ©
I asked Tim Stoaks if I could interview him so I may be able to provide some insight to our community and myself on why Tim is running for council and what things matter to him in our city.
We met at Roger’s Gardens to talk about his platform, his characteristics for leadership, and how he will represent our community of Newport Beach if elected.
I became acquainted with Tim in 2008 as I was running for council. He was a board member of AirFair, a group that monitors and fights for regulating the impact of the airport on citizens and neighborhoods in Newport Beach as well as neighboring cities. While I did not win my election, I did get invited to be a member of AirFair and have continued to be since that time.
Joining AirFair helped me understand and learn the complexities of living near airports and their impact on community, air quality, quality of life, noise and our children.
What we breathe daily matters to personal longevity, learning, health, and well-being of generations of people living in our city and near us.
Tim is a fellow board member I came to know well, along with Melinda Seely, Evelyn Hart, Jean Watt and Nancy Alston. These people have dedicated their lives to our community and we are lucky to have them continue to fight for us and keep us informed.
These citizens and I know Tim well. We all have worked alongside each other raising money to inform the community about the airport issues, working on the Settlement Agreement, and continuing to monitor and inform citizens about the effects of our airport on the quality of life for all of us who live and work in the city Newport Beach.
His leadership on AirFair, and other community groups he participates in or chairs, demonstrates him to be a man that works hard to meet the goals of the group. He designs flyers, passes them out, gets them ready for mailing, enlists his mom to cook for fundraising events, his daughter to handle raffle tickets, rounds up citizens to greet people at events and continues to do the hard work it takes to be or create a new community group to inform and get people to understand local issues.
He stays calm, has a good sense of humor, does not give up, works well with all age groups, and makes everyone feel valued. Tim is a grass roots guy who truly loves his community and enjoys making things better for all of us.
— Photo by Sara Hall ©
Tim’s platform is simple. He believes that residents deserve better than they are getting from some council members. Citizens should be listened to, not ignored, and treated with respect.
He understands that with the many villages in Newport, citizens very often have good insight for improvements that each council member may not know since the city has grown, and citizen based experience and knowledge is valuable to the decision-making process he will be responsible for as an elected member of the council.
He strongly believes we need to restore ethics and transparency to Newport Beach’s City government. He pledges to “put principles above personalities, and to work diligently to restore an inclusive, above board governing process. “
Why is he running and what matters?
“My desire is preserve, protect, and enhance everything that is unique to Newport Beach” he told me.
Tim wants to work hard to restore common sense to city government and encourage resident involvement. This includes looking at and examining how growth affects the city and how it can best be managed to maintain neighborhoods and businesses.
I have made my decision for who I will support for City Council along with many prominent citizens, leaders, eight Newport Beach Citizens of the Year and former Mayors Keith Curry, Rush Hill, Evelyn Hart and Mike Henn, Don Webb, Jan Debay, John Cox, and Bus Turner.
I am voting for Tim because I have worked with him on airport issues for ten years and he is not a guy that shows up sometimes, he always participates and does his job no matter what community group he joins.
Good leaders enlist the help and input of others, they build the capacity to lead in many to achieve the goals of the organization, they support, cooperate, encourage, listen, and formulate decisions built upon consensus with both hard and soft data.
I have seen these qualities in Tim first hand and also watching him work with other community groups in Newport.
Let us all consider giving him an opportunity to show us his leadership and dedication to our community.
I rarely put up a sign in my yard expressing my choice for political candidates but I proudly will display Tim’s sign and am trusting he will take us back to community based leadership decision-making for our city.
That’s My Take,
Dr. Gloria J. Alkire
