Davis mayor back in the running for council seat
By ALDRICH TAN/Enterprise correspondent, March 24, 2006

Four years ago, Davis mayor Ruth Asmundson, aimed to be the first Davis City Council candidate to file her application.

Asmundson, 61, picked up the application at 8 a.m. at City Hall when the applications became available. Then, the whirlwind of campaigning began as she filed her application that same day.

"Friends from Woodland and Sacramento drove into town and met me at various locations throughout Davis to sign my papers," she said, "I would grab the signature and then go onto the next person."

This year, Asmundson tried a different strategy. She invited locals to her Davis home for a cup of coffee and to talk about their issues and concerns. She got the signatures she needed and still filed her application before the other candidates running in this year's Davis City Council election.

As current mayor of Davis and the city's first Asian-American mayor, Asmundson said her early candidacy application reflects her strong interest in being re-elected.

"I want to continue to help Davis be the best place to work and live in," she said.

When Asmundson was first elected to the Davis City Council in March 2002, she recalls that the City Council and various city commissions were at odds with each other. Relations between the city of Davis and UC Davis were also strained.

With Asmundson's leadership, that City Council developed some key goals for 2004 to 2006. The council also took time to have joint meetings with all of the 16 city commissions to foster communication.

Asmundson wanted to improve relations with UCD. She attends campus events that Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef invites her to and vice-versa.

"We have a great university and the environment of Davis is an educated community because of it," she said.

The City Council also established a Bike Advisory Commission that focused on alternative transportation and an Economic Development commission to bolster the economic base of the city. In addressing public safety, the council created three more police officer positions and constructed a new public safety communications tower, Asmundson said.

"It used to be hard for firefighter to call outside because they had weak signals," she said. "Now public safety officials can easily communicate with each other."

Asmundson said she is also proud of adding sister cities in China, Korea and the Philippines. These sister cities include university towns that want to build stronger relations with UCD.

"We have accomplished quite a bit but there are still a lot of issues to work on and be dealt with," she said.

One of Asmundson's key issues in this year's election is to also address the growing housing needs for people who work in Davis but can't afford to live in Davis.

"If these workers can afford to live here then they will invest in the city and help it become a better place to live in," she said.

Asmundson said she successfully increased the affordable housing requirements for new developments in Davis from 25 percent to 45 percent. The city is primarily focusing on smaller housing projects.

"It's a challenge," she said, "but it doesn't matter what road you take. It's the fact that we get there."

Other key issues affect this year's election, Asmundson said. The city's general plan will expire in 2010. The next City Council will need to update or create a new plan. A structural gap occurs in the city's spending as the state continues to lower their contributions each year. The city also needs to start developing a federally complaint wastewater treatment plant that may cost up to $150 million.

"The federal standard for water has been going up and we still do not have a really good treatment facility," she said.

Asmundson also emphasized that relations between various surrounding cities and Davis are important to her. She seeks to establish regular avenues of communication with city councils in Woodland and Dixon

"Davis works on being innovative and cities take up some of those ideas," she said, "We have established a city limit boundary for Davis. Now, Matt (Rexroad, the mayor of Woodland) is also looking into establishing a city boundary limit."

Also part of establishing the city boundaries, the City Council acquired the McConeghy Ranch along the Interstate 80s corridor, in collaboration with the city of Dixon and UC Davis, to become a greenbelt between the cities of Davis and Dixon.

City boundaries are important, especially concerning the impact of sales tax on a local community, Asmundson said. Target, which has a retail store in Woodland, is seeking to open a store in Davis, which, if approved, would be located on Second Street.

Asmundson is also interested in improving communication between city officials and the Davis citizens, who are very passionate about the issues that concern them, such as during the recent City Council meetings focused on constructing a police oversight committee.

"The meeting went on till 1:20 a.m.," she said, "but it was important to hear as many people as possible."

Asmundson said she is committed to responding to every constituent's opinion or comment. She checks her e-mails often between her meetings and designates time between midnight and 2:30 a.m. to check and respond to e-mail.

Asmundson was born and raised in Isabella, Philippines. After graduating from Adamson University in Manila, she became a Fulbright scholar and got her master's degree at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

While attending UCD for her doctorate in agricultural chemistry, she met then-city mayor Vigfus Asmundson who she married and raised six kids with, including two nephews who Asmundson adopted from her deceased sister.

Asmundson raised the kids and got strongly involved in their education. She volunteered in classrooms prior to becoming a member of the Davis Joint Unified School District's Board of Education in 1990 and was board president in 1994 and in 1998.

In 2000, Vigfus wanted to run again for City Council but was ill with Parkinson's Disease. He asked Ruth to run in his place. She served as the mayor pro-tempore from 2002 to 2004 and then as mayor in 2004.

Vigfus died in 2003 but Ruth said her six children are doing well. Alinia, 31, is a mechanical engineer works for Intel and lives in Davis. Irene, 30, recently finished her doctorate in economics from Stanford University at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. Wilfred, 29, is remodeling his home in Richmond. Vigdis, 28, is a teacher in Davis. Jonas, 26, works at the Lincoln Center in New York. Sigrid, 26, is an associate with Best, Best, Krieger in Sacramento.

"I believe that my six children are successful because I was there for them as a parent," she said, "and I still think that if I could be there for my six kids, I can also be there for all the children in Davis also and help improve life here."