Submit Date: Jun 29, 2022
First Name
Last Name
Email Address
Street Address
Suite or Apt
City
State
Postal Code
Primary Phone
Alternate Phone
Employer
Job Title
CITY OF SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA
Boards and Commissions Application
Profile
Please note, applications are continuously accepted to the City of San Jose Boards and Commissions. The Board or Commission you select may or may not indicate there is a vacancy.
Your application will remain on file for one year from the date of submission. During the year, your application may be considered for unanticipated vacancies.
Which Boards would you like to apply for?
Planning Commission: Submitted
Are you a resident of San Jose?
Yes
No
Length of Residency
3-5 years
What district do you live in? To verify, please click here: https://eservices.sccgov.org/rov/? tab=dt
*
District 3
Current Employer Address
Current Employer of Spouse
Grace Science LLC
Anthony
Tordillos
San Jose
CA
95112
Google
Staff software engineer
Anthony Tordillos
Address of Current Employer of Spouse
Spouse's Job Title
Scientist
If you or your spouse is retired and receiving a pension, please state source of pension.
Question applies to multiple boards
Interests & Experiences
High School, College, Professional, Vocational, or Other Schools Attended. Please include Major or Field of Study, Dates Attended, Degree and Date of Degree. • Yale University • New Haven, CT ◦ Major: Computer Science ◦ Degree: Bachelor of Science ◦ Dates attended: August 2010 - May 2014 ◦ Degree conferral: May 2014 • Auburn Riverside High School • Auburn, WA ◦ Degree: High school diploma ◦ Dates attended: September 2006 - June 2010 ◦ Degree conferral: June 2010
Anthony Tordillos
List any position or office held in any governmental agency, civic, or charitable organization including the dates
• Washington State Legislative Youth Advisory Council (2009-2010) • Community Leader & GOTV Staging Director for the Warren Campaign (2019-2020) • Grassroots Fundraising Captain with the Warnock Runoff Campaign (2020-2021) • Organizer with the California Working Families Party (2021- Present)
Languages Spoken
English
Special Awards or Recognitions Received
• Google AISES Scholar (2012) • Yale Science, Technology, and Research Scholars Fellowship (2011) • Samsung American Legion Scholar National Finalist (2010) Please state why you want to become a member of this Board or Commission including specific objectives which you would work toward as a member.
My desire to join the Planning Commission stems from my long-standing interest in urban development.
Whether reading through Environmental Impact Reports for projects in the development pipeline or dialing into community outreach meetings, I’ve been ardently following San José’s development even before my husband and I moved here in 2018.
In recent years, my interest in urban development has taken on a new dimension as I’ve become increasingly aware of the role development and land use policies can play in advancing the City’s goals and improving the lives of our residents. From meeting our RHNA housing production targets to safeguarding the City’s long-term fiscal health, many of the City’s most important goals are directly impacted by the Planning Commission’s work advising on effective, equitable, and responsible use of our land. I would be honored to have the opportunity to work alongside the other Planning Commissioners to ensure that the City grows responsibly and remains a place where all our residents can thrive for generations to come.
If selected for the Commission, the primary objective I would work towards is making the planning process more inclusive and representative of the voices of all of our City’s residents. Specifically, I’d advocate for increased outreach to community leaders and organizations, with a focus on garnering additional community engagement from groups with historically low participation in the Planning process. To help measure the efficacy of these outreach efforts, I would work with Planning department staff to help improve & standardize the collection of demographic data on community engagement participants, with the option to self-report data on housing status, gender identity, age, and racial/ethnic identity. Aggregate, anonymized demographic data could then be incorporated into community engagement findings, allowing both the Commission and the public to better understand the degree to which the community engagement process was representative of our larger community. I believe such efforts to boost transparency and accountability would increase trust in the Commission and its operation and increase our overall efficacy.
Please state any other information which you feel would be useful in reviewing your application
I wanted to take this opportunity to provide more context about my background and personal motivation for applying to the Commission. I was born and raised in a working class family in Washington State.
Neither of my parents had the opportunity to go to college, and my family faced our share of financial adversity, particularly after my father became disabled from chronic illness. After high school, I became the first person in my family to attend college, receiving a B.S. in Computer Science from Yale University.
After graduating from Yale, my husband and I moved to Silicon Valley to start our professional lives together. After several years of living on the Peninsula, we relocated to San José in 2018. Silicon Valley has offered us so many opportunities, and now I’d like to work with the Commission to ensure that San José remains a place of opportunity for all of our residents, not only those working in the tech industry.
Anthony Tordillos
Do you own property in the City of San José?
Yes
No
If yes, please list the addresses here.
Do you rent property in the City of San José?
Yes
No
If yes, is it a month-to-month lease?
Yes
No
State and local law require that you abstain from participation in decisions that may affect your financial interests, including sources of income, interest in real property, personal finances or investments.
In addition, if appointed, you may be required to fill out a disclosure statement which indentifies certain of your financial interest beginning with the immediate twelve-month period prior to your appointment.
Please review the scopr of your
board/commission in Municipal Code Chapter 2.08.
Based on your best judgment, does this
Board or Commission make decisions that may affect sources of income, interests in real property, personal finances or investments of you or your spouse?
Yes
No
If yes, please explain.
Please identify any organizations, associations, corporations, or entities by which you are employed or associated that might be affected by decisions of this Board or Commission, and the positions you hold in these entities.
I am currently employed by Google. If selected for the Planning Commission I will commit to recusing myself from all decisions before the Commission relating to Google’s developments in the City.
Question applies to multiple boards
If appointed, you will be required to fill out a disclosure statement, which identifies certain of your financial interests beginning with the immediate twelve-month period prior to your appointment and annually on or before April 1 of each year thereafter. Please confirm that you have read Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) Form 700 Reference Pamphlet and agree to file required FPPC Form 700 Statements of Economic Interest, as required by current City Council Conflict of Interest resolution.
Yes
No
Question applies to multiple boards
Have you ever been required to file a Statement of Economic Interest (Form 700) and failed to do so?
Yes
No
Anthony Tordillos
Question applies to multiple boards
If yes, please explain in complete detail.
Question applies to multiple boards
Please confirm that you have reviewed and agree to comply with the San Jose Municipal Code Chapter 12.08 (Prohibition of Gifts), City of San Jose Ethics Policy (City Policy Manual
1.2.1), and City of San Jose Gift Policy (City Policy Manual 1.2.2).
Yes
No
Reference 1 Name
Marcus Ismael
Reference 1 Address
Reference 1 Email address
Reference 1 Phone
Reference 2 Name
Erik Larsen
Reference 2 Address
Reference 2 Email address
Reference 2 Phone
Supplemental Questions
Anthony Tordillos
Question applies to
Board of Fair Campaign and Political Practices,
Civil Service Commission,
Planning Commission
Are you a registered voter in the City of San Jose? (Please note, your voter registration will be independently verified)
Yes
No
Question applies to
Civil Service Commission,
Board of Fair Campaign and Political Practices,
Planning Commission
Please provide the name and residential address under which you are registered to vote. If it is the same as listed above, please note see above.
Anthony Tordillos, see above for residential address
If applicable, have you ever attended a meeting of the Commission(s) to which you are applying?
Yes
No
Would you be available to attend meetings at the scheduled time?
Yes
No
Please describe your experience in serving on a Commission or Board.
If appointed, the Planning Commission would be my first experience serving on a municipal commission.
However, I do have experience serving at the state level as a member of the Washington State Legislative Youth Advisory Council. The Council’s legislative priorities during my tenure in the 2009-2010 legislative session included internet safety, environmental sustainability, and high school dropout prevention. In this role, I worked alongside my fellow council members to research relevant legislation, draft white papers on specific bills, and meet with members of the state legislature to discuss the Council’s priorities.
Anthony Tordillos
Considering your experience and activities in business, labor, School, professional, social,
Commissions, Boards, or other organizations, indicate the experience, training, knowledge and/or skills which qualify you for appointment to the selected commission(s).
Although I have no formal training in urban planning or land use, I believe that my professional history, personal development, and previous volunteer experience have prepared me for service on the Planning Commission. While my work as a software engineer at Google may not be directly transferable to the Commission, I believe that my 8 years of experience working in the tech industry lends me valuable insight, particularly as the technology sector continues to play an ever larger role in our local economy.
Moreover, my experience managing an engineering team within Google has granted me valuable real- world leadership and collaboration experience that I believe would serve me well on the Commission.
Outside of my professional career, I have also taken on leadership roles in a number of community organizing initiatives, including my past role as a Community Leader and Staging Location Director for the Warren campaign in San José, and my current work as an organizer with the California Working Families Party. In my time with the Warren campaign, I engaged with hundreds of residents from all over the City to discuss the issues that were top of mind for them heading into the election. This opportunity has afforded me valuable experience in engaging with City residents and community members, a skill I believe is well suited for work on the Commission.
Furthermore, in the absence of formal training in urban planning, I have taken the initiative to study various documents directly related to the Commission’s work, including: the 2040 General Plan; Citywide Design Standards; Downtown Design Guidelines; and the City’s 2014-2023 Housing Element. I have also thoroughly reviewed the applicable documents that would govern my service on the Commission, including the: Code of Ethics (Policy 0-15); Consolidated Policy Governing Boards and Commissions (Policy 0-4); San José Municipal Code Ch. 2.08; City Charter § 1000; and the Planning Commission Bylaws (Resolution No. 64-1).
Beyond reading about the
Commission’s work and operation, I have also actively participated in past community engagement sessions for initiatives such as the Berryessa BART Urban Village Area Plan and the Urban Village & Mixed-Use Zoning Districts ordinance update process. I have also watched a number of Planning Commission sessions over the past several years to better understand the Commission’s work and decision-making process. In addition, I have closely followed recent land use developments at the state and local level, including recently-passed legislation such as SB 9 & SB 10, as well as ongoing efforts to reform or abolish mandatory parking minimums.
Taken together, I am confident that my long-standing
passion for urban development, my prior leadership experience, and my intentional study of both the current and future challenges facing the Planning Commission have prepared me to be an effective commissioner.
What is your understanding of the purpose of the Commission? The Planning Commission has two primary responsibilities. First, the Commission serves as an advisory body for the City Council, providing recommendations on a variety of land use and development questions. These include advice on adoption or amendment to the City’s General Plan and other development plans, as well as land use regulations such as zoning and subdivision.
Outside of its
advisory role on these questions, the Commission also has the authority to act in its own capacity in a few narrowly defined areas. These include certification of Environmental Impact Reports, deciding appeals of certain Planning Director decisions, and issuing of certain Conditional Use Permits as dictated by the Municipal Code.
At a higher level, I believe the Planning Commission also has an obligation to ensure that the responsibilities listed above are carried out in an effective and equitable manner. By engaging early and often with the communities most affected by a given proposal, the Commission can help to ensure that the voices of all City residents are being heard and respected. In this way, the Commission can work towards a San José in which all members of our community can thrive.
Anthony Tordillos
Please list three issues facing the City that you feel the Commission should address.
One critical issue facing the City that the Planning Commission will play an important role in addressing is our ongoing housing affordability crisis. Specifically, the Commission will be key to the adoption of General Plan amendments and rezonings aimed at increasing the number of new housing units built in the City. This is an area where the City has had mixed success in the past. For example, the most recent City report on progress towards our 2014-2023 RHNA goals shows that while we have met ~78% of our target for “above moderate income” units, we’ve only permitted ~12.4% of our 2023 goal for “low-income” and “very low-income” housing units. At this rate, the City is on track for a shortfall of over 10,000 low- income housing units, compounding the previous 10,261 unit shortfall in low-income housing from the 2007-2014 planning period. These perennial shortfalls in below-market-rate housing, combined with the dramatically higher housing targets for the impending 2023-2031 RHNA cycle (62,200 total units, 23,775 of them affordable) signifies that affordable housing will remain at the forefront of the City’s challenges in the coming decade.
Another key issue facing the City is the need to address our jobs-housing imbalance.
Doing so is critical to securing San José’s fiscal health and ensuring the City has the funds necessary to support essential services for City residents. In order to meet the General Plan’s goal of increasing the City’s jobs-to-employed-residents ratio from 0.81 today to 1.1 in 2040, the City will need to accommodate the creation of over 300,000 new jobs over the next 20 years. The Planning Commission will play a vital role in shepherding these new projects through the development process while ensuring they are both making progress towards the City’s goals while also being mindful of the needs of existing City residents.
Finally, the Planning Commission will play an important role in helping San José to meet its environmental goals related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. With buildings accounting for nearly 40% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States, the Planning Commission will need to ensure developers are meeting their environmental obligations, both in terms of minimizing upfront “embodied emissions” from building construction and taking steps to minimize ongoing “operational emissions”.
According to UC Berkeley's “CoolClimate” initiative, increasing the operational efficiency of commercial buildings is the municipal policy tool with the most potential for decreasing GHG emissions in San José; CoolClimate estimates that commercial efficiency improvements could result in a reduction in the City’s CO2-equivalent (CO2e) emissions of over 450k metric tons by 2030. Other high-impact options for reducing San José’s GHG emissions include increasing density via urban infill development (320k metric tons CO2e reduction potential), and reducing vehicle-miles traveled (350k metric tons CO2e reduction potential).
Question applies to multiple boards
Do you meet the requirements for appointment to this commission?
Yes
No
Anthony Tordillos
(Optional) Please upload a resume.
Anything else you would like us to know?
I would like to take this opportunity to speak to the impact my appointment would have in terms of making the Commission more representative of our broader City community. First, to the best of my knowledge, I would be the first openly gay Commisioner in the history of the Planning Commission. I would also be the only Asian American member on the current Commission and only the second Millennial on the Commission. It’s important to point out that these would not just be symbolic milestones, but rather lived experiences that will inform the work I do on the Commission, particularly in regard to issues of equity. As an example, research has shown that LGBTQ+ individuals experience homelessness at higher rates than the general population. The data show that this trend holds true in San José, with recent surveys suggesting that between 12% (2019) and 35% (2017) of the City’s homeless population are members of the LGBTQ+ community.
The absence of any Asian American representation on the current Commission is especially notable given the central role that Asian Americans play in our community. The latest Census Bureau estimates show a full 37.2% of San José residents are of Asian ancestry, making Asian Americans the single largest racial group in the City.
Regardless of who is ultimately chosen for the
District 3 Commission seat, I want to stress the importance of ensuring that our leaders embody the full diversity of our community. Doing so helps to ensure that our leaders represent the interests of all members of our community, and in so doing strengthens the trust that residents have in their local government.
Retirement Board Questions Only
Verification
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I agree that all of the information contained in my responses to the questions on this application are true and accurate to the best of my knowledge. I further agree that, by checking the box below and submitting this application, online or otherwise, I am affixing my digital signature to this form as of the date submitted.
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Anthony Tordillos