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A group of the San Ramon Valley’s elected officials, hopeful candidates, and civically engaged citizens gathered in Danville this week to hear from the three Town Council candidates vying for two at-large seats in an election forum.
Hosted by DanvilleSanRamon.com and the Danville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Sept. 14 forum at the Family Justice Center on Diablo Road saw the three candidates – incumbent councilmember and vice mayor Robert Storer, former San Ramon police chief Denton Carlson, and childcare provider Pratima Sonavne – present a variety of views on topics ranging from housing to term limits to Flock cameras.
With Storer seeking to defend his seat for a fifth term on the council, Carlson entered the race earlier this year shortly after a retirement announcement from longtime councilmember Karen Stepper, who endorsed him as her successor.
Sonavne was the latest to launch her town council campaign, which comes on the heels of a previous campaign to unseat Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder Kristin Connelly in the June primary.
The candidates spent more than an hour Monday evening answering questions from DanvilleSanRamon moderators and members of the audience as election season in the valley marches forward, with less than eight weeks until Nov. 3.
Early in the evening, the candidates showed alignment for the most part on their motivations for running and their priorities for the town, pointing to their appreciation for Danville’s small-town charm, public safety, parks, and support for families and small businesses driving their desire to give back to the community.
“As it turns out I’m horrible at retirement, so I’m here running for office because I care about this town,” said Carlson, who holds a position at the police technology startup Longeye and runs his own consulting business following his departure as SRPD chief at the end of 2024.
Although political newcomers, Carlson and Sonavne both pointed to their past experience – including a decades-long career in local law enforcement on Carlson’s part, and as a current business owner and longtime HR professional on Sonavne’s part – as informing their approach to town government should they be elected, and as perspectives that can offer key insights into the town’s functions.
Sonavne noted her training as a “numbers and figures person,” having majored in accounting as an undergraduate followed by graduate school in human resource management, and further training in project management and organizational development.
“What this really means in practice is that I’ve spent over a decade of my career solving complicated problems, keeping time and budget in place, and also fixing things that aren’t working,” Sonavne said.
As the lone incumbent in this year’s race, Storer emphasized past experience that includes nearly two decades on the town council following multiple terms on the town’s planning commission.
“I worked my way up the ladder. I believe it’s the best way to gain knowledge and knowing how to actually create a wonderful community,” Storer said.
“And so the best way to be able to sit on a council is when you create the vision and what the future looks like, and establish good goals for today and tomorrow, including the safest city and the best financially run city because of the veteran town council, veteran staff and town manager,” he continued. “It’s a great team I am certain you have counted on for years, and I will be someone you will always be able to count on for your vote.”
Another point of alignment for the candidates was on the difficulty of balancing Danville’s minimal growth and size with changes to state law in the past five years that require local municipalities to allot a certain number of new housing sites in each housing element cycle for new units of varying affordability levels.
Storer again took the opportunity to point to the town’s existing accomplishments after highlighting his work in particular on affordable housing during opening statements.
“We don’t have the flexibility that we once had, but I think we’re so good at building affordable housing that I challenge each of you to tell me where we have 100 affordable units of housing in Danville, close to downtown, that actually is for seniors and those with disabilities – 100, and you would never know they were affordable housing,” Storer said.
Carlson noted that he gave the town council “a lot of credit for being able to navigate this, and bringing in residential areas that fit with the charm of Danville.”
“I think what you take from that is a well-managed approach to be able to anticipate the unintended consequences, think those projects through, and I think that’s what you have to do when you’re looking at these numbers in a town that’s built out,” Carlson said.
“You have to look at what is the impact today, but what is the impact 10 years from now, and use that type of logic when you try to take these numbers that are forced on us by Sacramento and come to the best case scenario, whether I may like it or not,” he continued.
Sonavne pointed in particular to seeking to anticipate and mitigate the overall impacts of increased housing.
“Danville is changing and evolving, and we must follow the law and the state mandates, but that does not mean we do not focus on specifically planning it,” Sonavne said. “That’s what I would be looking at doing, is looking at the cumulative effect of the change that is happening.”
“And especially with housing, how the cumulative increase in traffic, and emergency preparedness, traffic, public safety, all the ways that will be impacted with the increase in housing as well,” she continued.
While all three candidates emphasized their support for the town’s small businesses in the downtown core and throughout, their suggestions on how to address challenges such as the ongoing economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and a string of overnight burglaries that hit a number of Danville businesses recently.
“The message to our businesses is please put alarms on your businesses – please get something that when the glass breaks, alarms go off, cameras – you have to help our police department, because we have three beats at night in Danville, and I can’t have everybody searching for these criminals,” Storer said. “Chances are, we’re going to encounter these individuals because what they’ve done is raised havoc in downtown Danville.”
Carlson brought up the concept of “crime prevention by environmental design,” something he said had been effective during his time in law enforcement.
“These are crimes of opportunity, and using design in the facade or how the front of your business is designed – how do you put shrubbery in front of your business, how do you make it an environment that no one wants to be in? Is the lighting good? – It’s those types of concepts that can have a massive impact, because when someone’s driving down the area at 3:45 in the morning they’re looking for the place that they’re never going to be found,” Carlson said.
Sonavne pointed to the recent burglaries as an opportunity to “reevaluate and reassess” how resources are being used, but echoed the other candidates’ support for the town’s police force and its practice of contracting with the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office.
“We need to reassess how and when we are using the resources that we have, and are our resources being deployed where residents are actually experiencing problems, and whether the results have been measured,” Sonavne said.
As the discussion progressed, other questions centered around hot topics regionally and nationally gave way to a variety of views from the candidates.
While the debut and ongoing proliferation of ALPR technology and Flock cameras in recent has been met with little controversy in Danville, the candidates had a range of views on the growing privacy and safety concerns with the technology that has recently blossomed regionally and nationally.
Carlson called ALPR technology an “unbelievable tool”, but said he understood surveillance concerns.
“I don’t think it was handled properly by Flock – that’s my opinion – I don’t know that a lot of the burden of what is happening right now falls on the agencies themselves that utilize it,” Carlson said. “I will tell you that audits of Flock searches and what agencies and personnel within agencies should be mandatory. They should be auditing the records on a consistent basis to ensure it’s not misused.”
Sonavne echoed the call for oversight and emphasized the need for security regarding the use of Flock and other technology in law enforcement.
“Every technology when it is implemented, it has to be secured with all the firewalls and everything in place,” Sonavne said. “And as Denton said, any technology or software needs to be evaluated. So having regular audits to make sure that it is doing the right thing, that’s what I think you should focus on.
Storer emphasized that ALPR technology had been “invaluable” for Danville, and said that there were existing oversight and security systems in place.
“It is such an important tool, just like Tasers – when Tasers first came out, they didn’t have a camera on it, then they put a camera on the Taser – now with technology, if law enforcement pulls a Taser, all the Tasers are surrounding this person all come on at the same time, which means it protects the officers, it protects the victim, and it actually gives law enforcement the ability to see a potential crime from multiple angles,” Storer said.
“Very, very important technology,” he continued. “I am 100% a believer in the automated license plate reader, and we’re updating software for more clarity. Absolutely it is important to every jurisdiction to have license plate readers so you can actually have control of the people that are felons coming in and out.”
Sonavne spoke out as the only one of the three to support term limits for the town government, with Carlson and Storer emphasizing the time, energy and knowledge that being on the town council requires and a steep learning curve for newly elected officials.
“The experience I definitely value, but I think a healthy government also benefits from new ideas and perspectives, and any term limit policy should apply respectively wherever you are, and that’s including me,” Sonavne said.
“We see that our presidents also have term limits, so I think that kind of experience also is valuable, and at local government bringing in fresh faces – because you have new generations coming up, and then you need new things – so fresh blood coming in will bring a fresh perspective, and that’s what I believe,” she continued.
Regarding the Public Transit Revenue Measure on the ballot throughout the region in the upcoming election, Storer came out as its lone supporter with Sonavne and Carlson voicing opposition to it.
“Transit operators are supporting SB 63 because we’ve all heard about the financial cliff if it doesn’t pass,” Storer said. “Each one of those jurisdictions, including County Connection, have a plan B in place to actually reduce services. If SB 63 passes, it has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and it will actually sunset I believe after 10 years. And what we’re looking at is necessary, not only for the transportation authority.”
Sonavne said simply that she did “not agree” with the measure, but believed public transit should be available. Carlson went into more detail about his position.
“I can tell you right now, if they reduce the number of trains, the trains would not be overly burdened with passengers,” Carlson said. “I ride it on a regular basis.”
“I think there needs to be a focus on improved government efficiency, and I think improving the way the government operates should be the focus instead of going to the community for more money,” he continued. “Unfortunately, it has become the default.”
A final point on which the candidates diverged during closing statements was what qualities would best benefit the town government into the future.
“We need to protect our citizens, our seniors, our veterans, our kids, our pedestrians, our bicyclists, and we need to continue to keep the Danville we have today and protect everything that’s important to us,” Storer said. “That means an experienced council will always be necessary. Experienced leadership will always matter.”
As a longtime resident, Carlson voiced appreciation for the town and its government, but said he was eager to bring a fresh perspective.
“I always talk about how incredible the San Ramon Valley is and how incredible Danville is,” Carlson said. “There’s no place like it. And my commitment to you is that I’m going to do everything that I possibly can to not just keep it that way, but to make it better. “
“And it’s capitalizing on the years of experience that I have in local government, and taking that experience and bringing it up to the desk to make sure that every single decision we make each time is for the benefit of the community, to make this place as great as it possibly can be,” he continued.
Sonavne also emphasized her appreciation for the town during her four years living in Danville alongside a desire to bring on improvements.
“I’m running because I’ve spent my whole career doing exactly this kind of work — listening to people, fixing systems that aren’t working, and making sure things hold up long-term instead of just looking good on paper,” Sonavne said. “I’ve lived here. I’m raising my kids here. I run a business here. When traffic backs on to Sycamore or a new development gets debated, I’m not reading about it in a memo. I’m sitting in it, same as you.”
“So my ask is simple,” she continued. “All you need is those five questions that I mentioned. Is it safe? Is it fiscally responsible? Have residents genuinely been heard? Have we thought about the long-term consequences, and does it protect what may stand to happen? If I stop asking those questions, you have permission to come find me.”
Other questions that evening centered on traffic congestion and safety concerns, economic development, budget priorities, and parks and recreation. A full video of the event will be made available soon.
The Danville Town Council candidate forum was moderated by DanvilleSanRamon.com associate publisher and editorial director Jeremy Walsh and this reporter. The news organization’s Embarcadero Media Foundation East Bay Division has 11 election forums scheduled up and down the Tri-Valley through Oct. 14.
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