POLITICAL GRANDSTANDING Vs. FACTS and REALITY

By Kevin M. Schafer

Questions about the issues and Straight Answers

- Fact: Four years ago under a previous administration, we instituted the first resurfacing of city streets. It was intended to be an annual project; however it was dropped due to other issues. Also, the city public works director position remained unfilled for several years. In 2007 we hired a new public works director with vision, and the current administration tasked him at the beginning of 2008 to come up with a revolving 5-year plan to reseal/resurface or rebuild each street in the first community. This past spring the city purchased a new pavement crack sealing machine and began work on CCB West. Once the prep work was accomplished we went out to bid for resealing. This type of work is only capable during summer weather. So this summer we have invested the 2008-2009 special tax money allocated for roads to these projects. We have completed one project and have two more to complete before the winter temperatures return. Further, we have a citizen's advisory committee who has surveyed the city and provided a list of streets to be worked. The current city council has already tasked the public works director to prepare the next round of streets to be addressed next summer 2009. You will now see an annual street improvement program each summer, because this council has the vision to put future planning in place to address the myriad of issues impacting this city.

2. When will the city push to get the hotel finished?

- Fact: The hotel owned for the moment by the current builder, is being foreclosed upon and is mired in preliminary court proceedings with many liens for unpaid amounts related to construction costs. While there has been one investor interested in purchasing and completing the project, it remains outside the jurisdiction of the city. The current council is just as interested in its completion as everyone else is and has entered into several meetings with investors to encourage them to pursue ownership. We must stand-by and wait for the court outcomes and hopefully someone to purchase it out of foreclosure.

3. If the current council is so business friendly, why don't we have a grocery store yet?

- Fact: For the last four years, I've worked tirelessly meeting with nearly a dozen investors to do just that! I've worked with the past mayor on this, I've worked with current council members on this and none of us has been successful. The major chains have told us, we're off the beaten path; we don't have enough population and many more excuses not to come to California City. Currently, the city manager and council members are working with three different investors/developers (two are local developers), to secure an agreement to build a store in town.

- If we are so unfriendly, if we are so closed minded, if we have such a closed door policy of listening to the public, then why would we spend so much time addressing this key issue of the people?

4. If the current council is so business friendly, why are we loosing businesses and what are they doing to bring more business to town?

- Fact: The current economy of the country/state/city cannot be logically laid to rest on the city council. We have lost restaurants and other establishments that is true. Now I will ask you to ponder the following and determine if it is not true in your personal financial budget. If I make X dollars/payday, and the price of gas for example keeps rising, and if my employer won't provide me with a monthly raise in my paycheck to offset the cost of gasoline, what will I do in my budget in order to make it stretch to the next payday? The answer most of us will choose is this, "I will curb my discretionary spending"! I will not be able to take my family out to eat like I used to, if I'm to pay for fuel to get to work! So, we cut back as nearly everyone has, and the first businesses to feel it are restaurants, and so on and so forth. We in the council are aware of this dilemma and have put forward a plan to encourage our Off Road guests to come into town on (1) approved trail, that is two miles north of the city, comes south along Neuralia and when it finally gets into the restaurant district in the middle of town, has only passed (2) houses. We further stipulated a speed limit, a noise limit and dust restrictions to lessen the impact on those two homes. Finally, we agreed that we will only do this for one season, from Oct 2008 - Jun 2009 and then revisit this initiative to determine if it was beneficial or a nuisance.

- Now, if we as a council are so unfriendly, we won't listen to the concerns of our people and businesses, then why would we go to such lengths to envision this solution to a current problem?

This current council has come together to answer the call on the issues. We have in the last (2) years applied our collective vision to seek answers and solutions to the issues affecting our city past/present and future. It could be said, we have "Stepped Out, Stepped Up and Stepped Forward"!

- Stepped Out: of mediocrity, just sitting by, being reactive to events happening in the city!

- Stepped Up: to seek solutions to problems rather than just complaining that the sky is falling and suggesting no solutions!

- Stepped Forward: having a proactive thought process, that identifies current problems quickly, envisions future issues now and then works to address each in a timely, constructive, methodical way that seeks out the root cause and addresses it now!

Examples:

- Identified future water issues: long before you ever read about them in the paper, we started working on aquifer studies, water banking and conservation methods last spring.

- Sewer vs. Septic issues and how they ecologically relate to our aquifer: we started this in 2007, now we're preparing to move forward with sewer districts in order to address the issue.

- 5 Year revolving road maintenance plan to care for each street every 5 years: developed and passed in spring of 2008, with first application this past summer and fall.

- Citizens Advisory Committee: to monitor the use of Special Tax, and provide inputs for street improvements.

- Beautification Commission: citizens providing inputs for beautification projects within the city.

- City wide clean-up: It was this Mayor who first suggested the concept in his first State of the City address 2007! Now we have citizens taking the lead on the issue to keep it going, but our current Mayor deserves the proper credit!

- RDA purchased commercial airport property: we already have a highly sought after "Foreign Trade Zone", that allows us to attract businesses who export/import from other countries. We are closing the official loops to be able to begin professionally marketing this property with that classification. We have the vision to see into the future and realize the true value of this land and the industrial applications that it presents.

I hope this has been informative and able to address at least a few of the many issues that are swirling about the city. I trust that you will glean from this that this current sitting council does have your best interests at heart, we do listen and we are acting upon each issue in an organized, well thought-out pattern to effect change for the positive benefit of the community. Rather than complaining and mocking the efforts of others, we are honestly trying our best to build this city and move it forward in a positive fashion.