Candidate for
Councilmember; City of Paso Robles

I am a 39-year resident of Paso Robles, having served on numerous boards and service groups over the years including Kiwanis, Optimists, Rotary and the American Cancer Society. I served on the City Council between 1987 and 1996, as mayor 1988-1990. I was Chairman of the Redevelopment Agency from 1990-1992. I have also had the opportunity to work with various regional organizations including Integrated Waste Management Association, Airport Land Use Commission and the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments. During my Council tenure I worked with other municipal governments and advisory groups to create an ad hoc North County Advisory Council to address regional issues affecting northern San Luis Obispo County. The major thrust of my previous service was developing a solid vision of the future to create a city where citizens could work, live and shop. During this time our accomplishments included the creation of major retail shopping opportunities such as Woodland Plaza I & II and the Target Shopping Center. We constructed the City Hall/Library and focused on revitalization of downtown Paso Robles, working with the Paso Robles Main Street organization, upgrading the historic downtown City Park and encouraging the development of downtown restaurants and the movie theater complex. Public safety and infrastructure programs were adequately funded. Quality residential development created homes for the people of a vibrant, growing community. After my service on the Council, I continued to work for the community as a member and chairman of the Main Street Board of Directors and as a member and chairman of the Paso Robles Library Foundation. For the past decade I have worked with Main Street and other organizations in neighboring Atascadero, gaining new perspectives on how to use Main Street philosophies to improve historic downtowns. In 2007 I received that City's Chamber award for Community Volunteer of the Year. For the past three years I have served on the Resource Council of the San Luis Obispo County Visitors and Conference Bureau promoting tourism in our area. The opportunities to participate in two cities and at the County level have given me unique perspectives on how communities can and should work together. Paso Robles residents tell me they are concerned with government openness and accountability, basic service and infrastructure needs and a lack of "direction." I will make sure residents regain a sense of ownership of local government and pride in their community. I will increase the quality of communication to allow residents to know about City issues and offer timely and effective input. Communication will include traditional media as well as new Internet-based systems. I will work to prioritize spending to insure that public safety, streets, water and sewer needs are addressed appropriately. With the energy and participation of individual citizens, community service organizations and stakeholders from our economic development community, I will help build a new vision and direction for the City that will result in an even finer place to work, live and shop. I invite everyone to visit http://www.MartinForCouncil.com to learn more about me and my candidacy. On that site residents will find an online issues survey as well as links to voter registration sources. They may also contact me via that site or like my Facebook page (facebook.com/MartinForCouncil) or follow me on Twitter (@tweetswm). As always, I am proud to be a citizen of Paso Robles and will continue to work for the benefit of the community and its residents regardless of the outcome of this election. I respectfully ask for your vote, whether you vote absentee after Oct. 8th or on Election Day, Nov. 6th. Thank you.