fresno elections 2008

Increasing employment and educational opportunities in Fresno will have the single biggest and most lasting impact on the quality of life in our community. Jobs and education are like dominos: low education rates lead to high unemployment and high poverty rates. High unemployment and poverty rates lead to high crime rates. Therefore, the most effective way to lower the City’s crime rates and keep them down is to improve employment and educational opportunities in Fresno.

I have dedicated the last ten years of my career to developing and implementing creative solutions to Fresno’s unemployment problem. Based on that experience, I developed a five-point plan for job creation and a thriving economy. You can view the complete plan at www.ashley4mayor.com. The plan includes the following:

• Expand Vocational Training – The fastest way to stimulate economic growth in Fresno is to fill the jobs that are available today. Literally thousands of jobs are going unfilled every day in Fresno because of the mismatch between the skills of the available workforce and the skill requirements of the open jobs. As Mayor, I will work with the education and training communities to put a comprehensive system in place to ensure Fresno’s workforce is job ready.
• Grow Fresno’s Existing Businesses – I believe Fresno’s economic development resources should be spent primarily on supporting local businesses and have proposed several specific ways in which the City and its economic development partners can support the growth of local firms.
• Prepare and Preserve Industrial Land – We run the risk of losing our most promising businesses to other communities because of the lack of “shovel ready” industrial park space. This long-standing roadblock needs to be removed.
• Spark Downtown Revitalization – Fresno’s downtown is its calling card. It is impossible to meet our long-term goals in job creation and economic development without a thriving downtown. Please see my recommendations on downtown redevelopment listed above.
• Support the Cultural Arts and Creative Community – To be economically competitive, Fresno must have a thriving cultural arts sector to develop, retain and attract our brightest talent. As the Mayor of Fresno, I will be a champion for Fresno’s cultural arts and will work with the leadership from the cultural arts community to establish a long-range plan to expand and strengthen the sector.