Kwast on economic development
To attract jobs, and just as importantly, to retain jobs, we need to cultivate conditions that are favorable for business and to capitalize on our strengths. Past efforts to obtain the Kings Enterprise Zone Designation and its recent renewal are important components of any strategy to generate new jobs. We need to keep in mind that new jobs go hand in hand with commercial development. No significant number of new jobs will be generated without new commercial development. We must keep in mind the strengths we have in the county. We have a very significant agricultural base and recent years have produced many new agricultural or agricultural related developments such as dairies, and food processing facilities such as tomato processing and packing plants and cheese processors. These developments make sense in our county, and our zoning and infrastructure decisions should keep that in mind. Other strengths that we have are relatively inexpensive land for development and easy access to major metropolitan markets by Freeways I-5 and 99 via Highways 198 and 43. These conditions helped attract a precast concrete plant to Corcoran and could be significant issues in attracting other businesses to the county. The county has three California state correctional facilities and a Department of Corrections regional accounting office, all located within the boundaries of District 2. I believe that significant opportunities exist to capitalize on the Department of Corrections presence. We should pursue other opportunities to locate ancillary services such as the regional accounting office within the county and especially within District 2. Discussions have circulated about the possibility of the department establishing a new correctional officer training facility. We need to maintain a good relationship with the Department of Corrections and pursue location of such ancillary services here in Kings County. AB 900 passed last year and the Federal Court order regarding prisoner health care reform both may offer opportunities for job development in Kings County.