fresno elections 2008

The job market is very competitive, And we as a council new that we had to lay the foundation for new job creation. Our first order of business was establishing an area of industrail zoned, and then bringing the infrastructure of water and sewer to this area, We then aggressively sought out potential companies and our first success was a 35 acre SCE plant that will employ upto 200 employees at approximatley $35 an hour. We have several other companies negoitiating with us at present. We also created a zone for major retail outlets and have been able to establish a 640000 sq retail outlet that will create approximately 800 new jobs. This will benefit the city in sales tax dollars, and also the convenience of not leaving the area to do our shopping. As you can see the present council has been very proactive in job creation and new shopping opportunities.

The city of Porte creation by working Porterville is continually working at job creation by working through Porterville Chamber of Commerce and Tulare County Economic Development Board. We have just updated the Porterville General Plan which will allow for better land uses in our city. Porterville has just been successful in the removal of the cease and desist order which will eventually give us the ability to discharge more waste water and thus accommodate large businesses which may have. Porterville is working with TCAG and our State representatives so we could expand Hwy 190 and Hwy 65. The City of Porterville has also worked in partnership with Porterville College to gain the opportunity at providing a 4 year degree so that we may have a larger educated workforce. This action alone will in the long term change our demographics and attract more business.

The #1 problem for small rural communities is keeping their young educated workforce. I will work with CSU, Bakersfield in bringing a satellite campus here to Porterville to allow our young men and women an opportunity to get a four year degree right here. I would also look at placing this campus near the new courthouse to help in growing our own police officers, teachers and business leaders. I would work to provide tax incentives for new businesses to relocate to Porterville and work to make Spruce Avenue four lanes as well as Highway 65 four lanes to the Kern County line. This would help in making Porterville more attractive to new businesses. I would also look into creating a position within the city with a low base salary and major incentives for being successful, who would be responsible for writing grants, marketing the city and attending trade shows and other events in an effort to bring businesses and jobs to Porterville. I would also work to improve the infrastructure of Porterville and work to create a city where people would want to live instead of commuting from Visalia and Tulare.

I would focus on bringing new industry to Porterville and encourage businesses to relocate to the city of Porterville.

I will propose that the city explore the formation of more public/private partnerships, such as working with start-up companies, companies promoting green technology and entrepreneurs. City Hall needs to make an effort to encourage businesses to stay in Fresno by streamlining the process of doing business with the city. Incentives can be another great tool in this process.

But before we create new jobs, we should deal with the vacant jobs we have now by encouraging the development of a skilled labor pool. This includes introducing young Fresnans to career paths at an earlier age, creating more internship opportunities for high school and college students and encouraging vocational training to develop job skills. I will work with community groups such as the workforce board to continue their efforts to identify and fulfill business labor needs and with the EDC to ensure that they have the tools they need to encourage businesses to invest in Fresno.

I would encourage our community to embrace agriculture and also define and recruit environmental technology companies to relocate to our area.

Since the demise of Roeding Industrial Park there have been no concerted efforts to develop a major, 500 plus acre industrial park in Fresno. If you compare completed industrial parks in Southern and Northern California to Fresno we are not competitive. These other parts of the state offer completed, landscaped, and paved parks with direct access to freeways and railroad spurs. You are offered a turnkey business opportunity. When you come to Fresno you are shown a vacant lot filled with weeds and the promise that one day the freeway will be extended there and the park will be built. Developing a first class 500 acre plus industrial will be one of my top priorities when I am elected. This will require a major commitment from the city to help assemble the land and find the financing for the infrastructure. A completed, successful park would provide an enormous economic benefit to the community in both jobs and creating new revenues for the city.

Tourism is the second leading industry in Fresno County behind agriculture producing $990 million per years. This is an underdeveloped industry with a lot of potential. We have three major national parks at our back door. The Convention Visitors Bureau or CVB has been ineffective in the past. The city, the county and the EDC have not cooperated in developing a cohesive plan and promotion. Recent changes in leadership at both EDC and CVB have given me confidence that the right team is in place and we can make substantial improvements in our promotion of CVB in Fresno. Let me offer you an example of how much additional revenue could be generated from hotel taxes alone. If you could fill half of the vacant hotel rooms in Fresno it would generate an additional $10 million per year in new revenues.

For years, I have heard talk of making Fresno more business friendly and improving the permit and plan check process. I know firsthand from being a businessman that these improvements have never materialized. Nothing is easy to do in Fresno. A simple tenant improvement project can take weeks to navigate the plan check process and get a permit. There is poor coordination between departments. Our primary source of jobs is existing business. We need to offer the incentives and means for existing business to be successful. One idea I would like to promote is to pre-zone certain parcels. This would be an enormous benefit to assembling the land for an industrial park or finding solutions for affordable housing. Processing a tract map and entitlements can take one to two years and this is simply not going to work.

There are a lot of separate efforts underway in our community to generate jobs via the Regional Jobs Initiative, the City’s economic development department, the EDC, etc. In fact, we have as many efforts underway on this as we have downtown revitalization plans sitting on shelves. It is time for the Mayor and the Council to take more action and provide a strike force to recruit emerging technologies to our area such as solar, alternative energy industries that convert waste to power and industries that prepare us for the future such as a high speed rail engine, rail car manufacturing and maintenance yard. We need to refocus our attention on the completion of undeveloped industrial parks such as Roeding and streamline the way the City does business so we are set up to do tomorrow’s thinking. I continue to be told by investors who have attempted to do business in Fresno that it takes too long, cooperation is lacking between the Mayor and the Council, electeds interfere with professional staff decision making and specifications in the General Plan aren’t meshed with existing rules. All this causes unneeded delay. I propose putting a stop to this by enacting the “Good Reforms For A More Open and Transparent Government” #22 which prohibits Council member interference with City staff as they carry out their professional duties and places the Council back it its role to be sure their decisions—such as General Plan streamlining—are carried out.

A good way to generate jobs is remove layers of government. Often a community interest group or entities such as redevelopment or the city itself stand in the way of those trying to create businesses and jobs. Many times the different agencies don’t line up on requirements and leave an entrepreneur standing alone attempting to puzzle together how to proceed. Business shouldn’t have to face a public gauntlet.

Once again, the city’s debt decreases the funds that could go to livability issues which in turn attract businesses. A city strapped with debt won’t be in a position to attract new businesses and create job growth. Rampant crime sends the wrong message to outsiders considering locating to Fresno – so does debt. A decrease in city debt, and government interference in the job market, will help economic development.

Two major systemic improvements will positively impact job creation and employment. First, we need to improve the system that will allow small business and local entrepreneurs to prosper. I would start with 3 things: I would seek to move the Redevelopment Agency back under the management of the city. We need a cohesive, systemic approach to the identification of land and usages and to have them working as an independent arm has proven very costly. Next, the city needs to be the lead agency in creating a network of business leaders and organizations that can encourage and support economic development. We need a full scale public relations campaign to get the word out on our incentives that exist for owners to build, hire, and expand their businesses.

The other systemic improvement is in our education system. As Mayor, I support a partnership with our school system works together to effectively eliminate the drop-out rate. If we want all of our students to graduate, we must return our schools to our kids. We need to provide leadership and financial support for quality facilities, opportunities in and athletics and the arts, and numerous vocational options. To accomplish this, we need to create a Community Accountability Model that identifies the key characteristics our citizens expect to find in their schools. Finally, I would continue to develop the Urban Charter Initiative to provide school choice in our poorest neighborhoods. By improving our educational system, we will prepare more young men and women for the work force and continue to attract more businesses to Fresno.