Michael Gordon's Responses to Your Questions
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1. Many citizens have complained that they were unaware of
issues that were presented or decided at City Council and
various commission meetings. For example, many who oppose the
mosque being built, or the proposed location of the new fire
station, were unaware that these items were being discussed.
The opposition often claims that these issues are kept quiet by
design, suggesting that the city is trying to sneak things by
them.
What would you do to make sure that all City Council and City
Commission offices communicate upcoming agenda to the public?
I suggest a taskforce (city officials, city employees,
and citizens from the communities) to determine the best means
of informing the public.
2. What are your opinions related to urban growth boundaries and
what do you see as the future development of Folsom?
SACOG, a professional and certified organization that
evaluates economic growth through demands and needs, has made
their professional recommendation for the five county region and
has determined the need for Folsom to expand their SOI to the
southern side of High way 50 to assist with needs of this region
in which I support, as long as Measure W is honored.
3. As build-out looms ever closer, sales tax dollars become more
valuable to long-term sustainability. Currently city support for
programming and facilities that generate sales tax revenue
(throughout the city) is minimal compared to similar cities.
Only about 10% of the Park and Rec Budget, very little of the
hotel tax and almost nothing from tourism is used to support and
promote prime activities: “historical sites,” art/history
museums and galleries as well as a full range of cultural and
fine arts events and amenities.
What will you do to aggressively increase city support for
activities that historically generate sales tax and provide the
balanced program residents and visitors expect to find in a city
the size and character of Folsom?
I believe city council continuously needs to listen to
the residents and community organizations to what their wants
and needs are. Activities that assemble in our city boundaries
need to meet criteria:
1. Are they safe for the community?
2. Are they fiscally intelligent?
3. Do they meet the needs, but most importantly the interests of
the citizens?
As a director for the Folsom Tourism Bureau I will continually
endorse activities that generate sales tax dollars.
4. Why do you, the city council, generally ignore the
residential blight in the historic district and nearby
neighborhoods?
If elected I would not ignore the residents anywhere in
the city.
4b.
Why are owners of apartment buildings on Montrose, Talisman, and
Alezane permitted to let their properties fall into utter
disrepair?
Property owners have certain rights, rights that fall
under certain parameters. As long as these rights don’t
contradict city regulations neighbors should be respectful.
However, the city must enforce violations of regulations,
because these regulations are put in place for the safety and
well-being of the citizens of Folsom.
4c .Why is the garbage can ordinance not being enforced? See said
apartments for daily examples.
It should be.
5. I've noticed a lot of businesses creeping "up the hill" and
away from their original locations. What would you do to ensure
that once well-established locations in Folsom remain vibrant?
(example, former Food Source, Ralph's @ Greenback/Madison)
It is important to find the right business to fulfill
the economic need of the community. That is why it’s important
to go through the process of hiring an economic consultant to
identify the need of the right business in the right location.
Those particular locations mentioned have already been bought
and the current owners are aggressively looking to fill those
buildings with the right business.
6. Direct Election of Mayor and Vice-Mayor: Are you willing to
initiate and/or support changes to the Folsom City Charter to
provide for direct election of Mayor and Vice Mayor based on
City Council election results, as is currently done in Roseville
and other comparable cities? If not, please explain how Folsom's
current practice of having only the 5 City Council members
decide in special meeting who will be Mayor and Vice Mayor is of
greater benefit to the residents than having the residents elect
the City's leaders.
An elected Mayor’s position should warrant executive
power. With this said, the Folsom charter would need to be
amended. With a restructuring of the charter which identifies
executive power for the mayor, I would support a direct
election.
7. Folsom will be working over the next few years to annex land
south of 50. Landowners will reap hundreds of millions (if not
billions!) in profit from the change in zoning from current
agricultural to residential, commercial, etc. What will you as a
councilmember do, prior to the annex and rezoning, to ensure
land for public facilities (schools, parks, branch library, etc)
is both zoned for public uses and reasonably priced? In other
words, how will you ensure both the city and school district
have options to buy annexed property within a reasonable time
frame at prices that are not inflated due to the rezoning?
The City of has already created a blue print/ general
plan for the land south of Highway 50 in which they submitted to LAFCO for the annexing process. This blue print was drafted
based on the visioning process by city employees, contracted
consultants, and residents of the city.
The purchasing of this land will be designated by fare market
value, and administered in a timely manner based on need.
8. Folsom is a great place to live, but it is becoming more
expensive by the minute. What will the candidates do to create
more affordable housing? We need low-income housing, but we also
need housing for those starting out. What are your plans for
creating more diverse housing in Folsom?
The city is currently bound by California law to provide
a certain percent of affordable housing within its boundaries.
This can be done through on site or off site development. A way
of diversifying the current affordable mix is to build mixed-use
buildings; retail on the bottom level, commercial in the middle,
and smaller residential on top.
9. How do you plan on working with RT to increase running times
on the light rail, specifically having trains from downtown run
later than they currently do? Do you plan on allocating money to
have a turn-around installed on the Folsom run so that we have
trains run more often?
(no answer)
10. Is there a plan to time the street lights to the train
crossings?
Our engineers should already be timing our lights to
make the circulating most efficient.
11. What are your goals for revitalizing the Historic District?
As well as the efforts by Fedcorp and others, what more do you
think could be done to improve the vitality both commercially
and residentially? and what could you do to help make it happen?
In relationship to commercial; an aggressive front
should be formed to recruit attractive and successful businesses
with diverse intentions. This will help with economic trends.
This can be done by establishing quality relationships with
business owners. In regards to residential; adding to the
current traditional housing stock can be done by incorporating
residential into multi-use buildings to attract a diverse
interest into the community.
12. What would you do to stop the cut through traffic in the
historic district, stop the speeding on residential streets,
what traffic calming solutions do you have and what ones are you
willing to use, also how do you plan to stop the commercial
traffic in the historic residential neighborhoods
Creative engineering of prevent barriers, i.e. large
planter blocks, can prevent unwanted cut-throughs. To prevent
excessive speeds the answer is actually a narrowing of the roads
which gives the driver an uncomfortable feeling to run the
automobile above the designated speed limit. The cut through
will be prevented if the main arteries provide a better flow of
circulation. Therefore, efforts and dollars should be focused on
engineering these necessary roads.
13. What do you anticipate the worst problems facing Folsom will
be in the next 5-10 years? What can the city council do now in
anticipation of these problems?
Financial stability is always something that must be in
the forefront of the city’s focus. A diverse economic base
allows for financial success during economic trends. A quality
balance of business and a diverse housing mix provides for
successful fiscal outcome.
14. What will you, as a new city council member, do to ensure
that public safety services are well planned, and future needs
regarding both police and fire services will be kept up in a
proper manner?
The city of Folsom already possesses quality police and
fire services, with an approval rating by the citizens of 88%
and 89%. However, we need to continue to provide necessary
resources to allow for the two departments to grow along with
the increase in city size.
14b.
We can already see the fiasco that is currently in place with
trying to play "catch up" in the Empire Ranch area with a new
Fire Station. Wouldn't it be prudent to hire the adequate number
of police/fire/parks&rec/public works people as build out is
occurring, not 5 years after the fact????
I believe each service needs to be looked at
independently and provide the necessary staffing that the city
can afford.
15. What would you do to make the bus system in town more
viable, usable and popular?
I would reinvent public transportation by applying for
grant money and purchasing clean air busses to excite the
residents about utilizing a transportation mechanism that is
better for the quality of life within our community.
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