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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?
ALL of theses meetings are posted on the City web site; posted
in the newspaper, and posted on the bulletin board at city hall.
If someone has a better suggestion, we are always open for
improvement.
2. What are your opinions related to urban growth boundaries
and what do you see as the future development of Folsom?
The future of Folsom is south of highway 50. SACOG has
identified that area as the #1 area to be developed once the
infill of the east region is complete. It is not agriculture
land, wetland preserve or ranch land. It is the type of property
SACOG has pursued in the region to make sure the region does not
take ag., wetlands, or ranch land from our natural resources.
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?
Staff and the Arts and Cultural Commission are in the process
of completing the Arts and Cultural Master Plan. I am hopeful
the end product will give us the true facts of the
how/what/when/where and why to grow and sustain the programs
that are needed in this community. From there, the community,
the elected's and staff can all get on the same page.
4. Why do you, the city council, generally ignore the
residential blight in the historic district and nearby
neighborhoods?
The question is somewhat tainted to ones opinion. The council
has been working for years to keep the historic district
vibrant. Recently we just approved the contract to redevelop the
commercial historic district in the area
around the turntable. Previously, and currently ongoing, the
redevelopment
agency has assisted folks in repairing and refurbishing their
residential property, as well as some of the commercial
properties in the area.
The city however CANNOT force someone to clean up their
property, such
as: paint, yard work, general repairs, unless it becomes a
safety issue. If that occurs, the code enforcement department
works with the homeowner to bring the property up to living
standards. Again, however, we cannot force anyone in the city to
"doll their home out" like most of us wish some of our neighbors
would do.
4b. Why are owners of apartment buildings on Montrose, Talisman,
and Alezane permitted to let their properties fall into utter
disrepair?
See the answer above for the same response. As an additional
note, however, those buildings are not in utter disrepair. The
conditions of those
buildings were the target of code enforcement a couple of years
ago.. They
have been cleaned up, and have reduced crime and increased the
attendance of the children who live in there from years past.
4c. Why is the garbage can ordinance not being enforced? See said
apartments for daily examples.
In order for code enforcement to act, the community needs to
let them know where the violators are. The code enforcement
folks can't be everywhere, so the community needs to help
communicate to the city the offenders. From there, the
appropriate department will deal with getting the corrective
action.
See said apartments for daily examples.
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)
First, nobody can force a business to stay. They will always
pursue the optimum return on their investment, and that is
chasing the population centers. However, we have been working
hard to back fill the vacancies referred to above. Part of our
plan actually has these area becoming more mixed use type
centers. If agreed upon by the owners, this will help shield
these centers from large devastating losses if the main anchor
leaves.
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.
Our current system I believe is the best, short of direct
election of the Mayor by the people at the ballot box. First of
all, the council members are elected by the people to do the
people's business. Having the council elect the mayor/vice mayor
is the best system available, for it requires members to learn
to build consensus, decorum, and collegiality. An automatic
rotation, or highest vote getter, in my opinion, does not
accomplish the above. At this point, I would keep the system the
way it is, or change the charter to have the
Mayor directly elected by the people.
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?
Look at the November ballot for the answer for the school
district part of this question. It lays in place the financing
plan for the property owners to
follow for the facilities the district believes to be needed on
that area.
Measure W, guaranteed by the charter, sets aside at least 30% of
natural open space. The community, through workshops, and
hearing, (at many levels), will help us plan for the rest.
Knowing what we know now, and the effects of what we learned
when things were missed in the past general plan, I agree that
we put into place the parks, library, schools, etc. BEFORE any
rezones or development agreements. I do not want to see this
city make the same mistake that was made in 1988.
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?
Mixed use is the best answer to this. All types of product
needs to be generated to help assist all of the income
categories. Of great challenge, is to provide the low income
housing. Every time a project is proposed, it is met with
opposition from the neighbors most closest to it. On that end,
we will continue to educate folks on what low-income housing
means. Additionally, I believe the process of how the government
can assist in building these properties, or acquiring these
properties needs to be review and changed: e.g. Prevailing wage,
Defect liability, etc. Once overhauled, more product for all
income categories will thrive.
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?
I have been working with El Dorado and Placer Counties to
assist in the operational funding for the Folsom line.
Statistics show that over 50 % of the folks on light rail in our
area are from those two counties. There contribution
would allow these trains to run 7 days a week until 11:00 PM if
they participated at the levels we have been requesting. Short
of that, the city is currently working on a plan that we can
fund this extension until 11:00 PM Thursday through Sunday.
Therefore the turnaround would not be necessary.
10. Is there a plan to time the street lights to the train
crossings?
The trains are on a fixed schedule. Our traffic lights are
programmed
to be the most efficient during commute/ non-commute times.
Therefore,
I do not think any changes are needed in our signalization
timing.
11. What are your goals for revitalizing the Historic District?
See the comment about the new development we just approved
Tuesday the 10 of this month. Additionally, staff is finalizing,
with all of the stakeholders in the district, the final Master
Plan for the Main St. program AND the overall revitalization
plan.
11b. 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?
As a founding member and current director of Fed Corp., we
are pleased that our organization continues to be successful in
the retention and expansion of our current businesses, and the
recruitment of new ones. Our council role is to
actively engage our current businesses as often as possible to
learn what the challenges and opportunities they have and how we
might assist them to expand. By listening to what they have to
say, this also enables us to learn how to attract others.
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
A city council member, or anyone else for that matter, cannot
stop someone from driving they way they want to. If they chose
to take a certain route, they will. We got criticized for
changing street patterns already that were subject to excessive
traffic but needed that change. Upon trying others, some
residents like it, some did not. There is no one smoking gun
answer out there. For speeding, we have used targeted
enforcement with great results. However, after a few weeks those
areas start to creep back up. The police department will tell
you that over 80%, (some say higher than that), of all the
speeding
tickets are residents within 1 mile of their home. That is why I
have said for years, the residents need to help the police put
the pressure on their own neighbors to slow down. I will support
additional calming actions, as identified in the report, and
also look forward to the new bridge opening.
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?
Managing our services until the new growth starts to occur.
Fortunately, we have a 5, 10 and 20 year plan in place, (updated
regularly), so I am confident we know what/ and how to
accomplish that task. AS the new residents move in south of 50,
that additional property and sales tax revenue will allow the
city to continue to provide even more services and programs.
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?
Sticking to the FACT based Master Plans for the fire and
police departments are vital. One cannot make emotionally based
financial decisions. This
causes more harm to the public than good. In any good business,
cities
included, a sound business plan covering a minimum of 5 years
needs to
be in place at all times. See the answer above for what we have
in place. To the question below, see this answer.
14a. 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????
Same answer as the one above.
15. What would you do to make the bus system in town more
viable, usable and popular?
Our current bus system is very convenient, yet we cannot seem
to attract riders. This system is well planned on routing, as
well as timing, and allows residents to go all over Folsom with
the greatest of ease. We have heavily publicized this system in
our newsletter and during council meetings. However, like most
municipalities, bus systems are just not popular enough with
most people to get them our of their cars. |
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