Candidate's Statement

By Bruce R Frohman

Guiding Principles Of Local Government Operation: the direction I intend to lead Modesto. Also, some how-to statements.

Stabilization of fees and taxes is important for the local economy. Over the past 8 years, fees levied by the city for water, sewer, and garbage have risen by over 80 percent. This has discouraged economic development, interfered with job growth, and imposed a financial burden on citizens. (One may surmise that Modesto, with rapidly increasing fees has scared off many potential businesses looking to relocate: what business wants to move to an environment with rapidly escalating costs?) Regardless of whether the present water and sewer overcharge is legal, doing so is wrong. I will make the fees collected reflect the actual cost of providing service. I will also do everything possible to hold down the cost of providing service. Taxes and fees will be used to provide the services for which they are collected.

As a council member, I will direct the City Manager to establish baseline service delivery standards for each department of city government and PUBLISH the standards. The purpose of the standards is so citizens know the level of service to expect. The public should know police and fire response times, how often streets are cleaned, how long it takes to repair potholes or to remove abandoned vehicles, and even how long to wait in line to pay utility bills. Once we have standards, we have a mechanism to determine when service delivery is inadequate. Goals for each department shall be established to IMPROVE service delivery, with cash incentives for employees to meet and exceed the goals.

As a council member, I will guide Modesto to establish finite urban limit lines. We recognize agriculture as an important part of the local economy. We would be unwise to continue replacing food farms with house farms until we have no land remaining to produce food. We will secure our food supply. We have the ability to PLAN NOW and then make certain the plan is carried out. An incumbent has said at public meeting that he intends to see the entire valley developed into one big urban area. We shall enlighten or replace such short sighted individuals. I will promote appropriate land use, where every segment of our community will make the highest and best use of our land.

While serving on the Stanislaus Area Association Of Governments Citizens' Advisory Committee (1994-1999), I advocated maintenance of roads and improvement of transportation service delivery. I proposed a viable alternative to using nearly empty 40 passenger buses on residential streets: 12 passenger vans operated by private entrepreneurs. I advocated construction of railroad overpasses, bicycle lanes, and safety enhancements. I objected to the construction of superhighways that encourage Bay Area employees to live here and commute long distances. Citizens should be able to live here and work here.

In 1997-98, I served on Modesto's Capital Facilities Fee Committee. We recommended what fees to charge residential developers for subdivision rights--to make new growth pay for itself. After the committee made its recommendations to the City Council, the Council slashed the budget for road improvements by $100 Million! Within a month of the decision, the Council then asked SAAG to put a county-wide initiative on the ballot to raise your sales tax one-half percent to pay for future road construction! On top of that, the Council also let it be known that 4000 lots were allowed to be vested at the old, much lower capital facilities fees rate, guaranteeing that the rest of the community will be subsidizing residential construction for a long time to come. As a member of the Committee, some of my suggestions were overlooked: revamp the fee structure to favor in-fill projects and penalize farm land predators, build denser projects, and encourage construction of smaller homes that local residents can afford.

As a resident of the west side, I believe we need district representation. Where I live, the major arterial streets are in disrepair. We have less park acreage per capita. Every citizen deserves quality city services, regardless of where one lives within our community.

Thank you for taking the time to read my statement. I hope you will go on to the next page, where I describe some possible ways to enhance the quality of life in our community. I hope you find that I am worthy of service.