VARIOUS ISSUES

By Karmen Brower

STANDS ON GROWTH, BUSINESS, TRAFFIC are important to our city, and to our citizens who must decide for whom to vote. My stands on these important issues follow.

Protecting the environment, maintaining and acquiring open space can't be done without money. We have to allow business to expand and contract within reasonable limits. If we are unfair or unwilling to work with business, we will pay the price of not being able to attract the types of businesses we want.

We need various points of view on the Council. We must govern from the center, not as the one many, but as the many one. Balance is what is needed, and what I would bring to the Council. I am able to see both sides of issues, and bring the various points of view to the middle. Most importantly, I can bring fairness to a Council that has drifted too far toward inflexibility and disregard of the rights of individuals. The old adage of "absolute power corrupts absolutely" seems to apply.

Traffic is probably our most major ongoing problem. We are going to have to create a transit system, find other ways to reduce the numbers of cars that, of necessity, traverse the city over and over. We are simply going to have to get out of our cars, but obviously can't until we have some other way to get around, and that means a transit system.

The City and the School Board have to accept the fact that we must all plan and pull together because so many of our traffic problems stem from bad planning around the schools. The time to solve school traffic and safety problems is before schools are built, not after. We will build several schools in the next few years, so the lack of communication between the two jurisdictions must cease.