ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

By Elizabeth "Liz" King

Economic and "green" development.

COMMUNICATIONS - It is very important that we have in depth discussion, planning with our business community and our citizens. For instance the science building put up in Dublin High has cause the surrounding homes to lose their property value because they have lost their views. The citizens have complained because they were not contacted by the city nor did they understand the ramifications of the project.

GREEN TECHNOLOGY JOBS - I will invite green technology jobs here to Dublin. I am not talking about planting green trees. We have a lot of wind and sun. Together we will work these businesses technology into our schools, so our students will be first to have a solid foundation with training to rebuild our earth to a more ecological sound environment.

BUSINESSES AND EMPLOYERS - The city of Dublin has lost a significant amount of revenues due to businesses moving out and to the economy, and some of our large employers and businesses are gone in Dublin. We must address our fees charges and policies of the city towards our businesses and make sure that the city policies and fees are not the cause of the businesses moving out. Another solution, the established businesses should have first rights to buy the property. If the businesses want to buy it together we can rezone the property to commercial condominiums. It may be necessary to establish rent control as a last resort. Many of our small businesses are being price gouged by new landlords and forcing our long-time businesses out. This must stop and immediately addressed.

Today our city needs to revitalize our business community and restore their confidence in doing business with Dublin.

The current city laws make it very difficult for businesses to start-up and exist in Dublin. We need to streamline our processes for the existing businesses and properties. Businesses need to have a price cap during upgrades required by the City. We cannot place the burden on our small businesses and taxpayers to pay for special interest projects.