Candidate for
Council Member; City of Anaheim

Dear friends,

I'm a hometown guy with hometown values.

I grew up in Anaheim at a time when it was a clean, safe, family-oriented community. Business was good. Property values were high. And, as I child I felt safe and secure in local schools, parks and playgrounds in any neighborhood in town.

Gangs and sexual predators were unheard of in the city, then. And, elected officials were people you looked up to, not people making headlines for things like tax evasion!

My family moved from Anaheim to Irvine when gangs and sexual predators began to proliferate here. Did you know that there are several violent gangs and close to 300 registered sex offenders living in Anaheim?

My folks wanted to make sure that my sisters and I would be safe from such things in our formative years. So, I went to high school in Irvine, where I became involved in volunteer work with Interact, a youth arm of Rotary International.

I stayed involved during college, while earning a degree from UCSD. Then, after getting my business established, I returned to Anaheim, purchasing a home in the city I grew up in.

Today I am the President/CEO of the fourth largest taxi service in Orange County, (in a field of 23). I did this in just three short years. Imagine what we can do together in the next four.

As a transportation executive, I have the knowledge and experience necessary to represent you on the Anaheim City Council.

I have been successful in business because I have an open-door policy. Everyone involved in my operation (and there are about 70 so far), can come in to talk with me at any time + and all of them have my cell phone number so they can reach me day or night.

I intend to make that my policy as your Anaheim City Councilman, too.

Why am I running for City Council? Frankly, I am disturbed that violent gangs and drug kingpins have taken control of many parks and neighborhoods here. Their members steal our cars, tag our homes and businesses, drive our property values down and put our children in harm's way.

I began working as a volunteer in Anaheim in order to bring positive change to the city that I love. I want to restore it to the kind of community I knew as a kid.

I've been an instructor at the Anaheim YMCA, a Canyon Hills soccer coach and a volunteer in service to the Anaheim Police Department. I'm also a member of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce and, I am the 2008-09 President of my Anaheim Rotary Club.

I've realized over the years, however, that even these grass-roots efforts are not enough to save Anaheim. Criminals in our community are stretching our police force so thin that officers must work mandatory overtime just to maintain the status quo.

Why? Because our City Council says we can't afford more cops. But, are they curtailing their own expenses? Are they really concerned about the community or are they just using their seats on the City Council as steppingstones to higher office?

I'm sick of the political cronyism, nefarious business deals, the City Council's abuse of power and disregard for YOUR rights. I'm tired of seeing well-meaning citizens shouted down by Council members who refuse to listen to their legitimate complaints at council meetings.

It is simply unacceptable that a former councilman -- convicted of evading Federal income taxes while in office + is serving as the campaign chairman for a Council member who is seeking re-election!

Anaheim ranks 56th among American cities of more than 100,000 residents. Why then, has the per-capita income here dropped more significantly than any of the others?

Could it be because we have put too much emphasis on the Resort Area while letting strong, stable employers like Boeing leave our city?

Hotels, restaurants and amusement parks are great. But entertainment and travel are two of the first things that families trim from their budgets when times get tough.

In this difficult economy we need prudent, fiscal management and thoughtful planning.

Projects like the Platinum Triangle, were supposed to bring prosperity to Anaheim. Instead, these high-rise, high-density developments downtown have become a blight on the city. It appears that we have built tomorrow's slums, in Anaheim today.

And personally, I'm not willing to wait and see what the current council has in mind for the hundreds of vacant lofts and condos their developer/contributors have built on some of the city's prime property.

I'm not a former Assemblyman, or failed State Senate candidate desperately clinging to political power. I'm just a hardworking, successful, young guy, who wants nothing more than to wrest Anaheim from the powerbrokers' grasp and return it to citizens who remember, as I do, when it was a model community.

To do that, I need your help and I will appreciate your vote, Nov. 4.

Sincerely yours,

Kostas "Gus" Roditis

Your first choice for Anaheim City Council

The second name on the Nov. 4 Council ballot.