Candidate for
Council Member; City of Patterson

I would like to address a few comments and concerns. The first why am I running - I see many services that the community needs that are currently not being addressed. These include a city police department, not the sheriff's department providing law enforcement. While the officers assigned to Patterson have done an excellent job, I believe that if those protecting the city are strictly assigned here they will have a better understanding of the areas that need more patrols and the citizens that live here. The other is an urgent care or emergency medical facility. A citizen that is either seriously injured or needs attention after the sun sets should not have to be transported into Turlock or Modesto. We also need more activities throughout the year for our children that are within reach of all families both financially and in distance.

My motivation is that I am a citizen of Patterson and plan to stay in Patterson for a long time. The second issue that has been brought up is that I moved from San Bruno, which is considerably different from Patterson. I can say in my defense for not being a native , my fathers family started as farmers in Hollister, I have family in the Stockton area, and my grandfather's business was a prime contractor on the Patterson Cold Storage and produce facility. So, I may not be from Patterson, but I have close roots to the area and to the Ag.industry and will fight to maintain that quality of life.

I understand that most of us enjoy the small town feeling, but that's not the direction we seem to headed. If there is any doubt to that look at the development over the past eight years in Heartland Ranch, Walker Ranch and Patterson Gardens, not to mention the distribution and industrial complexes planed for the area between Balwin and the canals. Also there is a 3100 home development planned for northeast Patterson. This will equate into an additional 10,000 to 15,000 more residents. When elected I will focus on the character of Patterson and attend to planning for the potential problems and costs this growth will bring in the sense of water, transportation, or daily necessities.

I propose to revitalize the downtown area before it does not make sense to do business there with small shops, restaurants and other entertainment venues. I also intend to work with the current developers in the Sperry/Ward junction to bring in larger stores to support the community's needs for clothing and recreation. While the area will not support a large shopping mall, it will support more than one full size grocery store and some large drug stores. This will create jobs, reduce pollution, and create revenue for the city by increasing our sales tax base.

My idea of commuter rail may be off the table for now, but I intend to see it put it back on the table. If we are going to see the growth that our current administration and the regional planning commission has charted out for us, I want options for commuting besides driving. It does not make sense to be against the facility at Crows Landing because of pollution and traffic, when the City of Patterson and Stanislaus County has made it a necessity to commute by car, and we must shop for most things in Turlock, Modesto or Tracy.

I am against West Park not just as a bad idea based on the arguments already put out by WS-PACE, but the airfield has a 6900 and 7900-foot runway in a part of the state that does not have restricted airspace. To my knowledge there is no restriction on the airstrips being brought back into service, and these two runways can handle most aircraft. The rail and truck hubs will not be used to take West Valley trade out of the region to the Port of Oakland; they will be used to move materials into a freight hub that will have no real benefit to the current residents. How else could 37,000 jobs be created there? We do not even have that many people living in the West Valley. There is one thing that being from San Bruno makes me very competent on + I have lived nearly under the flight path of a 747 and do not want to live under one again. If anyone questions the possibility of this happening, I invite them to look at the issues Riverside County has had with Ontario airport becoming the freight hub in Southern California.

As for the loss of Ag.land, this is mostly outside of the city limits and needs to be addressed to the county and state. This land is privately owned, and it is up to landowner on how to use their land. I am against the use of eminent domain, as I understand was used to acquire some of this land for housing. I hope those who lost their land this way were well compensated for it. For the Ag.land that has been incorporated into the city, the owners of this land must be allowed to decide how the land will be used. I will not vote for any acquisitions of land for private development purposes.

As a last program, I would like to expand the homebuyer's assistant program. The newer sections of town are rapidly becoming blighted with many abandoned homes. These need to be sold to responsible owners that will live and care for the homes and neighborhoods. We can not continue to have houses being bought by speculators and landlords that do not have a vested interest in the community, nor rented as subsidized housing for other counties. Additionally, the houses that have been foreclosed need to be maintained to reduce further loss in value and secured against squatters and vandals. I also propose an "Owner Occupied" ordinance on new dwellings requiring the new owner to be a resident of the City of Patterson.

I hope this puts most of my major positions and proposals on the table. If anyone has any questions or comments please contact me on my email at jrealini@yahoo.com.