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San Joaquin County, CA November 4, 2014 Election
Smart Voter

Jobs and Tourism

By Curtis J Juran

Candidate for Council Member; City of Lodi

This information is provided by the candidate
Making Lodi More Attractive to Tourists and Business
Downtown Lodi is so close to becoming the tourist destination it was envisioned to be. With the number of wine tasting rooms and restaurants, it is a desirable venue. But there are a few drawbacks. As a destination, once getting off Highway 99, you pass through Cherokee Lane lined with vacant buildings, broken and missing sidewalks, dying landscape, and a lack of guide signs to downtown. When you get to downtown Lodi, albeit pleasant, you find sidewalks that are filthy, empty flower pots, trees that constantly drop debris, and decorative lighting that is in desperate need to repair. Once again you will hear the moan of no money. With the dissolution of the Lodi Downtown Business partnership, this allows the $60,000 annually that had gone to the partnership to be used elsewhere. Lodi could use that same money and create a maintenance fund exclusively to help keep downtown cleaner and more attractive to tourists. This would come at no increase burden to the tax payers, as the money had already been earmarked for downtown.

How to attract more business? Everyone knows that all the regulations one must comply with make creating any new business difficult. Many are mandated and cannot be circumvented. But Lodi could provide help with items such as water and sewer taps as well as electrical rates. There should be some type of reward to a business that creates real jobs in Lodi. Perhaps reduced rates commensurate with the number of jobs they create and/or the increase in revenues from taxes they generate. Lodi definitely needs to have some type of advocacy program to attract and help new business.

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ca/sj Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 9, 2014 16:18
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