Questions and Answers

By Bret Heinemann

This is a summary of my answers to questions asked at the city council candidates and the chamber of commerce candidates forum.

If the key to the success of a business is location, location, and location, then the key is to show to prospective business that Atascadero is a great choice and excellent location. Fees won't be a problem if they are reasonable. Fees can be kept reasonable if the city has adequate and multiple sources of income.

Today local business includes traditional store fronts, internet stores, and home based business.

Atascadero has a reputation of being difficult, not business friendly. Whether this is true or not, what would you do help change the perception to impress that Atascadero is open and friendsly?

Perceptions get started in a variety of ways and maybe it doesn't really matter. Perceptions are best changed through attitudes. One way of creating a new, positive attitude in the entire city; one which doesn't require a lot of work; and one which doesn't cost anything financially is character education (CE).

What is CE?

It is what we do consciously and unconsciously everyday to instill values on each other especially youth.

Outside the home, CE is the responsibility of the entire community. It brings us all together to encourage a common core set of values. This translates into a ? e1community of caring, honest, responsible people. The result is a positive attitude in the community which will overcome and replace the perception of Atascadero being difficult.

What do you see as the components needed in Atascadero to establish a strong economic base?

An economic base needs to be diverse, so if one part of the base is a little weak at times the rest of the base will support the community. This diversity includes both private sector and public jobs. It includes all sizes of business from large to small and whether the business uses a traditional store front, an internet store front or is home based.

How important is a balanced budget?

A balanced budget is important because we all need to be responsible, whether we're discussing government, business or personal budgets. This is why my campaign has volunteered to accept a spending limit and be a role model and demonstrate responsibility rather than just talk about veing fiscally conservative.

One possible way of saving money and expanding services is to modify staff office hours. For example, 10 hours on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 5 hours on Friday, 5 hours on Saturday, closed on Sunday, and closed on Monday.

How will you vote on Measure D-08, "The Shield Initiative"?

I personally will vote "no" on measure D-08 "Shield Act." If you are against the proposed project then vote "yes" on D-08.

OR

How will you contribute to the Council working together to build trust with the community? Our community has been faced with divisive issues. How do you suggest the City bring the community together?

To bring the community together and continue to build public trust, I will work towards a community wide character education program. In such a program the community will need to reach a concensus by selecting a few basic core values we all share despite our differences of opinions. For example, values like honesty, integrity, perserverance, dedication, love, integrity, caring and trust.

Through this process we can project a positive image amongst ourselves, to our youth, and to the surrounding communities. A positive image and atmosphere which others will want to share, visit and be a part of in Atascadero.

My time on the city council will be spent making the best use of time, Time after all once given we can never be got back, and I'm looking forward to serving my fellow citizens in Atascadero.

Here's a list of ideas to encourage everyone to think about improving and maintaining Atascadero and opportunities for citizens.

Character education (CE) is not something that is done only at home and school. CE is the responsibility of the entire community as to how its done. We show our character everyday in everything we do, and good character can't be bought. CE doesn't require anyone to do anything extra, buy anything or hire anyone, because it's how we do everything in life. Character is the plate everything is served on. On the city Council we are also role models.

The Veterans Memorial Building if repaired could be more useful if the museum was relocated to another downtown location freeing up the lower rotunda room for events, community band, and meetings.

A clean industry in recent television commercials is wind power, which could financially help the city and property owners. This idea needs community and voter approval.

Home based businesses are a substantial part of the economy paying income, property and sales taxes, but they are nontheless operating from homes without proper zoning. The key is a way to allow them to continue profitably. In some cases annual or bi-annual conditional use permits subject to health, safety and neighbors.

Hopefully, everyone understands that a "yes" vote on the Shield act rejects the Del Rio project as proposed and a "no" vote is required to approve it.

One way of saving the city money, expanding services, and reducing energy needs is to modify city office hours. For example, hours on Tuesday-Thursday could remain the same; Friday could be half a day; Saturday hours added for half a day; and the city weekend could be Sundany and Monday.

A business opportunity for small and homebased businesses to offer services and sell goods collectively. This ides has been used by art, antique and collectible dealers, where dealers share costs and labor. Similarly, businesses too small to afford individual offices can combine such that several offices have a common reception area.

Another idea is cell phones with an external connection for connecting them to a computer, television, stereo or a piggyback device. A piggyback device would be useful if it could store, send/receive e-mail and download video and audio in a strong signal area and brought home for review. This would allow individuals the option of more efficiently using their cell phone service without having to spend extra cash on home internet, cable and satellite t.v.

Time is our most precious gift, once given we can never get it back. I'm looking forward to using my time to serve the city. Thank you for your time to read this and vote.