Q and A: Avalon's most pressing issues

By Jessica M. Mitchell

Jessica Mitchell adresses her top 3 issues that will be before the City Council in the months/years to come.

1. Water and Gas Utility management

At this time SCE is bound to continue the operation of our utilities until another option is found. The utility business is intertwined with state laws and a lot of red tape, the task of managing a utility needs to be handled by professionals. Although about 20% of all water utilities in California operate under investor owned utilities regulated by the CUPC and 80% are run by some public entity like a water district that is usually a non-profit municipal benefit corporation, we are NOT a typical location or community. We cannot simply buy cheaper water from some other source to solve our problems.

I do not think it is wise for any community stakeholders to gain more power over this town especially when it comes to our natural resources. Avalon should seek out and work with a company that can competently manage our water and gas utilities with the stipulation that an audit of the current allocation and rate systems is completed. The audit and hopeful restructuring would allow us to better plan for drought years and ensure rates are being accurately calculated when passed on to the consumer.

I believe if we have an outside company purchase the utility we could be spared future rate increases for at least a few years as their revenue from operations in other locations could subsidize any adjustments our system may require. How will the Island consortium pay for the improvements to the system that they claim is in disrepair and not worth the SCE asking price? How can they promise we will not have those costs passed on to us the rate payers? Maybe the island stakeholders should focus on the embarrassing issue of our polluted bay water and offer support and funds to finding a solution to that water quality issue before they try to take on the utility company business.

2. Affordable Housing

The lack of affordable housing has both driven away some quality workforce personnel who could not afford to live and work in our community, and decreased the quality of life of the remaining population willing to live in overcrowded or substandard rental properties. This in turn has had a detrimental effect on our visitors. I have been told by residents who lived here 20 or 30 years ago, that as our community changed from just a summer to a year round destination the demographics of our workforce also changed. We now have many individuals working 2 or 3 jobs to survive, and as their stress and exhaustion builds the result is often poor guest service.

There is no easy answer but the first step is to alleviate some of the burden by creating affordable rental housing. The second is a community issue: are we willing to take responsibility for lack of reliable excellent guest service and work towards bettering it?

In terms of making housing affordable I would like to focus on the City's plan for a down payment assistance program. The discussion at the Council Meeting of March 2, 2010 included the maximum amount the City would be willing to contribute to any one buyer, what amount the buyer should provide themselves, and a method for the City to recoup the loan. I was not enthused with the idea of offering money in exchange for an equity share in the buyer's home for many reasons. 1) If the goal is to help as many families as possible, once the small housing fund is depleted the end of the program is eminent. 2) An equity share is too open-ended of a term for money we are essentially giving away. 3) The gamble of waiting for the housing market to recover and betting on the uncertain future of home prices is a risky way to recover these funds.

I think the program needs to be looked for what it actually is, a loan. We could offer the funds at an extremely low interest rate i.e. 1% and defer the repayment for several years. This would allow the City to calculate the return on investment and promote the perpetuation of the program. With funds certain to return on a known schedule more families would benefit sooner than later.

The other thing I found troubling was the Council's hasty decision to sell the property on Metropole in order to increase the Housing Trust fund. We do not even know how many individuals will qualify for this new program or if any have saved money for us to match. That property is perfect for either senior or low-moderate rental housing as it offers walking access to all the key locations in town so as not to require a golf cart and add to our traffic woes. I think we need much more consideration on both of these topics before properties are sold and money is handed out.

3. Decreasing Visitor Counts

Our latest annual report from the Chamber of Commerce shows the consistent 5 year decrease in visitor counts, with 2009 being the highest recorded drop since 2001, but the cumulative decrease in the last 9 years is over 40%. There should be consistency and reliability that our visitors can depend upon to ensure we earn their recommendations and a return visit. This issue is a community wide problem; many of the workforce residents have a mediocre quality of life and feel unappreciated, overworked and underpaid which leads to uncaring employees offering poor quality customer service.

Affordable housing would alleviate the pressure of having to work multiple jobs and reduce the stress on the workforce. Businesses that treat their employees like family always do better than those who treat them like disposable assets. Offering affordable activities for residents on their day(s) off is vital to their appreciation of the Island, which will pass on to the guests via conversations of how many wonderful things there are to do in Avalon.

We have to break the cycle of negativity through housing programs, employers that train and properly manage their staff, and by creating new Island attractions that can be utilized on a daily basis. If everyone who works in Avalon loves their life because they have affordable housing, employers that value them, and activities they can enjoy on their time off, then they will be enthusiastic when interacting with our visitors and customer satisfaction and visitor counts will increase!