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San Luis Obispo County, CA November 4, 2014 Election
Smart Voter

Our Airport Is A Crown Jewel Left Unattended

By Pamela Avila

Candidate for Councilmember; City of Paso Robles

This information is provided by the candidate
The Paso airport is potentially a very valuable resource for attracting new business to our community. The City cannot continue to neglect this resource
The area around the Paso Robles airport should, even now, be a thriving business park with companies that would contribute in many ways to the strength of our local economy. With my understanding of economic development, what motivates businesses, and the value of a resource like the airport, I believe we need a clear action plan for development of this area. But before we can entice businesses to locate at the airport, the City has some serious work that must be done because the City owns that land.

There is an entire area that is not ready. There is no sewer and power is limited. The lease rates are too high - actually equal (or close) to those of the downtown area.

I believe the City must re-visit the business plan for attracting businesses to the airport. It was unanimously approved. The leasing Terms and Conditions were supposed to be audited. Nothing has happened. I would change that.

I would work with business groups to help the City make the airport area "tenant ready" and make the overall lease rates reasonable enough to attract new businesses. There are cost-effective marketing resources the City can use for reaching corporate facilities managers looking for new locations.

My experience actively working to strengthen our local economy for the benefit of all of us, leads me to be extremely concerned that a valuable resource like the airport and the land around it are being mostly ignored by City Hall.

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ca/slo Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 25, 2014 22:03
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