Candidate for
Mayor; City of Atascadero

Three things I will continue to do if re-elected as Mayor:

1. Continue building community consensus & open dialogue about our City; who we are, how others see us and what is the lifestyle we want. We have begun a re-visioning process regarding our community and how we want to appear, including design and signage and how we want to market and communicate that vision outside of our community.

2. Continue building infrastructure that supports Economic Development. Two examples: (A) Develop our lake park zoo and veteran's memorial as Atascadero's regional gathering place and event center. (B) Support continued development at Del Rio and El Camino Real. The Del Rio area is the best area for major economic development that can recapture our lost sales tax revenue. It is also a step towards achieving Atascadero's Climate Action Plan by reducing Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), considered to be a major contributor to pollution. This also makes us very competitive for state and federal funds that have supported every other overpass in our County. We will continue to have more public process than any other City regarding the Del Rio development and we will make a decision based on Cost Benefit Analysis, after all of the facts are reviewed. I have been involved in every major project in our City over the last twelve years. Every one of them started with concerns and ended with celebration. Look at the Sunken Gardens, Lewis Avenue Bridge, the 41/101 overpass, the transit center near Galaxy Theatre and our Historic City Hall.

3. Restore our historic downtown Colony District. Investors and business owners want to be involved in the decision making process. We can incentivize higher value businesses, such as retail and lodging, by helping with design, public infrastructure such as parking and transportation and marketing. We have engaged consultants specializing in commercial property development and will be considering options including a new concept successful in other areas: an open market layout where existing buildings such as the old City Hall can be used by multiple small artisan businesses with minimum overhead.

It is exciting to see even newcomers captivated by the EG Lewis vision of our historic downtown. When I was first elected to City Council, we had many buildings in disrepair, such as the abandoned gas station with broken windows facing our current 41/101 entrance to our town. Our historic fountain in the Sunken Gardens did not work. There was no electricity there for events. A major earthquake had damaged our City Hall. My first controversial project was restoring Sunken Gardens. Now fountains flow and walkways are ADA accessible and stroller friendly. The World's Fair Maidens statue is restored and there is electric power throughout the park and downtown for special events. I helped secure funding for our down town street scape, Lewis Avenue Bridge, 41/101 overpass, and regional transit center, all part of our downtown master plan which was updated when I was first elected. I fought the lawsuit that tried to prevent our Galaxy Center. We have recreated our Historic City Hall. We have completed the City's portion of our downtown master plan and are now poised to support our private sector to do the rest, much as we did with the Rite Aid /Vons's shopping center, where the abandoned gas station sat when I was first elected. We gathered property owners together, helped redesign driveways and parking, helped with architectural detail to fit our downtown and added way finding signage. The private sector did the rest. I will pursue our proven plan for success.

We have a master plan community where major retail can be accommodated. We have prioritized staff time towards projects that generate the most future income. We have streamlined our permit process and added a Design Review Committee to decrease processing time. As developers say, "time is money." We have successfully prioritized construction of infrastructure that aids business development and we have invested staff time in assisting smaller business owners create design improvements and site layouts to accommodate parking and traffic circulation. We have created an inclusive community plan for processing major projects.