Candidate Views
My Vision Economic Development / Tax Base Public Safety Traffic / Infrastructure Beautification
MY SUSTAINABLE VISION FOR MURRIETA
My vision for Murrieta is to create an economically sound, safe, beautiful City. It is a reachable vision and one which will help Murrieta become a vibrant and attractive community where families can live, work, shop and play.
It’s a community that provides many employment options for people—from entry level to executive level positions…a community that is business friendly, with a philosophy that attracts entrepreneurs to corporations, small to large employers, a wide variety of business and commercial enterprise.
It’s a place that has restaurants and shopping venues for every taste and budget---from discount stores to high-end retailers; from family-style restaurants to five-star gourmet cuisine.
It’s a community of parks and open spaces that welcomes every child and adult to enjoy the beauty of the great outdoors.
It’s a City that provides options—from historical settings to cultural activities; from pedestrian friendly paths to horse trails; from sports programs to sporting events. A place to live and enjoy life.
A PLATFORM FOR THE FUTURE
Embracing the issues we face today will lead us to create solutions for tomorrow. With this in mind, I have established the following platform of ideas to create a community that will provide our residents the finest quality of life in the region.
Economic Development/Tax Base – Establishment, on-going development and maintenance of a strong tax base is the most important responsibility of the City Council and staff. Everything we want for our community costs money, so it is imperative we have a strong tax base. We must encourage our city staff to create and implement a focused economic development plan to bring a variety of businesses to the community. As gas prices continue to rise, we need to focus our efforts on regional and national companies and bring them to Murrieta. A large portion of Murrieta commutes to Orange and San Diego Counties, north to Riverside and even Los Angeles. Our City Council needs to seek out companies whose work forces reside in the Inland Empire and bring their businesses to Murrieta. As a member of the City Council, I will make it my top priority to ensure that the Council plays an integral role in ensuring our city staff is reaching out to business to create a sustainable economic base.
Public Safety -- Police – It is my goal to ensure our City remains a safe place to live and work, to ensure our officers are provided the necessary resources to do their jobs and maintain the highest level of protection for our residents. Fire – It is my goal to provide the proper level of resources to our fire department to ensure they are able to reach our residents with acceptable response times in a community that is 35 square miles and with over 100,000 residents. Safe Routes to School – Our children should not be walking on streets or through fields to school. I will focus on providing safe walking routes to school for every single child.
Traffic / Infrastructure – Our community’s infrastructure is a top priority for the City Council and staff. As a planning commissioner, I have insisted on creating policies that represent and provide for the people living in our City. I will continue to oppose policies and processes that do not represent our residents. It is my goal to ensure that our infrastructure goals are met and that the resources are available to accomplish these goals in a timely manner. I do not support the policy that allows “build first” and will work to ensure this philosophy ends. I believe in infrastructure first and building second. My focus is to service our current residents as first priority and prepare the community for future growth instead of reacting to it after the fact. Beautification – Over the years, the initial vision of a beautiful Murrieta has somehow been lost. I intend to re-focus our energy on creating a community that our residents are proud of, a community that uses sustainable landscaping practices and plans for tree-lined and landscaped streets, parks and open spaces. We can no longer accept the excuse that “this is the best we can do”. Rather, we will work on new, creative solutions, and then implement those solutions, to make our City the beautiful place it can be.