Welcome To The District Six Website

Below are the basic values that guide me as a City Council Member. These will be the guiding principals that my staff and I will follow as we work hard to serve you and work to improve the City of Fresno.

VALUES

1. Freedom Works

2. There is no such thing as government money. Every cent belongs to the taxpayer.

3. Increases in City Government revenue should not come from increasing taxes but from economic growth.

4. The City’s employees know their job better than I do and it is the employees of the City that will become the catalyst and energy for improving what we do.

5. If a City service can be delivered more effectively by the private sector, then it should.

6. All citizens, regardless of their point of view, will be listened to and treated with respect.

7. Making Fresno City government bigger and more intrusive will not solve the problems of Fresno.

8. Private enterprise, not government, is the source of economic and social development.

9. All citizens deserve the freedom for economic opportunity.

10. It is my job to get things done.

SECOND TERM OBJECTIVES

During the four year period of my second and final term as a Fresno City Councilmember, the following are the primary objectives that I will be focusing on. I'll be working hard to get these accomplished and while they will not be the only things I'm working on, they will be my primary focus.

1. Continue to support common sense, managed growth for District 6 and the City of Fresno: I have been a strong supporter and advocate for our City's 2025 General Plan. It calls for directing growth inward and is environmentally sound. So far I have a 100% voting record in support of this master plan for our communities growth and I intend to keep it that way.

2. Look to review, strengthen and improve our City Charter: The City Charter, which is the document that establishes the way in which your City Government operates is in need of a review. It's been over 10 years the current version was adopted. Two changes to our City Charter that I will be working to implement are to first to expand the veto power of the Mayor to include land use changes, which will strengthen our general Plan and then to eliminate the Charter provision to add two additional Councilmembers when our City population hits 540,000. We do not need more bureaucracy to improve our service to you.

3. Develop revenue sources to ensure your transportation, neighborhood streets, sidewalks and other infrastructure maintenance needs are met: We have a crisis in District six and throughout the City. Our neighborhood infrastructure is crumbling and with the expiration of the Measure C sales tax in December of 2006, 100% of the funding for maintaining your neighborhoods goes away as well. I'll be working hard to present to the citizens of the City and County a common sense measure that will provide for the critical needs to protect your investment and insure the basic transportation needs of our citizens are met.

4. Continue the effort to rebuild our Fire Department: While some progress has been made, our Fire Department is still woefully under-funded and dangerously understaffed. In District Six I am proud to say that we have made great progress in improving our fire protection but Citywide there is still a very serious problem. I will continue to fight hard to get the Fire Department the funding they need without a lot of unnecessary additional taxes.

5. Continue the revitalization of Downtown Fresno and complete Vision 2010: As one of the architects of the revitalization of Downtown Fresno with Vision 2010, we are well underway in completing our master plan for rebuilding downtown. There is currently historic amounts of private investment in Downtown Fresno and there is more to come.

6. Continue the reinventing of our City Government: It is time for our City Government to be sure it is responsible to you, the taxpayer. I have been working hard to bring the standards of excellence to our City Government that is so taken for granted by the private sector. I am working closely with the Mayors office to introduce these concepts. One of the innovative ideas (for City Government anyway) is a central call center that has one easy to remember phone number where you can talk to someone who is not only trained to answer your question, but is also empowered to get you the answer you require. There are many other changes that I will work hard to get implemented which include common sense review of outsourcing services to save money and reducing and reorganizing the mire of City Boards and Commissions that does nothing but cost you precious tax dollars.

Not paid for at taxpayer expense