Candidate for
Mayor; City of California City

We have lived in California City going on five years now. I have watched as our city just seemed to get worse. If we want to have quality people and quality business come into California City, we are going to have to give them a clean city to move into. We now have and have had codes on our books which would allow us to clean up our city. It is time to put these codes into effect. City council members have told me and I will quote "We do not want to step on anyones toes." Well, if someone is not conforming to codes and breaking the law, we are going to have to step on their toes. The majority of our citizens love our city and do their best to keep it looking nice. The many should not have to suffer because of the few. I have watched our city get worse instead of better. We must take more action than having the citizens volunteer their time to clean the city. We must make the property owners responsible for their property. I have talked with our city mananger and council members about enforcing codes. We have a large map of California City. I say, grid out sections on the map, make anouncements at city council meetings and in the newspaper stating there will be a city wide enforcement of codes. If the property owner is not sure of what needs clean they can call city hall. Give the owners a limited amount of time to conform to code. If they have not cleaned their property by the allotted time, the city will clean it and charge them. The first year will be the hardest. Believe me, the second year, the owners will clean up their porperty. This will apply to all property. Commercial, residential and empty lots.

Tourism, this type of revenue has been virtually ignored by California City. I did research on how many people would use our area (Hwy 14 to Hwy 58, Neuralia and Hwy 385) and what each tourist will spend on camping alone. Please remember, this is camping only. Over $2,660,000.00 per year. This is staggering. We have two areas in California City dedicated to park area. I believe if we take one of the park areas and turn it into an RV/Camping area we will get the campers. This can be done with very little money from the city. There are grants both federal and state, which will help in putting in infastructor, landscaping and even up to manning the campground. Of course, there is going to be areas wihich will need ironing out but they are small areas. California City backs up to the larges off road area in the state of California, not the county but the state. This area has been ranked among the five highest off road areas in the nation. We have 28 mines in the area, four of which are working, there are canyons with pertrogliphics, opal mines, Red Rock Canyon and a lake and skiing alll within an hour of our city. Not only will this bring in camping money to the city but the people camping will be spending their money at the grocery stores, gas stations, local retail stores not to mention looking at land to purchase. This move will benefit many many people in our city. This will also help in getting a grocery store in our city. Large stores take into consideration the amount of money tourism brings into the area.

Parks and recreation, where do we start? This year we have had several different projects started by a new parks manager. Our Heritage Days was a general disaster. It was the worse I have seen in five years. Our children still do not have a place to skateboard or rollerblade. In the past year we have applied for only one grant for our parks that I know of. There are thousands and thousands of state, federal and county grants for parks and recreation out there. We do not have to wait until we have a certain idea then apply for a grant. Let us apply for all the grants we can, believe me, we will find a way to spend the money. Our parks need new equipment. General clean up and maintenance. I would like to see lights added to some of our parks so we can have night games. As stated above, our parks will be a major asset for our tourism. I went to City Hall and got an amount of land owned by the city, here are the results. Land- 330 pieces, RDA land-26 pieces, houses-2 and the land at the airport. I do not see why we can not take one of the pieces of land and turn it into a place where our children can skateboard and rollerblade. I am more than possitive we can get local contractors and stores to help contruct this area. We do have options for our parks.