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LWV League of Women Voters of California
Sacramento County, CA November 5, 2002 Election
Smart Voter Political Philosophy for Christopher M. "Chris" Lopez

Candidate for
Council Member; Proposed City of Rancho Cordova

This information is provided by the candidate

Priorities:

We have to make Rancho Cordova a safe city without increasing taxes. Some ways to increase our safety are street lighting, more officers, and possibly a trained volunteer auxiliary police force. The auxiliary police force would work in teams driving on our streets during weekend evenings to report any crimes or suspicious activity to the sheriffs department. This uniformed auxiliary police force could be used at events, or for traffic detail during parades. This would be a security/neighborhood watch on wheels. High crime areas could also have an emergency call box for people to use if they need immediate assistance.

The growth of our city has to be controlled through careful planning. There has to be a balance of residential and business areas. The business should also include an area devoted to small shops and restaurants. The section should be similar to the historic section of Folsom, but with its own unique identity, possibly reflecting Rancho Cordova history. We also need to set aside land for open space and parks.

We must ensure there is clean water for our current needs and future growth. This could be done through conservation and careful management. Some examples would be: New homes have gardens designed for low rainfall or desert areas. Water meters. Suggest a roll back of the flat rates, and bill for water actually used. People who conserve are rewarded for their effort, and those that use excessive amounts of water, will pay for their usage. Using reclaimed water for watering on construction sites, park lawns, golf courses and highways.

Other needs are:

We need to have facilities within the city of Rancho Cordova for our youth and families. Some of the facilities include Cultural, Educational, Entertainment, Sports and a Youth Center. Some of the facilities could be of interest to visitors to our new city.

We need a major health care facility in our city that we can go to in case of any emergency 24/7.

We need to encourage community involvement in our city and our schools.

We need to help our smaller "mom and pop" businesses and restaurants by promoting to people to shop in Rancho Cordova.

We can help our larger corporations by assisting them in the elimination of "red tape" and long decision making processes.

Incentives could be worked out for companies that create jobs or relocate to our city. Any incentives would not be at the expense of our residents.

A portion of real estate or home sale should be set aside for Culture and Art. An example is that $10 for every $100,000 a house sells for, goes to culture and art for the city. This is a one time fee for the new owner of the house. A house sells $100,000 or less it is $10. A house sold is $100,000 to $200,000 the fee is $20, and so on. To show the impact this would have, 5,000 homes selling between $100,000 and $200,000 would generate $100,000 for the culture and arts. It is not a tax. Money would be used only for culture or art.

The need to promote the name of Rancho Cordova as a place where businesses would want to relocate and people would want to live.

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 29, 2002 18:45
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