Candidate for
Council Member; City of Escondido

My skills and work experience are the well honed tools I will use to improve economic development through job growth, support law enforcement efforts to reduce crime, reduce budget waste, take a stronger, more aggressive approach to homelessness and develop a city and neighborhood wide beautification program.

Unemployment: Unemployment is a key factor in the city's overall health. Fewer jobs reduce city revenues resulting in slow or non-existent city progress. We cannot rely on a proposed general plan that results in high rises, costlier infrastructure and soaring population to solve our unemployment problems. We continue to face an unaccseptable unemployment rate that cannot be fully addressed by high tech or professional level employment. What we can do is to define and create a viable and sustainable tourism industry that will help us capture a larger share of San Diego's tourism revenue while providing pay levels to meet the needs of our unemployed work force.

Escondido is wonderfully situated with nearly perfect year round weather. We have excellent freeway accessibility, nearby beach access, large open spaces, several lakes, a beautiful performing arts center and ample small business space in town. We can work to develop an arts and crafts industry, the fashion industry; we can become the center of culinary education and restaurateur business in our county. We can encourage further development of our brewery and winery businesses, our agricultural industry and be the host of year round national outdoor events from cook offs to bike races, to top notch concerts and other large scale outdoor events. The opportunities to develop a highly sustainable tourism industry are vast and are only limited by our creative intelligence and the true desire to recreate Escondido into a vibrant and much sought after tourist destination.

Public Safety: Public safety trickles into all critical areas affecting quality of life. When we feel safe at home, at work and in our community only then can we address issues such as employment, education, business development and recreation.

We hear criticism about traffic checkpoints, gangs, rape, robberies and other violent crimes. Crime statistics support those concerns. Increasing the manpower of our law enforcement might help, but it's not the answer. Regardless of whom the criminal, the action speaks of our community. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix, and the need will demand a long term and dynamic solution.

Police officers are keenly aware of what motivates gangs and violent crime. We need to utilize those resources to identify and break down the negative cycles that point our young people toward crime. Residents and businesses must become more involved with law enforcement for the greater good. We can do better as a community to stay in lockstep with our more troubled and disadvantaged youth and young adults. We can take greater effort to direct them with purposed filled activities. We can ensure they work hard and maintain focus in order to achieve a strong education, academic and vocational + a reward which will benefit our community's future.

I believe a dedicated partnership of police, community and business leaders supported by city leaders can be a sound starting point to developing effective and long term programs that will positively impact the direction of our youth and young adults.

Charter City: The basics behind a Charter City are self government. With this comes the ability, at city council level, to create and approve many costly and impactful decisions. Council power will dramatically increase allowing city leaders great latitude and flexibility.

Set aside talking points on the use of local labor, money saving tactics, prevailing wages and districting. The most important concern and at the core of the Charter City question is the leadership ability of our elected leaders. Current news speaks too often of troubled and bankrupt Charter Cities facing burdensome and often times insurmountable fiscal issues. I do not believe the current Escondido city council is prepared to meet the tough demands and foresight required to successfully transition to Charter City status.

Many residents I have spoken with do not fully understand the proposition and do not feel ready to make such a decision. At some point in time, Escondido may be ready to revisit a Charter City opportunity, but at this time, I am no in favor. I believe we need more definition on purpose and goals, and residents need to be provided more opportunity to receive education on this critical issue so they truly feel empowered to make an informed voting decision.

To obtain more information about my experience and my platform issues, please visit my website: http://www.votegoodrich.com