There are many things happening and many concerns that people are expressing. Many of them are totally beyond the control of our City Council. Some things I can still address through my additional positions and responsibilities in our regional government, Regional Transit Authority or LOSSAN, the management agency of the Pacific Surfliner passenger rail corridor from San Diego to San Luis Obsipo. I also try to influence some decisions at the State and Federal levels of government.
At the moment all of my activity is within the city and the region.
The region is working hard to provide the means by which we can continue to improve our entire transportation network and infrastructure. That effort is pouring money into every jurisdiction in the region including Paso Robles. As the region’s President I’ve approved and signed the documents to deliver millions of dollars to the Paso Robles area including significant projects within our city limits. I’m also in process of completing the 20-year-long Highway 46 East divided highway safety project. My close acquaintance with the leadership of the California Transportation Commission and Cal-Trans administration have been extremely helpful in acquiring over $1 billion in grants to do this work. None of those grants have cost our local taxpayers any money over and above what they were already paying to the State and Federal governments in their normal taxes. What it did was bring a great deal of the tax money you’d already paid back to our area to benefit us.
On the transit front for the region, where I’m also the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, we’ve finally acquired the funds I’ve been fighting for in Washington D.C. to build our new regional headquarters and maintenance facility which should be completed by February 10, 2022. Our current lease on a site that is less than half the size is costing us $7,000 a year more than the loan payments to build the new facility. I signed three of those related documents just minutes ago. Everything is on track for when our current lease expires in February of 2022.
In the City we’re working diligently to reduce costs so that we can stay solvent and still deliver essential services to our citizens. We already have a system in place that lets those who live outside of the city have the opportunity to share our costs whenever they’re making purchases or staying here. They already pick up about 10% of our General Fund costs. Their absence is hurting our ability to give you the best services possible.
We are trying to deliver more and better housing in a responsible manner and in accordance with the law which gives all of us certain rights, including property rights. Some of the decisions in that area of planning and building are very misunderstood and make people angry when the land is being used in a way they don’t personally like. Unfortunately, it isn’t their land and the owner of the land has the same rights they do. As a Council Member it is my job to see that they get to use their rights without abusing them. Sometimes that is a very difficult and tricky part of the job. However, I will continue to do everything I legally can to protect our city and our neighborhoods.
A discussion should take place very soon as to what the best places to cut costs are. Some of our non-essential service areas produce more money than they cost and we have to consider that also. For our essential services we are not allowed to charge more than actual costs. However, those costs have escalated over the years just like everyone’s. In our case, regarding water, we had to upgrade our more than 50-year-old treatment plant to end the millions of dollars of fines the State was beginning to charge us for an inadequate system. The costs and repayment were calculated based upon historic use. After those rates were in place the State stepped in and forced us to reduce the amount we were able to sell by demanding water rationing and escalating the costs to our customers. We are still doing everything we can to keep those charges under control as much as possible.
Many people are very concerned about the way we treat each other. It’s easy to blame government because we never want to blame ourselves. However, the real answers are within ourselves. As government we must continue to provide for the health and safety of all people within our allowed sphere of responsibility. To do this effectively and responsibly we must retain all of the necessary means to do so in a responsible manner. All of us should be acting in respectful ways and be a civilized citizens. If we can do that and see that everyone obeys our agreed upon laws we will come through this in a wonderful way and help lead others to great solutions to the problems of our age.