Budget I have been attending the budget workshops across the city. I have found the city scrambling to make cuts without a public uproar and props to them for the effort. However, it has been made clear, the city under estimated the impact of the economic downturn. They said it surprised all the experts as well.. blah blah blah. Bob Thomas, past city manager, told me three years ago of the massive impacts of the creative mortgage paper and he warned of the massive foreclosure rates etc. Yet the city says they underestimated the impact of the economic downturn. When my business is cash poor or business is slow, I have to work harder, smarter and using my own term, scrappier. The city needs to do the same. This is what we all do in our lives and the city needs to function with the same sense of urgency as we do. Hell, a greater sense of urgency. The responsibility of taking care of the city is not one to be taken lightly. I have been and am committed to holding our city staff and elected officials accountable to the job they are paid and elected to do. In addition, the city fire and police department salaries are already below the average of all our neighboring cities, in most cases 20 % or greater below the neighboring averages . It’s going to be a tough year ahead for all departments and we will be asking them to do more with less. It’s truly unfortunate the city didn’t find it a priority to allocate more for police and fire salaries prior to these hard economic times. What now? Our city, stewards of taxpayer dollars, have a responsibility to be ultra conservative with the budget. We can’t spend more than we have. We have to budget cautiously every year not just when times are lean. Salaries need to be in line if we are going to ask our workers to perform at high levels with the sense of urgency we expect.

Most livable city - Public safety Trees are great but when criminals are hiding behind them or they are tagged with graffiti, it’s not a livable city. I walked Steve Cohn’s district during his reelection two years ago and I was amazed at how afraid people are to open their doors. The fear level is huge and not a sign of America's most livable city. Police officers get paid with sales tax dollars. The city is obligated to be good stewards of their tax payers’ dollars. The city’s first and foremost priority is basic public safety (fire & police).  A large part of my business friendly ways are simply motivated: healthy businesses bring in sales tax dollars, thus, paying for police, firefighters and basic services. All of which directly impact our quality of life. I truly correlate every successful business venture to a new police officer or fire truck. I am a geek. I want street lights, cameras in alleys, beat cops, and all the high tech toys to assist our police and fire departments in making this city the most livable city in America.

Arena A new arena is a must. The Q&R campaign was a farce from day one. When the Maloofs stated, from the podium of the rail yards, that this spot may not be the one, etc, it was obvious city leaders did not have the relationships in place to pull that or any other arena deal off. Yet the campaign continued and its failure is still touted as popular opinion gospel. The Kings and Monarchs are an integral part of our sense of community spirit. The Malloofs are great NBA owners. They are one of our largest charitable contributors and I feel it is the city’s responsibility to improve those relationships. The most important factor is that the arena stays in the city boundaries. Cal Expo is acceptable. The existing location is suitable as well, as long as Natomas doesn’t incorporate. I’ve even considered an Indian casino, as an anchor, for a downtown arena project  Granted this is a radical idea to have casino dollars pay for a state of the art facility, however, it is just one example of the many options in funding an arena without a sales tax increase. I believe we can create an unparalleled project that not only makes Sacramento proud but the Maloofs as well; one that high end tenants will fight to be a part of. Building a new arena is not a problem, it is an opportunity to do something world class for our community.

The Shawn4Mayor Campaign's Master Plan Increase blue shirts (community safety officers) at a lower cost at a still visible presence. Add beat cops to high crime areas and school areas; get them integrated into our neighborhoods. Keeping the same officers in their skilled areas of expertise as well as familiar districts to increase familiarity with local youth, parolees and homeless. We will enroll our youth into job training.  We will work with schools in partnership with SETA and our own city sponsored projects. To bring back vocational training in the construction industry, bringing  jobs to our youth and vice versa On that note, there will be new construction jobs in the green building industry as well as the normal residential home building trade we have lived on for so many years.  Funding would come from a security tax (already in the works).  I feel it should be a sales tax to be shared with the county as there is an overlap of services. Light rail expansion needs to go to the airport … the ridership is low and currently does not support the extension but it is part of an investment in Natomas. To bring airport travelers to the Natomas area (first stop from the airport) possible hotels and other services to accommodate travelers as well as decreasing our reliance on the automobile providing home to work place transit from the Natomas area. I am announcing a policy of transparency in government. I will take the consensus provided by you, the stakeholder, on all areas of study: rail yards, waterfront, Arena, public safety, land use and transportation issues, etc.; Back to the public creating a clear image of where our city is going. There will be no confusion as to what is happening on K Street or the rail yards. We will function as one city with one goal.

Flood Control   Click here for Flood Information.

Public transportation - (environmentally speaking) I believe that humans are creatures of habit and they don’t break their habits without some pain and suffering. Thus, we as keepers of our earth will have to create a little pain and suffering before our habits will change. For example, there will have to be massive traffic slowdowns (level of service ‘F’) for someone to get out of their car and get on to public transit. At the same time, that public transit needs to meet the demands of its customers. You won’t get the Serrano or Granite Bay driver out of his $80K car and into a plain rail car without lattés and internet access (not to mention leave their car in the dirt on a road side carpool lot).There is a catch. If we make the central city connection from Roseville, Granite Bay or Serrano too difficult, what will the economic impact be to our downtown? Will they build more in Roseville and El Dorado Hills so that they won’t come in to the city, possibly inducing more sprawl...? Regional Transit is dependant upon sales tax dollars. The days of huge public transit and highways funds are over. It is time to find new revenue streams for public transit solutions.  I think there is an opportunity to get "going green" federal dollars. This is something we, as leaders of green thinking, need to master. The intermodal facility will be the missing link to our public transit future. Bringing all forms of mass transit to one hub will be huge (not to mention getting the Greyhound bus station out of a shopping district), the ability to take light rail to the train station or a bus to the train station and then on to the airport, etc., is just plain smart planning. This will be a state of the art commercial business hub and regional travel destination that the city truly deserves. The car and our dependency on oil will be hard to eliminate in short order but long term persistence will prevail. Increased densities in suburban style neighborhoods will be a part of our future as we create a business climate that encourages dense development and discourages sprawl. If it becomes profitable to think and build green then that’s what will happen but as long as sprawl is profitable it will not end. I don’t pretend to be an expert in environmental change. I do know that for change to happen we can’t cripple the economy, which means we need to make green easy and sprawl/oil dependency/etc. expensive.

Natomas I bought into the original plan for the North Natomas community and am saddened that it no longer resembles the original plan proposed by the city leader’s years ago. The light rail was publicized as bringing in a bad element and it didn’t happen (a victim of NIMBYism and bad press). I believe the rail to airport expansion will be a catalyst for the area, bringing in additional business and airport traveler related revenues, increasing the ability to properly provide services to the Natomas community. We bent over for developers to build on that land and now we can’t properly service the area, flood issues will cost millions (hopefully to be shared by the state & feds). As a city, we need to invest in Natomas just as a parent invests in a child. I fear if we do not the child will run away (incorporate) and Sacramento will lose any benefits from its existence. Not to mention failing a young community.