Fellow City Dweller,
Thanks for dropping by to see my
perspective on things that concern you.
If you have any questions, you may email me, but put “candidate
questions” on the subject line so I’ll know it isn’t spam. You also can call me at home in the evenings
at 474-9343. If evenings don’t work for
you, you can call me on my cell during the day at 659-4313, but please give me
time to get out of any surgery I’m doing on someone’s car!
Regards, Jack Alan Brown Jr, candidate for City Council, Ward #2.
My Vision for
Grants Pass:
A peaceful place of personal safety with economic and recreational opportunity, a place that no one is forced to join by annexation votes, a place where those already here are not forced to conform to a cookie-cutter point of view, and a place where the taxpayers’ money is spent frugally.
My Philosophy of
Growth:
(Note my response to
concerns of the Jo Co Home Builders Association farther down the page.)
Essential infrastructure upgrades needed because of growth should be funded by those who cause that growth and not by those who are already a part of the structure, BUT nonessentials shouldn’t be forced on anyone just to satisfy the tastes of one segment of society. Things that may be fairly called essentials in commercial areas are not essentials in the outlying residential neighborhoods, e.g. sidewalks. They are merely nice-to-have items to be installed at the property owner’s expense, but should be optional.
My City Concerns:
I would rate our fire protection as excellent, but I recognize the need for additional stations for the crews south of the river.
Our patrol cars are everywhere, except at a few notorious intersections, which have multiply red light runners. Perhaps there is a strategy problem. Deterrence is always better than mopping up afterwards.
Although cross-training our fire fighters and police works, I personally think the extra cost of having those departments independent is worth it. You get what you pay for!
I have resented being forced to hook up to city water, when good well water was available. I particularly find the idea of the city medicating my family through the kitchen faucet abhorrent, and would vehemently oppose fluoridation of our city water. I am aware that some municipalities use other forms of water purification that don’t utilize chlorine, and I think some consideration should be given to those possibilities.
Streets (& storm drains, debris cleaning)
I question the ‘chip seal’ approach to deteriorating roads, having seen the cracks that were ‘sealed’ come back in a season of use. We need to spend more and do it right. I am aware of at least one street that doesn’t have proper drainage and has experienced sinkholes in the asphalt because of it. I will commend our street cleaners; they do a great job when people have their cars out of the way. Perhaps the schedule should be printed up and included in the City newsletter so everyone would be aware of when to keep it clear at his or her section of curb.
Traffic safety (missing stop signs, blind intersections)
I see city street intersections in certain parts of town that really ought to have traffic signs and I cannot understand why we must wait until after an accident to put them up. Vegetation is allowed to obscure stop signs & school zone signs, and buildings in some cases are in the way of seeing oncoming traffic, even on 6th Street.
Downtown sidewalks (pedestrians versus bicyclists,
skateboarders, etc)
Having personally been hit by a bicyclist as I stepped out of a business onto the sidewalk, I can certainly sympathize with downtown business owners. I am sure there are legitimate complaints regarding hazardous conditions in the bike lanes due to doors being opened on parked cars, too. This is something that needs to be studied and fixed.
Economic opportunity (small businesses versus big
businesses)
Small business is best encouraged by a “hands off” approach. There is an unfair advantage created by any other method of ‘encouragement’. Currently small business is regressively taxed compared to big business by the city business tax, when a sole proprietor is dunned for $50 per year and a business with 30 employees only pays $300. (Businesses with more than thirty employees only pay 2.40 per each additional employee.)
Competition improves the product and many small businesses rather than one big box are more likely to accommodate a multitude of consumer tastes, as well as weather the economic storms.
Grants Pass is blessed to have so many beautiful parks and I think we have enough of them. They need security, not just maintenance, so those who now shy away from them can use them in safety. I think we could do more with what we have, putting in facilities that are suitable to specific types of recreation, and I am open to ideas.
Concerns of the
Home Builders Association of Josephine County and my responses:
The term ‘Intelligent Growth’ has been used. How would you define it?
It is a word from an elitist vocabulary. It means whatever the user wants it to mean, but behind the scenes intelligent growth means someone who thinks he or she knows best will be telling some one else (probably you) what to do with their land.
How would you propose to pay for ‘catching up’ with
missing infrastructure?
Everyone benefits from the improved infrastructure as it relates to roadways. That should be a general fund expenditure beyond the actual interface with the roadway.
The cost for utility improvements to meet the additional demand should be calculated and incorporated into the monthly utility bills for the individual parcels on an prorated basis, perhaps .
What are your ideas for funding public safety?
The developments should be taxed at
time of sale to fund additional infrastructure that relates to increased public
safety overhead, as there is no additional overhead until occupancy has been
achieved. All other funding of public
safety should come out of the general fund, which has increased revenues due to
a larger assessed value.
What do you consider to be ‘conflict of interest’ as
opposed to an ‘informed interest’?
When the city is acquiring services from a business, the owner of that business would have a conflict of interest if voting on the council to contract for those services. When the city regulates the profitability of a franchise, the owner of that franchise would have a conflict of interest if voting on issues regulating the services or charges of that franchise.
An informed interest is when a person involved in a certain trade is voting on matters that impact that trade.
What does being a City Councilor mean…do you think
Council should be directing staff or vice versa?
The Council is supposed to represent the residents of the city. In its representative capacity it should be directing the staff.
The council should not be an enforcer of nonsense coming down from state or federal bureaucrats. It should be an advocate for the residents of the city.
If you think growth is happening too quickly, how would
you propose to “slow down” growth?
Grow is not happening too quickly, but it is not happening smoothly. This is because city government has not anticipated (or has ignored) the infrastructure needs of continually growth. We need to speed up the response to growth.
What are the three main problems in the Redwood Area and what
solutions do you propose to fix these problems?
The first problem is traffic entry and intersection crossing along all of Redwood Avenue. The solution to this is provide interruptions to the flow of traffic, not just slowing it down and getting it more congested. Putting a turn lane down the center will actually make things worse because traffic waiting to turn across oncoming traffic provides interruptions to the flow for those who need to enter or cross traffic themselves. Traffic pausing (not traffic calming) devices such as four-way stops or stop signs at intervals for the heavier flowing streets would accomplish this without the cost of electronic traffic control devices.
The second problem is runoff water that is losing any place to go as more and more land is sealed over. Relaxing the city requirements for asphalted or concrete driveways and parking areas would help the absorption of the land.
The third problem is the destruction of the rural atmosphere by enforcement of requirements appropriate to dense city residential, especially as it relates to animals and sidewalks. The Council needs to revisit some of those restrictions and make proper exceptions.