Return me to the City Council By Mike Tracy It has been my privilege to serve the people of Ventura for many years, first as a career police officer and police chief, and the last four years as a member of the city council. Following my election in 2009, I was selected as deputy mayor by my council colleagues, and two years ago named mayor. Under my leadership the council has come together around four priorities: • Economic Development • Public Safety and Core Services • Keeping Ventura Safe and Clean, and • Restoring public trust Under my leadership the council has made public safety and core city services such as street paving and water supply sustainability our top priorities. We have added to our police and fire resources--including additional police officers and reopening a previously shuttered fire station. We have made significant progress on requiring closer integration of our planning and development process with our identified water resources to ensure that we dont develop beyond our water capacity. During my time as mayor we have completed several significant public works projects, like the hillside waterline replacement and repaving project and the pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the Harmon Barranca near the Community Park. We have strengthened our relationships with critical social service agencies (The Salvation Army, Turning Point, and Project Understanding) and I personally worked to help establish a Community Intervention Court to address issues related to chronic homelessness and vagrancy. Through our Safe and Clean program we have decreased graffiti, trash, abandoned shopping carts and other public nuisances. Through community partnerships we can point to progress on the Ventura River Parkway, Kellogg Park, and the Ventura Botanical Gardens. The council recently adopted a 6-year economic development strategy to engage every sector of the business community. With our city staff we have worked to strengthen relationships with the business community to retain and attract new businesses, like Allied Distributing Company and the relocation of Barber Subaru. We have taken on the ambitious task of meeting with our top 100 businesses to open lines of communication. I have led the effort to improve the competiveness of the Ventura Auto Center (the City’s largest source of sales tax revenue) by moving forward on the long delayed plan to improve access and attract destination retail. Ventura’s sales tax revenue has increased more than 12 percent over the last two years, and we are conservatively projecting another 5% increase in sales tax revenue this fiscal year. Under my leadership, this council has made a successful transition to a re-energized management team under the guidance of our city manager Mark Watkins. Under Mr. Watkins’ leadership, for fiscal year 2013-2014 we balanced our budget without using reserve funds for the first time in several years. In fact, we have begun the process of rebuilding our reserve funds. The last four years have been busy and productive. I am very optimistic about our future, and proud of what our city council, working with the community, has accomplished. I look forward to the next four years, and I would be honored once again to have your vote on November 5th.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 17:37:08 +0000