It has been 18 years and 140 days since the city’s pledge to build the West Branch Library.
The final E of my vision for Glendale and campaign platform is the Environment. We must implement responsible city growth. The city’s delivery of its essential, core services of public safety, water, sewer and sanitation are our first priority. Yet we cannot afford to ignore maintenance of the city’s visible assets: its streets, its city right-of-way landscaping, its parks and its major buildings.
- I pledge to work with city council to ensure that comprehensive laws and adequate resources are adopted and used for responsible growth of our core service delivery
- I pledge to work with city council to ensure necessary funding is identified to preserve and improve our streets, roads and other city infrastructure
- I pledge to challenge the city’s senior management in its recommendations to ensure that city resources are used to meet its highest priority needs
- I pledge to ensure that city resources are placed where the needs are the greatest in terms of service delivery to our residents
Too often, especially during the crafting of the city’s annual budget, senior management makes recommendations that grow government rather than meeting essential needs of our citizens. Local government must be lean and technologically adept to deliver the flexibility needed as new challenges arise. It is not always a question of adding employees but rather the adoption of new and innovative strategies to meet those challenges. As the city grows new employees delivering our essential, core services must be added to meet that new growth. As technology continues to evolve non-prioritized services will be able to meet their goals not by employee growth but by smarter, more efficient ways of doing business and by the use of continual employee training in new technologies. There is room for both strategies and it is critical to balance both.
© Joyce Clark, 2016
FAIR USE NOTICE
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
that all of Glendale’s residents’ voices are sought and heard. You, who live within our community, are eager share how best to build an even stronger Glendale and Yucca district.
media’s use to engage residents in its decision making process. I’m not referring to big decisions such as the update and adoption of Glendale’s next City Plan for that is an issue where city solicitation of residents’ opinions is robust but rather relatively smaller issues where social media could be a valuable tool.
Economy. Glendale is just beginning its climb out of the Great Recession. Westgate and the surrounding area will continue to add new development that has already been approved by previous city councils. The next great economic frontier is west Glendale past the Loop 101 out to the Loop 303 and beyond to Sarival Road. Glendale’s future opportunities include building a diversified economy and providing good jobs for our residents. How can we achieve such goals?
of taxpayers’ dollars and trust by using taxpayer money for nearly $25,000 of highly questionable trips. Despite the laxity of city policy, it does generally require that councilmembers’ trips are to be done for city business. Most people agree that it is unethical to go to Washington, D.C. using taxpayer dollars to see the Pope on a large screen TV. Despite the fig leaf of the councilmember’s claim that city business was done (for 5 minutes?) many Yucca citizens believe that he abused the taxpayers’ trust. There are also questions about frivolous expenses he incurred on these kinds of trips, such as a $420 dinner for his boss, the Phoenix Fire Chief.
We will continue to help any way we can.”