Public Safety
The safety of everyone living or visiting Vallejo is impetrative. First and foremost, we need to address the lack of police officers on patrol. We need to be working diligently with local and county law enforcement agencies to have quick and willing responses to Vallejo's challenges. I believe once we have a permanent Chief of Police, and the staffing has increased, we will start to see lawfulness return to Vallejo.
Safety requires more than just police officers; it also includes our city employees. Hiring and keeping good staff in a healthy work environment is important to continuity, keeping the city functioning and moving forward. So how do we hire and retain our good hard-working staff? We need to be working with our city staff to ensure each person is receiving a performance review to reward those that are doing a remarkable job and set up improvement paths for those that need help. We need to ensure training for all levels of staff, and work to make being an employee of the City of Vallejo a sought-after position.
Vallejo has numerous wonderful nonprofit’s hard at work, let’s get them together to talk and share what they are doing and how their combined strengths can make an impact on all those who use and/or need their service. Especially our youth who are our future.
Financial Responsibility
Vallejo has said for years, “we don’t have any money”. Why is that? I would like to take a deep dive into our budget. Look at the General Fund and how the funds are used. Basically, doing a rollover budget based on the prior years just isn’t working. We need to define how many open jobs there are, how many are truly needed. Once we have that, we can then look at the pay rates of our employees. I hear they are underpaid and overworked. So, let’s do a market review and see what can be done responsibly.
We need to understand things like BAHFA and California Forever and how they will affect Vallejo in the long term. What are the benefits versus the costs and what major impact will they have on our city and county?
Community Involvement
I believe for people to have pride in their city, they must be involved and heard. I would welcome all opportunities to talk with people, hear their suggestions and solutions and work with the city to see how we can move this city to a more inclusive and engaged city.
Common Sense Leadership
Let get back to basics. We have to rebuild our foundation as a city. That means making some tough decisions that are best for the city. Not kicking problems down the road. Not asking the city staff to redo their recommendations, but actually questioning things so we can make the best decision possible and move on to the next problem. Don’t get caught up in the idea of the moment.