(Jun 3 2014) - VOTE RIGHT - LIKE THE POST
In this 2014 primary, you need to vote RIGHT - LIKE THE POST. Below is one of the new candidates who is running for "one of two" seats up for grabs on the Porterville City Council. Please do your research re: this candidate and please get out and vote. A. L. "LUCKY" Lucketta - Porterville Post Editor.
CAMPAIGH WEB SITE :
www.facebook.com/ElectRussellFletcher
About :
New ideas for a great old town. Let's move the City of Porterville forward into the future!
Mission :
To make Porterville the best town in California to work, play, live and retire.
My Platform :
1) Porterville is a great city with a rich and wonderful history full of colorful characters. As a city we have gone through one golden age, but that was only a warm up. Porterville, with the right ideas and leadership can and will be an economic powerhouse again, a second Golden Age for our great city.
2) Porterville is changing and needs changing from the days of old. As techn...ology has changed and attitudes have changed, so does the city. Sometimes change can be painful, but in the long run, change can be and usually is a great thing.
3) Porterville needs to be more open to business and other communities within our great State. We are not a stand alone entity, but a part of a greater entity. In order for Porterville to flourish, our resources of citizens, education facilities and location need to be marketed to a greater audience. Porterville should not and can not be a bedroom community for economic powerhouses such as Bakersfield, Visalia, and Tulare. Porterville is a better place than that.
4) JOBS!!!! Porterville does not just need more jobs, Porterville needs more living wage jobs. Retail and fast food jobs are fine. Part time jobs are fine. Porterville needs to attract more businesses that pay employee's wages that one can live on. A person in Porterville should be able to graduate from Porterville College or move here from an outside area, obtain a good paying job that pays a living wage at forty hours a week. These include manufacturing jobs, technology jobs, operations jobs, and logistic jobs. In order to have a job where a person can afford a house, two cars, and two children, a resident should not have to commute to another community.
5) Large and small retail and retail development. There should be more choice in shopping in Porterville. There needs to be an end to holding up large retail developments that can and will help Porterville. All good communities balance large, medium, and small retail. There also needs to be incentives to do business in the central business district (downtown).
6) Equal rights for all. The city has no need to suppress nor encourage one person's rights over another. All policies pertaining to the city should be equal to all no matter age, race, sexual orientation, use of medication, growth of beneficial herbs/spices. All citizens of Porterville are EQUAL under the law and no person should be put down or disrespected because of their person. The city should also not support or defend legislation that would be used to suppress any citizen of Porterville.
7) Open and useful government. Government is here to SERVE the people, not to rule over them. Government should also be aware of what the citizens of the city need. Public transportation needs to be seven days a week and have long operating hours. The library should also remain open seven days a week for the use of all citizens to use the facilities. City Hall should also have extended operating hours. There is no reason that City Hall can not be open for half a day on Saturday to take payment of water bills. City council members should be easy to reach not only by e-mail, but also by telephone. Interaction with the public is a key part of community partnership. There is already a lot of partnership between the community and the public, but there could be more.
8) Code enforcement of dilapidated bank owned properties. Occupied residences in Porterville are required to maintain a minimum appearance of being lived in and hospitable to neighbors. Just because banks are large organizations does not give them the right to put up boards over the windows of foreclosed homes and let them sit abandoned. Banks that are unwilling to maintain lawns, pools, and other parts of a property including replacing broken windows and doors should not get a free pass on city ordinances. Banks who allow properties to become messes and eye sores to the community should have the houses condemned by the city in the quickest way possible, the property seized, and either auctioned off or the structure removed and the lot cleared so that new development may occur, or at the very least, the structure does not become a hangout for gangs or drug dealers.
9) Law enforcement and gangs. The gang issue in Porterville not only needs to be addressed, but it needs to be effective. It is the utmost importance to not only squash gangs, but all serious crime and crime that has become a nuisance to the quality of life in the city. It is not unreasonable for a citizen to walk down the street and feel safe. Our police force does a great job, but there is more that can be done. New partnerships between the community/neighborhoods and the police need to be made and reinforced. Our law enforcement personnel are here to protect and serve the law abiding public.
10) Porterville needs to return to it's roots. A place where "The Good Life" happens because people are treated with respect, everyone has a good paying job, a house is affordable, government serves the citizens, we become an economic engine for the area again, and most of all, because this is one of the best places to live, work, play, and retire.
