I am committed to stronger public safety. As a veteran, I understand the need for effective law enforcement and a secure community.

Public safety is the number one responsibility of the city to its residents and businesses. I am committed to making sure new city resources are used to boost our efforts for a safer community. Homelessness, mental health, drug abuse, and sex trafficking are all serious concerns of our citizens and I will actively pursue solutions to these issues.

Right now we need a safe and secure city. We need a coordinated effort between the city, county, and nonprofit leadership to help solve the homeless and mental health issues. Our police department needs lower response times, so citizens and businesses know help is on the way. Serious repeat offenders need to be jailed to make our community safer. Those who sell hard drugs to our young people need to know they face serious consequences, and at the same time individuals suffering from addiction need more opportunities for rehabilitation.

• Lower Response Times - Hire back community service officers to handle low level calls and to support patrol officers.
• Drug Enforcement/Sex Trafficking - Ensure that both the gang unit task force and the narcotics task force have the resources they need to protect the city from drug dealers, gangs, and sex-trafficking.
• Mental Health – Ensure all patrol officers are trained in crisis management so those in need of mental health services can find the help they need instead of going to jail.
• Homelessness – Coordinate and collaborate with the county and non-profit community to find effective solutions to address homelessness.

Public safety is our most critical issue, and the future health and success of our city depends on it. I am committed to a safer and more secure city for our residents, businesses, and for our children.

I am committed to a stronger economy. As a business owner, I am familiar with the opportunities and challenges that businesses face in Redding. I want to help create a more business-friendly environment, more living-wage and high-paying jobs, and attract new businesses to Redding.

We also need to create more opportunity for our young people to start their own businesses in Redding. I have proposed concrete tangible solutions to develop a strong modern economy in our city. This is vital for our economic success, and it is a long-term strategy to ensure we have a more secure future.

• Foster a business-friendly environment at all levels of city government
• Take action on concrete tangible solutions to foster job creation
• Focus on sectors that create living-wage and high-paying jobs
• Make Redding a competitive 21^st-century city

Our challenges today are important, but I am also committed to a long-term strategy for the future economic success of our city.

For nearly a century, our electric utility has served as one of the most important economic drivers that our city offers to its citizens and businesses, and I know we can do the same thing with the internet. Last year alone, our electric utility saved our city $30 million on electricity, from what electricity costs in the county.

I want to start an Internet Utility.

Rather than start with city-wide internet services, I want to start with a “pilot” phase downtown. This will help revitalize downtown and give Redding a competitive edge in drawing businesses and young professionals to our area.

By creating our own internet utility, we can:

• Create new businesses and high-paying jobs
• Greatly reduce the cost of internet service while drastically improving internet speeds
• Become a magnet in the region for new businesses and increase our national profile in the tech industry
• Draw young professionals to the downtown area, where they can live and work
• Give downtown a powerful economic boost. A healthier downtown makes for a healthier city.

I have no interest in the government competing with the private sector, but last spring the FCC reclassified internet providers as a basic utility service. This means that the internet is now like electricity, water, or natural gas. We need to start looking at the internet as a basic utility service.

Publicly owned internet utilities are popping up all over the country to huge success, with nearly 500 nationwide. The success of creating an internet utility lies in the fact that by using fiber optic lines, at gigabit speeds, you can drastically increase internet bandwidth and at the same time significantly reduce costs. This will create a huge draw for businesses, and a substantial benefit for residents.

I am committed to bringing ultra-fast internet access to our downtown at prices every business and resident can afford.

The time is now for the city council to set proactive policy on solar power. We live in the 2^nd sunniest city in the country and we own our own electric utility. Right now Redding produces less than one-percent of its power from solar, yet the solar industry is growing 12 times faster than the overall economy.

Today Redding has 24 solar companies with hundreds of employees and I am committed to doubling this workforce over the next five years. I want to further streamline the permitting process, create more friendly solar policy, and engage in private-public partnerships. We need more rooftop solar, more community solar projects, and potentially utility grade solar.

Clean energy is now mandated by the state of California. We can comply with California’s mandates, and stabilize our electric rates by converting to more solar power over the coming years.

The federal government has extended solar tax credits until 2021, and the price of solar panels are expected to drop in cost another 40% over the next 2-3 years.

Pursuing more solar power will:

• Create more living wage jobs
• Allow businesses and residents to save money on their electricity costs
• Turn our sun into profits for future generations
• Meet the requirements of the California Mandates
• Create a more sustainable future for our city

Years ago our city fathers had the insight to capitalize on the river running through the middle of town for cheap electricity, now it is time for us to capitalize on the immense amount of sun pouring down on our city. I am committed to more solar power in Redding.