SLO Journal Article

By San Luis Obispo Mayor Dave Romero

 

Over these past several weeks, I have been privileged once again to participate in the City’s goal setting process.  I know of no other city that spends the time and effort our City does in reaching out to its residents, advisory bodies, the business and environmental communities and other organizations to assist the City Council in prioritizing City goals.  In all, the City received over 500 suggestions.  City staff analyzed and categorized them into themes to assist the Council in considering the strength of community concern.

 

Armed with all this information, the City Council spent most of the day on Saturday, January 29th, in coming to agreement on goals which will guide our City for the next two years.  Despite our diverse views on what is truly “the most important things the City should be doing during the next two years”, the five of us worked through the rating process with good humor and surprising efficiency.  The Council spent several hours narrowing down the many goals to a manageable number and revising wording of each remaining goal.  We were each given a limited number of points to expend on setting priorities (this was the hardest part for me, since I saw almost all the goals as high priority).  With the Council’s diverse philosophies, our individual votes were often far apart.  Those goals we could all agree on at some moderate or higher level rose to the top of the priority list.  However, even one Council member’s strong opposition could drop a candidate goal out of the “Major Goal” category.  Although the process isn’t perfect, it is far more inclusive and thorough than the approaches used by most other cities.

 

The Council finally arrived at the following 16 goals:

 

Major City Goals

·        Continue infrastructure maintenance at a moderate level.

·        Traffic congestion relief.

·        Continue bikeway improvements.

·        Support further redevelopment of School District sports facilities.

·        Encourage and promote projects and programs which will increase sales tax and transient

         occupancy tax.

·        Downtown improvements with emphasis on pedestrian lighting.

·        Preserve the City’s long-term fiscal health.

 

Other Important Goals

·        Upper Monterey Street parking.

·        Laguna Lake Master Plan implementation.

·        Funding and protection of adobes and development of the Railroad Museum.

·        Aggressive follow-up of plans and programs adopted within the Housing Element.

·        Continue Neighborhood Services and Wellness programs.

·        Broad Street Corridor Plan.

 

Additional Goals to be Pursued

·        Neighborhood street tree planning.

·        City Gateway Enhancement.

 

Previously-adopted goals, such as a long-term water supply, Los Osos Valley Interchange improvements and the therapy pool were continued as on-going high priority goals.

 

All of the goals will be emphasized in the 2005-07 Budget and worked on as high priorities during the next two years.

 

I am so pleased with our citizens, staff and City Council for their participation in the process.  This just proves, once again, that being Mayor in SLO-town is the best elected job in California.