“Who Could Ask for Anything More”
 May 2003
 

1. A Group Hug at the Chamber Breakfast, setting the tone for the new administration.
2. A team building retreat attended by all SLO Council members and the City Administrative Officer. This retreat, presented by the California League of Cities, has helped us all work cooperatively and in a collegial manner – approaches that are very important to me.
3. City Council agreement to accept revised housing numbers for planning of near term city growth.  This enabled the city to appoint a Housing Task Force, direct the Planning Commission to update the Housing Element of the General Plan and avoid future State sanctions.
4. City Council award of a contract for a private firm to design and construct energy conserving projects at various City facilities, eventually saving the City $1000/day in energy costs.
5. City Council approval of Plans and Specifications for a distribution system to use reclaimed water, the first new source of water for SLO in over 40 years.
6. Approval of final agreements to move ahead with the new Copeland Center and a parking/office building near City Hall.
7. Cal Poly’s announcement that they have partnered with a private developer to add 2700 beds for student housing on campus, thus helping relieve the city housing shortage.

1. Receipt of a staff report projecting a budget shortfall for SLO for the next several years of around $7 million/yr (out of a $35 million/yr General Fund Budget).
2. The acrimony and dissention, which occurred in the community after the City Council, adopted what I thought was an innocuous resolution regarding the possibility of a war in Iraq.
3. My inability to convince the rest of the City Council that the staff should be permitted to study a connection to the State Water pipeline at the edge of the city, possibly leading to millions of dollars in savings to our water users.