Why am I running for Mayor?

                I am running for Mayor because I am fed up with the status quo of city government.  There have been long standing problems that have not been dealt with because of poor execution on the part of management.  There are issues that are continuing to fester even though the city has had many years to deal with them such as the police force, budget, waste to energy plant and fleeing business’s.  This is exactly what I intend to correct.  I will run the city with nothing being put off because it is not politically beneficial.  Putting things off and hoping that they will not become an issue until after the next election is not an acceptable option in my book.  I have no aspirations to be in politics long term, if I am elected, I am giving myself 4 years to implement new processes to decrease waste, create a more business friendly environment to increase jobs and bring new industries to Spokane.  I also intend to strengthen our police force so that they are capable of responding to all calls including property crime.  We will leverage the local resources to entice new business to come to Spokane.  We have a very capable workforce that is not being properly represented by the government that they depend on.  I do not however intend on increasing the size of government.  I believe government should provide a good business environment through reasonable regulation and connecting new business with local resources such as suppliers of parts or services but it is not to provide financial backing to any private project.  If a project makes good business sense then private investors will present their own funding without putting public money at risk.  Anything less than the completion of the above will be viewed as failure in my eyes.  My wife, children and the community of Spokane deserve nothing less.

Spokane Need Living Wage Jobs

The city of Spokane needs more living wage jobs that are provided by private industry rather than government.  This is only going to happen if you have a city administration that is knowledgeable in technology and knows about various industries such as bio-technology.  We have a considerable base to build on with three universities in the area that could partner with business.  We also have a large number of college graduates that come to Spokane for college but then leave after they graduate because they cannot find work in their area of study.  One possible source of new industry that could move to this area would be the renewable fuels industry such as ethanol.  The waste to energy plant is an obvious asset that the city has failed to leverage.  The excess steam that leaves the turbine could be used to operate a pilot level cellulosic ethanol plant.  This would bring high wage jobs to the area as well as present the opportunity for partnership with local universities for research into the optimization of the production of ethanol from feed sources such as the grass waste that is picked up from all of the residential areas.  This would save the city money, because we currently pay to ship all of the green waste collected in the green garbage bins out of town, and this would bring a new industry with high wage jobs to the area.