Repeat: Council candidates on economic development

San Bernardino City Council keys in on economy
Andrew Edwards
Staff Writer

SAN BERNARDINO - City voters will soon have a chance to decide which candidates are best suited to help craft policies that can enable the town to improve its economic standing.

Three City Council members - representing San Bernardino's 1st, 2nd and 4th wards - each face a single opponent in this year's election.

If the national recession comes to an end in the next four years, whoever wins those contests can be expected to have a vote on whether to go forward with future redevelopment proposals, new laws that could change the city's business climate and 1st Ward City Council race.

The 1st Ward includes downtown and part of the city's Westside. Incumbent Esther Estrada, the council's longest serving member, faces challenger Virginia Marquez, who is a part-time field representative for Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino.

Esther Estrada considers San Bernardino International Airport and the future development of a new downtown civic center as keys to the city's economy.

Regarding the airport, Estrada said she is counting on passenger service to begin in the near future.

She sits on the boards for both the airport and the Inland Valley Development Agency, or IVDA, which is responsible for redeveloping the land around the airport. Stater Bros.' corporate headquarters and other businesses are in that area, and Estrada supports the use of IVDA tax revenues to subsidize airport construction.

"I have tried to make sure that we bring in as many jobs as possible," she said.

Estrada also favors the idea of building a joint city/county civic center where the struggling Carousel Mall stands downtown. Proponents have said such a project could create a freeway-visible landmark for San Bernardino.

For the Westside, Estrada expects business to pick up on Mount Vernon Avenue after a new gas station opens there.

Virginia Marquez reports that her economic priorities for the city are the Mount Vernon Avenue corridor, Carousel Mall and San Bernardino International Airport.

Marquez considers Mount Vernon Avenue spots like Placita Park and the Mount Vernon Bridge to be significant city landmarks and the mall to be the city's "face" for motorists arriving in San Bernardino via the 215 Freeway.

"As the City Council member from the 1st Ward, I will be open-minded and work with the city's Economic Development Agency, other government officials and developers to bring businesses into the Mount Vernon Corridor and Carousel Mall," Marquez said in a written statement.

Marquez's platform includes seeking to work closely with the Inland Valley Development Agency on plans to bring more business to the area around San Bernardino International Airport.

Second Ward council incumbent Dennis Baxter is running against Jason Desjardins, the owner of a small business. The city's 2nd Ward includes many of the neighborhoods north of downtown and surrounding Perris Hill Park.

Dennis Baxter's platform echoes a common theme among many of this year's candidates. He asserts that San Bernardino must overcome its reputation as a crime-ridden city. He writes that publicizing FBI statistics showing crime reductions over recent years could help.

"Attracting new businesses to our city will remain a challenging task so long as business leaders perceive San Bernardino to be unsafe. Our reduction in major crime numbers over the last three years received more attention from the federal government - including even the White House - than it did here at home," Baxter wrote in an e-mail.

Baxter also supports business incentives such as tax breaks and the establishment of a one-stop center for businesses that need permits from city agencies.

Jason Desjardins said in an interview that he is running as a pro-business moderate. He said the animosity that is often on display at City Council meetings can be as much of an obstacle to business growth as bad decisions.

"You have disrespect from both sides," he said. "I am a moderate. As a businessman, I've had to deal with both sides."

Desjardins' priorities include reducing the city's utility user tax and creating a business advisory council in his ward to support small business.

The candidate threw his hat in the ring after speaking against the now-moribund proposal to create a city-run tow impound yard. Desjardins said he will divest himself of the towing business if he wins the election.

Fourth Ward council incumbent Fred Shorett, who won the special election to fill a council vacancy in March, is running against challenger Joe Arnett. Arnett, who also ran in the springtime contest, is an information technology manager at Loma Linda University.
Joe Arnett shares the common view that graffiti is a major impediment to economic development.

He also wants to reduce city fees and regulations in order to make it easier for the business community to deal with City Hall.

Arnett contends that San Bernardino does not need more minimum-wage employers and says the city should pursue federal grants to attract environmental and technology firms with the object of becoming the "'green jobs' capital of the Inland Empire."

"Bio-fuel technology that can be converted to diesel, jet fuel and other types of energy resources will be significant for our growth and development," Arnett wrote in an e-mail.
Arnett's platform also calls for the creation of a marketing plan to attract new employers as well as job training and mentoring programs at City Hall.

Fred Shorett is part of the general consensus that reducing crime is an imperative to establishing a healthier business climate. He also wants San Bernardino officials to establish property-based business improvement districts along the city's primary business corridors: Highland Avenue, Base Line, E Street and 40th Street.

The creation of such districts would empower the San Bernardino Economic Development Agency to provide loans to business owners for marketing, security and physical improvements to their shops. He also sees the return of a movie theater to downtown as a vital improvement.

Shorett further contends that San Bernardino officials need to cease the hard-nosed City Hall politics and aggressively promote city assets like Cal State San Bernardino, San Bernardino International Airport and local water supplies.

"One major asset that cannot be ignored is the historic Arrowhead Springs Hotel property. This unique and historic property has the potential to provide high-end housing, resort and boutique commercial development that our city desperately needs," Shorett wrote in an e-mail.