Issues and Action
I'm running for re-election to the City Council to continue
working for the citizens of Chandler--that we will have programs
and fiscal policies in place to continue our great quality of life.
My priorities for the next four years include:
- Safe and Sustainable Neighborhoods
- Economic Development and Employment Growth
- Recreational Opportunities and Partnerships
- Transportation
Safe and Sustainable Neighborhoods
I will continue to make public safety a top priority and will ensure
we have top-notch police, fire, and emergency personnel. In the
past few years, we added two new police substations and several
fire stations. These new facilities have helped to reduce response
time and put more public safety units closer to your homes and businesses.
We added dozens of new police officers and firefighters in the
face of an economic downturn. Our city's crime rate is the lowest
it has been in ten years.
I will continue to strengthen neighborhoods by helping residents
foster neighborhood identities and build a sense of community with
our city. I will continue to promote increased neighborhood self-help
cleanup efforts and beautification programs, along with applying
a balanced approach to stricter zoning codes, to ensure property
values don’t decline due to blight conditions.
Economic Development and Employment Growth
Our city's economic strategies have been instrumental in Chandler
gaining thousands of new jobs: In the past five years, Chandler
has added almost 15,000 industry and office jobs and over 6,000
retail jobs. Dozens of new industries have either expand or re-located
to our community. Chandler devoted much of its largest remaining
land parcels, mostly along freeway corridors, airport, and other
remaining areas, to economic and retail development, and I will
continue to remain firm on our city's commitment to reserve those
parcels for key employment and business centers instead of more
single-family and apartment residences.
City government must continue to enhance our partnerships with
Chandler's school districts to assure development plans don't cause
hardship to student enrollment.
Recreational Opportunities and Partnerships
I will continue to work to expand and add to facilities the city
has opened over the last few years: pools, parks, the Tumbleweed
Recreation Center, the Veterans Oasis Park to name a few. To ensure
the city leverages it tax dollars, we must continually seek and
encourage the sharing of city and school resources such as libraries,
buildings, pools and recreation activities. Chandler is rated among
the 100 best communities in the nation for youth over the past three
years, so the city/school partnership has paid big dividends to
our residents.
Transportation
I will ensure the city continues to address traffic congestion.
I've worked the last four years on accelerating the city's plans
to widen streets and intersections; as well as adding miles of new
streets in the high-growth areas of our community, and finally adding
more right-turn lanes and bus pullouts. The city has added more
bus routes (50 percent increase this year alone) and dial-a-ride
programs, and we will continue to install more temporary traffic
lights in South Chandler to ease traffic flow and improve safety.
Matt's Editorials
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