The City of Palm Desert is operated as a business, in that it hires a City Manager to “run” the business. One of the reasons I am a candidate for City Council is to bring the perspective of the business world to the council. Without local Business to drive the economy, the City would not be as prosperous as it is.

As an accountant, when I begin working with a new business, I don’t go in and start making drastic changes. Instead, we examine what is working well with the business and start building on that with improvements along the way.

As a Member of the Palm Desert City Council, my goals would be to improve:

Fiscal Responsibility –

a)     NO Health or Retirement Benefits for Council Members. They are not employees, they chose to provide a service.

b)      CONTEMPORARY THINKING Finances of all cities are at risk due to current economic issues and loss of Redevelopment funds. We need to think “out of the box”. We need extraordinary solutions for extraordinary circumstances.

Industry –

a)       As a leader in the “Green” business, Palm Desert should be supporting firms which are producing products along that line. 

b)       Attract clean industry, such as manufacturers of software, research for fuel cells, or R&D; it gives our High School and College graduates a place to work immediately, and the opportunity to work into higher paying positions.

Tourist Business –

a)       Tout our wonderful tourist attractions with special offers for those living within a drivable radius.  The Living Desert , the Marriott, and the McCallum Theatre. 

b)       El Paseo as well as our great outdoors and hiking trails provide products and services that are unique to Palm Desert and desirable to those in a close driving distance for a day trip

c)       Transportation - To help attract conventions to our hotels, we’ll need a major transportation plan.  Getting around the City without a vehicle is impossible. 

d)       Feed-back postcards placed in all attractions, restaurants, hotels and shops would let Tourists tell us what they liked and what they found difficult

Education –