The 2010 City budget process begins

I was at a wedding dinner over ten years ago when luck seated me next to Albuquerque Mayor Jim Baca.  This event was about the couple getting married not a political forum, but I took the liberty to ask Mayor Baca what he spent the bulk of his time doing.  According to the Mayor he spent 60% of his time dealing with automobiles and their drivers.  When I became mayor of Salida it was the last thing I expected to be my focus.  Of course, the lack of parking downtown was obvious.  The large amount of high speed traffic on Highway 50 was also an issue. But never did I realize how many calls, e-mails and comments I would get regarding roads, parking, auto related violations and traffic in our small city.  Given the constant feedback I receive it would seem clear that we need to spend enormous time and money in working on our automobile transportation demands.

As I consider the above paragraph I wonder if the real question that needs to be asked is what do we believe to be the most important characteristics of our city and how do we sustain those characteristics and even improve upon them?  Do we want a city designed to move traffic or to move people?  Do we want to promote all kinds of travel or focus on vehicles?  The real question is what do we want Salida to be like in the future?

The City Council is starting to discuss  the 2010 City budget.  The desires of the Council, and the residents of our area,  are key in determining where the money is best spent.  The problem in realizing those desires can be that groups that create the greatest noise get heard while those with the best ideas or greatest needs don’t necessarily show up.  I would like to see the citizens of southern Chaffee County offer input that considers how we want to leave this place to future generations.  It is possible that what we decide now will determine who those future residents will be.

So what do you want this place to be?   Now is the time to let your City Council know.  I hope the City of Salida is moving towards controlling our destiny rather than reacting to each crisis one at a time.  The process of  identifying the need, offering alternative ideas and figuring out how to fund those ideas is a good start.  If we are unwilling to pay for it ourselves perhaps it really is not that important.  Yet, it is easy to be against something but far harder to come to the table with a solution and then champion that solution to its end.

As for myself, I would like to see our town dodge the bullet of short term gain and understand that for Salida to remain the great place it is we need to promote a high degree of livability for every economic and social strata.  The fact is that before the greed of the sub prime mortgage meltdown our town had already become unaffordable except for those who had been here for some time or those of us that arrived with a strong savings account.  I want to live in a town that offers something for anyone that is willing to contribute.   At this time, it is extremely difficult to work your way into a livable way of life here.  It is simply too expensive.  I would love to see us work together to keep Salida great.  Evidence of this would be the end of the terms of division that pervade the discussion.  Let us try to understand what is best for everyone and then move our city and county forward in a way that Chaffee County and Salida will be recognizable 50 years from now.  Get involved.  If you don’t let your elected officials know your desires you have agreed to whatever does occur.