Revitalizing Our City

By Galen R. Dean

A business approach to balancing the budget, bringing quality, high-paying jobs to the city and training our workforce.

Here is my plan: First, we must balance the budget. You've heard a lot about this from the City Council to the President of the United States. It really is quite simple; don't spend what you don't have!! Sound too simple? It is, but, that's all it takes. Our current city council immediately gave raises to the city employees. I'm not saying that they didn't deserve it, but, if the money is not there, don't do it. As a result, they have had to eliminate employees to pay for the raises. What you have to keep in mind, is that we are a small city and currently can't afford to pay comparable salaries as the larger cities around us. Just as a cashier at a convenience store doesn't earn the same pay as at a large grocery chain. As our city grows and revenues increase, then give raises accordingly.

Second, we have resources most cities are envious of; our own airport, electric and water utilities, access to major freeways and rail. These are the things that large businesses look for. We can offer discounted utilities to energy hungry high-tech companies in exchange for them relocating to Banning and training our local workforce to fill the jobs. These are not minimum wage jobs. Higher paying jobs increase the local economy, which in turn, increases property values, which generates revenue for the City. Also, we have a historic heritage to be proud of, which can be used to develop old downtown with specialty shops which attract visitors off of the freeway.

Thirdly, we need to promote this City. We need an eye-catching web site; we need to make our presence known at County Fairs, Job Fairs, Industry symposiums. We have to "market" our city. We need an aggressive Redevelopment Agency (which was just eliminated during the budge cuts).