Chamber of Commerce Questions and Answers

By Shane Kramer

Shane Kramer is a strong advocate for workforce housing in San Luis Obispo and for the city to play a supporting role in the development and expansion of new and existing small businesses in the community. Small businesses must be the backbone of the economy for the city of San Luis Obispo. The written questions included were asked of Shane Kramer to be included in the October Newsletter for the San Luis Obispo City Chamber of Commerce.

Bringing economic, environmental, and social factors into balance. Our city government has focused on economic development or environmental preservation without contemplating the social impact. Workforce housing has been ignored as a priority in this community. I would work to increase workforce housing.

2. Do you agree with the City's goal to promote retail projects that will increase sales tax revenues, and is the Marketplace project the best option for achieving this goal? Why or why not?

So long as the city must rely on sales tax revenues, retail projects are a necessary part of our community's development. An equally important goal is to keep San Luis Obispo the retail and services hub of the county. The Marketplace project is one option. We should continue to strive to bring retail projects that have a regional draw to San Luis Obispo; support the Autopark Way concept; encourage regional offices to locate in San Luis Obispo; continue to be the medical center for our region; develop cultural programs with regional drawing power; continue to be the governmental center of the county; and develop the capacity to be a convention/conference/resort location of choice in California.

3. What, specifically, would you do to encourage the development of workforce housing?

People should be able to live near where they work. With a median household income of $33,000.00 per year in San Luis Obispo, this means housing to purchase for $150,000 or less or to rent for $800.00 per month or less. We need to enable new retail development to build on-site workforce housing. We need to enable building owners downtown to provide workforce housing in non-ground level spaces. New housing developments should include a larger percentage of workforce housing. Less expensive construction such as modular homes, mobile homes, and higher density uses should be encouraged. We should continue our efforts to get more student housing built on campus; do in-fill building; redevelop underused lots; and promote mixed-use developments.

4. San Luis Obispo appears to have a shortage of well-paying head-of-household jobs. Should we be concerned about this, and if so, what should the City do about it?

The median income in San Luis Obispo is $17.00 per hour. You need to make $50.00 per hour to buy a home. I can't see how we will ever be able to close that gap without first making workforce housing a reality. We should help existing businesses expand and new businesses to start. Small business is the backbone of our city.