Slow down on housing growth, Fast track on commercial and industrial development for jobs

By Wiggs Mendoza

My vision for a new Hemet is one that focuses on a stronger economic development program that can bring sectors and industries suitable to Hemet's location and at the same time provide a meaningful pay beyond what the retail and services sectors provide.

Ten years ago I would get up at 4:00 a.m. and drive down to Florida Avenue on my way to my job in Los Angeles. Crazy huh? On occasions I would get pulled over by a Hemet Police car, suspicious of anyone driving at that hour. Ten years after, I still do the same thing, this time however, at 4:30 a.m. stop lights are busy and a flow of running traffic builds up just right at Sanderson Avenue. Cars are heading my way or out of Hemet to the North, South and West. This spotlights a crisis facing Hemet, as the city grapples with increasingly complex problem of housing growth, traffic and availability of jobs.

If we continue with Hemet's rapid housing growth, there will come a time when land will not be available for other commercial or industrial developers to build and provide jobs to Hemet residents and we may end up like Moreno Valley did 15 years ago. When residents drive out 150 miles a day to get to a well paying job to pay for their new homes, it burns them out . Eventually, these residents will be force to make hard choices. Sell, foreclose and move out. With the slow down in housing sales in the state, home buyers may find similar choices of homes in areas closer to where jobs are. Hemet may be left as we now see, with a surplus of homes that can't sell and which decreases the property values of existing homes

A managed growth program balances housing with jobs.

We have to make Hemet an attractive choice to employers, business and industries. With the rate we are going we may merely end up as an overcrowded bedroom community susceptible to crime.

My vision for a new Hemet is one that focuses on a stronger economic development program that can bring sectors and industries suitable to Hemet's location and at the same time provide a meaningful pay beyond what the retail and services sectors provide. The industries that may find Hemet attractive, given the right incentives include but not limited to:

• Urgent care centers- This would help decongest Hemet's emergency room, provide good paying jobs and tax revenues for the city.
• Bio-Technology -Medical device and parts design and assembly, generic drug design. Businesses that can supply local and regional hospitals
• Hardware and Software Development - design and development of medical, manufacturing, recreational hardware and software prototypes.
• Vocational Education- Those that can provide trainng in Culinary Arts, Hardware and Software development, metal design and fabrication. This will not only provide jobs and revenues but also offer a college alternative to Hemet's high school graduates

To make sure we apply the right vision that can bring jobs to Hemet, Elect Wiggs Mendoza for City Council and make a difference this time!