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711 t.,p,,,; w Application for AppointmenIFTv ` " 0, A'J,"r;,., Ward 4 City Council Office ;!...a - REASONS FOR INTEREST IN THIS POSITION 1. 1 am interested in serving on the Santa Ana City Council because I love our city and I want to help it thrive. I have loved our city since I was a young busboy at my uncle's restaurant near Downtown, Pop's Cafe. I want to take my education in urban planning from USC and my professional experience in urban planning and government and give back to our city. I want to help our city make the right decisions in order to provide quality services to all of our residents, whether you reside in Floral Park, French Park, Madison Park, Delhi, or Sandpointe. 2. From my point of view, the three greatest needs and challenges facing the City at this time are the current condition of our Civic Center, an understaffed police department, and being able to attract and manage economic resources. When William Spurgeon and James McFadden helped establish Orange County, they fought for Santa Ana to be the County Seat. They recognized the importance of Santa Ana serving as the governmental center of OC. Unfortunately, the previous City Council allowed homeless encampments to overtake the Civic Center, causing government employees, jurors and visitors to fear for their safety rather than spend more time and money in our city. The ability to address public safety for those in our Civic Center and those throughout our city is hindered by an understaffed police department. Residents and visitors alike should have confidence that the police will respond quickly and professionally when called. Our city will not be able to address staffing levels at the police department and other departments that provide essential city services without addressing our city's economic situation. We need to attract economic resources and better manage those resources in order to provide top-quality municipal services, 3. The greatest opportunities for the City from my perspective are being the County Seat, the update of the City's General Plan, and hiring the right person to fill the vacant City Manager position. Economic opportunities come along with being the County Seat. Thankfully, Santa Ana still retains the County Seat designation. Now that the homeless encampments have been cleared, we need to make the Civic Center safe, able to attract resources, and serve as a place for our community to gather. The update of the General Plan will allow our city to responsibly plan for our future, This involves designating density in the appropriate zones to avoid conflicts, increasing open space, enhancing historic preservation, planning at the neighborhood level, and responsibly allocating resources in order to provide extraordinary services for our residents. This makes the timing for hiring a City Manager perfect. In addition to overseeing the completion of the General Plan Update, the new City Manager can bring new ideas and motivation to implement our City's goals at a time where it is greatly needed. 65C-51