If money was not an issue for Cathedral City, what would you do?

By James "Jim" Warlin

First and foremost, I would have the city pay for the entire $21-million dollar Cathedral City Cove sewer, sidewalk and road improvement project, without one dollar being spent by a property owner and fellow citizen. In a similar fashion, I would have our city eliminate the Special Assessment Districts that resulted when city council votes were cast to cut off the funds for watering and servicing of Panorama and Century Parks.

As far as that goes, "if money (is) not an issue," the city would eliminate ALL Special Assessment Districts. We would not only fully fund construction of the 30th Avenue Soccer Park, serving thousands of our sports-minded youth but also construct a long-sought-after Community Pool at Cathedral City High School for use by students and citizens alike.

Let's not forget to give our award-winning Police, Fire and Municipal Staff the budget(s) they would need to hire additional personnel to fully staff departments that were previously "trimmed" to comply with budget constraints.

Let's return to the days when we saw street sweepers providing weekly cleaning of our currently scum-filled gutters...and Code Enforcement personel provide for the clearing of brush from vacant lots and elimination of grafitti-filled walls and buildings.

If money is/was not an issue, let's fund an aggressive marketing and advertising campaign directed at bringing name-brand retailers to our community. After all, we are the second-most popuilated city in the Coachella Valley and if we have the people, it means we also have the consumers to support such tax-producing ventures.

Let's remember how unlimited funding could pre-pay the more-than $30,000 a year (each year for approximately the next 10 years) the city is paying on the solar energy panels atop the downtown, civic-center garage.

Yes we could beautify our parkways, resurface our currently-pock-marked roadways and restore civic pride to being a resident of Cathedral City...."if money was not an issue."

James "Jim" Warlin, Candidate Cathedral City City Council