Current Issues and objectives

By Joseph J. "Joe" Palla

We have many issues facing Cloverdale and have limited resources and revenues to address them...including rebounding from a weak economy and bringing living wage jobs to Cloverdale.

1. Continue working through the economic challenges we face and identify real long-term solutions;

2. Continue our partnership with Cloverdale Unified School District and Cloverdale Chamber of Commerce;

3. Continue putting policies in place that will help protect our environment and help preserve our strong agricultural heritage;

4. Continue efforts to open communications within the non-English speaking Latino community;

5. Continue efforts to bring the SMART train to Cloverdale;

6. Continue efforts to attract new businesses consistent with Cloverdale's small-town environment. Focus on small businesses in the short-term, while laying the groundwork for larger enterprises in the long-term;

7. Continue to promote Cloverdale's arts community and attract complementary businesses;

8. Continue to maximize Cloverdale's assets of natural beauty, recreational amenities, and its role in the region in order to attract complementary businesses and visitors to frequent both existing and new businesses;

9. Continue efforts to improve and enhance City-owned assets, such as the Cloverdale Plaza and the current Police/former Fire station, in order to revitalize the downtown while maintaining Cloverdale's small-town, friendly atmosphere;

10. Continue efforts to develop a healthy business environment in the downtown corridor;

11. Continue efforts to bring needed retail into the City so residents can shop locally. This will also help Cloverdale become a destination point, a place where people will come to visit, stay in our hotels, motels, B & B's and spend money;

12. Continue efforts to build our infrastructure and build our economic strength. Building our economic strength is critical if we are to be successful as a city. The city needs to build a dependable tax base in order to fund essential services, such as police, parks, youth programs, senior programs, repair and maintain streets, etc.

13. The city well field provides residents with an adequate supple of water. The Russian River Watershed is the sole source for our water. If there were a disruption in the supply from the Russian River, we have no backup water supply. To ensure that the city can provide water for the general health and safety of residents during such an emergency, we need to continue efforts to identify a backup water supply and outline a funding plan to accomplish this.