According to the Los Banos Enterprise, despite all that was revealed about his relationship with Ranchwood Realty, the Mayor is going to vote on the annexation of nearly 1000 acres of farmland requested by Ranchwood. The paper quoted the Mayor as saying he does not know which way he is going to vote. I find this surprising because I know which way he is going to vote. The Mayor will vote for the annexation. This is just another example of the Mayor not being honest. The Mayor has also claimed that we have the highest building fees in the Valley. We do not. The City of Ripon has double our fees. The Mayor said I want to shut the door on those who want to move here. We have 3800 empty lots, over 750 homes in foreclosure and the problem is growing. The door is wide open for anyone to move here. The Mayor also believes that two minutes and 15 seconds equals five minutes. So if you were planning to speak out during the public forum at the City Council Meeting, expect to be removed for disturbing the peace anytime the Mayor disagrees with what you have to say. The city is facing a growing crime problem, a growing garbage problem, a growing homeless issue, a shrinking budget and the Mayor says he wants to annex more land to control it. He can’t control the land we have now. It’s time for the Mayor to go.
...to clarify the statement made about the Hollister moretoreum (SP? sorry) It was put in place by the State because of a collapse at the sewer treatment plant on a retaining wall, had nothing to do with home builders. I too, was under the impression that was why, then I found out the real reason. Hollister suffered under the moretoruem greatly and it did nothing to stop the rate of foreclosures there...Hollister is about as bad as Los Banos with empty home sitting, foreclosures, short sales etc...
I stand corrected the City of Hollister was forced into a moratorium from the sewage spill. But I knew someone that lived there that told me they were in no hurry to expand the plant, implying that progress may have been deliberately stalled on that issue. As one can see from this article (excerp and link below) that was in The Weekend Pinnacle there were many similar debates going in that city prior to the sewer problem. This has been going on in Hollister for six years now, the pendulum may have swung too far there and that is what is hurting the economy. I think what some people including myself are looking for is more focus on commercial development and a common sense slow down on residential housing. It wouldn’t make sense to go to extremes in either direction. As far as the annexation that the City Council is pushing I believe that might just spur growth to a point that will give the developers an upper hand and property values and sales on existing homes will suffer. Like others have mentioned I see no reason why this cannot wait until after the next election so we can see what the citizens want. It would be an interesting and lively topic for debate in the next election.
“Hollister's Sewage Saga: how did we get here and why isn't it built yet?
The scene was a raucous local government meeting, packed wall-to-wall with fed-up citizens and bickering elected leaders. The topic: should we approve another big housing development or wait until services catch up? - and the debate was fierce between development proponents and those who cautioned that the city's overburdened infrastructure couldn't take much more.”
http://pinnaclenews.1871dev.com/news/contentview.asp?c=194729
...please keep in mind that most of the "damage done" was put in place by the former city council members and mayor before the new mayor and present council sitting were ever elected...loans or no loans, the present situations with over-growth, housing, annexations etc... were not the doings of the current elected officials.
What's sadly amusing is I have heard people pining for the "good ol' days" when Amabile and Company ran the show. Only the Jones-Sousa-Brooks Trio could make people feel that the "friends of development" were doing a better job. Can't wait for November.
The recall effort is a waste of both time and money. The issue would end up on the November ballot at this point, creating a possibility that Jones could be booted out as mayor only to be replaced by...himself as a newly elected mayor. Why not simply allow the people to elect a new mayor as a normal course of events at that time? If this was a year ago, the recall might make sense, but it's too close to the general election for the recall to be sensible.
I couldn't help but laugh at Jones' quote saying he doesn't know which way he was going to vote on the annexation. Anyone with half a brain knows he's going to vote FOR it -- after all, he's the one that is trying to rush it through and get it approved as quickly as possible. Does he really think people are that stupid? Or is he still doing the drugs he was caught with years ago?
Before the news of his relationship with Hostetler broke, I heard he was being paid under the table by Hostetler to push the annexation through. Then when the news of him borrowing that money hit, I wasn't surprised at all....as it all made sense.
Jones is untrustworthy, dishonest, and really couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag, let alone run a city.
I don't see any harm in the recall, it may bring more attention to the issues and dissatisfaction that many citizens have with this Mayor and council.
Either way he has to go if they have their way they will create a situation where only the developers will be able to sell their homes in this town. The existing neighborhoods will be blighted with foreclosures and the new tracks will look more attractive. All this is so they can continue to collect developer fees.
Hollister successfully put a moratorium in place slow growth is needed for awhile to stabilize the housing market.
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With the election and the times the way it is today the focus should be on the positive. Why bash a human being for being in authority. We are all in this together, Right????
Let's get together and discuss the possibilities of positive progression. Yea, one of you out there might be saying " that's not my job that's his job " but you're missing the point of effective communication skills. We must unite to receive the full effect of a growing city.
When I see bashing of another human being and thats it, no form of contribution to better the situation it makes me glad the negative narrator is not in that position of authority.
By the way, I might have only lived here since 1999. In my opinion, and this is only food for thought, more information has been exposed to the public ear giving room for opinions where in the past prior to Mayor Tommy Jones was kept quiet, hush hush type of arena. That era is gone I hope for good where we were in the dark and couldnt express our opinions good or bad. Thank You Mayor Tommy Jones. Keep up the good work!!!!