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Mar 13

Candidates for Grand Junction City Council, District A – Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

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By Staff Sunday, March 12, 2017

Name: Phyllis Norris

Age: 69

Years in Grand Junction: 69

1. Do you support creating a community/recreation center in GrandJunction?

Today the city offers numerous facilities and recreational opportunities to the community.

A few of these are:

The Orchard Mesa community center indoor pool is open year-round, a summer season pool and splash padat Lincoln Park.

A senior center on Sixth Street and Ouray Avenue.

Meeting rooms at Two Rivers, the Avalon, Lincoln Park Barn and the hospitality suite at the stadium.

Athletic and exercise programs at the Lincoln Park Barn, basketball programs at school locations, outdoor recreational programs at numerous parks, and a walking track at Lincoln Park.

We have nine privately owned fitness centers and 11 yoga/Pilates studios currently in the city.

There is a citizens group working to bring everything into one facility. I believe there are a lot of questions to be answered before we ask citizens to approve a tax to build and maintain a center.

2. What should City Councils role be in promoting economic development?

City Council developed an economic developmentplan in 2014. As part of that plan we hired an outside consultant to work with the ED partners in the valley; they developed action plans with goals for each partner. Each year they bring their plan to Council and we budget funding to support theseeconomic development goals. The city also supports the Visitor and Convention Bureau for promoting tourism. Councils role is to continue to support the entities that understand and have the ability to work with businesses to grow the economy.

3. Do you support the presence of retail marijuana businesses in Grand Junction?

According to Rocky Mountain High Drug Trafficking Area, since Colorado legalized marijuana, marijuana-related traffic deaths have increased 48 percent in a three-year period. Youth use of marijuana has increased 20 percent while the nation went down 4 percent. Hospital-related incidents have increased 49 percent. Highway patrol yearly seizures of Colorado marijuana increased 37 percent. I dont want this in our community, and we should remain one of the 68 percent of local jurisdictions who ban medical and recreational marijuana businesses.

4. Identify one or two issues you feel are most important for Grand Junction.

I believe the city of Grand Junction has two major issues. First is providing public safety for citizens. We still need additional police officers as well as another fire station in our community. The second is maintaining and expanding our road system. As our economy grows, funding for these areas will also grow. Council members need to stay focused on improving the economy and budgeting our funds to take care of these two issues.

5. What makes you a qualified candidate for City Council?

I retired as president fromCity Market six years ago and had a successful career because of my leadership skills, dedication to the company, strong work ethic and made decisions to help grow the company. The city needs these skills to help us continue to grow; because of my background, I provide the leadership needed for our city.

Name: Jesse Daniels

Age: 35

Years in Grand Junction: Born and raised in the Grand Valley

1. Do you support creating a community/recreation center in Grand Junction?

Im in full support of a community/recreation center in Grand Junction.Determining if an existing building could be retrofitted to become the facility or if a new facility should be created is paramount.Matchett Park has a space reserved as a potential facility location, and there has also been talk about retrofitting the Orchard Mesa Pool facility to become a community/recreation center.Voters have chosen in the past not to fund the center by way of a tax increase.So the overall health and success of Grand Junction based on tax revenue seems to be how this project would be funded.

2. What should City Councils role be in promoting economic development?

The City Councils role is to further the reach and effectiveness of programs that have proven their worth.Programs like: The Grand Junction Economic Partnership, The Downtown Development Authority, The Grand Junction Visitor and Convention Bureau, and The Business Incubator.Empowering these entities to make a deeper reach into and out of our community to attract economic development is their mission and our support of them should be of the highest priority.

3. Do you support the presence of retail marijuana businesses in Grand Junction?

Developing a healthy economic community is key to the success of Grand Junction; retail cannabis is a prime example of that.Community projects like a community/recreation center could be realized with the influx of tax revenue.Our schools are literally becoming a health hazard to students and faculty, our infrastructure is crumbling, and our emergency services need additional funding.All of these things are extremely costly. Retail cannabis enables Grand Junction to not only collect huge local tax revenues, but it allows for the city to apply for state level funding as well.I assisted GJ CAN to form their nonprofit status and helped them along the way to creating their regulatory framework for retail cannabis.Using their framework, talking with cities in Colorado that are seeing success, and combining all efforts to create the best model for Grand Junction to thrive, while reining in the black market and increasing our tourism this is how we realize a functioning cannabis industry.

4. Identify one or two issues you feel are most important for Grand Junction.

Issue 1: Divorcing our boom and bust mentality to diversify our economy.By simply attracting consumers back to Grand Junction.Achieving this by way of year-round concerts, events, trade shows, festivals and conventions through the expansion of Two Rivers Convention Center.Allowing a comprehensive and well-regulated cannabis industry.Empowering GJEP, the DDA, the GJ Visitor and Convention Bureau, and the Business Incubator to attract new exciting industries to Grand Junction.

Issue 2. Improving the overall quality of life for the Grand Junction community.Achieving this through a stable healthy diversified economy, community outreach programs, improving the mass transit system to once again include a light rail service, and addressing the homelessness issue in a way that creates a support system for mental/physical health, developing a path to success, work programs, and housing pathways.

5. What makes you a qualified candidate for City Council?

I am a qualified candidate because:

I have a common-sense approach to issues.

Being a career bartender and chauffeur Ive had a unique perspective the past 20 years into what people think of and need from this city.

Through activism Ive helped to shore up the needs of underprivileged communities in the Grand Valley.

Having been a business owner in this city, Ive seen what isnt working, how we can improve and how to perpetuate small businesses to their full potential.

Thank you for your consideration! We CAN build a better Grand Junction Together!

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Candidates for Grand Junction City Council, District A - Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

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