Birsan offers his wish list for city of Concord
CONCORD, CA (Nov. 19, 2024) — As this is my last column as mayor, I will go over things that I had on my to-do list.
None are done. And I can assure you that there is not room in this column for all the things I am trying to do.
Political goals
1. Directly elected mayor.
2. Add a district, so there are six districts and a mayor. This would allow for at 20,000 population there to be a district from north of Todos Santos and allow for a central district.
3. Change the agenda rules to allow two councilmembers to put something on the agenda. (As mayor, I did a workaround by acting as an automatic third if any two want something regardless of my position.)
4. Eliminate the Youth and Education standing committee and replace it with Art/Culture/History.
5. Make all standing committees have an open agenda for discussion at least every three months.
6. Take on the Brown Act so we can have a discussion at City Council on future agenda items.
7. Do a survey of residents more frequently and maybe include more political decisions, such as directly elected mayor.
8. Make the standing committees and commissions capable of initiating public interactions rather than by direction of staff or council. It’s a Brown Act problem, but there has to be a workaround or maybe a direct change.
Economics
1. Affordable housing with a focus on low-level density.
2. Making a tiny town.
3. Revitalization of current housing with funds for rehab.
4. Helping first-time home buyers.
5. Bring live theater downtown.
6. Fully connect traffic lights with modern cars so you are not at a red light in the middle of the night on an empty road. We should have a pilot program soon.
9. Eliminate illegal food trucks. (They are principally hurting our Latino restaurants.)
10. Reopen the Monument Police Substation and maybe expand it to include city services or social services.
11. Get base development started on the preservation side, such as the creek riparian corridor. Plant trees where we can.
Social
1. More unity, role modeling that “anyone can represent everyone.” I detest ID politics. We can celebrate and share the diversity of our community without making it divisive.
2. Follow through on the Homeless Strategic Plan.
3. One or two more soccer fields, maybe at the college campus.
4. Climate actions such as more 100% green commercial and residential places.
5. Placing at least 10 historic markers around the city to highlight the neighborhoods and city at large.
6. Have a diverse cultural center where all can share their backgrounds.
7. Extend the city’s youth intern program.
8. Follow through on the $4 million grant proposal for a library upgrade that Sens. Padilla and Butler supported in March but got shot down in the Senate floor allocations.
9. Renaming some of the offensive streets, like Kirker Pass.
10. Expansion of school-city interactions by more visits to and from schools. I had a good response with private schools but only one public school.
The above are my views as outgoing mayor and are not official city projects. There is much more to dream about and hope for or work against. Want to talk about it over coffee? Contact me at EdiBirsan@gmail.com.