What specific infrastructure does the City of Twentynine Palms need to have in place? That was the question posed to City Council Candidates on last Friday’s Z107.7 Up Close Show.
Each of the three candidates running for Twentynine Palms City Council Division 2, Jim Krushat, April Ramirez, and Paul Razo, are each running to represent a district that was hit hard by recent floods. Daigneault initially asked each candidate about their top three priorities for the City if elected, and they all provided “infrastructure” as one of their responses. Daigneault followed up by asking what, specifically, is the most important infrastructure from this perspective.
Paul Razo
“We need a sewer system. We need a sense of place making for the city, some way-finding. We need it so that you know where you are. We need to be pushing our history and what we offer as a community. We need a sense of design as a city. If we could put some facade improvement incentives in place that are based off of certain color palettes –– certain signage design – so that as a city, we look like we’re all on the same level playing field and we’re a nice place to visit”.
April Ramirez
“We need flood control. We need a sewage system. We need a domestic violence shelter, and we need a homeless shelter before we can do anything else. We have to have our basics taken care of.”
Jim Krushat
“In the long term, I would look at a sewage system. I think that that’s going to have to go into our planning, I would also look into – we’ve talked about the fact that tourism is very popular in 29 Palms. In fact, that’s one of our main tenets of what we bring people out for. I’d like to see some venues for both music and artworks that helps draw people out here and enjoy the desert.
And making housing attainable, which has to do with infrastructure. I worked on the planning commission and we had an ordinance that in single family housing, you had to build a garage. And we asked, ‘Somebody wants to put a roof over their family’s head, why are you making them do a garage if they’re okay with a carport?’ And so we had that requirement removed in the city. You’ve lowered the cost of building a house by about $50,000 to $60,000. Look at, ‘Where can we make housing attainable?’ And I think that’s part of our infrastructure.”
Listen to the full conversation here:
