The City of Fresno has many challenges, but five of those challenges, all inter-related, deserve the most attention of our elected officials. Our educational system, our unemployment, our crime rate, the condition of our downtown area and our air quality are all at unacceptable levels. Lack of progress in any one of these areas adversely affects progress on the others and impairs our ability to achieve our economic development objectives. And the added amenities we would all like to see in Fresno are in turn dependent on our ability to achieve those economic development goals. Elected officials must always seek to discharge their responsibilities to citizens in the most cost-effective way possible, all the more so during periods of economic stress. History has shown that the best way to achieve efficiencies is through competition. Our elected officials should insist that all services, other than public safety services, be performed by those who can appropriately deliver those services most cost-effectively, as determined through a process of competition. The public sector has some competitive advantages because it does not need to make a profit nor pay taxes, but if, despite those advantages, comparable or superior quality services can be obtained more cost-effectively from the private sector, that should be done.

Federico Pena, former Mayor of Denver and Secretary of Transportation and Energy, has said it well: "Metropolitan regions are the true cities of our time. They are the real labor markets, the functioning economic communities, the commute-sheds, the environmental basins." Our elected officials need to understand that many of our most important issues - economic development, transportation, air quality, to name a few, must be addressed through cooperative regional frameworks. As voters, our citizens have the final word on Fresno's level of municipal taxation and debt, but we depend on our elected leaders for guidance on these issues. Optimization of municipal taxation and debt levels is one of the most important responsibilities of our elected officials. Taxation and debt issuance should be at a level necessary to allow investment to build a better future for our city and our citizens, but not so high as to create a disincentive for private sector investment and job creation. Revenue diversification and the use of appropriate reserves is also critical to Fresno's ability to achieve fiscal stability in the operation of our city, even as we traverse economic cycles created by factors beyond the city's control. All our elected officials should seek to achieve these objectives, and they should be judged on their due diligence, wisdom and prudence in making relevant decisions.