Press Release
11 Sept. 2008 Poway
On August 27, a group of High Valley residents hosted a forum for Poway city council candidates. The High Valley group proposed several dates for the forum, and found no date where every candidate could attend. Chuck Cross was not able to speak on the selected date.
David Haessig spoke for candidate Cross, giving a short bio and statement of his platform.
At the end, Haessig promised the group that Chuck Cross would answer their questions, making a plea to the media to publish the answers in a gesture of fairness to the candidate. Candidate Cross’s answers follow.
Q. Do you want term limits on the ballot?
A. Poway City Council Term limits should be put on the ballot by a voter referendum so the voters can decide on this important issue.
Q. Do you agree with raising the building height limit for low income housing?
A. I want Poway to keep its rural and low density character. I favor our existing height limitations.
Q. What are your thoughts on the fire fighting decisions made during the Witch fire?
A. Our fire fighters are led by experienced, well trained fire fighting experts. I support the difficult decision they made during the Witch fire. My sincere hope is that city management and city government listened to the advise of these experts, and did not influence their decisions with emotion or personal needs.
Q. How do you feel about the city’s help with rebuilding after the fire? Should the city add or replace planning department staff?
A. Many rebuilding plans have been delayed or denied because they do not meet current planning or construction requirements.
These requirements are important to our community and important to your health and safety. Circumstances do exist where variances are appropriate and these should be reviewed by the city on an individual basis. I have talked to Witch Fire victims and others who have worked with our city’s planning department. I want to improve the planning department’s response to needs of homeowners who are improving, rebuilding or building their own home. As a city council member, I will work with the City Manager to implement a “can do” program within the planning department. The theme of this program will be Tell them what they CAN do, not what they can’t do.
My feedback is that homeowners presenting unacceptable plans are just told no at each review until they get it right.
My program will encourage staff to help the homeowner with ideas that meet the needs of the department and the homeowner.
Q. Would you support fire training for residents of fire-prone areas?
A. The Cedar Fire reminded the city of the importance of fire and emergency preparedness. Many deficiencies were recognized and improvements were made.
The city was better prepared for the Witch fire, and I am sure our losses would have been even greater without these improvements. But we found more areas where we need to improve.
During the Witch fire, our city made a request for additional firefighters and equipment from jurisdictions in the SF bay area. This resource was dispatched, but diverted when fires broke out in other areas. Our request for air support was also denied. We were left with insufficient resources to fight the fire.
Our firefighter’s leadership made strategic decisions based on the resources at hand. Some lost their homes to stop a fire that could have destroyed the rest of North Poway.
We learned from the Witch Fire that we need more equipment and more firefighters to fight wildfires. We need to explore all possibilities to solve this problem, including a city trained and equipped volunteer or auxiliary fire fighting unit.
Q. Is the ratio of EMTs to the population sufficient?
A. Medical professionals tell me patients brought to our hospitals with the aid of Poway’s EMTs are provided professional and quality care. I believe the number and quality of these first responders is good. Poway also has a trained Community Emergency Response Team to assist with disaster response.
Q. Would you support a new contract for waste removal?
A. I am always interested in seeking out the best value in our waste removal contracts, and every other endeavor that spends the taxpayer’s money.
Q. Would you consider an AD HOC committee to work closely with the City Council?
A. We have citizen committees now, like the Budget Review Committee. And I believe AD HOC committees are important to a successful city government.
Q. Should variances be granted that go against the general plan?
A. Each request for a variance is unique, and subject to staff and public review. Significant concerns revealed during public review must refer the decision to a vote by the people as required by proposition FF.