As your Mayor,

I will remember I am a public servant and I work for the people of Fresno. I will labor tirelessly in order to make a positive and long lasting difference in our community for ALL of the people in our community.

As your Mayor, I will work in conjunction with the council members, state and federal agencies and the people of Fresno in order to make Fresno a better place for all. I WILL implement these plans that will make Fresno a leader in green technology usage, a safe city to enjoy, a downtown that ALL of the people of Fresno will enjoy as well as benefiting local businesses and attracting tourists from out of our area. I will create a better Fresno that will provide ALL of our citizens and businesses the opportunities to succeed.

Jim and Stacey Boswell in Washington D.C.		Solar & wind power Saves millions of dollars

Green technology use/clean air solutions

         PLAN - Implement plans to enact laws requiring all new residential and commercial development to install wind and solar powered light poles. I will implement a plan that will retrofit all existing light poles in Fresno to the wind and solar powered light poles, (40,000) poles that cost our city millions in electric bills.

Benefit – I have acquired the design and committed pricing for the wind and solar powered poles. This will result in the initial cost of the purchase and installation of the “Green Technology” light poles at just under half of the cost of the purchase and installation of the costly electric powered light poles in use now. The “Green Technology” poles bolt on to the existing base of the light poles used now. Therefore, there will not be any extra costs in the fitting of the new poles.

Benefit – The “Green Technology” poles will immediately save the city of Fresno approximately $3,000,000 per year, EVERY YEAR.

Benefit - These surplus funds of over $3,000,000 will be used to provide our police department, fire department, our educators and our businesses the tools needed to succeed.

Benefit – The installation of the wind and solar powered poles will create thousands of new jobs for the people of Fresno.

Benefit – The installation of the wind and solar poles will create NO GREENHOUSE GASES, resulting in a step towards cleaner air in Fresno. The fact that the city of Fresno will be using considerably less power will result in the power company having a surplus of power. Therefore, the power company will have the extra power they need during peak power usage times and will not have to resort to rolling brownouts.

As Mayor, I will have our city apply for the many state and federal grants available for using green technology. This will give our city an even higher surplus of funds.

Benefit – We can install this same wind and solar technology on ALL government buildings, creating a surplus of funds in the tens of millions.

Benefit – We can offer this same wind and solar technology to the public to be installed for a minimal price onto their homes. This will create tremendous monthly financial savings for the people of Fresno. We can also offer this technology to the businesses in Fresno. This will create remarkable annual savings for our businesses and providing another tool for the businesses to succeed. The residential homeowner and the businesses in our city will also be able to apply for rebates as a reward for installing green technologies.

Plan – Implement the installation of rooftop air purification systems on all government buildings. As your Mayor, I will also work with the state and federal agencies that will provide rebate programs for all citizens, commercial developers and residential developers that install a rooftop air purification system on the buildings and homes they build and own.

Benefit -The rooftop air purification systems are inexpensive, easily installed on a rooftop while using only a 120 volt power source and they are approximately half the size of an average air conditioning unit.

The rooftop air purification system takes in the smog and chemical filled air (The particulate matter) we breathe every day and processes this into clean and breathable air. One or two hundred units will not make a difference. However, with the incentives and clean air benefits, I believe we can accomplish our goal of having over 200,000 homes and buildings using the rooftop air purification systems within five to seven years. As your Mayor, my ten year goal is to have at least 300,000 homes using the rooftop air purification systems.

By the end of the ten year plan, Fresno will not only surpass the clean air requirements set by the government agencies, but the people of Fresno will experience the benefits of being able to breathe clean, fresh air on a daily basis as well as having the pleasure of seeing our foothills and mountains that are now obstructed by the toxins in our air.

Benefit - When we, the people of Fresno achieve our ten year goal of the usage of the 300,000 rooftop air purification systems, we will vastly decrease the number of smog related illnesses in our city. This will save our community millions of dollars in health care costs and alleviate employees missing work and children developing severe illnesses due to the terrible air we breathe now.

Public Safety

         PLAN – I will work closely with the Fresno Police Chief as well as speak to our police officers in order to listen to and act upon their needs. I will work with and listen to the concerns and needs of the people of Fresno, the business owners of Fresno including organizations such as The Fresno Chamber of Commerce and The Central California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in order to listen to and act upon their ideas, concerns and needs.

 I will implement plans to increase the number of police officers in the city of Fresno. These increases will be paid for by using the “Green Technology” surplus funds as well as the state and federal rebate monies received. Therefore, our city will have a minimal cost, if any, from the annual budget. This will assist in balancing the annual budget without cutting departments and terminating employees.

Benefit – As Mayor, I will also implement plans to assign police officers who will walk the neighborhoods instead of driving through while unable to see some of the crime that is happening in the officers, “blind spots”. This will create neighborhoods where the people of Fresno are safer and the criminal element will have to leave our neighborhoods and our city because the eyes of our police department will be on them.

I will also add police officers on bicycles in our neighborhoods, parks and in the downtown area. This will create safer areas for our citizens to shop, visit and walk the streets without the fear of being accosted.

Benefit – Safer streets and lower crime rates will allow the city of Fresno to finally become a city that other businesses want to relocate to. This will create more funds for the city and allow our city to continue the increase of police officers. We will also be able to promote more officers within the department in order to lower the case loads our detectives now face.

As your Mayor, I will work closely with the police department, the sheriff’s department and state and federal agencies in order to rid our city of the gangs that are terrorizing our community. My plan is to provide the policing agencies the tools needed to flat out tell these gangs that they are not welcome here and that THEY WILL LEAVE OUR CITY or they will, without question, suffer the consequences of their actions and their decision to become gang members. As your Mayor, I will have an absolute, “NO TOLERENCE” policy for gangs. I will immediately begin work on ridding our city of these criminals. There will be no more “tying the hands of our police” or taking pictures of gang members and then sending them on their way so they can commit more crimes against our people. I will implement a strategy that will allow our police department to completely rid our city of these arrogant and violent gangs and therefore, ensure a safer Fresno for the honest, hard working people of our community.

As your Mayor, I will help make Fresno a safer and more attractive city that will allow our city to thrive and allow the people of Fresno to succeed and once again, be proud of our city.

I have spoken to numerous Teachers and I have visited various fire stations and spoke to our Firefighters in order to listen to their concerns and ideas. I believe this to be the best way to address the issues important to our Teachers and Firefighters.

Along with my ability to lead, I will implement my plans that will ensure our Teachers and Firefighters will have the tools needed to succeed.

Education and Public Services

         PLAN – I will work closely with and listen to the needs of the teachers and educational administrators in order to provide the tools needed to help our children become well educated and successful.  These tools will originally be acquired by using a portion of the $3,000,000 surplus created by the “Green Technology” plan.

Benefit - This will dramatically decrease the dropout rate in the Fresno Unified School District and increase the school district’s funding. This will also result in the school district receiving additional funds needed to continue educating our children successfully. Finally, The Fresno Unified School District will have the funds needed to provide teachers with the salaries they have been promised and have earned.

                  PLAN – I will work closely with and listen to the needs of our fire department. Again, these tools will originally be acquired by using a portion of the $3,000,000 surplus created by the “Green Technology” plan. This will provide the funding needed to keep the existing fire stations open, as well as opening additional fire stations and hiring new Firefighters.

                  Benefit – This will allow our firefighters enough equipment and employees to reach any fire and emergency in less than four minutes. If the fire department arrives at their destination in this amount of time, it will dramatically increase the lives and properties saved in Fresno.

Downtown Revitalization

         PLAN – I believe the people of Fresno will be best served by implementing a downtown revitalization project that will project Fresno’s personality and our own identity instead of making expensive attempts to counterfeit another city. Our city already has water use problems and the addition of a downtown river is a project that will consume more water than we have. As Mayor, I will implement plans to create a unique, yet family friendly and business friendly downtown.

         Our current administration and my fellow candidates seem to believe the only way to get businesses downtown is to shop for out of town companies and import them here by giving these imported companies free buildings, re-zoning areas and allowing tax advantages not currently available to our OWN BUSINESSES whom have been a part of supporting our city. My plan for revitalizing downtown begins with the inexpensive creation of a family oriented and beautiful downtown park with so many amenities there will be “SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE!”

         The park will have plenty of picnicking and barbequing areas to have family barbeques, company picnics and much more. The park will have a soft track for those who wish to exercise including the downtown employees who normally exercise by walking on the hard concrete during their lunch periods. The park will also have tennis courts, volleyball courts, hiking trails with exercise stations and occasional stations that will offer pictures and trivia about the history of Fresno for the people to enjoy and learn about our wonderful city. The park will have a Parks and Recreation booth where people can find out more about the amenities as well as information and locations of the many restaurants, stores and “things to do” in the downtown area. The park will have an amusement area, a fenced area for dog walking, a “catch and release” fishing pond and many other family oriented activities. My plan includes allowing vendors to sell their wares, (hot dogs, cotton candy, churros, corn dogs, “FRESNO HATS”, etc.) for a nominal fee in order to pay for the maintenance of the park.  The park that I will create for downtown will also have police officers walking the park and officers on bicycles that will provide a safe environment and keep the park free of any criminal element. The remarkable increase in the number of people spending time and shopping downtown will attract our local businesses and increase their profits dramatically.

         Benefit – There are many benefits to having this, “Historic Fresno Park.” These benefits include the creation of jobs for the employees needed to work in the park, the police officers that will be stationed in the park, the vendors selling the products in the park and many more. This park will also be used for various festivals throughout the year. The city will allow for a fee, organizations to have a jazz festival, a Cinco De Mayo festival, The Scottish Gathering, a Chinese New Year parade and many more events that celebrate our diversity and will increase the income for the city. It will also provide a beautiful setting for people to have a great family day as well as provide our downtown businesses with tens of thousands of paying customers. All of this can be accomplished at a fraction of the costs involved in building a downtown river.

Ending the homeless problem

PLAN – I will implement a plan that will create a city owned and operated homeless shelter and assistance center.

The “Center” will offer the homeless in our community a comfortable place to sleep and receive a meal. Other services the “Center” will offer are drug counseling, alcohol counseling, psychiatric counseling, job placement services, vocational training and many other services designed to assist the homeless in becoming productive members of society.

Benefit – By implementing this plan, our city will benefit by receiving more taxes when the former homeless become working members of our society. The city’s economy and businesses will benefit as these working members of our society will be purchasing products throughout our city and renting or buying property.

         This plan will create jobs as the “Center” will need staff to operate the “Center” properly.

         I will offset the costs of the “Center” by working with non-profit organizations, volunteer organizations and employ the assistance from community members. I will also utilize the state and federal grants available for such projects.

Our current administration has attempted to address this issue by hiding our homeless in shacks. The reality is that the administration is only providing a temporary solution to a permanent problem and hiding the homeless issue from public view will not solve the problem.

As your Mayor, I will create an assistance center that will offer the services the homeless need in order to give them a hand up and assist these members of our community in becoming part of the workforce. This will end the homeless problem, increase our economy and is a long term and permanent solution to this problem.

Securing the future for the “Baby Boomers Retiring”

         Our state will be facing a deficit in the billions due to the overwhelming number of “Baby Boomers” who will be reaching retirement age. Our city must be prepared and the mayor of our city must be able to cope with the numbers of retirees who will need services. Without competent leadership, the Baby Boomer Retirees in our city will be left to deal with the high costs of retirement on their own. As your mayor, I WILL NOT ALLOW OUR GOVERNMENT TO ABANDON YOU!

         PLAN – As Mayor, I will implement local plans to develop the assistance and secure the obligations we need for our retirees. I do not believe in just sitting back and hoping that the state and federal government will take care of our people. Therefore, I will work very closely with state and federal entities in order to implement fully funded non-pension assistance programs.

I have developed strong relationships with state and federal agencies and leaders as well as one of our President’s advisors. These relationships will allow me to provide the strong leadership we need and will also allow me to accomplish the goals of making positive differences for the people of our city.

Benefit – The many retirees without appropriate pensions and those with minimal pension assistance will greatly benefit from my fully funded non-pension plans.

I have developed close relationships with state and federal officials. Through these relationships, I will assert our political will in order to fulfill my plans that will secure my promises to our retirees’ security for the next three decades. My plans will provide the assistance our retiring community will need in order to ensure an uncomplicated and efficient transition to retirement.

Creating a “Citizen Advisory Commission”

         Although I will be working closely with the council members in order to resolve the concerns and issues in each district as advised by each council member, I believe that the best way to address the most important and most accurate concerns is to speak with the residents of the districts.

         PLAN – As Mayor, I will create a Citizens Advisory Commission. This commission will consist of two residents from each district on a volunteer basis. The volunteers from each district and I will meet once per month. During these meetings, I will listen to the residents and act on their concerns, suggestions and the issues they face in their district. I will report the findings of these meetings to the appropriate council member who represents each district. I will then work with this council member to resolve the concerns and issues discussed by the people. The commission members will serve for a period of six months. At the end of the six month volunteer service, two different residents from each district will be chosen for the next six months. This will allow various citizens to voice their concerns and allow the Mayor to listen to different views and concerns from a great variety of our residents.

Benefit – This plan will allow the Mayor to have more information from a variety of citizens. This commission will allow the peoples’ voice to be heard. I will then know what THE PEOPLES’ concerns and issues are and I will act on these concerns and resolve them.

This will also give the Mayor and the council members the information needed to truly serve the people efficiently and appropriately.

*NOTE

Since the release of my “Plans and Benefits” package, we have noticed how my fellow candidates have released similar plans. However, the facts are that although I am sure the other candidates are trying their best, they are not familiar with the technology needed to accomplish the plans I have developed. Other plans will cost our city hundreds of millions of dollars, are inferior and will not benefit the people of Fresno. Jim Boswell’s plans will create the surplus funding in order to benefit the workers and the people of our city as well as make Fresno the leader that other cities will strive to follow.

To Contact or Support

Jim Boswell for Mayor
6083 N. Figarden Dr. PMB 188, Fresno, CA 93711
(559) 432-7552
Email: jboswell@comcast.net