City of VacavilleCandidate for City Council

Vacaville families need housing that they can afford. The current median wage for a Vacaville family is $74,000 while the median housing price is $470,000. If you do the math the average Vacaville family would have to pay 55% of their monthly budget just to afford their home. Only 60% of Vacaville’s housing stock is owner occupied. Home ownership is the cornerstone of building a families financial future. We can do better! Nolan believes we must update the way we issue permits and incentivize developers to build smaller in-fill development projects that young Vacaville families can afford. By building homes that help young families start their equity journey we are able keep Vacaville families in town and spur economic activity as families build equity and buy up to larger and larger homes.

 

Nolan was raised to respect his elders. Over the last two years the actions of the developers and city in regards to the Green Tree Golf Course

housing development have not exhibited that respect. Leisure town residents were invited to be part of the process and came up with a plan that worked for their very unique community. That plan was scrapped without notice and our senior neighbors in leisure town have been left in the dark. Leisure town residents deserve neighboring housing that is senior friendly, has walking trails, park amenities, a dog park and more much needed senior housing. City leaders need to hold developers accountable to the needs of residents and guard against any development that would be detrimental to our senior’s lifestyle or property values.

 

 

People over profits. Every Vacaville family deserves a safe home that meets their needs with a payment they can afford!

 

Vacaville workers need living wage jobs that can support their families. Median wages are far below other locales in the region. Vacaville families are often forced to look outside of town for gainful employment. The average commute for Vacaville workers is 27 miles each way. This is hours and hours a day in the car in traffic when you could be at home with your kids. 1/3 of the Vacaville jobs that are in town are service sector jobs with low wages and no benefits. We continue to attract and build businesses that add to the local sales base but also don’t pay living wages; Amazon, Walmart and McDonalds. Workers in these jobs are often forced to use public benefits to support their families food, shelter and medical needs. No Vacaville worker working 40 hours a week should be living in poverty. Nolan believes we can do better. We have the 2nd largest bio-manufacturing plant in the entire world directly next door to one of only two accredited community

colleges with a 4 year bio-manufacturing degree right next door. We should be the “Silicon Valley” of bio-tech. We have ample land that already has infrastructure for this type of business. Significant training facilities for staff and are located at the nexus of two major shipping corridors; I80 and I505. We need a vision for the future, to support and grow our economic development staff, create an environment that fosters entrepreneurs in the bio field and to market ourselves as the best location for a bio-business in the State. Nolan knows we can do better. We need to stop courting low wage employers and start going after businesses in the bio and ancillary industries that pay living wages for their workers!

 

Vacaville needs a balanced budget with built in stability and assurances for our city employees and future residents. Nolan believes we need strong fiscal leadership that is transparent, responsive and educates the community. For a city with robust revenue sources like Genentech (the largest tax payer in the region), the outlets (a major sales tax producer) and 1000’s of new homes on the market at high price points (bolstering property tax revenues) we should not be relying on increased taxes to support basic city services. We can do a better job managing our money and spend Measure M revenues where they were intended; roads, facilities and parks for our residents. We should not be deficit spending on permanent expenditures while propping our budget up with a temporary tax.

 

Our city workers deserve the surety of their hard earned benefits. Residents deserve city leaders who better educate the public on the issue of unfunded liabilities and our plan

to address those long term obligations. We need fiscal leadership, transparency and problem solving.

 

We should be bringing in experts to help our city leaders navigate murky financial waters. We have community experts on the Planning Commission and Community Services Commission to advise city leaders on building and parks. Nolan would follow suit and create a Budget Commission stocked with accountants, auditors, financial professionals and representatives from our bargaining groups to use their expertise to help the city craft a plan for our financial future.

Our city workers and our children deserve better! We cannot continue to gamble with employee benefits or pass our debt on to future generations of Vacaville.