On Dec. 18 the City Council chose Martha Parsons to fill out the remaining two years of Mayor Jim Davis' council term. Before they made their selection, council members interviewed the finalists. The following are the council's questions and Parsons' responses to those questions.
Given the current economic crisis that state and local governments are facing, what knowledge, skills and abilities will you bring to the council to help solve budget issues?
I do have a degree in accounting. And I do believe that I'm a numbers person. I've had to run budgets for myself and hire and fire staff because of economics in the business sector. I was really sorry to hear that Highway 4 was taken off the table yesterday at the state capitol.
I think we're going to have to do a combination. Because I think it's going to trickle down to us in more than just Highway 4. We're going to have to do a combination of really scouring the budget and depending on the staff to really give us information. But I also think we are going to have to raise revenues by increasing fees. It's going to have to be part of that, as well as job creation.
What do you see as the most pressing problem in the city of Antioch and what would you do to help resolve it?
I see the most important challenge is families whether they work for the city or they work in the city or they come home late at night to our city. We need to do something with our budget that gives our people hope. I think that hope will take care of a lot of the crime probems, a lot of the hopelessness that's going in the city
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The city of Antioch needs to give our citizens hope through going to Washington, D.C. and hoping we can get that infrastructure money. Highway 4 was taken off the list yesterday, as were hundreds of projects 67 pages taken off the list yesterday of funding. Highway 4, $30 million was taken off.
We need to fight for some money to get our families home so that our kids will have their families to support them. We need to fight with some of the money that we have gotten now for mortgage foreclosures. We need to take care of our families.
When deciding on whether to support a new business proposal, where do you stand on the issue of providing a fair and equitable wage for employees versus providing low-cost goods for consumers?
I will always side on a wage that people can live by, can live in the city with, can have their children play in the sports field here, can stay home. I believe that's what we owe our people, that we need to have wages where they can pay rent, they can buy a home and they can sustain themselves.
Public safety is the number-one issue in our community. As such, over half of the General Fund budget is dedicated to funding police services. In this downturn economy, what are your thoughts and plans to ensure proper funding? What do you believe the priorities should be moving forward for the police? Is there any change in the current approach that you would make?
When I was young, Cap Carlson directed traffic at Wilbur Avenue and everybody knew him. When you did something in Antioch, your parents knew before you got home. And I would hope that the police can be that familiar with their beats. I feel they are stretched. Antioch is so large; I was amazed at the size of the beats.
So the community has to step in and help the police in their beats. I would hope that we would have more of a know-your-neighbors for the police officers. And I was really sorry to see the after-school program end at Black Diamond, the 4A that was doing wonderful work. I would like the nonprofits and the churches to step in and give a place for the children to go after school.
What are the top three priorities for the community, and what would be the first thing you would do when you got on the council with one of those?
Public safety, traffic by that I mean Highway 4, G Street, what we're going to deal with with the railroad wanting to use the right of way and hope for our families that we can get them through this.
We are all in this together. I don't think it's a unique thing that we face with our public safety. All of us are facing budget cuts in our families and in the city. But I think we need to prioritize and ask the community to step in, the churches to step in to come together and bring our diversity so it's not us against them. I believe every one of us has something to bring to the table and we ought to invite it in.
What would be your style of working with this council and how would that differ with the city staff?
My style is how I deal with everyone in my life, and it's to get along. We all might have differing views, but if you're respectful and listen, I think there's common ground always. As far as the staff, it wouldn't be any different. I have friends and longtime relations in the whole county, the Bay Area, Washington and Sacramento. If you respect a person, that's how you deal with them.
What makes you most proud of calling yourself an Antiochan?
I have grown up here. I remember when we had vineyards; I remember when we had a familiar feeling. I'm proud that I think now that we are going back, we are thinking we can get that again if we try hard enough.
The city police, I've dealt with them several times, and they are competent, they care, they have the VIPS (Volunteers in Police Service), they care about the community. I'm just proud that with the churches, the schools and community, we can bring us back.
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