Mayor Zwahlen thanks voters for tax increase, vows better Modesto in state of city address
Mayor Sue Zwahlen revisited familiar themes in her second state of the city address Tuesday, including efforts to reduce homelessness. She thanked voters for passing a sales tax increase and pledged Modesto would spend it to improve services.
Zwahlen spoke before an audience of about 75 people at Modesto Centre Plaza, the downtown community-convention center. Residents also could watch the mayor deliver her remarks over Zoom.
Voters approved Measure H — a 1% sales tax — in the Nov. 8 election. The tax takes effect April 1 and is expected to add $39 million annually to Modesto’s roughly $171 million general fund budget.
Toward the end of her speech, Zwahlen thanked voters for “believing in us and trusting us” when they passed the measure during the economic uncertainty caused by high inflation and the pandemic.
“We will improve our city’s public safety resources with more patrol officers, traffic enforcement and alternative police response assets,” the mayor said. “We will improve response times for our fire department and paramedic services because we know that in an emergency, every second counts.”
The speech was short on specifics, but the city has started some of that work. For instance, the city expects to receive $10 million from Measure H from April 1 through June 30. The City Council approved a plan at its Feb. 14 meeting for spending nearly $4.5 million of the $10 million. City officials will come back to the council with a plan for the balance.
The plan includes doubling the number of park rangers to eight, hiring another parks maintenance crew and hiring two civilian investigators to help the Police Department’s traffic safety and special investigations unit.
There also is money for Public Works to do more tree trimming and hold two drive-up and drop-off events in which residents can get rid of their busted couches, unwanted TVs, broken laptops and other household junk for free. Residents dropped off 36 tons of junk at the city’s first event in June at John Thurman Field.
Tackling blight
City officials have said that residents dumping broken furniture and other bulky items is a big contributor to Modesto’s blight problem and that these events help curb dumping.
“We will restore playgrounds and fix the bathrooms in our city parks ...,” the mayor continued. “We will trim more trees, fix more sidewalks and repair more roads for our city’s motorists and pedestrians. We will be better equipped to deal with the most vulnerable in our community and do a better job of managing and providing for our residents that are experiencing homelessness. That’s what our residents have asked for, and as long as I am mayor, that’s what I will be advocating for.”
Zwahlen — who took office in February 2021 after winning a runoff election — returned to some of the issues she raised during her first state of the city address in April 2022. That included the city launching its Camp2Home program to help homeless people and the Police Department’s Community Health and Assistance Team, whose outreach specialists help homeless people and others in crisis.
She also revisited Forward Together, the City Council’s police reform effort. Modesto is in the process of forming a Community Police Review Board and hiring an independent police auditor, two of Forward Together’s key recommendations.
Modesto’s successes come in the larger context of an affordable housing crisis and growing numbers of homeless people, despite efforts by multiple organizations to reduce the numbers, and an insufficient number of jobs that pay living wages. Many California cities face these problems.
Dearth of ‘good jobs’
The median price of a single-family home in Stanislaus County has increased by nearly $100,000 in four years. The price was $305,000 in January 2019 compared with $403,750 this past January, according to the California Association of Realtors.
Just 13% of the jobs throughout Stanislaus County are considered “good jobs,” according to Stanislaus 2030, a countywide economic development initiative that aims to change that. Good jobs are those that provide a sufficient income to meet expenses and savings (without relying on “safety net” benefits), employee-sponsored benefits and long-term opportunity for career development.
Stanislaus 2030 calls 22% of all jobs “promising” because while they do not meet all the standards of good jobs, they provide opportunities for career advancement to help workers land good jobs within 10 years.
Zwahlen started her speech by thanking her fellow council members as well as other local elected officials and the city’s partners. Some of the officials at the speech included Assemblyman Juan Alanis, R-Modesto, state Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil, D-Jackson, county Supervisors Mani Grewal and Vito Chiesa and Riverbank Mayor Richard O’Brien.
She also thanked the residents, businesses and volunteers who have have made Modesto their home. And she thanked her family.
The mayor also highlighted some of awards the city has received. They include the League of California Cities honoring Modesto in September with the 2022 Helen Putnam Award for Excellence in Internal Administration. Modesto was honored for a data collection tool that helps it deliver services to people who are homeless.
Zwahlen concluded her speech by saying Modesto is up to it challenges and the state of the city is strong. “We have accomplished so much already, and we are not looking to stop now,” she said. “When we, the city and community, work together in solidarity, there is nothing we cannot accomplish.”
This story was originally published February 21, 2023 at 6:37 PM.
