Los Banos City Council District 4 candidates address pressing issues and economic growth

Incumbent Deborah Lewis is facing business owner Travis Loebig for the Los Banos City Council District 4 seat in the upcoming November election.

Question: What do you see as the most important issues or challenges that District 4 is facing?

Lewis said she sees public safety as an issue in the entire city and not just an issue specific to one district as it’s important to make sure the city has enough police officers and firefighters. One issue that Lewis said she sees in her district is poor street conditions.

“We have really bad streets that need to be resurfaced,” she said..

Loebig said he is familiar with the Colorado Park area of the City that includes baseballs fields and a skate park. Loebig said he feels the city council has been doing a good job for the most part and that is something that he doesn’t want to stop.

“I just want to make the kids more proud and just people in general more proud of where they’re coming from,” said Loebig. Specifically in their appreciation of the parks and the people who are working for them. Loebig said the city barely has enough practice fields for the children in the community.

Q: If elected, what will you do to positively impact Los Banos residents living in your district?

Loebig said he considers himself outgoing and has been involved with little league in the community for about the past five years. Loebig said that by knowing a lot of people he can learn about their views and what they need.

“Our town has grown a lot these past couple years, I think I can really relay the messages of our whole district to our council and just talk about with them what really needs done compared to what’s going on right now with our council,” Loebig said.

Lewis said she has experienced a problem with communication between her and the city manager.

“If a new council is elected, it will be my charge to dig in and find out what the unknowns are that need to be taken care of in my district,” she said.

Q: If elected, what will you do to improve both the economic and educational outlook for Los Banos residents of all ages?

Lewis said it is a collective job as all councilmemebers because the council does not have a lot of pull or sway in their district in Los Banos the way one would in a large major community.

“As a coucilmember, we need to find better solutions to attract new types of businesses, not the same ones that we’ve been attracting here over the last few decades,” said Lewis. “Businesses that will be more desirable for our community and businesses where we can have better jobs for our residents in our community.”

Loebig said the 4-H program is always a popular activity with the youth in the community and his big drive is to keep people busy and to have something to do rather than not.

Another push is to give incentives to try and get some new jobs and businesses in town. Loebig mentioned the recent closing of a bowling alley in the city which was an activity enjoyed by many middle-aged and older residents and pickle ball courts which have yet to be built.

“A lot of it is just pushing forward and making sure that the projects are done in a timely manner,” Loebig said.

Q: If elected, what steps will you take to attract investment to the city and create jobs that provide sustainable wages for Los Banos residents?

Loebig said one of the things it comes down to zoning for some of the areas to allow for more buildings such as warehouses.

“Whatever deals can be made to bring jobs in is really important especially with how much we’ve grown,” said Loebig.

Lewis said she has noticed how some cities have been able to attract distribution centers which can pay employees more than minimum wage salaries offered by some other employers such as box stores or fast food restaurants.

“I would like to see our city begin to look at sphere of influence around the city and start zoning to attract businesses rather than just houses,” said Lewis.

Lewis continued saying the city needs to work better to attract a different type of business in the community.

“There’s so much out there that I think we can do for our city rather than just the typical for small communities, but it requires thinking out of the box,” said Lewis. “Having a community that’s willing to work with a businesses and with a developer to bring in the type of businesses that are going to have sustainable living wages, and not have our residents not have to commute over the hill and be able to have a job where they can work at home.”

Q: How do you plan to address the needs of the unhoused population in Los Banos ?

Loebig said the unhoused is extremely important and there have been some living pads set up for them so far in the city.

“There’s already plans to build some small houses,” said Loebig. To give them a path to being comfortable and moving to the next step in their lives. I think in general our city is, separate from what some people might say, our town is really going through the process to make it happen already.

Loebig said a lot of grant money is going toward making that happen and continuing the process and making things more comfortable fore everyone is great.

Lewis said that at the last City Council Meeting, the city received a grant of $11.8 million for permanent housing with wrap around services. These services for homelessness are difficult for communities to have to deal with because the state makes a mandate to do certain thins. But the mandate and funding doesn’t always match, according to Lewis.

“From what I see, larger cities get the bigger bulk of money but smaller communities suffer,” said Lewis.

Lewis went on to say that by percentages, Los Banos has just as many unhoused individuals as larger cities. Although the amount to unhoused people may be less, the City of Los Banos also hurts too, according to Lewis.

“I’m appreciative of the fund that we got for permanent housing, but the state needs to help smaller communities more when we have people who are not capable of being in permanent housing or who don’t want to go in any kind of housing situation to help them,” said Lewis.

Q: If elected, what policies and programs will you put in place to make sure residents have access to quality affordable housing, including housing for low income residents?

Loebig said one of his big concerns is smaller complexes that get run down and are not taken care of correctly. He said more regulations with the building of housing is important.

“Building things with the right amenities is such a huge thing,” said Loebig. Giving people what they need whether they live in apartments or if it’s a community swimming pool.

“There’s got to be a little extra than just throwing up a bunch of houses is my opinion on that,” said Loebig. “Even for low income or people that are barely able to afford the houses, that way they don’t have to spend extra on things just to live a decent life.”

Lewis said that this issue involves certain state mandates and the city cannot force developers to build certain types off housing.

“However, the city can rezone property in areas that are within our sphere of influence that we plan to bring in the city,” said Lewis. “Or if there’s any pockets of land available within the city that are undeveloped, to work with a developer to do R3 housing which could be apartments or condos to help people who are not in the position of buying a single residential home in and R1 district,” she said.

Lewis said this is a challenge that the city has had for a while specifically while working with develops.

“Building an apartment versus building a single family home, brings in a different revenue stream for developers,” said Lewis. “I think that’s part of the key, but once the start the rezoning for R3 or other types of affordable housing we really have to stick to our guns to make sure that that product moves forward because we do have the state mandate,” she said.

The Sun-Star did not receive a response from either candidate running for Los Banos City Council District 1.