Thursday, May 2, 2013

This Campaign Is About A Lot More Than Trees


I saw the recent mailing from my opponent and his cohorts, and I have to respond because what they suggest is both misleading and untrue.  I would never ask residents to choose between core services and planting trees to make Leon Valley greener.

Yes, we do have a 10,000 trees plan that is an initiative from our SDAT (Sustainable Design Assessment Team) Report, that was a collaborative process involving citizens, elected officials, architects, planners, economists and city staff to develop a long-range plan for development.  Leon Valley has a history of being a leader in conservation; conservation is a value held by our citizens that over time has become a directive, and is part of our city's mission to "provide our community with a superior quality of life by balancing social equity, environmental stewardship and economic development to achieve sustainability."

But we do have a plan for making your family and your neighborhood safer.  That's our #1 job! That's part of our strategic plan that is being implemented every day.  We just last year passed a $7 million Public Safety Bond to expand and enhance the facilities in which our Police, EMS and Fire responders work, and to give us room to grow as we serve an increasing population.  

We currently maintain a higher police per square mile ratio with 3 officers in 3.5 square miles, as compared to 1 in 10 in San Antonio, and are actively working with neighborhoods to strengthen existing neighborhood watch programs and implement new ones.  My neighborhood utilizes a private social network to connect neighbors, share information and strengthen our commitment to each other; I plan to take that to our Police Chief to see how we might incorporate LVPD and roll it out to the rest of our  city. We do need to look at compensation of our first responders, and I do commit to making that a priority this next year.

As we near Election Day, I invite you, if you still have questions, to contact me.  You may email me at Vote4KathyHill@gmail.com.  


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